ET Richardson

My sister, Katie, teaches 7th Grade at ET Richardson in Springfield, PA. She teaches half the year about Africa, and her students have been following my blog and have posted really good questions... and here are the responses:

Katie said...
Hi Alyson! My kids are enjoying your DETAILED blogs. I have to skip a couple things.

1. AJ asked whether you think that the one Masai woman realized she was blind and was trying to communicate that to you or if she had no idea what was going on based on the turning on the lights?

Really good question, AJ! I don’t think we know either. In the US, we’d get a cat scan of the brain and would be able to tell a little more about what was going on, but I don’t think this family can afford the trip to Nairobi or the CT scan. I think she does not know she is blind, but does not sense light, so is frustrated by that disability. I think the bleeding in her brain makes it hard for her to express what she is experiencing and I’m not sure she understands what is going on either. The language problem just added a layer of complication too! Even if she was telling us she was blind, I don’t think many people would understand her. It’s so sad to think about that. How scary for her, to be blind and unable to communicate with the people trying to care for her—she calls out for her twin babies all day, and they were just taken away from her by her family, who will care for them until she is out of the hospital.

2. Taylor wants to know if you are enjoying your time because she finds it hard to believe you can with all of the sad stuff.

I’m sorry my blog seems filled with sad things—I think I’m using the blog to help me to process these sad things, so it may be more prevalent in my writing. I’m also surrounded by happy things! I help to deliver plenty of healthy babies, and get to listen to Kenyan nurses singing in the hallways each morning! We take Chai breaks and eat yummy mandazis (doughnuts) often, and the weather and scenery is amazing here. I’ll try to include more happiness in my blog—thanks for the reminder, Taylor!

Ok a couple questions from my 4th period:

1. Do you get grossed out at all from this stuff? Not really. We get pretty used to seeing blood and guts in medical school. I can do some pretty nasty surgeries and then go eat lunch without any problem! That said, you never get used to seeing people suffer.

2. How much Swahili have you learned? I’m working on it. I can start a conversation well: Habari! Jina langu daktare Alyson! Unasema kingereza? Kuna nini? Uchungoo? That means “Hi, how are you? My name is doctor Alyson! Do you speak English? Is everything ok? Pain?” The language is pretty simple—you pronounce every syllable and put the emphasis on the second to last syllable every time. I just found the word for “toothpick” though, and it’s not so simple: kijiti cha kuchokolea meno. Huh?

3. Are you scared or feel in danger at all? Surprisingly, no. I’m living in a village of people who mostly work for the hospital and they feel very lucky to be a part of the community that is helping their people, and the Kenyan people are so kind. It has been really impressive to me—the Kenyans live with so little and suffer through so much hardship, but they believe firmly in God and never blame him for their suffering but feel that their work and suffering makes them stronger. They think it builds character to face challenges. Unlike Americans, who feel very strongly about making something out of yourself and to go from “rags to riches”, where we judge each other by the things we own, and our accomplishments, even at the expense of others, the Kenyans are very happy with who they are, and what they have. On the other hand, I do feel very scared on the roads here! We see so many tragic accidents in the hospital—the cars are unsafe and the drivers are aggressive—few cars have more than lap-belts and they pile people into cars to get around! I’m headed into Nairobi for the day tomorrow, and I’ll have to let you how safe I feel there…

4. Are you scared of getting sick from these people? Yes. Nearly 1/3rd of the world’s population has TB (tuberculosis, which is a lung disease that can travel to the rest of your body), and that is certainly an underestimate in Kijabe. I’d say most of our patients in the hospital have TB, and TB can stay in the air for along time after a patient coughs. No one wears masks here! The one good thing is that all the windows are open in the hospital, so that helps to move the TB outdoors. I also worry a lot about HIV/AIDS. AIDS is so prevalent in Africa, and is one of their leading killers. It is very taboo to have AIDS, so people don’t want to be tested, and don’t wear condoms, and very few people are on medications since they are in denial about having the disease. There are so many “orphans” in Africa because of mothers dying young from the disease—luckily there is such a strong family bond, that often the “aunt” is raising 4-5 of her own children and another 4 kids of her sisters who died of AIDS. A needle-stick in the hospital occurs often (not yet for me… knock on wood) but means months of taking anti-retroviral treatment (the medicines that can treat HIV) to prevent you from getting the disease. In general, the “standard precautions” of gloves and hand-washing are out the window here—there is just a shortage of soap and very few gloves to go around! I wash my veggies in vegetable sterilizer, and filter my water to try to prevent bad diarrhea, and brought antibiotics just in case!

5. How do you escape from a hard days work? It sounds lame, but we’ve been doing a lot of reading. Dustin and I went for a run today, which was a challenge, since we’re at 7,500 ft elevation, and used to living at sea level, so we’re short of breath, but slowly getting more used to it! We’ve been cooking meals together, and it’s so nice at the end of the day to have a warm meal together and process all the crazy things we saw!

6. What is the weather like? The weather has been beautiful. 75 degrees and sunny during the day, but super windy and sometimes rainy at night. I wrote about the drought and the weather more in my last entry.

7. Are you bored with no tv, computer, etc? Yes and no. I’d love to have a more reliable computer to keep in touch. I’d also love to have a cell phone! I miss texting! But it’s also love being away from technology for a month! We’re awake before 6am and work so hard all day, so we’re asleep by 9pm and don’t have time to be bored!

8. Where you are staying, is it enclosed from the wild? I’m kind of embarrassed to say, but we’re staying at a pretty nice apartment! We have running hot water and electricity (that likes to turn off several times a day). That said, we have monkeys climbing on the trees outside of our place, and the baboons steal things all the time!

9. What are the laws like in Kenya/Somalia...do these people get punished for things like shooting that girl? There are no speed limits or driving violations in Kenya! It sometimes seems that the laws in Kenya are bent for people who have money. The government is somewhat corrupt, and the different tribes believe in different leaders and different laws, which is a source of confusion about rules. What rules there are seem to be difficult to enforce, so people are less accountable for their actions. Somalia is a different world. I do not think that anyone was punished for shooting the girl in Somalia—violence is a way of life there and there is no government in Somalia at this time, and so groups of people who are heavily armed take it upon themselves to try to make everyone else suffer if they do not agree with their way of thinking. It’s a really scary country, and that is why we see so many Somali refugees in Kenya, who are trying to escape the violence and crime.

10. What are cars/businesses/technology like there? The cars are mostly old, but there are a few modern cars on the road. The main business is farming, and the fruits and veggies are amazing! In spite of the poverty, EVERYONE has a cell phone! They can’t feed their children, but they pay a cell phone bill (or actually pay for a card that has minutes for their phones)—Dustin mentioned the people he sees coming in to Casualty (their ER) who are covered in blood after a car accident, and they are on their cell phones calling their friends and family to come to the hospital to bring money so they can pay for the surgery they need! The ring tones are pretty funny too—lots of cheesy pop music, like Hannah Montana or something! But no iPhones or iPods around. Their electricity goes on and off all the time in the hospital—even in the middle of a surgery, all the lights will go out for a few minutes, so it’s good to have a flashlight on hand (they call them “torches”).

11. Do you ever feel like giving up? I’d have to say yes, a few times, I’ve felt like giving up. Most of the things I struggle with involve working in this backwards medical system of theirs, and not really patient care itself. I think I know the right way to take care of most of these patients, but I have to work twice as hard to accomplish something that would be so easy in the US. Sometimes the nurses won’t do things I ask for because I’m a white girl (a “Wazungu”) and it helps to have a Kenyan medical officer working with you to get things done. But like I said, the Kenyans are so patient, so kind, and so appreciative of the things you do for them. I’ve had several patients tell me they love me—I’ve never heard that from a patient in the US (aside from the crazy ones!) and several have invited me to their homes to meet their families (and one asked me to marry his son!) I feel very lucky to be learning from the Kenyans, and am fortunate to be allowed to be a part of their culture and their community, and I can’t imagine giving up on that!

12. Do you have to work nights ever? Yes! Only when there is an emergency that the Kenyan Intern cannot handle on his or her own, then I get called in to help!

Thanks for your interest and your great questions! Keep 'em coming!