Wappa Linn?

My lindor has left me all alone in Nairobi!! Wewe!!!!!!! I leave early tuesday morning so I just have 2 days to kill until Sweden! Today I walked down to dormans (the Kenyan version of starbucks) and read my book.. I'm gonna buy some things at nakumatt before I leave for sweden cause they'll be much cheaper here (ie toothbrush, vodka, and maybe another book. Linn was supposed to text me in amsterdam... She forgot! Wewe. Pole sana for typing mistakes, I'm on myipod with the wifi at dorman's and it's hard to type. Love
Xoxo oxoox

T minus 5 days!

Alright, so I leave on tuesday, and its thursday. HOLY F. Time went by way too fast. I think that if I wasn't going to europe, I'd definitely have to stay longer in africa. I want to see mozambique rwanda. I'm going to have to come back, possibly next summer, or for clinical in 4th year.

WEMA
The day before yesterday we had to tell this man that he was HIV positive, it was really sad, but definitely a good experience. He took it fairly well, and I told him to make sure his wife and children come in for testing. Hopefully they aren't positive as well.
Yesterday at WEMA, we were hanging out with these kids, they come and sit with us like everyday. We found out that both of their parents died of AIDS and they live with their aunt and uncle. There is 5 of them, 12 year old twins (one is named nelson mandela lol) a ten year old named mikey, a 4 year old girl beatrice and a little 1.5 year old named barack obama lol. They are the sweetest kids I've met. Most kids here beg, and constantly ask for candy. These kids are soo quiet and they just wanted to hang out. So Linn and I took them for sodas and chips (healthy, i know) and they were sooo happy, but so reluctant to take anything. The 2 older twins ate hardly anything so that the younger ones would have more. Linn and I just kept buying them food until they couldn't eat anymore. Mikey's shoes are soo tattered that they are like hanging together by a thread, I'm going to buy him some new ones today. I feel bad not buying anything for the others but their shoes are in good shape .. maybe i'll give them some school supplies. Anyway, tomorrow is my last day volunteering, we are going out for margaritas again on friday and then its time for SWEDEN!

Last night we went out for margaritas, and no one believed me when I said I don't get brain freezes. So they we're all "drink that fast you'll get one" . I didn't get a brain freeze, but I was gone by 9 oclock lol. At some point I went to take a drink from my straw, missed my mouth, and it hit my forehead, so now I have this straw shaped wound on my forehead. nice life.

Hell's Gate etc

This weekend Lindor, Mike and I took a matatu to Hell's Gate National Park. We stayed at Crayfish camp, it was okay... they were VERY slow to do everything, like give us our room, call a cab... typical africa. I miss efficiency. Anyway, we rented mountain bikes to bike through the national park, which I am in no shape to do. It was really cool because we biked with zebras and warthogs (Pumba) and its beautiful there. We climbed down into the gorge and walked along it (not as easy as it sounds) Lindor got drenched by a hot spring ahahahahha, and I ALMOST fell, but I managed to get my balance. The bike back to the park entrance was what killed me lol. It was soo hot, and I was so thirsty, and there was like all these hills. I almost died. But anyway, we made it, and I will never bike that far again. My ass still hurts, and my back hurts too.

Today I realized that I leave on Tuesday, not Monday, now I need to make plans for that weekend. Maybe I'll see what meghan is up to! I could go back to Uganda for the weekend.. but that's expensive, maybe i'll just hang around here, but our new roommates are GRUMPY! I miss our orig crew, they've all went home. They are like really hardcore volunteers, like "i'm going to save the world, there's no fun allowed in africa" so when linn and I sleep in and show up late to volunteering, and stumble in drunk or take long weekend, they give us shit. they suck.
Oh well, 7 DAYS UNTIL SWEDEN! <3

WEMA and IDP

Well today was our second day at WEMA. It's a clinic in the slums. We work with Dr. George, and he is awesome!! I learned how to put an IV in today. I practiced on Linn and Dr. George. We also helped to treat a little girl with a really bad burn on her arm; it was so bad that her skin wasn't even black anymore. She just had like a mzungu arm, I didn't even know it was a burn until I asked Dr. George. Then we talked to some patients with HIV. One patient has had HIV for 19 years. He told Linn and I all about it today.

In the early 90's, he was in his 20's, and his wife at the time was HIV positive. The doctors knew this, but didn't tell them. They gave them 3 condoms, and told them to come back next month. Every month they would come back, and the doctors would take his blood for testing, and not tell him why. This went on for about 4 months until he finally asked why they kept asking him to come back. Then, they told him he was HIV positive. He believes that the doctors were trying to see how long it would take him to get the virus. A couple years later his wife died. Then in like 1995, he went to the dentist (this was after his wife died). The dentist asked him if he had any health issues, and when he told the dentist that he was HIV positive, the dentist wrote HIV + in huge capital letters on his chart and walked out of the room. The he came back half an hour later, with like 30 other dentists/doctors/nurses and they all just crowded around him and whispered. Then they all left the room and didn't come back. After a few hours, he just left the dentist's, and pulled his tooth out by himself. He decided he would never tell anyone again. So, then like 10 years later his health was really deteriorating, and he had a giant ulcer on his leg. Finally he went to the hospital, and they treated him a little bit better than the dentist had. He still felt like there was a really bad stigma with HIV, but he had to have surgery for his leg, so he couldn't avoid the hospital. When they did a CD4 count on his blood before his surgery, it was 36. He basically should have been dead. So they started him on antiretroviral treatment. ART is very expensive, like thousands/week, but the UK and Canada have started funding some ART in African countries, and this is literally keeping him alive. Within 2 years his CD4 count is up to 240 which is AMAZING! He has remarried, and has 2 kids, and they are all still HIV negative. But he still has very little money, so his kids and wife are living outside of Nairobi, where its cheaper, and he has to live in a slum in nairobi, to be close to WEMA and Dr George. Dr George treats him for free, and everyday he has to have his ulcer dressing changed, it isn't healing well at all. If Dr G didn't treat him for free, he would have no healthcare. He works like 14 hours a week as a security guard, and makes around 4000 shillings a month (around 50 CAD a month) and his rent is 2000, and he sends 1500 to his family, and lives off 500 himself, which is like $6 a month. Linn and I are going to do his home visit on friday, which basically involves making sure he is living in an environment that is clean and healthy (he lives in the hood in africa, so i can tell you already that it will not be healthy at all).

Tomorrow we are going to an IDP (internally displaced persons) camp. The IDPs are people who have had there homes burned in the 2007 elections violence. The really super basic story of the election violence is that a Kikuyu presential candidate won by rigging the election somehow, and then everyone else got pissed off at the Kikuyu people and started killing them/burning their houses/throwing bombs at them etc. So all the Kikuyu people who have had their homes burned are living in a little tent village in mid-kenya. The last group of Fadhili volunteers have gone to visit the IDP camps, and basically found out that the government cut off aid. So these people have no food, and live in absolute filth. We have been feeding all the people (around 340 people) and are working on buying them land, and building a mill so they can be self-sustainable. We are also planning on testing everyone at the camp for HIV. The problem is we don't have the money to treat all the people that will be HIV positive.

I can't believe I have only a week and a half left! I'm really looking forward to europe, and I'm going to try and volunteer alot in these last 2 weeks.

Back in Nairobi!

Okay, so its smelly and crowded, but I am SO happy to be back here. I'm at the Nakumatt junction, the cleanest mall in Kenya, with more white people than I've seen in 2 months. I'm pumped to be staying at Regina's again, with running water, toilets, and like 7 other volunteers. We had french toast today... it was like the best thing ever. Tomorrow we start working at Dr. George's clinic, and everyone has said its awesome. Apparently he lets you do whatever your comfortable with.. a few volunteers, have delivered babies, sutured up wounds, put in IVs, and done blood testing for malaria, HIV, and typhoid. I'M EXCITED!

We took the overnight bus from Mombasa last night. It was AWFUL! It is the bumpiest road in the world, seriously. Linn and I did not sleep at all. When we got to Nairobi, it was like 430 am, so we took a cab to Regina's. I haven't been to Regina's in 6 weeks, and Linn has never been. So we had such a hard time finding it, esp cause it was dark. Anyway, we finally found it, although I had to call James at like 6am to ask him where the f we were.

I cannot believe how fast time has gone by! We have one weekend left!!!! We're planning to go to Hell's Gate National Park and ride bikes. This will be interesting (picture me riding a bike lmao). Apparently monkeys chase you, too. I'm going to cry! Every time we are somewhere with monkeys I think "this time I will feed the monkeys and not run away" but when they come for me I panic and throw the food on the ground lol. Everyone is like "don't be stupid monkeys won't hurt you". BUT I would like to point out that 2 volunteers have been bitten by monkeys so far, and then they had to get like 23847239874923784923874 injections. f that s. I don't want to feed monkeys badly enough to get rabies....

In exactly 2 weeks I'll be on a flight to Amsterdam! This summer is going by too fast. I don't want to be back in stupid thunder bay, and go back to stupid school, and have to scrape stupid ice off my window. Linn is working on trying to set up her clinical placement in tbay though, she'll be my comic relief. huleh huleh.

swedzibar.

THIS PLACE IS CRAWLING WITH SWEDES. Lindor was in her glory. huleh huleh huleh (no one besides lindor and jb will get that). Christian (aka johnny bravo) does not have malaria (yay!) and Lindor is no longer homesick due to the ridiculous amounts of Swedish people on our boat. Today we went snorkelling. We sailed out (on a boat, i got my swimmin trunks, and my flippy floppies) and then snorkelled around the reef for about an hour and a half. IT WAS AMAZING! We saw most of the nemo fish, and lots of sea urchins (my nemisis) and some gross sea slug thing, and lots of ocean plant things. It was gorgeous. Even Lindor managed to get in the water, JB and I were proud. Then we went to a remote beach for lunch, and then sailed back. The water was turquoise and the sand was white, it was so beautiful!! There was 5 Swedish people on our snorkelling boat, not including Linn. I was outnumbered. They were talking about me in their secret language, I think. JB and I have told Lindor to stop using that devilspeak in our presence. THEN, after that we were on the beach, smoking some huka, minding our own, and this guy comes up to us, and hes all "can you take a picture of us? (with swedish accent)" and i'm like "SERIOUSLY?" and lindor goes "where you from?" "sweden" huleh huleh huleh. more swedes. AND!! ABBA WAS PLAYING ALL NIGHT! it was like a greatest hits of ABBA cd on repeat. THEN more swedes approacheth. like 5 more just came and sat down (huleh huleh huleh).
wtf?

Zanzibar!

I LOVE IT HERE!!!!!!!!!! It is soo beautiful, and the people are soo nice! On monday we took a fairy to Stonetown from Dar es Saalam. Once we got to Stonetown, we had lunch in Freddy Mercury's restaurant, and then checked into our hotel. Our room was called the "Treasure Chamber" hahaha. Christian's plane broke, so he was late getting in, but eventually he made to the treasure chamber safely. The hotel guys made him a bed because they did not believe all 3 of us would fit in one bed. On Tuesday, we explored stone town, and we saw a couple museums, and the old slave trade site. It was like the pit where they chained the slaves up, it was pretty sad. Today we went on a spice tour. Zanzibar is known for its spices, especially cloves. We saw cinnamon trees, lemon grass, cloves trees, cocoa bean trees, vanilla plants, and a bunch of other plants. Then we went to see slave caves, where they were kept after slavery was made illegal. The sultan hid over 200 slaves from the British in this gross cave filled with bats, GIANT spiders, and pythons. Then we took a daladala to Nengwi, a little resort town on the north coast. Daladalas are so much fun. They are way better than matatus. Its like a pick up truck with seats in the back and a little roof. Tanzania is like a weird version of Kenya. Its like Shelbyville and Springfield. Examples: in Kenya hello is jambo, and in tanzania its mambo, and in Kenya we take matatus, and here its daladalas, and tanzania has all the same souvenirs as kenya (like exact same things) but they say tanzania lol. Christian and Linn are both sick. Christian probably has malaria... Linn, I think, is just homesick. I'm the last one standing! Tomorrow christian and I are going snorkelling, Linn is sitting that one out. And then we are getting massages and maybe going for a sunset Dhow boat ride.

LOVE

Tanzania!

Quick little update.. On our way to Tanga we talked to the bus driver, and it turned out we couldn't get a ferry to Zanzibar from Tanga, so we stayed on the bus to Dar es Saalum. We are spending tonight in Dar, then heading for Zanzibar tomorrow! I'm pretty excited. I like Dar, its a lot nicer than Nairobi, but it has more creepy men. I literally cannot walk 3 feet without someone saying/doing something creepy or just staring. My poor Lindor is sick-ish. She was worse on the bus but she's doing better now. Fragile Swede can't take all the fat in African food lol. I told her in Canada we eat deep fried cheesecake dipped in ice cream and she almost died of shock.

xo

My Last Days In Diani

I'm soooo sad because today is my last day in Diani!!! We are catching the bus tomorrow morning to Tanga, then taking a boat to Zanzibar to meet Christian, another Fadhili volunteer. Then after Zanzibar we are going to come back for a day to pick up our luggage, then its back to Nairobi to work with Dr. George. This weekend we met up with some volunteers we met in Uganda and hung around the beach. They are from the UK and we are planning to meet up with them when we're there. Our plan is this:
July 1-5:
EVERYONE who is someone is coming to Sweden for our africa reunion party. It's gonna be me, the Brits, and the Sweds...
July 5:
Fly to Dublin, and go to the pub that night. Then we will hang around Dublin for a bit, and wonder around Ireland, look at some castles, you know, the usual.
July 23:
Fly to Glasgow and wonder around Scotland for 4-5 days. Take a bus or something to Nottingham to see Robin Hood, obvs. Then Jamie is picking us up in Nottingham, because we would die trying to drive on the wrong side. We are going to spend a couple days at Jamie's in Oxford, then going to pick up Racheal in Bath, spend a couple days there. Then we are driving down to Cornwall, to body board/surf.
August 6:
Fly to Paris from Glasgow, or maybe we will cancel the flight and take a boat from somewhere near Cornwall.

August10-14:
I fly from Paris to Glasgow to Stockholm, spend one night there, then fly Hamburg to Amsterdam, spend one night there, then I fly to Minneapolis and finally t-bay.

But, our plan isn't fixed, we paid like nothing for our flights (ex: 15 pounds round trip to paris) so we can easily just book another one/miss a flight. I'm very excited for Zanzibar, everyone has said amazing things about it! So I should go pack! I'll write again sooon!!

when in kenya...

a) i'm running out of titles for these things
b) linn and i are running out of things to do... we mostly just sit on the beach, and we have some fierce tan lines might i add
c) nothing much going on here since the girls left!

we go to the beach alot. I still have a cold, which i'm now sure is just a cold, and not malaria. after zanzibar we are headed to nairobi to work at dr. george's hospital. I'm pretty excited about that because apparently there is a lot to see there!

i'm sooo looking forward to our europe trip! i'll probably write again after something exciting happens.. maybe after zanzibar!

love

Diani Beach

This weekend 8 girls from Nairobi came to visit! We rented a cottage for the eqivalent of $3.50 a night and it was gorgeous! We had a pool, hot showers, an oven, and a fridge. We spent most of the weekend at 40 theives and Diani Beach. There was a charity event going on just down the beach at the Sea Lodge, called Diani Rules. It basically a giant party with the profits from booze going to charity. So we went both friday and saturday. It was a lot of fun. We met up with some british volunteers on saturday, and they came with us to the sea lodge. We also went snorkelling on saturday, it wasnt nearly as good as the first time I went, but I paid $2 this time as opposed to $60 last time. We went out on this sketchy boat and Jo stepped on a sea urchin. Then saturday night, I went swimming at like 3 am, and I stepped on like 10 million sea urchins. I was picking them out sunday morning, and the pool boy came to help me. It was good times. I have the worst tan lines in kenya. People actually stop and stare. I like it cause its proof that I am darker than I once was.

And now, I have a cold. I'm quite surprised that its taken me this long to get sick while living with no running water and working in a clinic. The other day we were sooo close to delivering a baby. She was fully dilated but the head wouldn't come down, so she ended up having to go to a larger hospital. Linn and I bought the baby a little outfit, and bought the lady some chocolate and water while she was in labour. She said if it was a baby girl she was going to name it after me, and if it was a boy she was going to name it after linn's dad. It was a boy. I bet Emmanuel, another nurse 20 shillings that it would be a girl. lol, so i'm in debt 20 shillings now. Linn and I basically run the child immunization clinic in the morning, then go for lunch, and then after lunch we are in labour and delivery, or HIV/AIDS counselling, or in the lab where there are tests for HIV, malaria or typhoid fever. Today is a public holiday, so we are off. I think we are heading to the beach!

kwaheri! LOVE