Now the Adventure Begins

*So it's been a few days without a post so I owe you one! Sorry there are no pictures, it has been difficult to find an internet connection better than dial up. Anyways thanks for reading and feel free to let me know what you think.*

So on our first full day in Nairobi we had orientation where we found out we'd be leaving the hustle and bustle of Nairobi for Nakuru, Kenyas fourth largest city situated 2.5 hours outside Nairobi in the Great Rift Valley. Nakuru's claim to fame is its lake that houses over a million flamingos. The national park that surrounds it boasts sizable populations of Zebras, Buffalos, Baboons, and the rare White Rhini. The landscape itself made the placement appealing. Little did we know what awaited us. We arrived on Saturday afternoon after dropping several other volunteers off at their placements. After seeing their surroundings then pulling into our own we had reached the pinnacle of our excitement. Little did we know what the next few days would look like. That night after an unsuccessful scouting mission through town (where within 15 minutes we bought 5 liter containers of water) we returned back to the apartment where we finally met our host family. We are staying with Pastor Anthony, his wife, two daughters, and two people of indeterminate relation. The kids are 1 and 4 and enjoy a good cry. Ha but really they are awesome people doing a lot of great work in the community. So far the time spent with them listening to stories and such during dinner has been the highlight of each day. The pastor told us on Sunday night about our placements for the coming weeks and the more he talked the more our excitement grew. It sounded like we would be doing real beneficial work. Normally during the week Carl and I will be working with a Voluntary Counseling and Testing Clinic (VCT) Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and at a hospital with the Red Cross on Tuesday and Thursday. This week would be different and we would be working with the Red Cross on monday as well.

After two days working with the Kenyan Red Cross I can only hope our days become more exciting. Yesterday we had to report for an "orientation" that lasted all of twenty minutes and through it we ascertained nothing more about our work then we knew before but that could have been because of the freakishly loud TV blaring Kenyan soap operas in our ears. Not the day we had anticipated.

Today offered a little more promise as we were to report to the hospital. After another orientation meant to acquaint us with the geospatial location of each ward on the hospitals campus we recieved our days assignment: making large pieces of cotton into cotton balls and cutting up and intricately folding gauze. It's hard to judge our actual effectiveness from today. What should we have accomplished and how much impact did it have? I don't actually know and it's kind of frustrating. We want to help anyway we can and don't mind most tasks but today felt like busy work. It felt like they didn't know how else to use us but didn't want to ask. I'm optimistic this will change and I'm hopeful that things will be different tomorrow at the VCT at the Free Area Health Center.

Thanks for reading

Dan