Frustrations

So the "little" frustrations have started to become major headaches.  I haven't blogged for several days because we haven't had the internet since Sunday.  I know that having the internet is truly a luxury, but when we have become accustomed to having it(and Steve has been trying to get everything wrapped up for the Duke group coming in September), not having it becomes a real pain.  I FINALLY convinced Steve that we needed to buy a modem (that was about $20) that would allow us to get on when this happens, so I have been once again happily surfing the web this morning.  We've also had some major leaks in our house, so we were out of water for the day on Tuesday.

The good news is that Ellana has her own room!  She seems to be really be liking it as she has been sleeping really well the past few nights.  The only issue has been that her baby monitor seems to be the only piece of electronics that is highly sensitive to the change in voltage and outlets.  We've tried every combination of our converters and adapters, but the only thing that will work is batteries that appear to run out of juice after each night.  We are trying to get a new monitor from one of the baby stores here, but no word on how long that might take.  Ordinarily I wouldn't worry too much about the monitor, but I really cannot hear her from our room, and we have two other roommates in our house that we worry she might wake up in the morning.

On another positive note, I feel as though we made real headway at Imani yesterday.  We've established a "system" for how the order process will work, and I also worked with one of the managers to develop a spreadsheet that determines the amount of time each order should take to complete.  One of Imani's major problems has been that orders are normally several months overdue meaning that once the order is finally complete, the customer has decided that it is no longer needed.  We are hoping that some of our new processes will help to eliminate this problem.

Inside Imani Workshops

Our dining area- Ellana even has her own table!

She is very independent!

at Oasis- they serve burgers and milkshakes

All of our guard dogs

Outside Imani Workshops

Some of Imani's jewelry

more jewelry

Eldoret Market "West"

Yesterday morning I decided to brave the large outdoor clothing market called "West."  I had heard from many at the IU House that if one was brave enough to dig through the enormous piles of second-hand clothes (mostly from the US) some treasures could be found.  The market is only on Fridays, and each of the vendors receives huge bundles of clothing that get opened that morning.  Now, I don't even enjoy "digging" at places like T.J. Max and Marshalls and especially not garage sales, but in search of a cultural experience and some clothes for Ellana, I thought the market sounded like a good idea.

One of the administrators at the IU House, Purity, was also in search of some hand towels for the compound, so she kindly offered to be my guide.  Once we stepped out of the car, she reminded me to keep my bag very close at hand.  My first thought was what have I gotten myself into this time!  I couldn't believe the sheer size of the market, and I had never seen anything like the huge piles of "forgotten" clothing.  At least I knew a little about what to expect as I had seen a documentary on Al-Jazeera a few years ago when we were in Uganda that traced a clothing bundle from the US to a small village in Tanzania.  I felt a little guilty going to the market as the rise of second-hand clothing in Africa has replaced many of the textile businesses that formerly flourished here.  However, the combination of the increase of inexpensive clothing and Africans desiring to follow western clothing trends has led to the development of these markets existing in most villages throughout the continent.

Many items had tags from places like Goodwill or stickers that looked like someone would use at a garage sale.  Each of the vendors has his or her own tarp for the clothes which is extremely helpful given that all of us shoppers were squishing around in the mud.  Purity's strategy of attack was to seek out a pile of children's clothing and then try to grab something from the bottom in order to basically turn the pile upside down.  Then we would just start to pull things out that looked like they might fit our children (she was also trying to dresses for her eight-year-old daughter as well as for a friend's daughter who is the same age as Ellana).  I was really amazed at the labels that I saw:  Osh Kosh, Carter's, The Children's Place, and babyGap, among many others.  I found it difficult to tell the true quality of clothing as it was incredibly wrinkled, but I was also amazed at how stained some of the clothing was.  At first I thought we would never find anything, but then we hit a gold mine at one of the vendors.  I found two pairs of pants as well as a dress from the Children's Place for all of about $2 (200 Kenyan Shillings).  Each of the vendors shouts out prices for the clothing at each of the stations, so there is little room for negotiation.  We tried to hit as many of the children's clothing vendors
as possible, but given the size of the market (I would say it was at least as big as a football field), there was no way to see everyone.  My most treasured find was a Children's Place sweater in perfect condition for 40 bob ("bob" is what the Kenyans say for cents so it was about $.50)  Ultimately, I ended up with the sweater, two pairs of pants, one pair of jeans, one dress, one shirt, and one Osk Kosh jumper for about $5.  I think Steve was pretty proud of me as he gets a little frustrated with my typical attempts at "bargain" shopping in the US!  I just wish that I would have had my camera with me, but I will go back again, if only to take pictures!

I was definitely experiencing sensory overload at the market, and was intending to walk to Imani immediately, but I was starving and my head was spinning, so I stopped at one of the hotels in the center of town and had a  solitary lunch of vegetable curry and chapati, which was actually very nice as no one was shouting mzungu at me (I was probably the only foreigner at the market), and I generally eat with Ellana sitting on my lap meaning that most meals are extremely chaotic.  I took some notes from the morning and made a list of some of the things I needed to do at Imani.

Sylvia is back, thank goodness, so she spent most of the day with Ellana.  Ellana seems to really like her and is already comfortable with her.  I'm extremely grateful as Ellana has been experiencing lots of "stranger anxiety."  I guess it is a lot to ask of a toddler- first we moved her to a new continent, and then we just expect her to get along with everyone and to let them all hold her!  She is continuing to walk more often, but still prefers to get around more quickly on her knees.  Her vocabulary, however, is rapidly expanding.  Her favorites are ball, tree, go-go(for a car or anything with wheels), uh-oh, ga-ga (for her friend Gavin), and I swear she said rocket the other day (of course courtesy of Little Einsteins).  I also got her to say please this morning, but I doubt she understands what it really means yet.

We plan to have dinner this evening with all of the families with kids at the IU House compound, and Steve is on call this weekend, so hopefully no big emergencies will arise.  I think we are overall adjusting pretty well and are trying to work through the minor frustrations that we face living here.  Generally, I think we are trying to genuinely enjoy our time here knowing that it is going to pass very quickly.

Oh, "Its" a girl!

One of the major cultural differences that I'm currently realizing is that Kenyans don't generally feel that certain colors (let's say pink) generally apply to female clothing and that others tend to be associated more with male clothing.  When Ellana was first born, for some reason I didn't want to have anything to do with pale, baby pink, but I often got frustrated when she was wearing yellow or green and people would comment on my cute baby boy.  Consequently, I started buying more and more pink which seemed to solve the problem.  Ironically, now most of her clothing is pink, but I cannot count the number of Kenyans who have first assumed she is a boy and then when I say, she, they exclaim, "oh, its a girl!"  I have been laughing about this with my other mom friends who have boys clad mostly in blue, and Kenyans seem to think they are girls. 

The same problem appeared when my friend Nick, the MBA working with Imani Workshops, was assisting with the inventory count.  He was trying to divide the baby sweaters into male/female categories, and when he put the bright pink sweaters in the female pile, the artisans looked at him as though he had lost his marbles.  It turned out the feature that determined the "sex" of the sweater was not color, but whether or not the sweater had a certain type of button.  Go figure.

Our new babysitter, Sylvia has been sick the past few days and went to the hospital yesterday.  I tried to contact her again this morning, but haven't heard how she is doing.  Please say prayers that she gets better soon!  Consequently, I haven't really been able to work at Imani much, and I'm so ready to get back into the groove.  I have a meeting this afternoon, so I think Ellana is just going to tag along!

Steve has a full day of cases lined up today (his regularly scheduled operating days are Wednesdays and Fridays), and the other days he either spends in the clinic or doing research.  He also did a big lecture for about 30 medical students at 7 am Monday morning, and I think we were all impressed with the turn out!  We have been trying to finalize all of the details for the Duke Neurosurgery trip in September as well as for our other family members and friends who will be visiting the next few months.  We cannot wait to see everyone and show them more about our lives here!

The box is too "ghali"

Walking home from Eldoret

One of the fabulous new shopping "malls"

One of the main streets in Eldoret

Walking into town

Gotta love the goat in the window!

The past few days have been a mix of work and play, and we spent more time getting re-acquainted with the Eldoret area.  On Friday, I spent the morning and a good part of the afternoon visiting some of the "self-help" groups that have been started more or less through the AMPATH organization.  For more information about AMPATH, here's a link to the website- http://www.iukenya.org/hiv.aids.html.  I saw two groups that were supposedly in more "urban" areas despite the fact that the first group was trying to raise sheep and the second had started a passion fruit farm.  The first group was not as organized, but had been able to raise enough funds to give two members loans to buy sheep.  The sheep cost around 1600 Kenyan shillings (which is equivalent to around $20).  One of the directors of the loan program gave the group members a firm scolding when she realized that the members were simply hiding the group's money in cloth money bags and putting the money under their beds.  The members stated that security in the area was very bad, and that thugs would steal even freshly cooked food from the villagers.  They also stated that the boxes that were supposed to hold the members' savings were too expensive or ghali, as they cost 3000 Kenyan shillings (around $40).  I totally agreed when they said that they could probably buy some more sheep for the price of the box.  We consequently brainstormed some ideas about how we could get the prices of the boxes down to a more realistic level. Amazing how quickly our lives in the U.S. get put into such perspective!

The second group was comprised of all HIV positive women that had started a passion fruit farm.  The group had been able to give out about $500 worth of loans since March, which is extremely impressive.  Every other week the group collects at least $.50 from each of the seventeen group members and then gives out loans on an as needed basis.  Some of the women had used the loans to start other small businesses, while others used the loans to pay their children's school fees.  Overall, the experience was very educational for me, and I only felt horrible that I arrived two hours later than I had promised our new babysitter, Sylvia.  I have to get used to the fact that most events here run on "Kenyan time" meaning that everything takes much longer than planned.

Saturday morning Steve and I left Ellana with our new friends Ben and Megan Wolfe who have a two and a half year old and a 17 month old named Eden and Andy.  Eden is actually from the Eldoret area, and Ben and Megan are in the process of adopting her.  They are adorable kids and have been a good influence on Ellana's walking habits.  She starting walking everywhere this weekend, although she still seems to prefer walking on her knees.  Ironically, Ben and Megan are also from the Lafayette, Indiana area and went to my rival high schools!  Small world.  Anyway, we went for about a five mile run that was only eventful at the very end as we passed hundreds of Kenyan runners decked out in the finest Nike or Adidas gear.  I was inspired to finish our run as most of them passed us appearing to not be worn out in the slightest.  We then spent the afternoon with some other friends at the Poa Place resort which is a few miles from the IU House.  Poa Place has a pool, a play area for kids, and a small zoo-like area that features a male and female lion, a cheetah, some birds, monkeys, and a large snake area.  For dinner we ate at a new local joint called Mamma Mia, which features a hybrid of Indian and Italian specialties, go figure.  It was actually quite good, and we love that we can actually walk to the restaurant.

We tried a new church this morning with the Wolfes and then took our first walk into Eldoret with Ellana's stroller.  We certainly attracted a ton of stares as strollers are not used much here, and Ellana's blond hair is definitely a rarity.  This evening I had a meeting with some of the other "business minds" working at the IU House and then Steve watched the women's world cup final at one of the other houses in the compound.

Please take care and have a wonderful weekend!

Vehicle that arrived to fix our power outage on Sunday

The main living area in Hilltop 2

Everyone watching the Women's World Cup

We've had a nice couple of days adjusting to life in Eldoret.  The days have been absolutely beautiful and the only slight hardships have been the lack of warm water in our shower and the inconsistency of the internet.  Our electricity was also out for several hours last night, but luckily it came back on around 6 am.  I always forget how chilly the mornings and evenings are, but the daytime temperatures have probably reached around 72 degrees.  We are in the midst of rainy season, so it has been raining about once a day, but the rain keeps down the dust.

Ellana had her first full morning with our new babysitter, Sylvia.  Sylvia has helped with many of the families staying at the IU House, and Ellana seems to really like her.  We are hoping that she will only speak Kiswahili with Ellana, but when we left her and came home today, she was watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse both times.  There also appears to be a cultural difference when it comes to naps as most of the Kenyan children simply fall asleep during the day on their mothers' backs.  When Steve asked Sylvia if Ellana had taken a nap today, she said "no, she wasn't tired."  Ellana consequently took an 1.5 hr nap this afternoon so I'm not convinced!

Ellana has impressed everyone at lunch and dinner by her enormous appetite.  She has gotten over any sense of being picky about food, and has been trying almost everything offered to her.  She has liked the fruit salad (a delicious combination of papaya, mango, and bananas) and the spinach and cheese calzones the best.  She also ate a good portion at the Indian restaurant where we ate last night.

I spent the day getting reacquainted with the Imani Workshops figuring out what my role will be the next few months.  A Notre Dame MBA named Nick has done an incredible job overhauling the inventory system and making other drastic changes, so I am hoping to help with the implementation.   Nick cut down the inventory from 600 to 164 items within the past week, so we are trying to now make everything consistent.  There have also been changes within the management roles, so I'm hoping that everyone will accept another "mzungu" (foreigner in Kiswahili) giving them advice.  Steve spent the day at hospital clinic and has another full day of operating tomorrow.  He is looking forward to the Neurosurgery group from Duke coming to visit in September as the ORs are missing many important pieces of equipment making his operations very difficult.

Much love and missing you all tremendously!

The sun will help her to walk...

We are starting to get more settled into the IU House and have started meeting many of the amazing people that share their talents and training by working in Eldoret.  I was very pleased to meet another family this morning with two children that are both under the age of two and a half.   Ellana very much enjoyed playing with her new friend Andy's cars this morning.  .

One of the more comical moments from the day was when we were talking with one of the Kenyan babysitters of Gavin, the 10 month old I talked about yesterday.  Josie, Gavin's babysitter was saying that it was very good for Gavin to be in the sun as it had made him much stronger over the past three months and that he was now strong enough to crawl.  Steve and I both chuckled to ourselves that it had nothing to do with the fact that he had aged three months.  Josie and one of the guards, Leonard, were baffled by the fact that Ellana is walking on her knees and said that if she only spent more time in the sun she would become strong enough to walk very soon!

Ellana is tremendously enjoying all of the guard dogs that also act as pets for the IU house residents.  So far all of them seem to tolerate her attempt at petting them and shouting "doggie, doggie, doggie"  nonstop whenever she sees them.

  

Our new home- House 7 

View looking out of our front door

The main entrance to our side of the compound

Steve has a full day of surgeries tomorrow, and I am going to meet with the director of the business development side of the AMPATH organization.  I'll talk more about AMPATH later, but I will most likely be working with the handcraft project called Imani Workshops.  Imani trains HIV positive artisans to make various items and then the items are primarily sold in fair trade stores in the US.  Currently Imani is undergoing an overhaul in terms of management and operations, so I am excited to hopefully be able to put my degree to good use soon!

IU House basketball goal

Hoosier Drive

Hoosier Drive- The main guard station

Ellana and Tusker the dog

We made it back to Eldoret!

After being homeless for almost a month, we finally arrived in Eldoret, Kenya yesterday evening.  Ellana has done amazingly well traveling so far except for a couple of extremely painful moments on our flight from Chicago to Paris and then from Paris to Nairobi.  I don't think either one of us is looking forward to getting on a plane with her anytime soon, and I hope that we never see anyone who was on our flights!

Steve and I are both surprised at how much has changed in Eldoret, and yet how we feel that we never left.  We have been to Eldoret two other times.  The first time was a weekend trip when we were in Uganda in 2008, and then in the summer of 2009, we were here for over a month.  This time we will be here until mid-December, and we both feel odd having a 14 month old with us this time!

Indiana University started the program at the Moi University Teaching and Referral hospital where Steve will be working several years ago and has established an amazing system for the constant flow of medical students, residents, attending physicians, public health students, MBAs, and others who are constantly rotating through the program.  We are staying in one of the main buildings of what is known as the IU House.  Luckily for us, Purdue University has a pharmacy program here and there is a huge Purdue Banner in the house where we are living!  Currently we just have one large bedroom and bathroom for the three of us, but in a month, we will have another bedroom for Ellana.  She is currently sleeping in our large bathroom.  Thank goodness there is enough room for her pack and play!

We met a very nice family earlier today that has a 10 month old boy named Gavin.  He and Ellana have already hit it off and have traded numerous squeals while tossing balloons around together.  I'm very glad that she will have someone to play with the next few months as they will be here for at least another year.

More updates to come- please wish us luck as we try to get Ellana on the right time zone!