Two weeks in the country!! It feels exactly like that. I start to feel more relaxed and comfortable but still I need to learn a lot.
Last week I started going around with the study team in search for schools where the study will be conducted. We need 15, but to select them we have to visit at least 30. It would be easy to do it in a place where there are detailed maps of the area or where the officers of the town really understand the boundaries of it; but unlucky us, we have to work hard to find some of the lost in the middle of nowhere schools. The landscape is very rough, there was volcanic activity in the area hundreds of years ago, but there are still reminiscences of it, some roads are not accessible even with our 4WD but our driver, Rutto, just goes through everything, even deep paddles where I close my eyes because I think we’d wet stuck!. So it is really an adventure, but all is worth it when you finally arrive and the kids run up to you and look at you with those smiling, innocent faces. I love their looks, they might wear worn out clothes, but their faces shine. Even in poverty they look magnificent in my eyes, I have a lot of respect for them. They have been born in a place and time where they have not many choices; still they seem happy and help one another. We need to learn a lot from them: “For of him unto whom much as been given much is required”. The teachers in the schools also receive us with cheerful hearts, they seem very happy to see different people. Ah! The other day in one of the schools I saw some water containers donated by LDS charity, incredible how they can reach those far places!!!
Besides the work, personal things are also going smother. I am learning a bit more about the culture and the country. Ah! I forgot to tell that the rains came….good thing uh!, but with the rains the bugs came…and that is not that nice. I did not know I have an insect-phobia until this week. I saw all types and sizes of crawling things in my room and I get very scared, I just cannot stand them so I the two last nights I screamed and the guys next door came to help me and put the bugs out. I am glad they are around, otherwise I’d be really in trouble, I really panic if I get close to them. But I think it might also have something to do with the medication that I’m taking for the malaria prophylaxis, Sometimes there are undesirable side effects such us anxiety, restlessness, nausea, hallucinations, depression, etc., and I´ve been experiencing some of those since I started taking it, so I think I am going to risk it and go without it. I just hope I will not get malaria. So hopefully when I stop the prophylaxis I will not be as scared of the insects around me and everything will return to normality.
Next week hopefully we will do a safari, so I am excited about that. So far I have only seen zebras, lots of monkeys (even in the market trying to steal sth to eat), goats (everywhere) and cows. AH! Today during my morning walk I found turtle in the road, I picked it up to put it in the lake (I thought it´d like it but then I found out that that type of turtle doesn´t live in the water, my mistake!! I should not have interfered with nature!), sooo I was on my way to the lake and a lady advised me to not put it there because there are crocodiles and they can eat it. WHAT? I was worried about myself going there not about the turtle! I just went there and left it close to the water, I also asked some people around and they said that the crocodiles are small so they are not really scared of them ¿?. I still need to find out whether it is true, because I like the place to go there and read J
What else can I tell…Ah!!! Today there is a party in the guest house where we are staying. The owners of the house had a baby last month and they are having a party for the kid today. They are Muslims, so the ceremony started with a beautiful prayer; the men were all seated in a circle in the garden on the house and recited suras/verses from the Coran. Really beautiful!
I like it very much here, but I also miss my loved ones. I am realising more and more how important the people around you are, and I just want to let you know my friends and family that I love you, and that I appreciated all your emails, text messages, calls, prayers and love. I can feel your support across the distance.
sábado, 21 de noviembre de 2009
viernes, 13 de noviembre de 2009
Already one week in Kenya.
I have already seen and experienced so many things that I have the feeling that I´ve been around much longer. This is also my third day in Kibwezi and I´m loving it more and more as time goes by. Kibwesi is a district in the Eastern province of Kenya, it is one of the two study areas in our study. This is the 4th year in a row that they do not receive enough rains, so that is really affecting the food security of the people and therefore their nutrition. Nevertheless the people in it seems happy, they always wave at you on the street and greet you with a smile in their face, they kids run after you and want to shake your hand, or scream from their house “How are you?”. These are definitively nice and sane people, they might have very little, but they seem to have peace of heart. I´m really thinking about the role of money in our lifes, how important it is to cover our basic needs and accomplish many things; but as the famous refrain says: Money doesn´t necessarily bring happiness!, and I can see in the faces of these people that they are content with what they have, they are thankful for what they receive.
Not very long ago I read something that I wrote in a visible place for me to remember, it reads: “Let us complain less, and give more”. I really liked it, I think that is one of the essences of live, to give and feel the joy of giving and serving. I should also learn to be more long-suffered (is it an English word? Please, native speakers correct me if I´m wrong!), and complain less about the setbacks we face. We should accept the season of our life, as we have always accepted the seasons that pass over our fields.
Then we would watch with serenity through the winters of our grief. Joy and pain are necessary for growth, and unfortunately is through periods of trial when we learn the most.
So here I am, ready to receive whatever is put on my plate. I look at the future with optimism and I my hands are prepared to do whatever I have to!!!
As for the project, it´s going a bit slower than we planned. It takes time to get all the permissions needed and set up everything, but we are working on it and in the end it will be all right!. I am lucky I am working with a fantastic supervisor and another student from which I am learning a lot. It is nice to walk with them the dirty roads of the town while having a nice chat under the burning sun of Africa, we do not complain about it that much anymore, we have made ours the Kenyan saying: Hakuna Matata (don’t worry…!). Here life goes slower than in the places that I´ve lived before. They just do their own thing and don’t bother themselves too much with time J.
AH! I forgot to talk about the place I am staying at now. It´s a guest house run by a German man and his wife from Tanzania. All the rooms are in the ground floor around a garden of palms. We get breakfast, lunch and dinner, so I don´t have to worry about fixing my own meals, besides that the couple cooks very well. We get nice pancakes with veggy omelettes every morning and very yummy African dinners. I love it!!! I
For the rest I am doing pretty well. The first days were a bit rough, trying to get used to my new life, but this morning when I woke up I thought: Cristina, you are really privileged!, so I’m living my dream.
I have already seen and experienced so many things that I have the feeling that I´ve been around much longer. This is also my third day in Kibwezi and I´m loving it more and more as time goes by. Kibwesi is a district in the Eastern province of Kenya, it is one of the two study areas in our study. This is the 4th year in a row that they do not receive enough rains, so that is really affecting the food security of the people and therefore their nutrition. Nevertheless the people in it seems happy, they always wave at you on the street and greet you with a smile in their face, they kids run after you and want to shake your hand, or scream from their house “How are you?”. These are definitively nice and sane people, they might have very little, but they seem to have peace of heart. I´m really thinking about the role of money in our lifes, how important it is to cover our basic needs and accomplish many things; but as the famous refrain says: Money doesn´t necessarily bring happiness!, and I can see in the faces of these people that they are content with what they have, they are thankful for what they receive.
Not very long ago I read something that I wrote in a visible place for me to remember, it reads: “Let us complain less, and give more”. I really liked it, I think that is one of the essences of live, to give and feel the joy of giving and serving. I should also learn to be more long-suffered (is it an English word? Please, native speakers correct me if I´m wrong!), and complain less about the setbacks we face. We should accept the season of our life, as we have always accepted the seasons that pass over our fields.
Then we would watch with serenity through the winters of our grief. Joy and pain are necessary for growth, and unfortunately is through periods of trial when we learn the most.
So here I am, ready to receive whatever is put on my plate. I look at the future with optimism and I my hands are prepared to do whatever I have to!!!
As for the project, it´s going a bit slower than we planned. It takes time to get all the permissions needed and set up everything, but we are working on it and in the end it will be all right!. I am lucky I am working with a fantastic supervisor and another student from which I am learning a lot. It is nice to walk with them the dirty roads of the town while having a nice chat under the burning sun of Africa, we do not complain about it that much anymore, we have made ours the Kenyan saying: Hakuna Matata (don’t worry…!). Here life goes slower than in the places that I´ve lived before. They just do their own thing and don’t bother themselves too much with time J.
AH! I forgot to talk about the place I am staying at now. It´s a guest house run by a German man and his wife from Tanzania. All the rooms are in the ground floor around a garden of palms. We get breakfast, lunch and dinner, so I don´t have to worry about fixing my own meals, besides that the couple cooks very well. We get nice pancakes with veggy omelettes every morning and very yummy African dinners. I love it!!! I
For the rest I am doing pretty well. The first days were a bit rough, trying to get used to my new life, but this morning when I woke up I thought: Cristina, you are really privileged!, so I’m living my dream.
miércoles, 11 de noviembre de 2009
I finally arrived in the study area: Kibwesi, in the Eastern province. I came here with Myriam, a girl that is going to also work in the same project, and her boyfriend. The three of us are staying in the same guest house. It is very quiet over here, there is a palm garden with a mango tree in the middle of it and you can hear the birds singing. My room is ok; I also have a hall/living room where I can work on my computer or read, and a shower/toilet room. I’ll post pictures of it so you that you can see it.
The trip from Nairobi to here was about 3 and a half hour. Most of it on the free way, but parts of it were under construction so we rode on bumpy roads for a little while. As I was sitting in the bus I saw different landscapes passing by, arid lands at first, green pastures with zebras and wildebeests, baboons at the sides of the road, sheeperd children looking after famelic cows, markets full of people, etc. In a way it is how I had imagined it, but also it surprises me a little bit. What breaks my heart is that poverty is so common that it seems you cannot really do anything about it. Helping people on the street with money or food would not change much. Their situation is influenced by many factors such as political, created interests, low literacy level, cultural habits, long droughts that reduce the productivity of the crops and lead animals and people to starvation, bad infrastructure, poor access to safe water, and so on. It is often difficult to know where to start, but fortunately there are countless people that for many years have been working hard to bring to these people their knowledge to help them live better lives. But most important this nation needs to get off its knees and start helping itself. I am very happy with the project that I am working with; its aim is to improve the nutrition of the population through micronutrient-enriched crops. In these first stages we are going to assess the deficiency of vitamin A in children and its relation to diseases and other micronutrient deficiencies, that is pretty much my part in the study. The other girl that comes with me is working on a feeding trial that will start in the beginning on the year; in the trial 40 kids of a school will be given cassava (the crop that is going to be enriched in vitamin A) everyday for a period of two weeks, to see how much they’d eat; then they can make calculations of how much the new cassava will improve the vitamin A intake. Starting next week we will go to several schools and talk with the headmasters to get information about the school and the kids enrolled in it.
It don’t know if it sounds a bit complicated for you. Anyway I don´t expect everyone to follow it, but some of you do follow what I´m doing here!
Living in Africa is going to be a good experience I think. I am open to learn, to share, to give and serve. I hope I can make a difference at least for one or at least I hope I can make a difference in my life. Many thoughts come to my mind these days. I wonder why I have been blessed with a life in a country where all my basic needs are covered, where I don’t have to walk kilometres to get water, where I could get education and do pretty much what I wanted. I am very thankful for everything I have, and I have decided to make the best out of everyday, to make my life a masterpiece. Life is not the past, is not the future that we dream of, but the present that we are experiencing right now. It is very important to direct our energies to the moment we are living in. I have to confess that I have mixed feelings: I like it here but I also miss a lot what I left behind, I have to work hard to detangle the not of my stomach everyday. But I trust myself and I know that with time it will be alright.
The adventure starts!!!!!!!!.
The trip from Nairobi to here was about 3 and a half hour. Most of it on the free way, but parts of it were under construction so we rode on bumpy roads for a little while. As I was sitting in the bus I saw different landscapes passing by, arid lands at first, green pastures with zebras and wildebeests, baboons at the sides of the road, sheeperd children looking after famelic cows, markets full of people, etc. In a way it is how I had imagined it, but also it surprises me a little bit. What breaks my heart is that poverty is so common that it seems you cannot really do anything about it. Helping people on the street with money or food would not change much. Their situation is influenced by many factors such as political, created interests, low literacy level, cultural habits, long droughts that reduce the productivity of the crops and lead animals and people to starvation, bad infrastructure, poor access to safe water, and so on. It is often difficult to know where to start, but fortunately there are countless people that for many years have been working hard to bring to these people their knowledge to help them live better lives. But most important this nation needs to get off its knees and start helping itself. I am very happy with the project that I am working with; its aim is to improve the nutrition of the population through micronutrient-enriched crops. In these first stages we are going to assess the deficiency of vitamin A in children and its relation to diseases and other micronutrient deficiencies, that is pretty much my part in the study. The other girl that comes with me is working on a feeding trial that will start in the beginning on the year; in the trial 40 kids of a school will be given cassava (the crop that is going to be enriched in vitamin A) everyday for a period of two weeks, to see how much they’d eat; then they can make calculations of how much the new cassava will improve the vitamin A intake. Starting next week we will go to several schools and talk with the headmasters to get information about the school and the kids enrolled in it.
It don’t know if it sounds a bit complicated for you. Anyway I don´t expect everyone to follow it, but some of you do follow what I´m doing here!
Living in Africa is going to be a good experience I think. I am open to learn, to share, to give and serve. I hope I can make a difference at least for one or at least I hope I can make a difference in my life. Many thoughts come to my mind these days. I wonder why I have been blessed with a life in a country where all my basic needs are covered, where I don’t have to walk kilometres to get water, where I could get education and do pretty much what I wanted. I am very thankful for everything I have, and I have decided to make the best out of everyday, to make my life a masterpiece. Life is not the past, is not the future that we dream of, but the present that we are experiencing right now. It is very important to direct our energies to the moment we are living in. I have to confess that I have mixed feelings: I like it here but I also miss a lot what I left behind, I have to work hard to detangle the not of my stomach everyday. But I trust myself and I know that with time it will be alright.
The adventure starts!!!!!!!!.
viernes, 6 de noviembre de 2009
1st day in Kenya
After the many months preparing for this I´m finally here! The trip was quite alright, well actually was a hectic. I flew from Spain to Cairo first, we arrived there quite late so the transit was very short and my luggage was left behind there, so I hope to get it tomorrow. Of course they don’t deliver it at the place where you are staying at (remember this is Africa) so I have to go to the airport to pick it up. Besides that, the experience with some Egyptian officers was not very pleasant, so I was very happy when I finally arrived and went to sleep.
This afternoon I went to the city centre. I must recognise that I was a bit scared in the beginning, well, pretty much all the time!. The city is much crowed, there are many people everywhere, it feels a bit overwhelming, but I guess it a matter of getting used to it. I walked on the streets of Nairobi for hours, trying to get a first touch of an African city, trying to appreciate the little details, the diversity of people, the trees and bushes growing in unexpected places, the smell of the restaurants and the environment, etc. Definitely it is very different from what I am used to. In many parts of the country there are severe droughts and power cuts, a high percentage of the population live under poverty and afflicted by diseases that are very easy to prevent and to cure. These things make me be thankful for all I have: a loving family, the gift to use my freedom to choose what I want for myself in life, the opportunity to learn and expand my knowledge, the feeling of Godliness inside of me, many friends that love me, a safe place to live, food, access to health, etc. I think we should complain less and start giving more. I really hope this experience will shape my life for the better.
After the hectic day I came back to the guest house, took a warm shower and had dinner. How nice it feels when you are tired!!!! Now I´m in peace lying on the couch, hearing all types of bugs and birds making noise in the outside. It is relaxing.
Life is beautiful.
This afternoon I went to the city centre. I must recognise that I was a bit scared in the beginning, well, pretty much all the time!. The city is much crowed, there are many people everywhere, it feels a bit overwhelming, but I guess it a matter of getting used to it. I walked on the streets of Nairobi for hours, trying to get a first touch of an African city, trying to appreciate the little details, the diversity of people, the trees and bushes growing in unexpected places, the smell of the restaurants and the environment, etc. Definitely it is very different from what I am used to. In many parts of the country there are severe droughts and power cuts, a high percentage of the population live under poverty and afflicted by diseases that are very easy to prevent and to cure. These things make me be thankful for all I have: a loving family, the gift to use my freedom to choose what I want for myself in life, the opportunity to learn and expand my knowledge, the feeling of Godliness inside of me, many friends that love me, a safe place to live, food, access to health, etc. I think we should complain less and start giving more. I really hope this experience will shape my life for the better.
After the hectic day I came back to the guest house, took a warm shower and had dinner. How nice it feels when you are tired!!!! Now I´m in peace lying on the couch, hearing all types of bugs and birds making noise in the outside. It is relaxing.
Life is beautiful.
domingo, 1 de noviembre de 2009
Thesis topic:
"Risk Factors for Vitamin A Deficiency and the association between Vitamin A Deficiency, Malaria and Iron Deficiency in Primary School Children in Rural Kenya".
Departure date: 5th of November
Coming back the 20th of February!
The first week I´m going to stay in Nairobi in this lovely place http://www.mitimingi.com/
The second week I´m going down to the study area: Makueni distric in the Eastern Province. To learn a bit about the situation in Makueni you can have a look at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qmx-qipuB4Y
"Risk Factors for Vitamin A Deficiency and the association between Vitamin A Deficiency, Malaria and Iron Deficiency in Primary School Children in Rural Kenya".
Departure date: 5th of November
Coming back the 20th of February!
The first week I´m going to stay in Nairobi in this lovely place http://www.mitimingi.com/
The second week I´m going down to the study area: Makueni distric in the Eastern Province. To learn a bit about the situation in Makueni you can have a look at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qmx-qipuB4Y
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