Just a Typical Day...

Each day we have different groups of people to talk to about certain health topics, but I will try and give a general overview of a typical day!

My day begins a little before 6am. Because the members in my house pray around 5:30am, I get up a little after them and get ready for the day in my room. They currently have one indoor bathroom (a squatter), but the construction men are working on adding three more bathrooms to the house. Four bathrooms will definitely be nice since a family of 12 people (13 with me!) lives inside! The squatter facilities have been super interesting haha! But, I guess the saying really is true: when you’ve gotta go, you’ve gotta go…and the type of facilities won’t stop you haha!

Well, school begins EARLY here! Out of the 8 kids in this household, 7 of them go to school (the oldest child is taking exams next month to apply for university). Mornings are CRAZY in my house! Everyone is waiting to use the toilet, brush their teeth, get dressed, eat breakfast, and start walking to school. The latest start time for school is at 7am but many begin earlier than that! Most mornings I don’t even see three of the kids because they’re already up and out of the house walking to school!

After everyone is off to school, then Aisha and her sister-in-law (Zenab) begin to cook for lunch and dinner. They sometimes cook food and then sell it at the local school started by the EAC (called Vutakaka) for money! They are both superrrrr good cooks! (More on the food in a later post.)

My schedule with the EAC changes every day based on what target population we are meeting with or talking to that day. Most days, I leave the house by 7:45am to begin my walk to the EAC headquarters to be there by 8:30am. The dispensary, or clinic, is only 20 minutes away so if my day is beginning there then I won’t leave until 8am. Each day the EAC has a schedule with local schools and sub-populations to discuss health issues.

Last week, I spent one morning at the dispensary (clinic) where I weighed babies, measured their lengths, and measured the size of their arm. Upon a woman getting pregnant, each mother is given a health book to keep track of the child’s growth over the first 5 years of life and to track their progression and check-ups during pregnancy. EVERY MONTH the child must be brought to the dispensary for measurements. If the child is not within a certain range, and typically the children seen here are under the typical height and weight, then the parent will be given supplements by the government to facilitate in the child’s nutrition and growth! So, because a child is supposed to be brought every single month for a check-up, the dispensary is always super busy! But, I had a great time seeing all of the adorable babies…even if most of them did cry haha! I also aided in giving out vaccinations to the children and adults of Takaungu. There is also a nurse or doctor on staff each day that can see other health issues. In the past couple weeks, cases of malaria has spiked due to the being in their wet season right now. Even the little boy that I live with who is 3-years-old just fell ill and had a high fever, so they took him to the dispensary and he has malaria. Poor kiddo…he is such an adorable kid and you can really tell that he is not feeling well and has not been going to school either because of his illness. The dispensary has a blackboard that they keep track of how many cases of certain illnesses they treat each month. I keep forgetting to take a picture of this board, but hopefully within my next 7 weeks, I’ll remember to do so!

After my morning at the dispensary, I would typically go back to Aisha’s house for lunch. Some of the schools provide lunch, but many of them have a break in the day, from like 12:30-2pm typically, for the students to go home and have lunch and then return to school. So, I usually go home and have lunch with a large portion of the family. After lunch, I would meet back up with the health team from the EAC. One afternoon might include me going to a local school for the Stay Alive program where health issues and abstinence are taught. Or I might spend the afternoon filling up the condom dispenses that are located around town. Or I might visit the local quarry or Boda Boda drivers to discuss health issues such as having safe sex, sanitation, food and body hygiene, toilet use and construction, malaria, the importance of vaccinations, the myths of HIV/AIDS, availability of support groups for certain health topics, economic empowerment, or drug and alcohol abuse. There are so many topics to discuss! Actually, speaking of these topics, I have been asked to create a syllabus and discussion notes for the health class that an EAC member conducts once a week at a local Polytechnic school. I have started this syllabus and been conducting research to provide thorough, accurate, and interesting information to the students aged 14-20s at this school. Many of the topics I previously mentioned will be taught in this class throughout the year along with many others! I am very excited to be planning this syllabus because then even when I leave Takaungu, I feel like a part of my work will be left behind!

Well, along with my public health-related activities that I am doing, I have been asked to help with more of the health administration side of things. The EAC is an international NGO that first received funding from the Bill and Malinda Gates Foundation. On the EAC’s website (which I included in my first post or you can just goggle search the East African Center), there is an option to donate to the organization or to sponsor a child to attend the school of Vutakaka. I sponsor a child through the organization called World Vision and have been since I was a freshman in college, but this is another great opportunity if anyone is interested! Okay, to get back on topic, there are many sponsors that contribute to the EAC. So, I have been asked to help facilitate and organize this term’s projects that they send in the mail to the sponsors of the EAC! I am very excited (and a little nervous) to be spearheading this project. There are over 300 students that I need to organize age-appropriate composition activities and art projects and pictures to send to their sponsors! As a sponsor myself, I always look forward to hearing from my child, named Pitikoe, so I am trying to make these projects AWESOME so that the sponsors really enjoy receiving them! As many of you know, I am not a teacher and my artistic capabilities are negative 394729834, so this is gonna be mighty interesting! I have the lists of names of all of the children and I’ve been brainstorming activities to do. If anyone has any ideas of activities to do with limited art resources for ages ranging from Pre-K to 8^th grade, then please let me know! I bought a couple art items in bulk from America, but I’m still google searching ideas haha! Wish me luck! I am very excited to be a part of more of the administrative side of things and understanding how the funding works and seeing some of the responsibilities the executive director of an international NGO might have to do!

Okay, so my ‘typical day’ blog entry has kinda turned into ‘random thoughts of Noelle’s’ hahaha! Hope you semi-enjoyed this!

Hello to everyone! Be watching for a blog post on food soon—I’m compiling some pictures of my food encounters now to make for a more thorough entry! YUMMY!!! :)

Picturessssss!!!

1. I was all covered up to go and visit a family friend's house last night where her 4-month-old child had died. I had met this child earlier that day and several times before that, too. Even in this very sad time, my family was able to laugh at me covering my head like how they do! Here I am with the 15-year-old daughter named Do!

2. MOM!!! This picture was especially for you! Here is Aisha, or as she calls herself: my African mother haha! She wanted a picture with her American daughter for me to send to my American mother haha!

3. Aren't these kids just the cutest?? Here are just three of the kids that live in the same house as me! I'm currently constructing a family tree because EVERY day I meet someone around town who is a cousin or an aunt to the family I'm staying with haha! 

4. Here is Fatma and her 3-year-old cousin Elias "doing work"...haha this is the concrete that the construction men were mixing to continue their construction on the house! I took this picture from inside the house, and this is the back door of the house!