Week Six!

What an exciting week we’ve had! On Thursday we had the opportunity to go to Nairobi! Fred had to go for the day to pick up some things for his lab tech certification so it worked out for us to tag along with him. We were super excited to be able to spend time with PJ and Emily, the AIM short-term coordinators for the Eastern Region of Africa. We left Siyiapei bright and early so we were able to enjoy the sunrise over the beautiful Kenyan landscape on our ride there. When we arrived to the city we stopped at a cute little café called “The Mug” for a second breakfast and some yummy coffee. PJ brought us to the AIM office for chai time/prayer meeting after that. Being greeted by the group of smiling faces and having the opportunity to worship the Lord with them brought us a little taste of home. We got a lot of souvenir shopping done at the Maasai market, which takes a lot longer than your average shopping trip due to the extensive amount of bartering that must occur. This day was such a blessing to us because it was a little boost of energy to help us finish strong as we approach the end of our stay here.

Instead of working in the clinic on Friday, our team went for an immunization outreach to a Maasai village nearby. We traveled by car over many bumps, rocks, and ditches (it’s amazing what these taxi drivers can do) and arrived at a small school to set up our temporary clinic. The head school teacher informed us that word did not get out into the community ahead of time to let them know we would be there so she sent out a few students to run home to spread the news. While we were waiting for patients, we had the chance to speak with this head school teacher about the countless challenges that this school and this community face. She told us that the biggest challenge that her students face is hunger. Even the school sometimes does not have food to feed their students for lunch. The second greatest challenge they have is elephants. Elephants are very dangerous animals in the wild. They kill their crops and can hurt, sometimes even kill people as well. It was hard for us to hear her stories and to know how to respond to what she was telling us. Our response, and we ask that your response as well, will be to pray for the people of the Erusiai village. After our conversation with her, patients started trickling in. We ended up immunizing about 30 children!

 

 

 

Saturday was very leisurely. In the afternoon Fred and the youth pastor from the church we attend took us fishing! They made us our own fishing rods out of sticks, string, a little hook, and a piece of rubber for a buoy. We caught a couple “mad fish” and some frogs along the way. We screamed every time we pulled them out of the water. The mad fish became our dinner that night and were very tasty!  

 

On Sunday we had the great privilege of going to Maasai land, where Fred’s family is from. After we arrived and met some of his family, the men led us to their herd of goats so they could choose one to…slaughter for us! When they chose a good one, they led us into “the bush” to watch this important event occur. Usually goats are only slaughtered on special occasions so we felt honored that they wanted to do this for us. While we were watching the procedure it reminded all of us of dissecting animals in our anatomy and physiology classes J THEN Fred asked us very nicely if we would like to test the goat’s blood. We hesitantly agreed so we each took a little sip…what an experience! Following the slaughter we proceeded back to the little mud house for chai. The women of the family graced us with exquisite hand-made Maasai necklaces that we even got to keep as a reminder of this special day! We ate a LOT of food including: an appetizer of chicken then roasted goat, chapatti, rice, peas, boiled potatoes, and beef. Wow.

Today was a good, relaxing day at the clinic. It’s nice to be “back home” as the past few days were very busy. We ask that you pray that our team would finish strong during these last two weeks in Siyiapei.

Love to you all!

Alyssa