I just woke up. I can't believe it's 12:30 in the PM!!!!!!!! Sarabeth and I are sleeping on what I like to call the hot dog bun. See picture. SB asked what side of the bed I wanted but I don't think it mattered. We woke up at about 1am to the sounds of two dogs having a heated conversation and a disaproving baby waling at the same time. It sounded like the five of us were all IN the hot dog bun together. I finally fell back asleep but ended up waking myself up not long after with what Sarabeth called “snarling”. I was having a dream that my pointer finger had a flesh eating virus but that the handsome doctor was going to take care of it by sticking a needle in it and then groping me. AAHhhhhh! I have heard that my anti-malarias will give me vivid dreams. It's funny...I'm not taking them yet.
Sarabeth claims that her pillow is not a pillow and that we'll be needing to fix that today. I am feeling surprisingly perky today and very happy that our stomachs are adjusting well to the new meals of liver and rice. I am feeling a little anxious about the clothes I have chosen for the hospital so I need to buy some new “trousers”. I'm not sure why I packed to look like the chiquita banana woman. That is not going to work.
several hours later...
We went to Nakumatt, the grocery store/flip flop store/trouser store/electronics store. It was like the Kenyan version of a Michigander Meijer. Fantastic. We bought food for the week to include the staples. You know...cereal, milk, fruit, sandwich supplies, and of course more liver and some goat meat. Oh yeah, and I bought some pants. They are perfect and I will wear them everyday. They cost around $6 US.
I am in need of a shower at the moment. In Nairobi they ration the water mid-week between Tuesday and Thursday so beginning Wednesday morning, we didn't have enough for a shower. I'm not really worried though because I always smell like roses.
SB and I had a very interesting conversation this afternoon with Mercy regarding the medical community in Nairobi and more generally in Kenya. She said that for 38 million Kenyans, there are only about 6,000 trained doctors and after most leave the country or work in private hospitals, there are only about 1,500 doctors serving the public. The hospitals are painfully understaffed and one physician could easily be called in to take care of a “casualty” or emergency where 100 patients arrive at the same time. ONE DOCTOR!!! Mercy is a bright, youthful, 21 year old and she hides much of her witness to the trauma. She told a story of a young woman that needed blood so badly that Mercy herself was the donor. From that moment on she decided she must keep herself more guarded and emotionally further from her patients. Continuing in the same fashion would wash her out and she wouldn't last. She has told us to be prepared for what we will see. This could (and I think will be) the most difficult and enlightening experience of our lives.
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