woah, the internet.

well, turns out there is a internet cafe closer than thika that is also a faster connection. yay! i love you kenol!

yesterday i did field work again, and we walked about ten miles to a village to visit the guardians of sponsored children and let them know of a gathering at the orphanage. these people live on so little a day and have so little possessions and i have to wonder what keeps them going. but most of these people probably dont know a different life. they have no clue that it exists. and they seem genuinely happy. its incredible.

today i went to the clinic again. i started in the maternity ward, and was apalled that they didnt have gloves, so they make the women coming in to have babies(!) bring them. there is so much information on the walls about administering ARVs (antiretrovirals? - meds for HIV+ people), with, obviously good reason. there are no computers, so everything is written in a book-like register, which is just so foreign to me.

then i was in the AIDS counseling/testing room. there was a prostitute who came in and tested negative and a young boy who also tested negative. they gave the prostitute 100 condoms. the boy asked me how i refrain from having sex - there is a rich older woman who is making advances at him and offering him money. i suggested masterbation, but was later told that this is not encouraged, which kind of made me feel embarrassed for making a cultural boo-boo, and kind of upset me, because i dont know why you would tell people not to have sex, and also not to masterbate. maybe thats just me.

the matatu, the form of transport here, is a cultural experience in itself. its a ramshackle "bus" with 14 seats. but they pack as many people in as they can. i've counted 28 at one point, so it gets intense. i honestly cant tell if it is just to make more money, or so that no one gets left behind. i bet its a combination of both. but its incredible because children just sit on random people's laps, ladies will have people (strangers, not people they know) hold their purses and babies as they get on and off, and that is perfectly normal. i cant explain it well, and im overwhelmed by the internet, but its really just so different in the states. most people would not put their child on someones lap who they did not know on public transportation, and certainly would not give them their purse to hold.

life at the orphanage is good. its funny that it is friday and i will be going to sleep around 9. hard work during the days, and nt a lot to do except read and play with the children in the evening. it is getting to be the winter, which is just funny, because it is so darned hot.

this was all over the place, i dont even know if anyone is readin this, but its fun to write about anyway.