not tan, just dirty

so turns out all the blood work that the children had done, no one at the clinic can interpret the results. what? how does that even make sense? why administer a test that you can't understand the results of? has this never presented a problem before? so now they have to be sent to another doctor. this hitch was not mentioned when we set up these tests, only when we started to ask questions.

today i helped in the pharmacy at the government clinic (not the aforementioned clinic, which is a private, catholic institution). the patients just come to the pharmacist with their prescriptions and they are filled, at absolutely no charge. they don't have a lot of different types medication, aside from anti-malarials, dewormers, the medicine i was given - an antihistimine of sorts, an anti-psychotic, and vitamin A, so what isn't in stock or they havent received from the ministry of health has to be purchased at a private pharmacy. they also give out certain drugs for many different ailments. i learned that what i had been given for my allergic reaction is also given for fevers, headaches and colds. once again though, everything was recorded in these large register books. the lack of computers here is pretty astonishing, especially in the health care setting. the pharmacist asked how our government dealt with de-worming, as people need to take a de-wormer every three to six months. i had to explain to him that i had never, in all my life taken a de-wormer, and also that the government would have little involvement in that process.

the overall lack of conveniences here is so interesting. trying to explain to Jane, the laundry woman, who individually hand washes each piece of clothing, like seriously scrubbing (times 32 children with school uniforms!), rinses and hangs them to dry (sometimes on the barbed wire fence, which really gets me), that at home i put my dirty clothes into a machine, push a button, go do something else, come back later, move those clothes into a different machine, push another button and go do something else and when i come back my clothes are clean and dry was almost absurd. i really reflected on how much easier life is at home. washing dishes in a sink with running water, or even a dishwasher, cutting grass with lawn mowers (i daily see people on the side of the road with machetes, cutting away), and compiling information on computers (i have yet to see one computer at any clinic or school i have visited) are all luxuries that i easily take for granted. the one peice of convenience that is not lost on this country is cell phones. everyone has a cell phone. even people who dont have electricity to charge them can go to many a store and pay to charge their phones. we visited a local community based organization that provides free home based care to individuals in the area with HIV and also counseling to children who have lost their parents to HIV, and a woman who worked there, before we left, wanted to do a prayer. mid-way through her prayer her cell phone started ringing. she did not silence it or answer it, just kept on with the prayer, while her phone was ringing the whole time. and no one flinched. afterward "amen" she answered it and it was no big deal. when i sat in the consultation room with the doctor at the makuyu clinic a patient's phone started ringing and he answered it! while visiting the doctor for his cough! people just talk on cell phones anywhere and everywhere. there don't seem to be many social taboos surrounding it.

oh yay. im hungry and should try to find some food that isn't rice and beans or ugali and beans or maize and beans.