about 2 weeks left?! / PICTURE MANIA

Jambo! Below are a random collection of recent photos. I wish I could reveal all the pictures I've taken but for now this will have to do. Sorry for the bad lighting in some of them. I think the camera was a bit damaged after the wild rain storm in Uganda.

I had the privilege of going out to the field for 3 days with Dr. Charlotte (above) from Sweden, who has been working with MICH on her child malnutrition project for years. I was able to help out a bit and learn a lot about child/maternal health. We weighed hundreds of children under 5, some who had been previously weighed by her and some new ones. It's discouraging to find how many are malnourished when the knowledge and resources are there to prevent it. The amount of children in the rural areas especially is one of the most overwhelming and frustrating things. I won't let myself get going on it, but sadly, there are so many children born with no plan of how they will be cared for. On the brighter side, I am told these village groups have come a long way and there are far less malnourished children then there have been in the past and many unexpected survivors due to their being reached with information on how to mae use of their available resources to keep children healthy.

A group of school children who we stopped to say hello to and hear a song they had prepared for Dr. Charlotte.

A rare sight here actually: a camel in the country side.

We visited a few rural hospitals to see that the care for our project groups was available and sufficient. They mostly were but the Doctors are few for the amount of health problems. Each hospital was so crowded and filled with crying babies.

Typical scene of 1 of the 7 villages we visited with Dr. Charolotte's child malnutrition project.

Where else in the world can you make a big bowl of tasty, fresh guacamole for less than 50 cents? I love going to the rural markets and buying a bag of tomatoes, an avocado and purple onion with a 20 shilling coin = approx. 40 CDN cents.
Guitar lessons!....
....Turned into camera lessons once I allowed them to take a few 'snaps'. They quickly became distracted and filled my camera with very interesting shots.

This picture represents a story and a half. During the MICH farmers training conference I became friends with Jennifer and often held her baby for her. Jennifer is 20 like me and the mother of 3. She honestly wanted me to take her baby and asked on several occasions. It was a bit awkward, and very absurd. She told me she wouldn't miss her, she would just have another one in 2 months. She was trying to convince me that it's possible for anyone to breastfeed. Strange world. Don't worry, I'm not taking any babies home.

Cooking Ugali with the ladies in my Leso/Kanga, apparently a necessity.

In session on HIV and AIDS and how we need to eliminate the stigma of it in our societies.

The group of my new farmer friends.

Apparently I'm a strong African now. I walked a good distance with this sack of baskets over my head. However, no matter how hard I try I can't walk more than 3 steps hands free.
Celine is her young forest. She is nurturing her MICH plated trees so that in 10 years she will be rich and better able to support a family.

This little girl is named Eveleen. She is 9 years old weighing 12 kg's; the weight of a Canadian 1 year old. We found her and her mother at the hospital very unhappy. It broke my heart to see her crying and sitting there, clearly uncomfortable and wanting to be home. Her mother had finally decided to take her to the nearby hospital sometime last week in spite of the drunken father's refusal. Eveleen was diagnosed with TB, Malaria, Pnemonia, severe heart failure and she is very malnourished. She was given proper medication that should allow her to survive, but when we got there, she had had been discharged but the mother was unable to pay the hospital bill and therefore, it was continuing to rise. The bill was no problem for us to cover and we could take them home. She was so happy to be home again and smiled for the first time in this picture.
I taught these children to say 'Hello Canada!' and that's what they're saying in this 'snap'.
This Equator indicator is a 3 minute walk away from our office in Maseno. Yes it is very hot.


I am loving the hot, loving the people, loving the food, loving the daily adventures, loving the mental stimulation, mostly loving the unpredictability of every day, but missing home from time to time. I've been told Edmonton is getting darn cold and that I dread and may not adapt well. There are challenges and things that happen that I can't understand, but I believe God is giving me the strength I need. My priority here so far has been to learn. That has undoubtedly been accomplished while gathering a plethora of crazy experiences.

See some of you very soon! I'm excited for Christmas because I can't seem to visualize what it will be like from here. I think I might die from the cold but at least I'll be warmed by being with my dear friends and family again. :)

Kwahere.