I spent this morning at Kenyatta Hospital, this gigantic concrete complex that is apparently the largest hospital in East Africa. Sarakasi has a program there where they bring in performers and clowns to sing songs, perform, and play with the kids in the pediatric wards. Many of the kids staying in the wards have been there for months or even years, and hardly ever get a chance to go outside or interact with anyone other than their families and the hospital staff. And many of their families stay at the hospitals with them, so there are rooms and rooms packed with 20 beds and tons of kids and family members.
The kids were absolutely adorable- especially this tiny girl named Suzie, who followed me around all morning. A guy named Steve and I, went around to the different rooms of the kids who couldn’t get out of bed, with puppets, but most of the other kids could come down to the playroom to watch the clowns perform and color and run around. But being there was also definitely the hardest thing I’ve done here so far. There were kids with malaria and AIDS, and in one of the wards we visited, all of the kids had cancer. Lots of them had so much energy, it was hard to believe they were sick, but some of them would sit there and cry and cry. The other terrible thing was there was a whole room of children who had been abandoned at the hospital. The nurses feed and care for them, but with only a few nurses for hundreds of kids, they really don’t get much attention at all.
That particular program through Sarakasi is running low on funding, so I’m not sure how much I’ll be back in the next couple of weeks, but I was really glad to actually get to go out and see it for myself.
The kids were absolutely adorable- especially this tiny girl named Suzie, who followed me around all morning. A guy named Steve and I, went around to the different rooms of the kids who couldn’t get out of bed, with puppets, but most of the other kids could come down to the playroom to watch the clowns perform and color and run around. But being there was also definitely the hardest thing I’ve done here so far. There were kids with malaria and AIDS, and in one of the wards we visited, all of the kids had cancer. Lots of them had so much energy, it was hard to believe they were sick, but some of them would sit there and cry and cry. The other terrible thing was there was a whole room of children who had been abandoned at the hospital. The nurses feed and care for them, but with only a few nurses for hundreds of kids, they really don’t get much attention at all.
That particular program through Sarakasi is running low on funding, so I’m not sure how much I’ll be back in the next couple of weeks, but I was really glad to actually get to go out and see it for myself.
Then this afternoon, I had my class on Development of Culture in Kenya class, which is pretty exciting to be done with- since it’s three hours long and the last thing we have to do on a Friday afternoon. And this weekend we’re all looking forward to even more than usual because we’re going on a Safari at Masai Mara. (It’s supposed to be a really great time to go because right now is the middle of the wildebeest migration, and I literally cannot wait!) Our bus comes and picks us up at 6:30 tomorrow morning, and then we drive 6 hours, through the Rift Valley, to where we’re staying. I think we get to go on three or four game drives and we’re staying at the lodge there for two nights. I’m definitely planning on taking a lot of pictures (and I promise I’ll figure out someway to actually post them!)
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