I am fine!

Since arriving in Mutomo we have had our fair share of adventures in miscommunication. We thought we would share some of the fun and funny phrases and terms that we have learned here.

For example: 

Children here are taught English in school and the greeting they are taught is "How are you" and the response is "I am fine." The fact that so many people know at least a little bit of English has been really amazing and helpful. However, many people seem to only know this one phrase. So, it is very common to walk down the street and hear "muzungu... how are you?" It is also very common to be walking along and have someone just say "I am FINE." (It usually sounds really abrupt and angry for some reason, but they are probably trying to be freindly.) Northe has started answering these people with "Well, hello to you too," while Meg usually just says, "well that's good."

Instead of saying that their children have fever at home, parents will just say the children have "malaria" but the clinical staff here will describe it in their notes as "Hotness of the body." So far, meg, northe and luara have luckily not had the "hotness of the body."

As you may have noticed in our previous post, we have tried a lot of new foods here, but what we didn't mention is the way people describe foods. Basically anything that tastes good is "sweet." So everything from the donuts we have at teatime to the goat meat they describe as "sweet." However, the one thing that tastes really sweet to us in this cider drink that they call "snapp" but when we said it was sweet they say, "no it is strong." Go figure. 

When asked how his very ill son was doing every morning there was one dad who consistently said every morning: "My son is very very stupid..." Meg thought this was a little odd, but would just nod her head and continue her rounds. Then on the the last day when his son was better and getting ready to be discharged, the man said "Now my son is very very smart!" Apparently "smart" is more of a catch-all word meaning good or well but apparently also well dressed.

Whenever Laura or Northe or Meg wear a new outfit that someone else likes, they will say that we look "smart."

Laura,Meg and Northe looking "very smart" in there newly made Kenyan outfits. It is very difficult to get people here to smile in photos so the first photo is a kenyan style photo, then in Grala-family fashion, we took one funny one. 

Pass the Ugali

Every good meal starts at the market. There you can buy everything you need for nutritious and delicious eats with an African flair. The biggest market is on Saturday and it's then that we stock up on food for the week. Tomatoes, onions, garlic, green peppers, etc. and the occasional new vegetable we've never tried before. For example, they sell what they call 'pumpkins' that to us look like miniature watermelons and taste like squash. The stall tenders also sell lemons that look like limes, but are actually lemons. The lemon/limes were a great addition to our signature guacamole and homemade salsa. Side note, the Scandinavians frequently confuse the name Guatemala with guacamole, FYI.  

Omelet dinner. 

During the week we make dinner at home using fresh market ingredients and are very thankful to have an ex-chef on board (Northe).  

It's also very helpful to have a doctor on board (Meg), especially when someone chops their finger (Laura).  Go team! 

This past weekend, after church, we invited Titus and his family over for American/Italian spaghetti with a homemade red sauce. All ingredients were purchased at the market.  

Cooking the sauce. 

Tobias enjoying pasta and sauce. There weren't many left overs.

Eating out is an adventure. Here in Mutomo it is custom to order your food by phone an hour before arriving at the restaurant. This is because all food is made fresh to order and takes at least an hour or more for the cooks to prepare. All ingredients are bought fresh from the market, with the meat slaughtered daily and produce picked fresh. Needless to say, we're never really sure what we've ordered and how much we've ordered after hanging up the phone. So far it's worked out in our favor!

Northe & Meg out for their anniversary dinner. 

Before we knew about the phoning ahead protocol, we stopped into a local pub for a drink and chips (french fries) with our Swedish friends. Since the cooks were not prepared to make french fries, the owner left to get take-away chips from another restaurant. She showed up with salted chips wrapped in newspaper and individual packets of Kenyan ketchup, which is much sweeter than Heinz. The impressive customer service made them taste that much better.

Chips at a local watering hole. 

When we're not cooking at home or eating out in the town, we head down to the small kitchen here on the hospital grounds called 'the canteen'. It is probably comparable to a US hospital cafeteria. The canteen serves our sukuma wiki, stews with meat, rice, green grams, and chips. We are pretty sure they make the chips just for Northe. Green grams are what they call green lentils here. The name "green grams" is derived from the fact that each lentil weighs 1 gram. Ugali, which is a dish of maize flour (cornflour) cooked with water to a porridge or dough-like consistency is typically served with whatever it is you order. At the canteen they make ugali in a pizza/pie shape and then cut it into individual slices to serve. It is Laura's favorite.

Meg and Laura enjoying some Ugali. 

We also head to the canteen with the rest of the hospital staff every morning around 10:00 am for our tea break. We've come to really enjoy the traditional Kenyan tea, which is very sweet and made with whole milk. At tea time they serve delicious donuts, goat samosas, and hard boiled eggs. 

Tea time. 

Top of the Town

Yesterday we went on an amazing hike... which would have including some serious rock-climbing if it was up to Laura and Northe... but instead included bush-waking through the foliage and scaling a rock face to get to be the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th muzungus (and probably people) to climb to the "top of Mutomo."

After work we met up with our new Swedish friends and a man named "David Beckham" who claims he is the best guide in Mutomo. 

 

Headed out on the trail to to summit on the right, and the big rock on the left. 

David led us down the road, up a rock face and then straight up into the lush bushes and foliage. The hillsides of Mutomo are currently green because it is the rainy season, we've heard that most of the year it's very dry and brown. Northe gave David the Panga (machete) which he had recently purchased in the market. David chopped and slashed our way through the trees. We expected to see (or feel) snakes around every corner and up every tree but somehow made it without incident. 

Watching out for snakes.

Laura climbing up through the bush. 

As the trees cleared we found ourselves on the top of the rocks overlooking the whole of Mutomo. The vast plains and hills were all around us. 

It was actually shocking how far we could see and the variety of plains, hills, and jutting rock-faces that make up the near by topography. We scrambled across the top of the rocks to see Mutomo from above as well as its multiple dams now full with water. 

The whole team on top of Mutomo's highpoint.

Our fearless guide, David Beckham.

Laura found some time to do some yoga.

Northe & Meg overlooking Mutomo.

Not only did David prove to be an excellent navigator, he also pointed out local flora and fauna for us. 

Trying some cactus "milk".

The descent was no less thrilling as we hiked through knee-high fields of morning-glories into the neat crops of a local couple who had built their home up in the hillside. 

Walking through the shamba (farm) on the way down.

David showed us the local wildlife, including monkeys who had been transplanted here from the Masai Mara National Park (because they had grown too numerous there) and the giant arthropods that he called pets (but we thought looked more like a monster of some kind). 

A monkey in the distance (look closely).

Even Eddie enjoyed the trip.

We finally made it to a dirt road that led us through the surrounding farmland full of maize, millet, sorghum, peppers, beans and greens. We had to speed walk home for the last portion of the hike to make it in time for our evening dinner plans which included a feast to celebrate the last night in Mutomo of some of our friends: Margareta, the Swedish Dentist and Alexander, the Norwegan Surgeon.

Telling jokes in many different accents. 

The day was amazing and the night went far too long into the night as we shared various international jokes and too many boxes of wine.

Our home in Mutomo

Just a quick video post today, it only took us 3 hours to upload this one minute video. Enjoy!

Work hard, play hard.

Saturday morning began at 12 am when Dr. Alexander called Meg and Laura in for an emergency C-section. It was Laura’s first time scrubbing for a surgery – ever. Dr. Alexander said she might as well go all in rather than observe in the corner. But observe she did. The surgical team had Laura stand right up at the operating table to assist Dr. Alexander and within 2 minutes, she had to take a seat in the corner. She tried to stand back up again and again, but within a couple of minutes she had to sit. She tried not to be too hard on herself – it was about 100 degrees in there and they were dressed head to toe in caps and gowns. Mosquitoes were buzzing around their heads and Dr. Alexander wasn’t wearing shoes. 

Meg stayed to help with baby resuscitation (and perhaps to make sure Laura didn’t fall over) and it’s a good thing she did because right after the first was born, a second baby was delivered in the Maternity ward and a third was scheduled for an emergency C-section. 

In between Cesareans, Laura and Dr. Alexander quickly went to suture a nasty gash from a late night Boda Boda (motorcycle) accident. It was now well past 1 am. 

The second C section went much better for Laura. In fact, by the end her stomach let her stand long enough to help the surgeon stitch everything up! Now 3 am and 3 babies later, they finally went home to get a couple hours of sleep.

Our kitchen with Meg & Northe getting ready for a night on the town. 

Saturday night

When hiking up the backdrop of Mutomo last week, we met two Swedish who are doing a research project on technology use in the schools here. They invited us to go to a hotel/bar called Stress Free on Saturday night.  Since Meg and Laura’s morning was quite full of stress, the three mzungu’s thought it might be nice to enjoy dinner there as well. It was amazing. Roasted goat, roasted potatoes, rice, chicken – and it fact dinner at Stress-free also turned out to be Soy-free!  (Laura is allergic to Soya).  

The night proceeded to get more and more interesting after a mistaken bottle service (the waitress brought the three of us a liter of gin, which we returned of course) and a crowd of celebrities (really just a man who goes by David Beckham).  When Northe was introducing himself to the new friends, Richard was mistaken for ‘Mr. Fishwood’ and Meg was mistaken for I don’t even know what. The three mzungu’s learned that when someone asks you to go for a ‘Quickie’ they really mean a quick dance on the dance floor and phrase ‘Thanks a million’ never gets old.  As the night grew to morning again, the manager of the bar insisted the we be escorted home.  And so he had Joshua, a colleague of Northe’s on the maintenance crew, escort them back to their home in exchange for a beer.

Good thing we ate our sukuma wiki – we for sure extended the week.

Wildlife in Mutomo

In an attempt to answers some more of your questions, we have written a few short stories about the animals we've seen in Mutomo.

A Snake in the Medical Ward.

You may have noticed a picture of Anita with a dead snake. Here is it’s story: Yesterday morning we were at our usually scheduled tea break (if you come to Mutomo hospital around 10am you will find hardly anyone in the hospital as all the staff take a tea break and we can be found in the canteen instead). 

Tea Break

Northe was having his samosa, Laura was having her hardboiled eggs and Meg was enjoying her tea and donut when someone came in and said: “there is a snake in the medical ward". While you might have expected everyone to run away, it was the complete opposite as we all ran in one giant group to the ward. There was a man in the ward standing on the walkway over a drainage ditch in a battle with the snake who was hiding under the walkway. The man was poking the snake with a broom and it seemed to be getting more and more angry. Eventually it came out and stood up about 3 feet off the ground. The man continued to hit it with the broom until the broom broke and he continued to hit it with the broken stick. Eventually the man won and the snake was dead. Apparently in the local culture there is a custom that you can never let a snake leave alive. The most amazing thing about this whole story besides the fact that the was killed with a broom, is that the man who killed the snake was actually a patient.

The photo of the snake again

2 tales of unusual pets.

1. Laura was in her office the other day and a giant beetle-type bug came walking in. She thought the bug was scary looking and her office mates thought she was very funny. They decided to keep the bug as an office pet. We will call him Eddie.

Eddie the Bug

2. As some of you may know, Meg has an irrational fear of birds. So, it was quite fitting that when she came back to the nursery ward yesterday after lunch the nurse had a surprise for her. She had caught a Zungululu and was holding it in her hands. A zungululu is a small bird that looks kind of like a swallow, and when it is small it has some beautiful yellow feathers. The whole ward had a good laugh at Meg hiding from the bird because as they put it she was “fearing.” To Meg’s surprise instead of planning to release the bird, Bretta was planning to take it home to her daughter as a playmate. Meg did not like the idea of the nurse and the patients playing with a bird all afternoon so she had them keep it in a drawer until it was time to go home. We named her “Lulu.”

Nurse Bretta with her new pet

What if you marry a camel herder?

One of Meg’s patients lives in a tribe that sounds like they are nomadic and raise camels. The little boy drinks nothing except for camel’s milk. When Meg seemed surprised that they were drinking camel milk, the father had many questions for her. He was shocked to learn that Meg did not have camels, and in fact had never had camel milk. He was even more surprised that Meg had no interest in raising camels. His next logical question was: “what will you do if you marry a camel herder?” to which Meg replied: “Luckily I am already married and my husband does not have any camels… at least not yet.”

Aside from these close encounters with our animal friends there are several other animals we see every day including: goats, donkeys, cows, chickens, feral cats & dogs and various birds and bugs of all shapes an sizes. In fact some of the bugs look more like small dinosaurs. 

And finally...

Questions, questions, questions!

Here we go with an attempt to answer the questions that everyone has passed along. If you think of any more, feel free to post them in the comments section.

Are there any other foreigners working with you?

Yes, there are 4 other mzungus working at the hospital. There are 3 that are here for a relatively short period of time, and one who has been here for 13 years. They are:
-Alexander, a Norwegian Urologist (but more of a general surgeon here) on a 6 week trip
-Margarite, a Swedish Dentist, on a 6 week trip with the Swedish Rotary

Meg, Alexander and Margarite

-Maria, an American Colo-Rectal Surgeon (also more of a general surgeon here) who has been here for 4 months. She initially came for 6 weeks but decided to stay.
and
-Anita, an Irishwomen who runs the hospital's Comprehensive Care Clinic, which treats and councils long term patients of HIV, TB and other infectious diseases. She has been here for 13 years and is the de facto fundraiser for the hospital.

Anita taking a photo of a snake that was killed today by a patient

What is the most unexpected thing for the each of you?

-Northe- I think the weather, it's much cooler than I expected, probably due to the elevation. It was a pleasant surprise, as I was expecting it to be very hot and muggy. It's still muggy after it rains, but the nights are bearable for sleeping and there is often a cooling breeze.

-Meg- I've found the acuity and variety of the patients to be the most surprising. We see everything from snake bites to malaria to broken arms.

-Laura- I think it's the terrain. I wish I had brought my rock climbing shoes. There are some cool looking rocky crags that would be fun to climb. It's very pretty, I was expecting it to be very flat and not so green.

Laura walking around a small dam with rocks in the background

Any more details on our hikes/runs into the hills and did you see anything other than ants?

-As Laura mentioned, the topography is much different than we anticipated. It makes for some nice views. We've even caught a glimpse of Kilimanjaro a few times on a clear morning or evening far off in the distance to the southwest. The closest comparison to a place in the US that we've heard is that it's very similar to Sedona, AZ in the spring when everything is green. Makes sense given the elevation and relatively arid climate.

-One of the things that distinguishes the area surrounding Mutomo from rural areas in the USA is that there are people living and working across the countryside. There isn't really any place that is truly 'wild' where you would expect to see wildlife. We have seen plenty of crazy bugs, lots of goats, donkeys, chickens, dogs, cats, and a fair number of birds. The dogs and cats aren't kept as pets though. When we told some people that Americans keep cats and dogs in their house, they were shocked.

Some goats, with the hills above the town in the background

Where is the washer machine?

-The washing machine is our hands, a bucket and a bar of soap. Our dryer is the sunshine. Though, that is a work in progress, as sometimes the "dryer" doesn't cooperate and our clothes get rewashed on the line.

What is growing in all the fields?

Maize, pumpkins, tomatoes and greens among other things. There are also vast swathes of morning glory, the white flowers you can see on the ground.

Morning glory

How far to the nearest city? What is the population?

Mutomo is capital of Mutomo district. There are approximately 17,000 people living in the city, and about 100,000 living in the district. But, it doesn't feel anywhere near that big, as all the structures are one story and you can walk through town in 10 minutes. The nearest 'city' is Kitui, which is the capital of Kitui County, which includes Mutomo District. Kitui is 70 km away, but the drive can take up to 2 hours because of poor roads. The tarmac (pavement) ends just outside of Kitui, and it's a rough ride to Mutomo.

A streetscape of Mutomo Town

Things Laura's Mom doesn't want to know....

There is a myth that all bad things come in threes. In the last 3 days Meg saw three broken tibias in the clinic and there are three broken bolts on the bore-hole(water well) alternator that Northe is repairing. But, Laura's stories are the most exciting. Laura had three near death experiences today, each more exciting than the last. 

1. While working in the lab today Laura was about to draw a patient's blood when she and her colleage heard a woman screaming outside. They went to investigate and there was a woman blubbering nonsense and wandering around. She immediately set her sights on Laura and cornered her against the wall where she proceeded to scream incomprehensible words at first but then started yelling about slavery. Have no fear, the lab team came to the rescue and escorted the woman away. Unfortunately the woman and her story remain a mystery to us since the only explanation for the event was that the woman was "crazy," which was explained to us but multiple people whirling their finger next to the side of their head. 

Laura working in the lab. 

2. Laura and Meg decided to head out on an evening run today after work. As you may or may not know, the streets of Kenya are often filled with Boda-bodas (motor bikes used like taxis), which are laden with all manner of people and animals and things. We saw one today with two goats sandwiched between two men, and one with a full family of 4 on it, but the scariest are the ones that seem to be driving 100 miles an hour expecting that everyone and everything will move out of there way. This is also complicated by the fact that it is rainy season and the drivers swerve all over the road to find the flattest place to drive... unfortunately this is also the place Meg and Laura chose to run. It is pretty easy to imagine how this lead to a couple near misses for Laura.

3. This episode we call "The Tabasco Incident." Yes, that Tabasco. The one made in Louisana. Of course we found it here in Kenya and use on our food to spice things up. We were enjoying our delicious dinner of pigeon peas and green pumpkin, with just a splash or tobasco on top for flavor. Laura wanted to enjoy every last drop and used her finger to clean her plate. As we sat back to reminisce about our day Laura jumped up and ran to the bathroom saying her eye was burning. She was sure she would go blind from some exotic African disease, chemical or contaminant when Meg and Northe came to the rescue with clean water to wash her eye and the perfect explanation for the burning. All Laura could say was "thank god this was something that could have happened in the US." Don't worry her eye is fine and we went on to enjoy a beautiful star-filled night sky, albeit after washing our hands.

"Saving" Laura's eye from the tabasco.

Meanwhile, while Laura was having quite the exciting day, Meg and Northe went about their jobs.

Meg with a successfully treated patient.

Northe working on the 3 phase alternator for the bore-hole pump.

And here is a map of the different places that we visit around Mutomo. Click on the blue place markers to see what is what and drag the map around. 

View Mutomo Mzungus in a larger map

Sukuma Wiki (Push the Week)

We're now 2 full working days in and starting to get into the rhythm of day to day life in Mutomo. Our day normally starts at 5:00am with the local mosque's call to prayer. That's followed shortly by the weaver birds who've made their home in the tree right outside our windows and start their sweet melodies at 6:00am with the sunrise. Needless to say, we've been going to bed early.

As we mentioned before, each of us is working in different parts of the hospital.

The front of the hospital

Obviously Meg is working mostly in the pediatric wing, but she has seen her fair share of time in the "operating theatre" at all hours of the day and night.

Meg at work in the pediatric ward.

Laura has been helping in the lab drawing blood and running tests for Malaria, TB, etc, as well as helping with administrative work related to medical records. While she's very accustomed to phlebotomy work in her role back home, it's a big adjustment working here in Mutomo.

Northe has been meeting with some of the leadership staff to being work on grant writing and other fundraising related activities. He has also spending part of his afternoon with the maintenance department. So far, he's climbed trees to string telephone wire and is in the middle of a water pumping station alternator rebuild with the other maintenance staff. Most importantly to all of us, he helped install a replacement refrigerator and repaired the screens to help keep the bugs out at our house.

Our late afternoons and evenings bring a visit to the market to further make our house a home and pick up supplies for dinner. The food has been great, we've been cooking every day so far and it's worked out well. Read about some of what we're eating.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukuma_wiki

Pasta with veggies from the market. Sukuma Wiki (collard greens), tomatos, onion and garlic

We've been fortunate that our neighbors are friendly and have invited us over a number of times to socialize. So far it's been an adjustment from life back home, but we're settling in very nicely.

Our Day of Rest, but not really.

Sunday was a busy day for us, we had only been in Mutomo for 1 full day, but there was still plenty for us to do. 

Sunday Morning:

Meg and Laura got up for 8 am mass with the rest of Mutomo, although many go to various churches in the town. There was lots of singing, clapping, and swaying – the music was beautiful! They even had a bird flying around inside for special effects (really though, he was either stuck or eating the bugs on the ceiling). After they were invited to tea at the Sister’s convent.

Northe went for a 2 hour long walk with a doctor and dentist through the bush and mountains of Mutomo. The views were incredible, and many small children followed them as they walked past their farms. They also saw some safari ants, which move together in a large group all at one time. 

Safari Ants

Walking, notice the baobab tree on the right. 

First Laundry Attempt:

Overall, it went great. Hand washing all your laundry on the back porch is not as easy as it sounds. After 2 hours, we finally hung up our clothes on the line, just as it started to rain. And then pour. In a place that had gone 13 months without rain we certainly have seen our fair share already. 

Doing Laundry

Sunday Night Dinner:

We had homemade guacamole with fried rice. The market strangely has all the ingredients for guac; avocados, chilis, tomatos, onion, garlic, cilantro, and limes. The four avocados we used were huge and the equivalent of about 8 Hass avocados. We decided it was going to go bad if we didn’t eat it all so we decided to finish it all in one sitting. Fortunately we didn’t get sick! This is our first time eating raw vegetables from the Market and so we washed them in water with a drop of bleach to clean the outsides.