December 15th, 2019 by Daniel Russo

This weekend we have been on call. Thankfully call is very light (especially compared to our in-hospital call back home). It’s generally taken from home via cell phone and only requires you to return to the hospital if there is a patient who has acutely worsened or if the CO/MO’s presentation is not clear enough. The presentations we have received over the phone have been more than thorough (although not very concise) and for the most part the interns have a reasonable plan that only requires slight adjustments. With our remaining time this weekend we have been able to fit in some fun as well as explore a bit.

Yesterday we did a bit of shopping at the local market. It is set up in a building’s lower level right outside the hospital. While it doesn’t have much in terms of prepared foods or frozen meat (both of which can be picked up from the Duka (shop) across the street), there is an abundance of vegetables, as well as tortillas and samosas imported from the capital. Our goal however was to shop at the various souvenir and craft stands towards the back of the market. However, as soon as we enter (and are the only customers in the shop), the food vendors immediately began calling out to us. Now we already have enough vegetables from previous trips to the market to comfortably last the rest of our time here. Times are currently tough for the ladies that run the market stands, though, as many of the missionaries are on leave for the holidays and the boarding school in town is empty on Christmas break. The cash flow at the market has clearly diminished. We were immediately offered tortillas upon entering. I offered to buy 4 which was met with a scoff and the shopkeepers insisting I buy at least 20. 20 tortillas it is. We then pushed to the back of the store and did some Christmas shopping. At the stand closest to the food vendors, I was discussing pricing with the shopkeeper when one of the vegetable vendors approached Elaina and said, “please it would make me so happy if you just bought some carrots.” She indicated a bucket containing a dozen large carrots for $1. That’s pretty hard to say no to, although we have at least as many carrots waiting on our counter at home. Fast forward to later that evening. In order to get a cross breeze through the house we opened our kitchen window as well as the living room window. As I sat on the couch I heard a squeak and saw a Syke’s monkey had entered the kitchen through the barred window, grabbed two carrots and ran back outside. Like I said, we are in no shortage of carrots so we were not upset. We just wish that he had grabbed some tortillas as well.

Today we started our morning by walking to church. Today marks the first 24 hour period that we have been here that it has not rained. The roads are starting to dry (as they are predominantly dirt roads) and it was a pleasant walk through the wooded lane. AIC Kijabe Mission Church is much larger than I had anticipated (with a sanctuary as big as our home churches). They offer two services, one in English and one in Swahili. The English service was very well attended, nearly filling the pews. This may have been in part due to parents coming to see their children performing their Christmas skit and songs today. It was interesting to see the children playing shepherds holding what were probably actual shepherds’ staffs and wearing Maasai blankets around their shoulders as the shepherds in the valley do.

After church we made lunch which believe it or not contained a large amount of carrots. We then met up with Dr. Caire who had offered to give us a tour of the boarding school on site, Rift Valley Academy. The school is surprisingly huge with separate Elementary, middle, and high school buildings as well as dormitories for the boarding students and multiple sports areas including a gymnasium, outdoor basketball court, racquetball courts, and a rugby field with the best view we have seen in Kijabe. We saw the cornerstone to the original school building which had been placed by Teddy Roosevelt while on his safaris through Africa. After the tour, Dr. Caire led us on a hike along the road to Old Kijabe. Since there is excellent cell reception here we were able to go even though we were still on call. At one point we made a detour down to a collection of caves which were of historical significance. They had been used as a camp by the Kenyan freedom fighters during the Mau Mau rebellion in the 60s. Unfortunately the path was quite muddy and Elaina and I both slipped and fell multiple times. As we approached the end of the trail leading to the caves we could hear a man yelling loudly in Swahili within. Now, given that it’s Sunday and preaching can be a bit boisterous here the most likely explanation was that some sort of preaching was taking place within the caves. Given the location’s historical connection to anti-Wazungu (white people) sentiment, the agitated sound of the speaker, and our inability to ascertain what he was saying, we decided to turn back and forego the caves. A few slips later we were back on the main trail. The hike was a total of 4 miles with a total climb of the equivalent of 45 flights of stairs. At 7000+ feet above sea level, it was certainly a work out.