We’re back in Kapsowar after the weekend away, and it’s strange how much it felt like coming back home (don’t worry, it’s still not home home). If I didn’t already know I was in Africa, the weekend in Pokot confirmed it. East Pokot (Lodengo is the name of the village) is pretty much how I pictured Africa before I came here. It’s very very dry (the fact that we’re toward the end of dry season doesn’t help), with scraggly thorn trees and acacias and low level brush (also thorny). We decided while down in the valley that Africa’s just a dangerous place—dangerous animals, insects that carry dangerous diseases, dangerous plants that like to stick you, and probably dangerous people. The Pokot people are very traditional, and still lead fairly traditional lifestyles.
One of my favorite sights on the trip (which unfortunately I couldn’t get a picture of) was a man dressed all up in tribal garb: bright colorful cloth worn rather like a toga, beads at the neck and wrist, big earrings, sharp spear-looking stick. The rather random additions to his wardrobe were a camouflage baseball hat and a cell phone. Quite the 21st century African warrior! Many of the women in Pokot wore the usual skirt, but with bright fabric capes worn over one shoulder and big earrings in huge holes in the ears (some of the older women had ear lobes down to their shoulders, no joke). One of them wore a goat skin, which she graciously allowed me to try on and take a photo with. She didn’t want her picture taken because she thought the camera would bewitch her…apparently a pretty common view among the older crowd. A lot of the men also wore skirts and carried big sticks (apparently a man should not be without a big stick—what would happen if they came across a snake in the bush and didn’t have a stick with them?). They also carried little seats with them: basically a flat bottom, short stick connected, with a cradle like seat. Very small, compact, and ideal for the thorny ground. The main industry of the Pokot of Lodengo is goat herding, and goats are everywhere. From what I can tell, they’re mainly looked after by the children, who also carry sticks to herd them. There was one adorable little girl (maybe 4?) who was carrying a stick twice her height and “helping” with the goats. We had a goat spraying party this morning, and I took way too many pictures of all the kids.
So that’s a bit of the Pokot culture/background. On Saturday we drove the four hours down into the valley from Kapsowar. I have a feeling it wouldn’t have taken as long, but just about all the roads are unpaved, steep, rocky, and generally pretty poor driving conditions. I was told over and over that the roads were greatly improved, so I don’t want to think about what they used to be like. It still wasn’t too bad of a trip. We were fed almost immediately (by Kenyan standards, which means within the hour) on what was the staple meal over the weekend: ugali, cabbage (a treat), and goat stew. The goat was actually delicious—it’s probably the best meat I’ve had since I’ve been here. They apparently slaughtered a goat in our honor. At lunch we had delicious chapattis; at dinner the menu was altered to include rice (which oddly enough tasted buttery; as they don’t use butter, I have no idea what the flavoring actually came from. It was delicious, so I’m asking no questions).
After lunch we went over to the church (nursery school during the week) so have an initial Come to Jesus talk (sorry, there’s just no better way to describe it). I think many of the clinic patrons were already church members, so there was some really enthusiastic singing and prayers. We all had to stand up and introduce ourselves (I managed to get my introduction done in Swahili—I’m learning!). After the 4 female med students were introduced, there was apparently some debate in Pokot about how many camels our parents would want to marry us off. I’m glad whoever was speaking on our behalf managed to dissuade anyone of that notion. Once the service was done, we moved on to the clinic. The one of the other med students, a translator, and I ran the prenatal clinic over in the corner of the church behind a pair of sheets for privacy. We had 11 expectant mothers, about half with urinary tract infections and/or yeast infections, one with malaria, and one with pica (where you crave and eat dirt, usually due to iron deficiency). I can safely say I never saw malaria or pica on my OB/GYN rotation back home!
What was also different was that most of our patients didn’t know their ages. We saw a few who looked young—maybe 16 or 17—who were pregnant with their first, and several who were on baby #7. We saw our patients, consulted the actual physicians as needed, and prescribed a lot of multivitamins and iron. The afternoon moved pretty quickly, and I had a lot of fun. We had a walk to a “spring” after clinic ended—basically a hole in the ground with a bit of very dirty water. That’s apparently the closest water source the people have…not good. We had dinner (same as lunch, plus rice), then there was a service of encouragement for the budding Pokot church. The sleeping arrangements were pretty interesting. We had 3 twin mattresses and a row of couch cushions for 7 women, so we were all sleeping pretty close in the pastor’s house. I had mentioned last week that we take running water for granted; well, I also take flush toilets for granted. We had no running water (they pour water from a jug over hands to wash them) and only an outdoor pit toilet. Definitely my first experience with a pit toilet, and I like our Western flush toilets much better, thank you very much! Today we had the aforementioned goat spraying party in the morning—apparently they sprayed over 500 goats with tick spray. I kept myself entertained taking pictures and chasing the camels—they have camels in the area! Apparently the women aren’t allowed to help with goat spraying, so we just had to watch.
Breakfast was chai and mandaazi (the sugar-less beignets), followed about an hour later with lunch (same as dinner the night before). I learned how to make ugali over the open fire; they let me stir it until I slopped a bit over the side—then the stick was taken from me. We med students ran a little Sunday School for about 15 kids at the start of church this morning. Singing is a huge part of the culture here, and most of the songs have one person leading while the rest follow. The little girl leading the singing couldn’t have been more than 8, and she was absolutely adorable. All the kids were! Church was very interesting. The church in Pokot is very new, and it seems to me rather like the early church.
Christians aren’t well accepted in their families, and they’re often kicked out for professing their faith. The group this morning was very enthusiastic and excited about serving God. They are definitely an example to believers everywhere, and they have a difficult job trying to spread the Gospel in a rather uninterested environment. The pastor—an African missionary from a different part of Kenya—made a plea for more missionaries to spread the Word to parts of Pokot that have never heard of Christianity before. It’s so hard to believe in this day and age that there are places in the world that haven’t heard of Jesus, but this district in Kenya is one of them. They ask for prayers of support and encouragement as they continue their mission.