{"id":8,"date":"2011-02-05T12:49:34","date_gmt":"2011-02-05T12:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/meghanhofto\/?p=8"},"modified":"2015-05-23T13:29:20","modified_gmt":"2015-05-23T13:29:20","slug":"pokot-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/meghanhofto\/2011\/02\/05\/pokot-weekend\/","title":{"rendered":"Pokot Weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"woman-kapsowar-hospital<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We\u2019re back in Kapsowar after the weekend away, and it\u2019s strange how much it felt like coming back home (don\u2019t worry, it\u2019s still not home home).\u00a0 If I didn\u2019t already know I was in Africa, the weekend in Pokot confirmed it.\u00a0 East Pokot (Lodengo is the name of the village) is pretty much how I pictured Africa before I came here.\u00a0 It\u2019s very very dry (the fact that we\u2019re toward the end of dry season doesn\u2019t help), with scraggly thorn trees and acacias and low level brush (also thorny).\u00a0 We decided while down in the valley that Africa\u2019s just a dangerous place\u2014dangerous animals, insects that carry dangerous diseases, dangerous plants that like to stick you, and probably dangerous people.\u00a0 The Pokot people are very traditional, and still lead fairly traditional lifestyles.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One of my favorite sights on the trip (which unfortunately I couldn\u2019t 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.\u00a0 The rather random additions to his wardrobe were a camouflage baseball hat and a cell phone.\u00a0 Quite the 21st\u00a0century African warrior!\u00a0 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).\u00a0 One of them wore a goat skin, which she graciously allowed me to try on and take a photo with.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t want her picture taken because she thought the camera would bewitch her\u2026apparently a pretty common view among the older crowd.\u00a0 A lot of the men also wore skirts and carried big sticks (apparently a man should not be without a big stick\u2014what would happen if they came across a snake in the bush and didn\u2019t have a stick with them?).\u00a0 They also carried little seats with them: basically a flat bottom, short stick connected, with a cradle like seat.\u00a0 Very small, compact, and ideal for the thorny ground.\u00a0 The main industry of the Pokot of Lodengo is goat herding, and goats are everywhere.\u00a0 From what I can tell, they\u2019re mainly looked after by the children, who also carry sticks to herd them.\u00a0 There was one adorable little girl (maybe 4?) who was carrying a stick twice her height and \u201chelping\u201d with the goats.\u00a0 We had a goat spraying party this morning, and I took way too many pictures of all the kids.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So that\u2019s a bit of the Pokot culture\/background.\u00a0 On Saturday we drove the four hours down into the valley from Kapsowar.\u00a0 I have a feeling it wouldn\u2019t have taken as long, but just about all the roads are unpaved, steep, rocky, and generally pretty poor driving conditions.\u00a0 I was told over and over that the roads were greatly improved, so I don\u2019t want to think about what they used to be like.\u00a0 It still wasn\u2019t too bad of a trip.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 The goat was actually delicious\u2014it\u2019s probably the best meat I\u2019ve had since I\u2019ve been here.\u00a0 They apparently slaughtered a goat in our honor.\u00a0 At lunch we had delicious chapattis; at dinner the menu was altered to include rice (which oddly enough tasted buttery; as they don\u2019t use butter, I have no idea what the flavoring actually came from.\u00a0 It was delicious, so I\u2019m asking no questions).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After lunch we went over to the church (nursery school during the week) so have an initial Come to Jesus talk (sorry, there\u2019s just no better way to describe it).\u00a0 I think many of the clinic patrons were already church members, so there was some really enthusiastic singing and prayers.\u00a0 We all had to stand up and introduce ourselves (I managed to get my introduction done in Swahili\u2014I\u2019m learning!).\u00a0 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.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad whoever was speaking on our behalf managed to dissuade anyone of that notion.\u00a0 Once the service was done, we moved on to the clinic.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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).\u00a0 I can safely say I never saw malaria or pica on my OB\/GYN rotation back home!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What was also different was that most of our patients didn\u2019t know their ages. \u00a0We saw a few who looked young\u2014maybe 16 or 17\u2014who were pregnant with their first, and several who were on baby #7. \u00a0We saw our patients, consulted the actual physicians as needed, and prescribed a lot of multivitamins and iron.\u00a0 The afternoon moved pretty quickly, and I had a lot of fun.\u00a0 We had a walk to a \u201cspring\u201d after clinic ended\u2014basically a hole in the ground with a bit of very dirty water.\u00a0 That\u2019s apparently the closest water source the people have\u2026not good.\u00a0 We had dinner (same as lunch, plus rice), then there was a service of encouragement for the budding Pokot church.\u00a0 The sleeping arrangements were pretty interesting.\u00a0 We had 3 twin mattresses and a row of couch cushions for 7 women, so we were all sleeping pretty close in the pastor\u2019s house.\u00a0 I had mentioned last week that we take running water for granted; well, I also take flush toilets for granted.\u00a0 We had no running water (they pour water from a jug over hands to wash them) and only an outdoor pit toilet.\u00a0 Definitely my first experience with a pit toilet, and I like our Western flush toilets much better, thank you very much!\u00a0 Today we had the aforementioned goat spraying party in the morning\u2014apparently they sprayed over 500 goats with tick spray.\u00a0 I kept myself entertained taking pictures and chasing the camels\u2014they have camels in the area!\u00a0 Apparently the women aren\u2019t allowed to help with goat spraying, so we just had to watch.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Breakfast was chai and mandaazi (the sugar-less beignets), followed about an hour later with lunch (same as dinner the night before).\u00a0 I learned how to make ugali over the open fire; they let me stir it until I slopped a bit over the side\u2014then the stick was taken from me.\u00a0 We med students ran a little Sunday School for about 15 kids at the start of church this morning.\u00a0 Singing is a huge part of the culture here, and most of the songs have one person leading while the rest follow.\u00a0 The little girl leading the singing couldn\u2019t have been more than 8, and she was absolutely adorable.\u00a0 All the kids were!\u00a0 Church was very interesting.\u00a0 The church in Pokot is very new, and it seems to me rather like the early church.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Christians aren\u2019t well accepted in their families, and they\u2019re often kicked out for professing their faith.\u00a0 The group this morning was very enthusiastic and excited about serving God.\u00a0 They are definitely an example to believers everywhere, and they have a difficult job trying to spread the Gospel in a rather uninterested environment.\u00a0 The pastor\u2014an African missionary from a different part of Kenya\u2014made a plea for more missionaries to spread the Word to parts of Pokot that have never heard of Christianity before. \u00a0It\u2019s so hard to believe in this day and age that there are places in the world that haven\u2019t heard of Jesus, but this district in Kenya is one of them. \u00a0They ask for prayers of support and encouragement as they continue their mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  We\u2019re back in Kapsowar after the weekend away, and it\u2019s strange how much it felt like coming back home […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/meghanhofto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/meghanhofto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/meghanhofto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/meghanhofto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/meghanhofto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/meghanhofto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/meghanhofto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/meghanhofto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/meghanhofto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}