Moi Teaching Hospital/Tumaini

This morning, we met up with Joe's (the physician from last night) wife and daughter for a tour of Moi Teaching Hospital; the hospital that came out of his one room HIV clinic started 10 years ago. Sarah-Ellen (the wife) first showed us the original room where the clinic was started and it was amazing to see how much it had grown in just 10 years. She took us through the pediatrics wards and the surgery wards, the burn units and the ophthalmology center... it just didn't end. My favorite was the Mother Baby Hospital; it was beautifully decorated by the mothers' paintings and it was very well taken care of.  It really was hard to believe the growth from when it started out. We went for lunch at Cool Stream, a restaurant behind the hospital where all the food is locally grown... you could actually see the farm that it all came from, a little ways beyond the building. We had chippaties, ugali, greens, and fried bananas. After lunch, we split into 2 groups and my group went to Tumaini (swahili for hope). Tumaini is a sort of safe haven for street kids who have no where else to go. They have an outreach program which goes out into the community, spreading the word about the program and finding kids who have no homes and bringing them in. They don't actually live there, though... it's more of a day program. The kids come (freely) in the morning, shower, get breakfast, spend the day playing games, shower again, eat dinner, and then go back "home". We spoke with Johnny, the director of the livelihood program, and he told us that just in the few months that he's been working there, he's seen a drastic improvement in many of the young boys lives. There were girls there also, but about 95% were boys. We talked to Eli, a 13 year old boy who I was drawn to instantly by his captivating presence. For a 13 year old boy with no family, he seemed like a pretty great kid. And so smart!! He was one of the only kids who had learned English at the program, and fluently, at that. He was very witty and engaging and carried a conversation on with us for quite a while. He wanted to know what fun things there were to do in the states and who the most famous celebrities were and he just kept asking questions and telling us about Kenya. I was so sad when he said he didn't want to go back to school because in just half an hour of talking to him, I knew he had soooo much potential. Johnny things that the program will help steer him back in the right direction, though.
After Tumaini, we went to dinner at the IU house (Indiana University has a very strong partnership with AMPATH... Joe went to IU and started it). Then, we had a wonderful discussion with Dr. Astrid Christofferson, an OBGYN from Toronto who visited Kenya once and ended up moving here a few years ago. She talked to us a lot about maternal health care in the country and the problems women here face daily in terms of healthcare and why the mortality rate is so high. I was so excited because this is where so much of my interest is! And she was so sweet and so smart and easy to talk to... our discussion definitely finalized my ideas for my final paper, which I will post when I'm finished. Also, pictures for the other posts from New Frontiers are slowly uploading, so check them out!