my expectations
The main things I want to learn here has to do with medicine. I want to find out what the public health system is like in other countries. I want to know what it takes to set up a public health initiative and maintain it. I want to be able to evaluate a public health initiative and be able to offer advise on how they can improve it. I want to know how people expand medical access and how they treat people that may not trust western medicine.
I want to become a family doctor in a rural area, so it is important for me to learn how to mix medicine with public health concerns. I want to learn what alternatives programs are used in Kenya besides just passing out medication and hoping people use them. I want to know how to control disease on a larger scale and how to treat the community instead of just individuals. I will accomplish this during the second half of the semester. I will be an hour or two drive away from the closest town, and I will be able to walk to the base of Mount Kenya. It will be a much different experience than here in Nairobi, I may not have electricity or running water. I will be able to experience how medical care is given to people who are spread out. Not only that but my endurance will be challenged. I already survived a week without my luggage when we first arrived in Kenya. We stayed in the Nakuru game park, and only went into a town once during the week, and I was forced to rely on other people for clothes and things like deodorant and a toothpaste. It was personally challenging, but I was able to get through it and finally got my luggage back when we returned to Nairobi. Being in a rural area will challenge me to live in a way that I am not accustomed to and will help me grow.
In Nairobi I hope become more accustomed to life in a city and to not be scared by all the stories we are being told about robbery and murder. I currently know how to walk to school, home, the staff offices, and the Nakumat (which is kinda like a mall). I hope to be able to feel comfortable walking around the city and how to handle the people who try to talk to me on the street and do not have good intentions. I want to feel comfortable taking public transportation without the fear of getting lost or mugged. I also want to get closer to the family that I am staying with who calls me their "miracle baby". I want to learn about Kenya from a Kenyan and I want to form relationships with them that will continue back to the states.