Hammertime!

One week later right!

Well I have been a busy girl. Well sort of.

Last Monday we took of for Mbita again, so it was off to the wilderness! I spent the last we at the boys Vocational School again where I worked on a few little projects that surrounded the Med25 Clinic. t

Things are making progress at a "Kenyan Pace" so the small details of the clinic are still getting sorted before they are ready to open late March. Last week we stomped through the mud once again and the team finished some community assessments and I documented some of the journey.

We girls are working on a couple of Peer Educator programs at 3 different primary schools so we were able to have smooth first meetings last week. We just asked the students some questions about their knowledge of healthcare for themselves and their community. The hope is that over the next few months, these kids will learn enough to pass on the information to their peers and soon their education on malaria, sex, clean water, and HIV will be a little more clear.

Let me be completely honest with you... Mbita is beautiful but there really isn't much to do there outside of our community visits. Oh and unfortunately, Kenya has been disagreeing with my bodily functions, so my system has been shut down. That being so, I enjoyed a nice week of school visits in the afternoon and sitting on my bum for the rest of the days end. My tummy currently is inflated to the size of a 7 month prego. Sweet right?

Anyways, we did take a nice weekend vacay and went to Takaweri Island. "The Island", as the locals put it, is a deserted resort. So there are nice rooms and bunks and a private beach but no one to enjoy its comforts. So we took a break from the busy work that I was doing (ha) and we all went last Saturday.

We brought along 3 of the boys from YCG as a reward for their help throughout the week. So on Saturday morning we packed 11 of us into a small station wagon that is really only suited for 6. I mean picture it. 4 in the front, 5 in the back and 2 in the trunk with 2 coolers and luggage. Packed like SARDINES!

By the time we arrived at Lake Victoria, our boat driver was there waiting. I will refer to him as MC Hammer as he was dressed a la 1982 with sweet purple track suit bottoms. Hammertime was a bust. We were attempting to leave in the middle of a storm and this fool did not know a boat from a goat. As soon as we were all in and in the middle of the waves, we all realized that he did not know how to navigate in the weather so we made the executive decision to wait a day and leave Sunday.

This being so MC Hammer had us "help" him dock the boat. Basically we all pushed the boat on to shore. Then pushed it back in the water. Then repeated the process 12 times. Crazy man. He anchored it 6 feet from shore...

Of course overnight the boat had been filled with a nice 2 feet of water so before leaving on Sunday he had to scoop it all out again. Smart smart man.

But we made it and it was AMAZING! I mean private deserted island. Who could ask for more? We swam, got fried, threw a few back, sacrificed a goat then had a bonfire. Nice little paradise.

Back in Mbita we finished one more days work. I painted the gate of the clinic to state "YGC Mbita Clinic" and evidently the town's chairman is so pleased with my work he wants me to paint his latrines. Ha. Nice reward right! The honor to paint an old man's toilet!

But up to speed. I have been back in Kisumu now for 2 days and I was back to the technological world and I whipped out my first fundraising video for Becca and Med25. It is just a taste of what a Med25 Family is and how we hope to gain donors. Hopefully I will get a link up soon so you all can see!