cry baby cry

Monday afternoon I saw what I now consider to be the most incredible sight ever to been seen with these eyes of mine! I was lucky enough to assist from early contractions right up to suturing, childbirth! Yep, I assisted through out complete delivery of a child. It easily beat out the heart surgery I saw over last Christmas break, and it still seems surreal. I am still in shock, and I don’t exactly know what to write. I think the most amazing part was the look on the woman’s face after the child had been born. Thirty seconds prior she was screaming and crying, but as soon as she saw the child she was just so lovely and calm. Concerned only with the health of the baby she could not stop gazing at his slender body- she disregarded any pain she was currently feeling. I’ll tell you what- after observing the pain women go through I hold anything I have ever felt as a mere physical discomfort. Here in Kenya, and most of Africa for that matter, the men are not present during labor. They drop the women off at the clinic, and then return home. The role of men and women in families here is noticeably different. It is apparent that children are mainly for the women here. Taking care of the children is a full time job for the women, and men rarely take any part in their upbringing. As Edwina has stated, it is commonplace for the men to go to the pubs, and display no paternal qualities. Dan is quite an exception to the familiar and unfortunate role of men in Kenya. Edwina and Dan very much have a 50-50 type of relationship- each supports one another completely and take care of the children equally. It’s wonderful to stand by and see this- it also makes me realize how lucky I was to grow up with supportive parents who spent substantial time with me.
On a darker note: Garter was showing me images from the skirmishes that occurred a few months back. While I had seen several locations that had been burnt down in the chaotic clashes I do not think the gravity of these actions really hit me until this point. Within these images Garter had taken were men with numerous arrows through them, women crying, children dead. The most devastating was a video of a church and school, holding many women and children, which had been burnt completely to the ground. Garter has on video an interview with a man who had witnessed this event. He worked for the Red Cross, and the armed individuals would obviously not let him stop the fire. He explains how he is still haunted by the screams. Another portion of the footage is an older woman whose husband was killed. The husband was approached by a group of men, he raised his hands begging and clarifying that he was simply a preacher and a holy man. This held no ground as the men cut him down aggressively. The wife was forced to watch this, and bury her husband in an early grave. It is so hard to really grasp the concept of hate. I don’t understand how one can feel that much anger and hatred to kill ruthlessly. Life should be valued, and it is that simple- religion, tribe, color- it’s irrelevant. Those feelings of superiority and dominance are heartbreaking meanwhile frustrating to those who only wish to coexist. That is the key- if we could all just appreciate one another and coexist. This is when every one just says something along the lines of “wait until you’re older, you’re optimistic now, just wait until you hit the real world.” Well, I don’t feel any differently. I still believe in peace, and I still think we can accomplish it.
Some other things that I have been working on…
I am setting up a free medical camp for late July. For one day I will provide any individuals with free medical care. Chris and I are working on this event, and hopefully we will have a large turn out. We have a location picked out, and I’m working on contacting NGOs, University of Nairobi medical students, and pharmaceutical companies. Let me know if any of you could donate any money please… costs remaining after fundraising will be out of our pockets.
Also, I’ll be traveling to Ugenya on Friday morning for a few days to work with the Matibabu Foundation and clinic. I’ll be returning there on July 4th because Dan selected me to be the chief guest and speaker at an event. One of the schools located in Ugenya was ranked 16th and are now ranked 5th! In response to this vast improvement a big event, “Education Day,” is being thrown for them. This is where I will be speaking so please give me any advice on speech ideas!