"What's Up Doc?" school health clubs' rabbit rearing project

Question: How does taking care of some cute, furry critters enrich the health of students?

Read on to find out!

Public Health Program Coordinator, Stacy Gray, shares the story

Most of HopeCore’s partner schools simply do not have the funds to be able to offer any after-school, extra-curricular activities to their students. In fact, the majority of the students just wander aimlessly around town until their parents get off work. But ever since HopeCore established health clubs at schools, children have been given the opportunity to do something safer and more productive with their time.

The vegetable gardening project has been a huge success, and the health clubs have been requesting more seedlings so that they may grow a variety of different vegetables in their gardens. Unfortunately, HopeCore cannot guarantee ongoing funding to keep this up.

Although the health clubs have done an excellent job creating their single-crop gardens, their gardens lack sustainability. The health clubs needed a way to fund future activities on an ongoing basis…. An income-generating activity that would empower each health club to take ownership over their program, so that they would not have to rely on funding from outside sources to continue.

HopeCore was able to supply eight health clubs with pairs of rabbits to rear as an income-generating activity for their health projects. Rabbit meat is very valuable, nutritious, and easy to produce.  More rabbit meat can be produced in a shorter amount of time and smaller space than any other meat. It is also worth more than chicken or beef, as it has a greater nutritional value.

In preparation for the rabbits’ arrival, each club worked together to build a platform for the rabbit cage to stand on. (Elevating the cages helps protect the rabbits from predators and allows their waste to exit out of the small openings on the floor.) When the platforms were complete, HopeCore delivered rabbit hutches to each school with security locks on them. And a few days later, the children were thrilled to meet their new pets. 

The students listened attentively, as HopeCore staff explained how to care for the animals. While rabbits love to eat a wide variety of plants that already grow near the school as weeds, each school was asked to supplement this diet with food pellets they could purchase in town. There is one type of weed, however, that is poisonous for rabbits to ingest; our team brought one to pass around as an example. The clubs were instructed to keep the rabbits in the two separate compartments of the cage until the rabbits would be old enough to mate (in 4 months time). Each school was left with an instructional pamphlet, issued by Kenya’s Ministry of Livestock, to refer to as questions arise.

 

Here are a few facts, provided by Kenya’s Ministry of Livestock, on rabbit rearing:

·      Big enough for eating after just 3 months

·      Reproduce at least 4x per year

o   8-18 rabbits produced each time

o   This means a pair of rabbits could produce 72 rabbits within the span of a single year!

·      10 rabbits can be raised in a space as small as 5.6 meters squared

·      Rabbit manure is superior to cow manure for crops

·      Rabbits aren’t picky eaters

o   Wide variety in diet

o   Many plants rabbits like to eat grow around the schools as weeds

Each health club will decide as a group how the money they earn from rabbit rearing will be used to improve the health of the school. Many of the clubs intend to purchase more seedlings for their vegetable gardens or “shambas”, to continue and expand upon the first Health Club project they did.

 

So, How does taking care of some cute, furry critters enrich the health of students?...

Answer: It is a simple income-generating activity that teaches students about responsibility and will help fund future projects, which promotes better health at their schools. It also reduces donor dependency, by empowering Health Clubs to be able to fund their own projects in a sustainable way.

Around my Office

The View from my office:

A day in the life of… the Public Health Program Coordinator (that’s me!)

Many readers have asked me what a typical “work day” is like for me here in Kenya, so I’ve put together an example of one. Admittedly, the following is a hybrid of “typical” things I work on at work, as my tasks vary from day to day. I prefer having a job where every day is a new challenge, because falling into a monotonous routine would quickly become tedious and boring. Instead, here is just one example of what I get to engage in each day:

I leave my host family’s home at 8:30am (after being woken up by a rooster around 6:30am, in time for my morning run and shower), say muuga (“hello” in Kimeru) to the security guard as I exit the security gate of Chogoria Girls Secondary Boarding School (our house is on-campus, as I live with the Deputy Principle who works long hours at the school next door). As I walk the approximately one block distance to my office, I have “regulars” I greet every day on my way to work; Kenyan culture pretty much requires you to pause and shake hands with anyone who greets you on the street. This took some getting used to, as most Americans just ignore each other as you pass on the street or nod your head in recognition that they are passing you; luckily I am the type of person who would wave and say “Hi” to just about every single person who crosses my path, so the only adjustment for me was the handshake.  I manage to only stop a few times on my way, but EVERY single person along the street stares at me unabashedly, so I get a little self-conscious. I make an effort to give everyone (especially the children) a kind smile and continue walking at a quick pace to my destination. Regardless of my efforts, this 5 min walk takes me 15 mins each morning. When I finally get to work, I then have to officially greet each staff member, with the formal handshake with each individual, of course.

I prepare for one of my weekly meetings, which are scheduled to begin at 9:15, but people don’t usually show up for until 9:45, as everyone runs on "Kenyan time” (which implies being a MINIMUM of 15mins late). On Mondays, I attend the Department Heads Meeting in the office of the founder and CEO of HopeCore (we all call him “KK”), along with the Financial Manager (Wafula) and Micro-Enterprise Program Coordinator (Sam). We go over each of our schedules with our Weekly Reports on the previous week and Weekly Action Plans for the coming week. This meeting is really informative, but always seems to end “on Kenyan time” too, so when it let’s out at around 10:45am, I hurry to get the entire Public Health Team to finish their morning tea, pack up their gear, load the jeep, go to the bathroom (there are no flush toilets at the schools), and try to leave by 11am (even though we are supposed to leave by 10:30 each time we have a mobile clinic scheduled- which is 3 days a week). I have now worked for HopeCore for a month and we have not left on time once.

The 30 min jeep ride feels just like being on that Indiana Jones ride at Disney Land, with so many potholes and steep inclines that you have to hold on to something with each hand. Boy am I glad I don’t get motion sickness! We actually have a fantastic driver, Micheni, who accomplishes incredible feats with our old hunk-of-metal jeep each day and manages to keep us all from falling out of the doors (some of which don’t close all the way). The team is very positive and there is always laughter in that jeep, which makes the stress of getting us all in the jeep melt away.

When we arrive at the school (which always has a cool name like Gianchuku or Mbogori), the team waits in the car while I go greet the Head Teacher (that’s what they call the Principle of an elementary school) with the formal handshake AND by signing their school guest book, which they get incredibly excited about (probably because very few people can make it up the steep overgrown pot-hole ridden paths just to get to the school). The Head Teacher then introduces me one-by-one to his (or her) entire staff, class by class, and then I get to introduce my team to them. Only then, can I request 2 classrooms for us to use.

Public Health Mobile Clinic TEAM!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 (L to R: Lennah, Jeff, Winjoy, Morris, me, Harriet, Charity, Jeddy, Micheni)

We use one room to provide clinical services to all children and teachers suffering from illness, calling them in class by class. The most common ailments include: intestinal worms, ringworm (on their foreheads), Malaria, Typhoid, Gastro-intestinal issues (diarrhea caused from drinking unclean water), and stomachaches.

We use the second room for health education using a PowerPoint presentation from our laptop and projector, charged by a generator we run an extension cord to. Lennah (whose job title keeps changing between “Assistant Health Program Coordinator” and “Health Educator”) does the presentation for the lower primary classes (nursery and classes 1-3) in Kimeru (because they have only just started learning Kiswahili and/or English), and then one of our 3 Peer Educators (who are nursing students looking for work experience) presents for upper primary (classes 4-8). I must say I am very proud of what powerful and engaging speakers they are! Some of the content, however, seems inappropriate for this audience… for example: when one of our Peer Educators was giving a presentation on Hygiene, the kids got uncomfortable and started whispering to each other. When he asked the class what was wrong, they told him that they couldn’t possibly follow the recommendations he was giving them (which was to wash their towels once a week and not share towels with other people) because none of them had their own towels (most large families only had one to share) and they also couldn’t wear clean underwear every day, because many of their families couldn’t even afford to buy them a single pair of underwear to begin with. That was awkward… but at least I’ve identified one way I can improve the current presentations (i.e.: providing hygiene goals that are more realistic and achievable), because the presenters are already outstanding!

After the presentations, the school provides our team with afternoon tea and sometimes a whole meal (Although a few of the 22 schools we serve are unable to afford to provide lunch at school). It is important to note at this point that while these schools clearly need the food more than we do, it would be rude and culturally unacceptable to refuse this kind gesture. In fact, accepting the school’s offering graciously is the best way you can show your appreciation and avoid hurting the pride of the teachers there, who are unable to provide the medications or show flashy PowerPoint presentations like we do. Besides, we don’t know which schools even want to provide lunch to us, because it would be rude for us to ask ahead of time and they serve us each full plates without prior warning.

After we eat, the whole team pitches in to finish seeing the remaining patients using a triage system (aka sending the serious patients directly to our licensed nurse). Then we pack up, I give the kids high-fives as they crowd around me, and I give the Head Teacher a gift of 12 soaps for students and teachers to use (hopefully every time they use the bathroom or are about to eat) and a final official handshake.

When we get back to the office, I need to pay each staff member lunch stipends (which they get regardless of whether the school provides lunch or not—mainly because HopeCore doesn’t provide medical benefits and this keeps our staff happy), transport stipends (for those who live outside of Chogoria and have to commute), salary for those who work per diem, vehicle fuel, and funds to replenish our medical supplies and pay a lab to run tests on the blood samples we’ve collected.

Then, I make coffee and work with Lennah to improve our PowerPoints and fill out the necessary paperwork for financials and input data on how many students we helped that day at our mobile clinic. I am also starting to work on writing blogs for the HopeCore website and finalizing an incoming grant from Planned Parenthood Global to add HIV and unintended pregnancy prevention to our health program.  On Tuesday nights, I also attend a grant writing class via webinar through the Segal Family Foundation.

It sounds hectic—probably because it is—but I love every minute of it! I have a lot of responsibility and a lot of say over the future of the health program, as well as a determination not to let anyone down.

My new name: Introducing... Stacy Kagwiria!

Today I received my Kimeru name (Kimeru is the local dialect in Chogoria) and "Kagwiria" (pronounced: Cah-Gwhere-Lee-Ahh) means "someone who makes people happy"! What do you think?

Originally, my peers were going to name me "Makena" which means "joyful one", but a previous Global Health Fellow and my boss' girlfriend are both already named Makena, so that one was vetoed. But now I love my new name and will share it with pride.

It is important to introduce myself with a Kimeru name in Chogoria and the surrounding Meru area because it helps people connect with me faster. 

 

 Since I am going out into different neighboring communities at least 3 times each week it is a valuable asset for me to have. Furthermore, using my Kimeru name demonstrates my respect and interest in the local culture and lifestyle. This is especially important to me because I don't want to come in with a "Team America" or "Americans know best" attitude; I think that is so short-sighted and ignorant. While I have worked hard to learn all I can about public health and behavior change theory, I know that there is always more to learn and have no pretenses about my expertise. I feel I can learn more here than I could ever possibly teach, but I will share what I can in return.

I am falling in love with Kenya the way I fell in love with Ghana last summer.  

 

The two countries are remarkably similar: both are stable nonviolent nations open to growth, and are home to the friendliest, most welcoming people I have ever met. The biggest difference, as far as I can tell, is the food. While Ghana's food staples include spicy hot soups with dough in the middle, topped off with chicken legs or antelope meat.... Kenya's food staples include a mix of maize, beans, and potatoes with beef or chicken. Ghana's fruits were a little more tropical, with mangoes and coconuts grown on nearby trees; whereas, Kenya grows mostly bananas and grows an enormous amount of chai tea. In Ghana they call white people "ubrunis", and in Kenya they call us "muzungus".

Both are fascinating African cultures that strangely make this white girl feel right at home!

Redefining "Worship"

I am still definitely jet lagged, but happy to have arrived and energized by how new and exciting everything is to me.

I went to a church service this morning with my host mother and it was like nothing I had ever seen before! The service was full of singing and dancing and "praise the lord, sweet wounded Jesus" phrases shouted out by the Baptist-like priest. At one point, music was playing and all of the congregants closed their eyes and each started chanting their own prayers, while waving their arms madly in the air and rocking back and forth. Some even jumped around; I'm surprised more of them didn't bump into each other or knock one another over. A couple of people even had tears streaming down their cheeks! It's a good thing all of their eyes were closed during this part, because I was in total shock: with my jaw dropped and eyes wide, looking around. I can't say I had a religious experience myself, but it was fascinating to watch people so overcome with emotion and love for a higher power. My favorite part was the dancing and clapping and singing --it was joyful and fun, a pure celebration of their religion-- unlike the church services I've attended in the US, which were often solemn and tiring.

I thought it was beautiful and I don't regret attending.

{I know that religion can be a touchy subject for many people and I want to go out of my way not to offend anyone. This is, however, how I can best describe my experience today at an African non-denominational Christian church service.}

Getting to know my Kenyan FAMILY

I'm still suffering from some jet lag & yesterday I was exhausted and fell asleep by 7pm... I got up for half an hour for dinner (at 9pm) and quickly went back to bed (because in recent days I've had trouble sleeping around 10pm and needed to catch my sleep window. So last night was the first time I have slept through the whole night.

The rooster crowed at 6:05am (a few minutes later than he usually does) and I've been up since then. I wanted to go running, but all of the girls attending the Chogoria Girls School next door have just returned from Midterm break and are hanging out and studying all over their school field. I am too self-conscious to go run laps around them, especially because everyone stares at a Muzungu (white person). They wouldn't do so maliciously, but enough to make me a bit uncomfortable. They are especially excited and swarming around the school reconnecting with their friends after having each gone home to visit their families for the first time in months. I think I forgot to tell you that Mamma Lucy is the Deputy Headmaster (aka: Vice Principle) of the Chogoria Girls School (a secondary school: aka high school), so I will hardly see her anymore, as she works 5am-midnight most days. She tucks the girls into bed in each dormitory and goes to wake them in the morning as well. She is extremely dedicated to her job and I can't think of anyone better to care for these girls.

I will still be receiving big home cooked meals at the home daily though, as her family hires a "house girl" (aka a cooking/cleaning maid who comes here every day). I'm not used to having a house servant, so it is a little awkward for me. Especially since the "house girls" are high-school aged girls who had to drop out of school to work and help earn money to support their family (typically to support their parents and siblings, but sometimes to support a small child or two of their own). At least, this is my understanding of it. So the "house girls" don't know very much English, as they would have learned that in school. It is difficult to communicate with them, so I just make sure to smile kindly every time I see Winnifred (the house girl hired by my host family). I wish I could get to know her and ask her about her family and life, but the language barrier is just too great to overcome.

My host father, Timothy, is a teacher at the Chogoria Boys School down the road. My Kenyan parents both work much longer hours than they are actually paid for (reminds me of my own American dad).

Their son, Tosh, is the sweetest boy you will ever meet... and the shyest. When he speaks (which is a rare occurrence) it is barely a whisper, but he has a kind disposition and clearly enjoys when I talk to him. I've learned that the way to have a conversation with him, is to ask him questions with multiple choice answers. Instead of, "what is your favorite subject in school?" which is a question he would struggle to find the words to answer, I would instead ask him, "Do you like English or Math class better?" It is still difficult to hear his responses, as they are barely an audible squeak, but he nods and smiles after he answers each of my questions.

He is most animated when I bring up Liz, the former Muzungu global health fellow, because he absolutely adores her. I hope he will be able to open up to me as he did with her. I'm working on it.

Tosh recently fell down some stairs (a few days before my arrival) and fractured his leg. He is terribly embarrassed by it and yesterday, he cried because he didn't want to go to school because everyone would see him struggling to walk with crutches. Lucy was distraught because Tosh wouldn't even take his breakfast. She did eventually get him to school, but it was a struggle all morning yesterday.

So today, I offered to wake Tosh up for Lucy. She had already prepared to bring Tosh breakfast in bed (Chai tea, bananas, and bread with butter & jam), so I brought it in and gently woke him. He wanted to go back to sleep, but was surprised and excited to see me in his room, so I was able to coax him to sit up and eat breakfast with me  :)

A pencil sharpener a day keeps Hepatitis away

Before traveling to Kenya, I'd asked some fellow Americans who had experiences in Kenya themselves, if there were any school supplies in particular that Kenyan children are lacking. The overwhelming response was pencil sharpeners and futbol (soccer) pumps. Apparently, the schools here receive large donations of pencils and futbols, but no means to utilize them. Many Kenyan children use old rusty razors to sharpen their pencils, which puts them at risk for contracting Hepatitis. 

So I asked Tosh about this issue over breakfast this morning. At first, he was reluctant to admit that pencil sharpeners are scarce, and a rare commodity here, but when I told him that I brought some to give to school children, he was unable to hold back his eagerness. He admitted that his entire school only has one or two pencil sharpeners and his class rarely sees or gets to use them. I showed him the big bag of sharpeners I brought and told him to take some. I was surprised at how modest he was, only taking two. Most 9-year-olds in America would have grabbed as many as they could of any object they wanted that was offered up to them on a silver platter.

Then, Lucy came in the room to iron Tosh's clothes and gasped when she saw the pencil sharpeners. "Where did you get those," she exclaimed. "I have been searching everywhere for a place to get sharpeners for my girls." (whenever Lucy says "my girls" see means the hundreds of students she oversees, not merely her own 2 daughters). I offered her some as well and, once again, she chose to only take a few (for her entire school), despite the fact that I would have given them every last one if they had asked. Lucy told me that I should save the rest for the other schools I visit because every school in this region is in need of them.

I must admit that I am surprised to learn how widespread this shortage is, and would personally like to bring an entire suitcase full of them back to Kenya when I visit home over Christmas. In fact, I am even going to look into ordering a large supply of pencil sharpeners from an online manufacturer.

Friends and Family: if you have any connections or suggestions, please don't hesitate to share them with me. Furthermore, if any of you feel inclined to purchase and donate pencil sharpeners for me to distribute to the schools desperately in need of them, please snail mail them to my parents' house & I will bring them to Kenya after Christmas.

MY KENYAN MOTHER

 Today, I arrived in Chogoria and met my host family mother, who is letting me stay with her while my predecessor and mentor, Mitsuaki, trains me. When he leaves, 3 weeks from now, I will move into his apartment, where the other previous Global Health Fellows have lived.

I simply love my host family, and it has only been one evening! Lucy has already dubbed herself my “Kenyan Mother” and was very welcoming. She says I may refer to her as “mother” from now on if I want to.  She has made it her mission to make me gain at least 2kg (in just 3 weeks time) by cooking me delicious meals and encouraging me to take large portions and eat a second plate of food. She dishes out a large portion for herself as well, rubbing her tummy and saying, “I must maintain” with a smile. I simply loved this, as many American women feel they need to lose weight to be attractive, yet, here Lucy is being proud of her slightly rounder body. Although Lucy is a little bigger than some American mothers I know, she is by no means fat or overweight. She is curvy and unmistakably beautiful.

Lucy’s other mission is for me to get married. She says she wishes she had a son my age that could make a good husband for me. I was able to satisfy her for now by eating as much as I could stomach and assuring her that I have every intention of marrying one day… but that I am not ready to get married yet because I want to travel a lot... and besides, I told her, “your son is too young for me to marry now.” She really got a kick out of that! Lucy burst into laughter as we both noticed her young son, Tosh, blush.

Tosh is really adorable and sweet. He is about 10 years old, he’s very shy and polite, and he has the cutest smile. It is difficult to know what he is thinking, but I think he appreciates that I am so talkative, because he is not very talkative himself. He recently fractured his leg and has a plaster cast on, so he hobbles around (which only makes him cuter). He was unable to use crutches (not sure why, maybe he just couldn’t get the hang of it), so he is supposed to be carried everywhere, but Tosh keeps getting up anyway. I can tell he is an active boy and loves to play futbol (soccer) and the Playstation his father bought him. Since his cast is not as strong as the ones made in the US, he cracked it from standing on it too much today. Lucy didn’t get mad; instead, she sighed and asked me, rhetorically, “what am I going to do with this boy of mine?”

Tosh obviously loves Liz a lot because when I mentioned her name he perked right up and hung on my every word. Liz was kind enough to email me photos of my host family (who she, too, had stayed with when she was in Kenya), which I just got today, so I pulled out my computer and showed the photos to Lucy & Tosh. They absolutely loved them! Then, I showed them photos of Salt Lake City, Arches National Park, my family, and a few of my closest friends.

It is just the 3 of us at the house now because Lucy’s husband works until midnight tonight (he just returned from spending a week in Scotland related to his teaching position here) and her 2 daughters are both off at boarding school –it is very common around here for parents to send their children to live in the dorms for high school (which they call Secondary school) and sometimes even elementary school (which they call Primary school).

I offered to help Lucy with the dishes this evening, but she told me today I am a guest so I cannot help… but tomorrow, she says, I will be considered family and she would appreciate my help. I can tell that she wouldn’t accept any payment from me for room and board, so when her phone ran out of SafariCom minutes (you pay as you go here by loading minutes onto your phone by entering codes from prepaid scratch cards), I gave her one of the 40 minute calling cards I had bought this morning. I’m glad I found a way to repay her for her kindness. She just showed me out to unfold my bednet, so I am off to bed. Tomorrow, I have agreed to attend a Christian church service with her. Mitsuaki warned me that church services here last up to 4 hours, but I am happy to go and meet members of the community. Christianity is a huge part of the culture here so I would like to see what their services are like.

I feel happy and safe here.

MY 1ST KENYAN LESSONS

TRADITIONAL KENYAN FOODS (that I have tried so far)

• Githeri: maize, beans, and potatoes, cooked in light tomato sauce
• Samosa: little triangle Chinese egg rolls filled with meat, typically beef
• Lots of types of Curry, as Kenya has been strongly influenced by India and now grows many spices that originated there
• Rice: just outside of Chogoria, there are hundreds of rice pattee farms. I had never seen rice fields in-person before. The only ones I’d seen were in an anthropology video on China in the Food & Culture course I took in college.

BEVERAGES

• Chai tea: morning, noon, and night; whenever someone offers you tea, they are most likely referring to a Chai tea bag in a glass of hot milk. They don’t make their tea with water; they save their clean water for drinking (rehydrating)
• Fanta: it doesn’t taste like the ones back home, but it can be found at every roadside stand. I tried an Orange Fanta today, but the aftertaste was unpleasant and I wished the drink had been sweeter, as I had anticipated it to be. I gave mine to the driver and he told me that I should try Pineapple Fanta or Black Current Fanta next time, because they are apparently sweeter. (I had no idea there were other flavors of Fanta! I will definitely have to try them.)

LANGUAGES:

Swahili: the national language, simple and fun sounding

–lots of “unga” sounds in words—

many Swahili terms used throughout the Disney movie: The Lion King.

For example:

“Simba” means lion

“Rafiki” means friend

“Asante Sana” means thank you very much

                                       (in the Disney movie, Rafiki runs around the grown-up Simba

       singing/chanting “Asante Sana squashed banana” 

Habari-yaco  = how are you

Missouu-ri = I’m good

Missouu-ri sana = I’m very good / I’m great!

Sah-wah = it’s ok / I'm ok

I keep hearing people saying “Kiswahili” and I finally had to ask if that is synonymous with “Swahili”. It turns out, that there is a subtle difference:  Kiswahili is the learning subject, whereas, Swahili is the language itself. So I am getting Kiswahili lessons from my coworkers and friends, because they speak Swahili fluently.

Kimeru: the local dialect

            “Muuga” = Hi! Or Hello!

            “Muugamono” = Oh Hi! (the response when someone says “Muuga” to you)

            “Natia” = How are you?

*Apparently each “muzungu”, aka “white person”, is given a Kimeru name in the Chogoria community. Mitsuaki, my predecessor and mentor, was given the Kimeru word for “traveler” and Liz (Mitsuaki’s predecessor and mentor) was given the Kimeru word for “beautiful woman”. What name will I be given? Probably something to do with how outgoing and talkative I am… stay tuned.

BACK TO THE FUTURE: Time Travel to Dubai

Visiting Dubai was like being transported by a time capsule 50+ years into the future, where life is less wasteful, more efficient, and exceedingly elegant.

The city seriously looked like it should have space ships zooming around the buildings! It reminded me of a high-tech city from one of the 3 newer Star Wars movies (Episodes I, II, & III). Dubai is not only the home of the tallest building in the entire world (de Burj Khalifa –which used to be called “Burj Dubai”), which was recently featured in Tome Cruise’s new Mission Impossible action film, but it seems very clean and efficient. Most amazing of all, was the architecture of every single building in the city. Dubai is so wealthy that someone commissioned a bunch of man-made islands to be built off its coast. Many of them are small and privately owned, but the most impressive of them all is Palm Island. Palm Island isn’t technically an island because it is attached to the land at the base of its palm tree shape, but when something is that significant, people don’t fuss about the details. I took some phenomenal photos of Palm Island from my airplane window shortly after takeoff (I will try to post these soon!) In certain areas of Dubai, fuel is much cheaper than water.

My flight arrived in Dubai (from San Francisco—a very long flight) around 7pm and my flight to Nairobi didn’t leave until 10:45am the following day, so Emirates Airlines put me up in a hotel and paid for me to enjoy 2 meals at their expense. (Side note: Emirates is the nicest airline I have ever had the pleasure of flying on and I highly recommend it. They provide these accommodations to any passenger with a layover in Dubai for more than 8 hours but less than 24 hours).

In the check-in line at the hotel, I spotted another American. It wasn’t difficult to tell where he was from: he was wearing a white t-shirt, jeans, and a New York Yankees hat (he couldn’t look more American if he tried—LoL!) This made me smile and we actually met a few minutes later by the elevator. I had signed up for a 2-hour bus tour of the city and I suggested he check it out. He had been to Dubai several times before, on his way to work at the American Embassy in Baghdad, but he had never been on an official tour so he jumped at the opportunity. We became fast friends and he volunteered to take pictures of me with my camera along the tour. It’s thanks to him that I have so many wonderful photos of myself in front of Dubai’s hottest spots. There was something very comforting about hanging out with another American in a country where I had such a difficult time understanding the thick Arab accents. I met a few other hotel guests on the tour as well, but none of them were from an English-speaking country.

I was surprised at how safe I felt.

I actually felt safer in Dubai than I have felt sometimes in downtown Salt Lake City, where I grew up. In addition to finding another American to keep me company and watch my back, Dubai is a very conservative city: You can actually be thrown in jail there for being drunk in public (despite the fact that there are bars on just about every corner—I wonder how that works out) and, you can be ticketed and fined a great deal of money (Dirham) for using swear words anywhere in public. They also don’t allow men and women to be alone together unless they are married. Most of Dubai’s taxi-cabs are white with red roofs, but they also have white cabs with bright pink roofs that have female drivers and are only available for women and children, with the exception of a married man in the company of said wife and children. I thought that I would need to wear a scarf around my hair in Dubai to respect the culture and attempt to blend in, but the locals I met on the long flight there said that was completely unnecessary. They said wearing a tank top and shorts would be inappropriate, but that I should be myself and not try too hard to imitate the Muslims. Besides, they said, Dubai is the most liberal place in the entire region.

The TOUR:

*main Downtown Strip freeway/highway

• 7 lanes going each direction (14 lanes across), runs right through the center of downtown
• incredible architecture on both sides of the road; a lot of thinking outside of the box (like nothing I have EVER seen before!)

*the Beach: the water was warmer than the air outside! 

• swimming would feel like being in a cooler hot tub or a hot bathtub.

*Palm Island

• each “branch” or “leaf” of the palm is 1km long, and the bottom of the island reaches 1km deep (underwater)
• studio apartment on Palm island costs half a million dollars!
• villa on one of the Palm’s “branches” or “leaves” costs approx. $8 million!

*Atlantis hotel

• located at the very top of Palm Island
• hosted the largest fireworks display ever to take place anywhere in the world; it took place in 2008 for the grand opening of this hotel and cost a whopping $20 million!
• has a gigantic (and Free) aquarium inside on the main floor

Dubai TRIVIA:

*Dubai reaches 75% humidity at times

• Dubai bus stops outside are equipped with air conditioning for these occasions

*Dubai sometimes experiences windstorms where you can’t see your hand in front of your face

• definitely a desert and yes, they have camels (but no, I didn't see one on the night tour)

*Extremely energy efficient

• hotel key card slides into wall just inside hotel room door and turns on the electricity for the entire room (then I can turn individual lights on and off using the regular switches). This way, guests don’t use up any power or electricity when they are not physically inside of their rooms.

*80% of residents in Dubai are foreigners, and only 20% are from this area originally.

• perk/bonus for residents who originate from Dubai: don't have to pay utilities (ever) when they rent an apartment or house

The only places in the US that Dubai reminds me of in any way are Las Vegas and New York, with a futuristic twist, of course. Dubai is home to the largest mall in the world (much larger than the largest mall in the US: the Mall of America in Minnesota) and has flashy lights in a huge array of different colors that are reminiscent of Vegas. It is known as “The Vegas of the Middle East” because it is by far the most liberal city in that area of the world. Dubai also reminds me on New York with its skyscrapers and melting pot of different people. In Europe, the best place to be on New Year’s Eve is Barcelona, in the US it’s NY, and in the Middle East… it’s Dubai.

The only people in Dubai that made me a bit uncomfortable were the women wearing Burkas (aka Burqas).  This surprised me, because I fully expected to see some women wearing them, and yet, I was still thrown off by seeing them. I have worked and volunteered with a lot of Muslim refugees back in Salt Lake who wear Hijabs, and I think they are beautiful and really highlight one’s facial attributes, but I had never seen someone in-person wearing a Burka. I thought it would feel just like I was next to someone in an overly-large hijab, but instead, I felt like a large black ghost was floating by me, always submissive, and always following a man dressed in a business outfit –-one that an American man would typically wear to work in an office— I guess I always assumed that the husbands of such conservative-looking women would look a bit more conservative themselves. Instead, they were chatty, only talking with other men, while their shadowy ghosts floated silently along behind them, with the only visible part of their bodies (their eyes) never looking up from the floor or uttering a single word. I’m used to women being chatty as they stroll through the hallways of a hotel and the men walking beside them nodding and contributing something to the conversation only here and there. This was a surreal experience for me and I didn’t know how to act around them. I wanted to look at them, perhaps give them a friendly smile, but they were so determined to restrain their eyes from glancing up to meet mine. 

Despite one awkward elevator ride with the burka-clad women, this was an amazing overnight adventure in an incredible city!

Getting Sentimental

I am at a really exciting point in my life, and not just because I'm moving to another country for a year.

I have just finished my formal education, having earned an M.P.H. (Master's Degree in Public Health), Certificate in Global Health, B.A. (Bachelor of Arts degree) in Journalism, completed a Minor in History (still not sure how to refer to this, as completing my Major in Journalism turned into having a B.A. in Journalism), completed an internship as a TV-news reporter with ABC News in Denver KMGH, and completed an AmeriCorps Mission as a Youth Volunteer Coordinator and Prevention Specialist.

I have learned a lot from each of these unique educational experiences, and plan to continue learning during this Global Health Fellowship in Kenya, and for many years to come. Yet, this point marks the end of my formal education in a classroom setting. While I am proud of my accomplishments, I must admit that I am apprehensive about joining the real world as an adult. In a classroom, I know exactly what is expected of me and how to succeed, which can be clearly reflected in the grade I receive. In the "real" adult world, evaluations are usually not so clear-cut. I believe that I have performed well in school not because I am "smarter" than my peers, but because I work harder and spend more time on assignments. School has never been easy for me, as I have a terrible short-term memory and am easily distracted; but what I lack in learning speed, I more than make up for in passion and commitment. Furthermore, I have not achieved these accomplishments without significant support and help from others, namely my parents. I would not be who or where I am today without their guidance, generous financial support, and never-ending emotional support.

Another reason this is a turning point in my life, is how my relationship with my family (particularly with my brother and sister) is changing and growing. I have always been very close with my family, and not just my immediate family, but with my relatives on both sides of my family tree. I am lucky to have such strong ties, but my relationship with two people, in particular, is taking on a new form. My brother and sister, Matt and Melissa (aka "M&M", aka "Bebee & Robonzo"), are finally at an age where we can relate to each other as adults and friends, and not merely the kids I fought with over the TV-remote or computer. The most startling part of their growing up, is the realization that my relationship with each of them will no longer just sustain itself. I suspect we will never live under the same roof again, and they won't just be around anytime I want to visit home. This is especially true now that my brother has moved to Argentina for the summer and my sister is living in Fort Collins, Colorado, where she just finished her freshmen year of college. Since there is a 4-year difference between me and my brother, and 6-year difference between me and my sister, we couldn't relate to one another on the same level. Moreover, I have always been much more outgoing and, admittedly, more demanding than either of them, leading them to team up against me at times. Now that we are older and more mature, I really want to be close friends with each of them. Getting together over family holidays and sending birthday cards once a year won't cut it. I have to make the effort now, or I fear we will grow apart.  The physical distance between us will definitely make this a challenge, but I am determined to be a good friend to both Matt and Melissa. In fact, what prompted me to compose this blog in the first place, was a sentimental note I just left on my brother's facebook page:

"Hey Matty! I miss you and am so proud of you for embarking on this adventure so far from home. You have really come into your own and I really like the person you have grown into. You have found your niche, my friend and kin, and with music and the Spanish language, you are taking the world be storm. I realize that this message is cheesy, but I'm getting really sentimental these days (as I prepare to embark on my own international adventure) and I think it is important that you know how much I love ya! Live it up in Argentina and I will see you when I come home from Kenya for 2 weeks over Christmas. I'll make sure to bring you something good... perhaps an instrument?"

I am happy to report, that Matt responded quickly:
"Love you too, sis."

I am truly happy with my life right now.
I am in awe of how many amazing people I know, and excited to be doing something meaningful with my life. So, despite a healthy dose of apprehension, I look forward to my departure with an overall sense of excitement.

Thanks for reading! I welcome comments.
~S

Village HopeCore International (VHI)

I, Stacy Gray, have been selected by Village HopeCore International to embark on a 6-month adventure as their Health Project Coordinator in Chogoria, Kenya. :)

Here's some background information on Village HopeCore International (VHI):
Village Hopecore International is a non profit organization registered in Kenya and the United States with a mission to eradicate poverty and improve the health and living conditions of the Wameru people of Chogoria, Kenya. At this time, the project affects approximately 6,000 villagers and6,000 students in our school-based mobile clinics.The project has been operating for the last 11 years and is situated on Mt. Kenya,four hours north of Nairobi by car at 5,000 feet elevation in a lovely area of tea and coffee farms. It is located approximately 20 miles south of the equator.

In 2000, HopeCore began a unique and innovative poverty eradication project that combines a Grameen style micro enterprise village bank, and an adult education program with a village level health care program. The health care program focuses on child and maternal health issues, and HIV and malaria prevention.

In 2009, HopeCore received funds to begin a comprehensive malaria education and prevention program which involves proving mosquito nets to people receiving microloans. The program involves educating individuals about the prevention and treatment of malaria. The distribution of the nets are followed by home visits to each of our families to be sure that the nets are being used correctly. At the time of the home visit, health dataarecollected on our families and further education on safe water, good nutrition, child-maternal health issues, family planning and HIV prevention and testing is provided. We now have a full time, Kenyan project nurseand four community health workers as part of our public health team, and a full-time peace corp volunteer is now working in Chogoria with our microenterprise program.

Since February 2011, HopeCore has been operating a school-based mobile clinic program by making a partnership with 16 primary schools and 8 secondary schools in the Chogoria area. Each mobile clinic begins with health education on various topics including malaria, HIV/AIDS, hygiene, and nutrition.  Subsequently, students in our 24 schools receive free health services for the most common health issues (e.g., malaria, typhoid). In 2011, HopeCore conducted 55 mobile clinics and benefited 4,441 patients in total. We are now installing water tanks and water chlorination systems in all 24 schools, and by the summer 2012, we hope to have all our 6,000 students under long-lasting insecticide treated malaria prevention bed nets.

for more information, check out my organization's website at:
www.villagehopecore.org/blog