Life with MK: Traveling to Kenya without a Passport

Never did I imagine today happening as it did, but it was a good day. I got up this morning as usual, ate breakfast and headed to work expecting to be working with the consents as usual. I began by filing some of the consents I entered over the past two working days and just as I finished I was told I was going to go into the field with Veronic and Phidelis to watch some of the TAU (treatment as usual) home trainings. Just as I was told that Steven also told me that he was ready for me to come watch him do a physical on a study child, which I have been wanting to see, but I guess that will just have to wait. Bad timing. Anyways, I got the Yuma Trimble GPSs so I could teach Veronic how to make maps to the homes using them and we were on our way.

First thing out the gate the batteries on the GPS devices both died. I did end up having enough battery to show Veronic how to use the device, but we didn’t get to make the first real map as I had hoped. Hopefully that can happen before I leave so at least one person will be able to use the Google docs that I set up to organize the links to the various maps. Besides the GPS mishap the rest of the day went great. We went to five home and only one child cried when they saw me! I was the first muzungo she had ever seen and I got her to warm up to me by taking a picture and showing her my camera. At just about every home we went to we were given a vegetable (I think they were purchased for the most part, but I only saw money exchanged once or twice). We ended the day with tomatoes, onions, maize, and potatoes. I was even given a bag of tomatoes despite Veronic telling the father of the child that I do not have a kitchen and cannot do anything with tomatoes! I think mine got split between Veronic and Phidelis later and we ate some at lunch.

Speaking of lunch, it was quite an interesting experience to eat out in the village. We ate after the final home of the day, so it was quite a late lunch. Meat is not refrigerated here, and just hangs in these little open-air shacks where they cut it and cook it for you. Molly would die at the sight of this as they also cut the meat on a log and then cook it in not freshly cleaned oil in a wok type pan. I was a bit skeptical (I assume this is similar to how many kitchens cook here, but at least I don’t really see that happening!), but I was hungry and the food looked good. We had pork and a mix of tomatoes and onions from earlier in the day and it was quite delicious. We also had some callo which is a millet “bread” that I pretty much do not think resembles cooked bread at all, but definitely resembles dough. The pork was delicious but there were some interesting pieces that were basically fat and skin of the pig. I needless to say was not keen on eating though pieces and Phidelis gave me pieces that consisted of skeletal muscle woo hoo. During lunch there were also a bunch of dogs around and so many little puppies! I was in love! They were so cute, but had lice so I did not really pet them too much (I pet one before seeing the lice and then stayed away after promptly washing my hands). Oh, I also found a pig who definitely loved me and I got the pet earlier in the day at the second home we went to. I came toward me instead of trying to run away. It was a mutual love, haha. And the pig had lice too, but just eggs and not where I was petting. Stupid lice. Anyways, back to the puppies at lunch. I walked around and watched them and took some pictures. They were so cute. Most looked like they were a few weeks old, but there were four that were even younger in a pile of bricks. They were so young their eyes weren’t even open yet! Amazingly adorable!

After eating and playing with the pups Veronic and Phidelis decided to take me to Malaba so we could cross the border into Kenya for a little bit! Such a dream for a country collector. It was a bit terrifying because I didn’t have my passport; didn’t have my visa for Uganda, not that it would have helped because it is only single entry; and I didn’t have a visa for Kenya. Basically I went to another country without any form of identification at all, but I was assured by Phidelis that it would be alright and it was. He also made sure to check with the people at the checkpoint on each side before we actually went so that I would for sure be let back into Uganda. We walked across the border because the line for cars was ridiculous and headed to the Kenyan town of Malaba which is basically the other half of the Ugandan town of Malaba. There’s not much to do there but we went to the super market and then walked around the block and it started raining. We took shelter for a bit and then decided to walk back to Uganda. It was a very short trip into Kenya but it was still cool to be in another country unexpectedly. When we got back into Uganda a police man lectured Phidelis a bit about being responsible for me as a Ugandan and that I should have had my visa copy with me, but it really wasn’t a problem and everything was fine. I did at the very least have a copy of the first page of my passport in my backpack luckily.

After our Kenyan adventure we drove back to Tororo and put everything away in the GHU office. I chatted with Ethan and Joan since they were both still there and then went home to the guest house to take a much needed shower. I was so dirty after walking in sandals in the dirt and then getting rained on. It felt so nice and now I feel so clean! The rest of the evening was very chill as I just ate and cleaned and packed a bag. Tomorrow we are going to Kampala to meet up with most of the other UMMS students (Jen went home for MSTP rotations and John is going to Lira to see his friends from when he spent four months here last year). We will have most of the day in Kampala since Phidelis needs to drive there early to take his car to a mechanic and then we are going to Rwanda! We are planning on seeing the Genocide museum and exploring Kigali a bit and then we will head back to Uganda for a relaxing weekend at Lake Bunyonyi, supposedly one of Uganda’s most beautiful places. It is also free of crocs, hippos, and schisto so you can actually go swimming in the lake, which is awesome! It should be a fun mini trip, and our last one as a group. I’m excited and ready to go! I am not sure if my phone internet will work in Rwanda, so I don't know if I will be able to post daily while I am gone, but I will do my best to at least write so I can upload later!