Travels with my Stethoscope .

Rush Hour......February 4th 2013
So - today was my first day at work. We ambled down to the clinic at about ten a.m. - very civilised.. The walk to work is spectacular - a red, dusty track through sparse thorny undergrowth, interspersed with the ubiquitous Acacia trees. In the distance a small lake glistens, and beyond that an immense range of mountains . We are in The Great Rift Valley, in the village of Saikieri. Scattered about these hills are some 7,000 Maasai people, who walk for miles to come to the nurse-led clinic for a range of ailments. Next door to the blue timber dispensary, is a half built brick and mortar building, which was to be the new improved clinic, until the contractor took the money and fled, over a year ago - and there it sits.

We saw 6 or 7 patients today, ranging from an elderly Maasai lady who thought it hilarious that I was so old and yet had no children, to a shyly beautiful young mother, whose child was really poorly, with a fever and sore throat. Unfortunately I managed to make every child I saw scream in fear of the scary white lady with what must have looked like a painful thing in my hand (the thermometer !)so listening to their chests was not even an option....the stethoscope will have to wait for its first use...
Everyone who came was given antibiotics, after all, as Cecilia (my lovely nurse mentor) pointed out - they've walked a long way, they expect something.
Although I have been well prepared for all of these things , it was still very sad to send the little boy who had been bitten by his brother (boys will be boys) back the 20 kilometres he and his mother had walked, without a tetanus shot, because the gas cylinder that ran the fridge had run out some days ago, and all of the immunisations had to be thrown away.Apparently a new cylinder arrives tomorrow, along with fresh immunisations. Still - long old walk for those two tomorrow....
Tonight the house was full of visitors, colourful older ladies with beads everywhere cackling with delight over the baby (he has just stopped crying at the sight of me), random schoolchildren who ran in giggling, were about to run off again when Zho-Zho's imperious voice called them over - not for a scolding, but for a pat on the head and a sweetie each (Zho-Zho is the all powerful grandma), to the most bizarre visit of the evening - two men, one wearing traditional Maasai clothes complete with big stick, the other in western clothes, very tall, and wearing a Santa hat.
I love it here.