Hakuna Mata

If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God's love? 1 John 3:17


I have already been here for one week! It has gone very fast! My last roommate, Dayna, left yesterday! Nooooo, so sad. She was so  sweet and such great company. There are some medical students from Nairobi coming, but probably will not arrive until about the time I leave. I hope I don’t get too lonely!! I’m going to have to start knocking on doors and begging people to be my friend! John, the one my brothers age who lives above me, said he would take me on their motor bike/cycle thing to Mayers Ranch where Rod and Melanie live (the other couple that joined us at Hell’s Gate). It is apparently gorgeous with a huge awesome sycamore tree and a beautiful lake for swimming! I donno about the temperature so much with the swimmage tho. We will have to see about this…

I had the privilege of getting coffee with a family medicine resident from the Seattle and two Kenyans. It was so fun. They were telling me stories of their lives! Apparently in Kenya, “talking suggestively to a girl” is only getting to know someone with the potential of maybe dating, “pleasing a girl” is flirting, and “eloping” is when you leave your residence to go stay at a house of someone of the opposite sex. The other American and I kept looking at each other during this Kenyans story thinking wow these guys are very inappropriate!

Swahili is a very fun language and one of the interns is teaching me a few new words everyday. Today I learned pain, medicine, fever, and little (uchungu, dawo, joto, and kidogo respectively – not sure about those spellings). Asante sana (which you may remember from a line in Lion King) means thank you very much and hakuna (as in hakuna mata) is Swahili – and it does mean worry so that was another word down!

Wednesday night in walking back and forth from home while I was on call the stars were BEAUTIFUL. They seem so big. I’m excited to see them this weekend out at Masai Mara (safari place).

Tonight I went to a women’s book group – we talked about a book called When Helping Hurts. It was about how Americans go to other places with their big feeling superior foot steps and just harm those in poverty because we make them feel even more inferior. We talked about how you should view places you go to as less relief and more development – provide sustainability – teach – minister – don’t just give give give making them feel more hopeless, depressed, shameful, voiceless, fearful. 10% should be relief, 90% should be development. AND do not do for people what they can do for themselves – now there are exceptions of course, but we should be asking people what they have not always what they need! Pretty cool book group!

Fun facts: 40% of the Earth’s population live on less than $2 per day, 1 billion people live on less than $1 per day, the average American lives on $90 per day --- YIKERS!