First Field Visit

Today I headed to the field with one of our field coordinators who oversees the cough monitors working in the rural areas. We went to Tambach, which is about 45 minutes outside of Eldoret in the Kerio Valley.














One of the most important jobs of the cough monitors is to do sensitization talks. Typically, the cough monitor will target large groups of people like prisoners or students. The goal is to educate as many people as possible about TB and encourage them to get screened (for free!) if they have TB like symptoms usually including cough, fever, and night sweats.

We started off at the Tambach prison. The prisoners were very interested in what we had to say, asked great questions, and expressed their gratitude for our willingness to educate them. One man summed it up perfectly,"you have given us information and information is power. Nowe we have the power to keep ourselves health."




























Then we started our trek to a primary school in a nearby village. We walked up the side of the valley for about 1.5 hours. As we climbed, the valley came into view and I couldn't stop saying "ooo maridadi sana (so beautiful)". I don't know if these pictures capture the beauty of the landscape, but hopefully you can get a good idea.




























Our next stop was a primary school. We arrived while the students were still at lunch. While we were waiting for everyone to get there, I decided to play soccer with the kids who were already there. And by soccer I mean the kids would kick me their ball made of paper, foil and rope, and I would try to kick it back and they would laugh hysterically. Children from the rural areas in Africa are fascinated by Wazungu (white foreigners). They surrounded me, and started shooting questions at me to see if they could stump me. I did fine on the first few...what is the capital of your country? What is the highest mountain in the world and what country is it in? Then failed miserably on what is the deepest lake in America? If anyone knows, please post your answer in the comments section. I need to be prepared for next time!














The primary school talk was definitely my favorite one.
My talk went something like this:
"Who here is going to eat dinner tonight?" (all hands go up)
"And who here is going to eat dinner with their parents, brothers and sisters?" (again all hands go up)
"OK then. My assignment for you tonight is to teach your families everything you learned today about TB. As Willy said, Kenya is #5 in Africa on the list of countries with the most TB cases. YOU have the power to change that!"














We took an interesting shortcut down the mountain through corn fields, and again, I could not get enough of the scenery!














When we approached the secondary school where we would be speaking to children and their parents, I started to race some of the children playing in the school yard. What I did not realize was that there were about 150 kids waiting for us to arrive and once they saw me running they all charged at me excitedly. The talk here went well and the parents seemed very itnerested to learn more about TB!