Mom visits Kenya - Part I

I convinced my mom to come back to Kenya for a bit after the holidays. I use the word 'convinced' for a reason. To say that my mom works hard in the US is the understatement of the century. She is a passionate, tireless, and selfless woman who doesn't quite understand the definition of a vacation! (she is probably shaking her head in denial as she reads this). Anyway, I was not only excited to give her a taste of Africa, but I was also looking forward to spending some quality mother/daughter time. Both missions were definitely accomplished!

I must admit that I was a bit nervous to have my mother come to Kenya. Worrying is an intrinsic part of my nature so of course questions like - Will she get malaria? Will she get sick eating the food? Will something, ANYTHING, bad happen that I, her only daughter, will forever be responsible for and friends and family will look away in disgust since I was the one who convinced her to come here? Yes, I know...ridiculous thoughts...but I'm sure that most of you can relate.

Our trip started in Nairobi where we celebrated NYE at the baggage claim in Nairobi airport.













The next day, we headed to the giraffe center to get up close and personal.






















Nairobi is very westernized so my mom was shocked to see the variety of restaurants, the luxurious hotels, and the well paved and organized roads throughout the city. I took her for our first exciting food experience at Habesha, a great Ethiopian restaurant in Nairobi.













We were off to Eldoret the next morning for several days to check out where I have been living and working for the past 5 months. I think she was pleasantly surprised with the compound I'm living in and the double gated security! However, the hospital was tough to see and she could only handle 15 seconds of the ward until she did a 180 for the exit as she stated "I can't believe that people in the US complain about not having a private room in the hospital and these people are sharing beds." You can hear this time and time again, but I think to witness it first hand is an experience that changes your perception drastically. It was surreal to see my own mother go through this, and I think it helped her understand why I am so determined to work in global health in the future.

We also ventured into the market where my mom decided that she wanted to sit with the ladies selling potatoes to really get the full market experience.













One of our main goals in Eldoret was to deliver the sneakers and cleats donations that we collected for the Tumaini Children's center. THANK YOU for all who donated!!! We arranged to meet with the older boys' team to give out the cleats and watch them play soccer for a bit.



























Another highlight was our roasted goat dinner with the TB team! They gave my mom Masai fabric which she wore throughout the entire dinner.













More pictures

....and we're back!

Wow. What a month! There is no way to sum up the past month in one post so I am going to work on giving you tidbits of my travels over the next few posts. I went back to the US for the holidays and it was a whirlwind of seeing friends and family and getting my fill of America. I am not going to bore you with a play by play of my daily activities. Instead, I thought it would be fun to share with you the things that I have realized I really love about the states (most of them are food related of course!).

1) SUSHI: By the end of 3rd year, I think that I was eating sushi about 3 times a week (thanks to a restaurant that gives students amazing discounts and made my vice affordable). By last October, I was dreaming about spicy tuna and I made sure to get my fill over the holidays...on three different occasions. :)
2) Bagels: I didn't think that I missed bagels that much but when I bit into my first taylor ham, egg and AMERICAN cheese on an everything bagel sandwich my tastebuds were dancing.
3) Cheese: All of the guidebooks claim that Eldoret is known for cheese and yes, we are very blessed to have ANY cheese available. But honestly, whether you buy gouda, new highland, mozzarella or cheddar it all seems to taste the same. It was great to walk around the Wegmans cheese section and enjoy white stilton with cranberries, camembert, comte and fresh mozzarella.
4) Target: I don't typically support our western consumer habits but I will admit that I now appreciate the convenience. I must have spent an hour walking around just staring at all of the options. An entire wall of trail mix! Gizmos and gadgets for every room! toothpaste...shampoo? sure, choose from about a thousand different brands. It's a bit excessive and overwhelming but I suppose useful when you are looking for specific products.

Things that shocked me a bit:
1) How expensive everything is. I felt bad for my friend who had to listen to my rant about parking fees in NYC and how many street children we could feed with that money.
2) Cold weather and snow.

Some picture highlights...

Christmas get together with some fabulous people












Holiday cheese platter












The family at the Christmas table












Imani Workshops sale












Way too much snow