I am half way through my second week in Litein. Something I had not yet mentioned was our lack of flowing water inside the house. I guess it slipped my mind because it was surprisingly easy to adjust to. I would have imagine a bigger inconvenience.
When I first arrived we had water flowing in the pipes at our house. The water is visibly dirty and only cold water comes out of the tap. My third day in Kenya the water stopped flowing and it has not yet come back on. The water is turned off as a conservation method. This is such a normal, every day occurrence Gloria is well prepared with an outdoor tank that collects rain water. We purchase large bottles of water from town for our drinking water. Part of our daily routine is carrying water buckets into the house to wash hands/dishes, flush the toilet, have a bath.
She is not capable of carrying the bucket on her head but I have seen other ladies in town gifted with a wonderful balance to carrying things on their heads. I sure makes me wonder, with all the rain we have in Vancouver, why we don't have a rain water tank to be used inside the house. I can certainly appreciate we only have a short walk from the tank inside the house. It would be hard to imagine how difficult it would be to carry water for many kilometres.
If you want to have hot water for your bucket bath you boil the kettle. So far we have only had one power outage. It was probably an hour long, but since it was at dinner time we ventured out to eat at a restaurant with a generator.
I finally snapped a few photos of Litein Hospital. The gates are guarded by 24 hour security. They check bags of the visitors before entering the grounds. There are also security guards at the stairwell to monitor the comings and goings of patients and visitors. There tends to be security everywhere but it still feels very safe. I think they are just trying to take preventative precautions.
Here I am having morning tea with Gloria's office mates, Eric and Eric. We are eating a traditional meal of maize and beans. Yes, we are all sharing off the same plates. Tea time is 1030 and most of the staff are pretty diligent at breaking at this time. Since the staff are busy with tea, a worship service is put on for the patients who are waiting to be seen in the out patient clinics. The songs echo through the halls.
If you want to have hot water for your bucket bath you boil the kettle. So far we have only had one power outage. It was probably an hour long, but since it was at dinner time we ventured out to eat at a restaurant with a generator.
I finally snapped a few photos of Litein Hospital. The gates are guarded by 24 hour security. They check bags of the visitors before entering the grounds. There are also security guards at the stairwell to monitor the comings and goings of patients and visitors. There tends to be security everywhere but it still feels very safe. I think they are just trying to take preventative precautions.
I was told part of the job of security at the stairwells is to take away plastic bags from the visitors because they flush them down the toilets and clog our plumbing. Not because they are being melicious but because they are used to using a pit toilet at home and are unfamiliar with this type of plumbing system.
Here I am having morning tea with Gloria's office mates, Eric and Eric. We are eating a traditional meal of maize and beans. Yes, we are all sharing off the same plates. Tea time is 1030 and most of the staff are pretty diligent at breaking at this time. Since the staff are busy with tea, a worship service is put on for the patients who are waiting to be seen in the out patient clinics. The songs echo through the halls.  |
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