Day 5 – The Long & Winding (and Bumpy) Road Back to Nairobi

Today was the reverse of Day 2, heading back to Nairobi.  Still having jet lag, waking up at 2:00 a.m. and not going back to sleep, ugh!  After we crossed the border back into Kenya, we visited our 2^nd hospital, a District Hospital which is government run.  It had 100 beds with only 2 Doctors on staff.  They didn’t do any surgeries other than c-sections.  There were 3 or 4 mid-level practitioners (nurse practitioners) who saw the out-patients and the doctors took care of the in-patients.  Most of the in-patients had infectious diseases like malaria, pneumonias, HIV, gastroenteritis, and TB.  The TB patients were quarantined in a separate area of small buildings with 1 to each building.  They had an x-ray machine and basic lab services.  They also had an Amenity Ward where patients paid a little extra for a bed that looked like a hospital bed rather than a prison bed.  They do a good job with what they have.  They didn’t allow photography but I hear the last 2 hospitals do. 

On down the road, we saw a group of children walking home from school.  We stopped by the side of the road to give them each a stick of gum we brought along for that purpose.  You would have thought we gave them a gold bar for how excited they were.  There were no fewer than 10 arms in the van window at one time reaching for the gum.  The younger children couldn’t reach the car window and very were teary eyed.  We had to battle the other kids to get them their stick of gum.  We’re not sure we got everyone and I know some got two.  Because these children were educated, they all said thank you, some in English and some in Swahili, so nice to hear.  I can’t wait for the next group of kids we run into. 

Before heading to the hotel, we stopped to have dinner at a restaurant called Carnivalle, which was much like the Brazilian Steakhouse our kids took us to in the Bahamas only the meat they served included ostrich, camel, crocodile, and various other more common meats.  Judy actually tried the ostrich, camel, and crocodile and I’m not making that up!