February 11, 2014
Today was a jam-packed day. It was a Non-Program Day which means we had no classes and we got to choose what we wanted to do for the day as a group. We started off with an awesome hike to a full-blown waterfall. The hike wasn’t too long but it wove through a beautiful cornfield and spiraled down a steep hill through a tunnel of some lemon-verbena-type plant that smelled absolutely amazing. We tried to work on a name for the plant and the consensus was something to the tone of “lemon mint green mist.” We were going for a candle scent on that one. The final descent to the falls was steep and slippery, so there were inevitably a few muddy butts. There was a tunnel of green leaves before seeing the falls. It was very picturesque. The waterfall was one tall drop, about two stories with a small calm pool below it that trickled into a smooth river. There was a very rainforest, jungle like feel. There was one large dominant rock that people climbed up onto; obviously I was one of them. The walk back was really nice too, we avoided the steep tunnel somehow.
Right after the falls we headed to a Clinic called the VTC (Voluntary Testing and Counseling). The Clinic is for people, mainly women who are HIV positive. It’s run by a really inspiring women named Mary who is HIV negative but has dedicated her life to others through working for the clinic. When we got out of the cars from the waterfall we all filed into a large room with wooden benches. Mary introduced herself and told us the background of the clinic. There was a sister named Patricia who came from the US to start the VTC. Then each of the four women told their stories. Most of them had multiple kids and ended up being shunned by their communities because of their diagnoses. The clinic became the only place of refuge and comfort for these people. One woman whose name was Joyce passed around a picture of herself when she was at her sickest point in the hospital and it was really startling. She was emaciated and looked like a completely different person. After our chat on the benches, we split up into two groups and my group went first to the actual clinic house where people can voluntary come to be tested. While in the testing room, Mary told us her very personal story of how she became involved in HIV an AIDS work. She talked about receiving a child as a wedding gift who had HIV and having a very close friend find out both she and her husband were HIV positive. It was difficult to understand at some points but it was very clear she had worked through many hardships. After visiting that part of the clinic, we switched with the other group and went to the small shop where the women of the clinicsell their beads and other handmade goods. During the chat, the women discussed how because of their stibma and the high price of a market stall, they can’t Market in downtown Kimana on Tuesdays. This shop is their only way of income. It felt really good to spend my money their because I saw directly where the money was going and Mary also talked to us about how they have lost funding from programs over the years. Also there were set prices which was really nice compared to the bargaining thing with the mamas at the Maasai Boma, way less stressful. I think it would be really cool to stay in contact with Mary and VTC to help donate more money and buy more beads.
After the Clinic we headed to the market in downtown Kimana. This was definitely one of the most hectic and overwhelming experiences of my life, all while being awesome. We were showed the restaurant we were to meet at and then dropped at the front of the market to fiend for ourselves. The second we got out of the car, we were definitely an attraction. People were pointing at us and trying to talk in broken English. We took a loop around the market to get a feel for what people were selling and then decided to dive in. The first scarf I got was blue, red and white (Maasai colors) with a repetitive block pattern. Then, the mamas came. Actually they swarmed. All the Maasai mamas come to the market with their beadwork, mostly necklaces and bracelets. They targeted us as a weak point and attacked. At one point my friends Rachel and Kelsey and I were waiting for our friend Jayne to chose a cloth and we were completely surrounded by mamas holding out their jewelry to us and using a Swahili/English hybrid fusion. There was one mama that was very determined and kept coming back to us. This mama observed Kelsey as the feeblest in the group. Both Kelsey and I tried to use all the Swahili we knew to tell her off but it came to a point when every time the mama came up to Kelsey and made eye contact we all started laughing, even the mama. Although the mamas were stressful and a bit annoying, that moment of making eye contact with that one mama and both of us knowing what was so funny was touching. We struggled to find words to speak to each other but the laughter broke down the barrier of the language and the stigma that surrounded both of our cultures.
Laughter is the global language.
Let Me Clareify 