The best laid plans for a day seldom come to fruition here. Each day unravels on its own accord and I am never quite sure where the day will take me. One thing is for certain though; it definitely forces me to live in the moment.
Just this morning we were getting ready to go out on a field visit when a CHW come to tell me I had a visitor. A young boy had made his way into to town to tell me thank you for carrying over a gift from Nancy for him that the CHW had delivered to him on Friday. During our previous visit to Eldoret, this young boy had been in the hospital struggling to come to terms with his recent AIDS diagnosis. He and Nancy became fast friends when she went to visit and helped him process the news. By American standards, the gift she gave was small – sketch paper, color pencils & markers, small balls, candy and Uno cards. Many of the kids I know in the states would not even think to send a thank-you note for such small tokens, yet this young man walked into town so that I could see his appreciation for these precious gifts and pass it along to Nancy.
Later in the morning when we arrived for the home visit to see if a family qualified for food assistance, the young woman living there was very excited to show me their jinko (kitchen/cook pot) and to have me take her picture while she was cooking. As I turned to walk out, my eyes caught a glimpse of a string stretched across the far corner of the hut filled with Calabashes decorated gourds that the grandmother had made. (They are used for storing milk.) I couldn’t resist snapping the shot you see posted above. Before we left the grandmother took two of the smallest gourds off the string, used a bit of the precious little water they had to clean the dust off of them and then presented them to us as gifts of thanks when we got in the car to leave.
I have no doubt it will be hard for me to stay in the moment when I get back to American. One look at this precious gift, that will have an honored place in my home, and I am certain that my mind will drift back to Kenya. To the soft breeze of the day, the green of the countryside and the beauty of sharing gifts that are precious.
Just this morning we were getting ready to go out on a field visit when a CHW come to tell me I had a visitor. A young boy had made his way into to town to tell me thank you for carrying over a gift from Nancy for him that the CHW had delivered to him on Friday. During our previous visit to Eldoret, this young boy had been in the hospital struggling to come to terms with his recent AIDS diagnosis. He and Nancy became fast friends when she went to visit and helped him process the news. By American standards, the gift she gave was small – sketch paper, color pencils & markers, small balls, candy and Uno cards. Many of the kids I know in the states would not even think to send a thank-you note for such small tokens, yet this young man walked into town so that I could see his appreciation for these precious gifts and pass it along to Nancy.
Later in the morning when we arrived for the home visit to see if a family qualified for food assistance, the young woman living there was very excited to show me their jinko (kitchen/cook pot) and to have me take her picture while she was cooking. As I turned to walk out, my eyes caught a glimpse of a string stretched across the far corner of the hut filled with Calabashes decorated gourds that the grandmother had made. (They are used for storing milk.) I couldn’t resist snapping the shot you see posted above. Before we left the grandmother took two of the smallest gourds off the string, used a bit of the precious little water they had to clean the dust off of them and then presented them to us as gifts of thanks when we got in the car to leave.
I have no doubt it will be hard for me to stay in the moment when I get back to American. One look at this precious gift, that will have an honored place in my home, and I am certain that my mind will drift back to Kenya. To the soft breeze of the day, the green of the countryside and the beauty of sharing gifts that are precious.
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