Kisumu

I was scheduled to be in Kisumu for work from August 31 to September 2. My mission was to collect the remainder of the data I needed for the project I am working on here. One of the datasets was too large to send by email, so it had to be picked up in person by someone and the other two datasets were just taking longer than anticipated. A little in person pressure works well for making things happen a bit faster.

I was picked up at my apartment at 6AM on Tuesday to go to the airport. I perhaps should have called them to have them come a bit later because I ended up with a lot of waiting time at the airport. I was meeting Mark Katz, the person I am working with here, and David Shay, who was visiting from Atlanta. I had worked with both of them several years ago when I was working at CDC in the Influenza Division. Mark and David were just coming for the day so David could see some of the field sites and to attend the grand opening of a new research center at Siaya District Hospital.

We pretty much set out to the field as soon as we arrived at the office from the airport. Rachel, a Kenyan working for CDC in Kisumu, joined us. We first stopped at a couple of outpatient clinics before heading to the hospital in Lwak. There is a large demographic surveillance system in Lwak, and this is the hospital people are referred to if they require more than outpatient care a one of the smaller clinics. It also has some outpatient services for people who live closer to it than other clinics.

The directory at the hospital

After Lwak, we headed to Siaya for the opening celebration for the research center. It was a pretty big deal. They had live African music, food, drinks, and a lot of people came, including a lot of CDC folks from Nairobi and the US Ambassador. Mama Obama, President Obama's grandmother, was also there.

There were several brightly colored murals near the entrance. Karibu means "welcome" in Swahili.

After we parted from the celebration, we toured the hospital. I found the fee schedules and wait times to be incredibly interesting. Since most people don't have health insurance, the schedules are posted to let people know what they are getting themselves into before the services are rendered.

I found this one to be particularly amusing. While I was pleased to see that resuscitation is free, I was slightly dismayed to learn that there is a 15 minute wait.

After Siaya, we headed back to the office for a meeting. Right after that, Mark and David needed to head back to the airport to catch their flight back to Nairobi. I went with them and got a lift to my hotel after we dropped them off. I was staying at the Nyanza Club. A lot of ex-pats are members because it has a 25m pool and tennis courts. The exterior could use a good cleaning and a paint job and some new curtains and bed covers wouldn't hurt either, but all in all my room wasn't bad. It did have a very nice balcony overlooking Lake Victoria. It had been a long day, so I opted to just have dinner at the club restaurant instead of venturing back into town. I ordered the tilapia since Kisumu is known for the tilapia that come out of Lake Victoria. It was okay. It was the restaurant as opposed to the fish.

I spent the day in the office on Wednesday. I was able to retrieve the data set that was too large to send by email and checked in a couple of times on the other data. They were still doing some data cleaning. I was told it should be ready before I leave on Thursday. That night I had plans to meet up with Elise, a Fulbright Scholar I had met at the embassy during my security briefing, and her friend for dinner. Since she lives near the Nyanza Club, we met there. We watched the sunset from my balcony before hopping in tuk tuk to go into town. I had tilapia again for dinner, this time at the Green Garden. It was so good - definitely the best tilapia I've ever had. I got it with a spinach and coconut sauce - I really can't resist things with coconut milk in them.

Sunset over Lake Victoria

I spent Thursday morning in the office, but around noon I headed back out into the field to deliver supplies to Siaya District Hospital and Tingwangi Clinic with Rachel. Rachel was great and humored my desire to be a bit of a tourist along the way.

Me at the equator. Kisumu is in the southern hemisphere, but Siaya is in the northern hemisphere. I found the whole idea of going back and forth across the equator to be incredibly amusing, but I suppose it is all perspective. If you live and do it all the time, I imagine you don't think twice about it.

After we made our deliveries, we made a special stop at Mama Obama's home. She lives in teh Lwak demographic surveilllance area near Siaya. We passed a small army encampment on our way to her house. Once Barack Obama became president they provided some additional security for Mama Obama. They must have hanging out in their tents though because I didn't see anyone. Her property is also fenced and gated with a guard house. The guard wasn't there when we arrived, but Rachel said there has been one there every other time she has visited.

Mama Obama is very active in her community and has been recognized for her farming practices. She also works with the local orphans to help get an education and local church groups.

Mama Obama's property. Her home is quite nice. She was offered a new, larger home after Obama became President, but she refused and wanted the money to go to the orphans and other community organizations.

Her visiting schedule. She receives guest everyday except Sunday. While the few pages of the guest book contained primarily people from nearby, someone from Japan had visited recently. On hind site, I wish I would have entered my US address instead of my Nairobi address.

We chatted with her for about 45 minutes. She is a character. She is very sharp and very chatty. She speaks Luo, the language of the Luo tribe, but I was luck to be with people who could interpret for me. She told a story about how she used to have to rush Obama's father to school on the handlebars of her bicycle to get him there on time and avoiding being whipped by the teachers for being tardy. She also talked about her trip to the inauguration - how she finds flying exciting and how huge her hotel room in DC was. I'm guessing it was larger than her home in Kenya. It was such a special experience.

Mama Obama and me

When we returned to the office, I checked on my outstanding data. It was ready! It was transferred to my hard drive, and I set off for the airport. Between Lake Victoria and the surrounding hills, Kisumu is a really beautiful place and I am glad I was able to visit.