I want to be...

I want to be a physician assistant.

I want to be a doctor.

I want to be a singer.

I want to be a broadway star.

I want to be a wedding designer.

I want to be a teacher.

I want to be a surgeon.

I want to make people smile.

I want to help people.

I want to cure sickness.

I want to bring change in the world

Kenyan Birthdays

Yes. Today is my birthday, June 12. But when I woke up this morning, I didn't even realize it. In America we celebrate birthdays with feeling like you are the only person important and extravagant parties. That is not how my birthday is being celebrated here in Kenya.

Most of the children at the school I am working at (Destiny Garden School) do not know their birthdays. So obviously they do not celebrate on their special day, since they don't know when that would be. Instead of celebrating my birthday at the school, the 2 volunteers and I decided to throw a birthday party for the children tomorrow. We will celebrate everyone's birthday, together.

We made rice crispie treats for the kids and later we will have cheese and crackers on the roof of our house and watch the sunset.

Day 28

I have been MIA (missing in action) in writing blog posts for the past couple weeks. I have been so tired, busy, and not a chance to use the computer. But here is the update.

Nairobi: This trip was so much fun! I traveled with 28 girls and boys of class 3-5 for a football tournament. The bus was so squishy and some kids were 2-3 per seat. The drive was around 8-9 hours. The kids played the following day against other teams in the Nairobi area. The trip was sponsored by some people from the UK. I was able to meet and get to know all of the kids and learn more about their lives at home. One thing I learned from this trip was how even though the children don't have many material possessions, they are so happy! The kids played for 3 hours in the dark waiting for dinner and didn't complain. That has been one of my favorite moments, sitting in a big field talking and hanging out. One girl noticed how I had dandruff and was so concerned! She quickly grabbed a comb and started picking at my whole head. We stayed in a classroom at a school in the slums of Nairobi. It was very interesting to see how primitive these children and adults live. We showered with a bucket, peed in a hole, cooked in a pot that was the size of me, cook over a fire with no refrigeration, and not complain about any of it.

Safari: We traveled to the Masai Mara where we were to have our safari. It was completely amazing and that doesn't even sum up the trip at all. There were thousands of animals including elephants, giraffes, leopards, zebra, wildebeest, lions, antelope, gazelle, topek, and warthogs. We also saw so many cows and sheep that were being herded by the Masai people. I can't put to words the views that we saw. The sunset and sunrises were also so beautiful. We stayed in a lodge that had the comfiest bed ever! The tents were sooo amazingly awesome and upscale! The workers turned down our sheets at night! Our meals were 2-3 courses and the tea was amaazing. All in all, the trip was so well worth every penny! (Also, we saw a lion and cub with a whole dead zebra....amazingly awesome!)

I have left so many details out, but wanted to make sure that I posted something! More details to come!

Kenya Day 1 to Day 13

Here I am, in Kenya! I am in Mombasa which is the 2nd biggest city in the country.

I am working in a clinic in a rural town just outside of the city. I take a matatu and a ferry to get to work. The clinic is a single building with tiny rooms. The conditions are very poor and the medical practices are basic enough to get by. They work mostly with HIV and TB patients, as well as walk in clinic type cases and maternity. HIV testing is done everyday for free and encouraged for everyone. On wednesdays and fridays cervical cancer screening is done free to any woman. The staff are very nice and knowledgeable. Nurses are able to do everything that doctors can do in the states.

Transportation is rough. We catch a matatu, which is a mini bus taxi that holds 14 passengers. These drive everywhere, very fast, and very full. They fall apart all the time and run out of gas. We also take a ferry which is free. It is crazy how many people they put on them. There are also tuk tuks which are 3 wheeled cart-type things. They are a little more expensive and take you right to your destination instead of picking others up.

I have been going to the local school after lunch since the clinic is very slow in the afternoon. The kids there are so cute! I have been working with class 2 (8-10yr olds) and have taught english and math. I have been getting to know most of the girls in that class as well. This weekend I will be going to Nairobi, the capitol, with the boys soccer team where they will compete. I will be gone from Saturday to Tuesday.

I have 4 more weeks left and trying to make the most out of it all.

KENYA

30 days till I embark to Mombasa, Kenya :)

Moving away from just a trainee

I am officially certified in EVOC! That means that I have the certification to drive emergency vehicles weighing 0-26,000 lbs. My test included a written and driving portion. For the driving portion, there were 5 different cone set ups. I had to reverse in a J position, drive through a narrowing pathway, parallel park, serpentine (weaving through cones forwards and backwards), and driving through horizontal pathways. I hit NO cones!! Our ambulances range in sizes and luckily I got to drive one of the smaller models. Now I have to go through some other steps through our Squad in order to get released as a driver. I have to have 10 cold hours (meaning driving just around), and 10 hot hours (meaning driving to 10 actual calls).

The Squad recommends and pushes members to get released for driving and AICing (attending in charge) sooner rather than later. I just chosen a preceptor to start getting released as an AIC. The role of an AIC is basically taking charge of the call and giving all patient care. It takes a lot of responsibility and precautions to make sure that the best patient care was given.

So I am now working towards both, driver and AIC.

Technology

I haven't posted in awhile, and frankly it is because my rescue nights are exhausting. No matter how many calls a night we get, whether it be 3 or 15, I am still ALWAYS exhausted. A normal routine is, go to class, try not to fall asleep in class, go to my dorm, take a loooong nap, wake up for class, do homework, go to bed early.

Its pretty remarkable how much the EMS system is dependent on high tech gadgets. But mostly its dependent on cell phones. I get text messages for each dispatch in the city of Harrisonburg. It's pretty genius. It includes the address, cross streets, and the type of call (illness, traffic crash, falls). It also has the ability to send a message when more crews are needed at the station. Other types of technology that we deal with include heart monitors that can sync with the laptops and import EKG's and other fun tools.

100% Chance of Snow...

100 % chance of snow.....A normal college student would be jumping out of their socks for a snow day, but I am not. Snow=messy roads, bad conditions, cold weather, freezing pipes, car crashes, etc. Tonight I have rescue. Night shift. Great.

So with the 100% chance of snow, we got 100% no snow...great job weathermen... Anyways the night was pretty calm for the most part. We had about 4 calls and we were back at the station at 12:30a. I was in bed at 1a. Thankfully there were no calls during the night.

We were woken up at 6:30a with a public service call. It didn't take long, just lifted a man who had fallen when walking back to his bed. The only thing was he weighed quite a ton...

I got back to my dorm at 8am and slept till 10am. Still no snow...

First Night Back

This was written Sunday night and continued Monday morning.

Today is my first day back to the rescue squad. Last night was their banquet (which I did not attend), so there is a lot of gossip about what went down. Everyone here knows everyone pretty well, so being a newbie, its kind of awkward.

My shift is from 7pm-7am like normal. It is 8:30 with no calls yet. We'll see what happens tonight.

8:55pm- We were called to follow to a chimney fire which once on scene was called off. So nothing important....

9:30pm- Dispatched for a fall, possible broken bone. We arrive on scene to a woman who had fallen in her home with leg pain. It was a normal call; placed her on the cot and transported to the hospital. She was a chatter in the ambulance as well, except for she had no teeth so it was quite hard to understand.

11:30- Dispatched for a OB (obstetrics) call. We were responding to a call with a woman who had just given birth 3 minutes prior to the call. This was my first "baby" call which was pretty exciting!!! The little newborn was so cute! We transported mom and baby to the hospital with no complications.

The night went well! Went to bed at 12:30am and slept through the night.

6:00am- Call for hemmoragal bleeding. Simple call, nice lady. Transported to hospital.

Returned to the station at 7am and headed back to my dorm where I slept till 10:30am.