Cats and Orphans!
I must tell you all about the cats. I don't think that I've mentioned this yet, but the vice-chancellor of USIU is absolutely in love with cats, so she takes in any strays off the streets or that people drop off. Of course, these cats are not fixed, so they breed, and as a result, there must be hundreds of them running around. Some are big, some small, and most for some reason have a small chunk taken out of one of their ears. A set group of them like to hang around in the cafeteria waiting for people to feed them or leave their trays on the cart so they can take food. Others roam the hostels or ransack trashcans in order to find food. They are all dirty, and in my opinion, disgusting. They're probably diseased! Yet people put their bowls on the floor and throw them food all the time in the cafeteria. Some people even think they're cute, but I'm sorry; I realize that I'm not much of a cat person in the first place, but I'm usually pretty tolerant. These cats, though, are pretty gross, and there's no way I'm feeding them or touching them. Stay away from my room, cats!
On a completely different note, in my last post I talked about going to Nairobi Hospital to talk with the head of the Physiotherapy department. However, she told me that I would basically be doing observation and not actually doing anything useful. Also, the therapy department here is a far cry from the things we do back in the states, so observing would really do me no good. I want to be able to help people while I'm here, so I turned down the opportunity in the hospital in favor of one I think is much better. There is a children's orphanage located about a 15 minute walk away from campus, and my friends Bailey and Sally and I went there with Patrick today to see about volunteering there. Immediately there were kids in our arms talking to us and playing, and they were so adorable! I talked to the resident nurse there and she said she would love for me to volunteer with her to help diagnose sick kids, distribute medicine, do injections (I really hope she teaches me), and take kids to the doctor when needed. Then I met the physical therapist who volunteers there twice a week to help the young kids learn to walk and also to help kids with certain physical defects with their rehabilitation. Perfect! It was amazing! We brought them stickers, and they went crazy. They were covered head to toe with Spidermen and flowers and stars by the time we left.
Today my statistics professor came so we actually had class. I am the only white person in the class, one of three girls, and the only student not an information technology major. That basically means that I get a lot of attention. It's actually one of the main things I've noticed being here. As a white person, and especially a white girl, I get way more attention than I ever would back home, but people are so friendly. The number of people I've met far outdoes the capacity I have for remembering names. My Swahili lecturer didn't show again today, but we have since found out that it is because they added the class late and forgot to tell the professor (?!), so hopefully we will start class next week.
I am hoping to get to go to the giraffe center this weekend, so we'll see about that! Hope everything back home is great! Please don't hesitate to post or e-mail stuff that's going on! Miss you all!
On a completely different note, in my last post I talked about going to Nairobi Hospital to talk with the head of the Physiotherapy department. However, she told me that I would basically be doing observation and not actually doing anything useful. Also, the therapy department here is a far cry from the things we do back in the states, so observing would really do me no good. I want to be able to help people while I'm here, so I turned down the opportunity in the hospital in favor of one I think is much better. There is a children's orphanage located about a 15 minute walk away from campus, and my friends Bailey and Sally and I went there with Patrick today to see about volunteering there. Immediately there were kids in our arms talking to us and playing, and they were so adorable! I talked to the resident nurse there and she said she would love for me to volunteer with her to help diagnose sick kids, distribute medicine, do injections (I really hope she teaches me), and take kids to the doctor when needed. Then I met the physical therapist who volunteers there twice a week to help the young kids learn to walk and also to help kids with certain physical defects with their rehabilitation. Perfect! It was amazing! We brought them stickers, and they went crazy. They were covered head to toe with Spidermen and flowers and stars by the time we left.
Today my statistics professor came so we actually had class. I am the only white person in the class, one of three girls, and the only student not an information technology major. That basically means that I get a lot of attention. It's actually one of the main things I've noticed being here. As a white person, and especially a white girl, I get way more attention than I ever would back home, but people are so friendly. The number of people I've met far outdoes the capacity I have for remembering names. My Swahili lecturer didn't show again today, but we have since found out that it is because they added the class late and forgot to tell the professor (?!), so hopefully we will start class next week.
I am hoping to get to go to the giraffe center this weekend, so we'll see about that! Hope everything back home is great! Please don't hesitate to post or e-mail stuff that's going on! Miss you all!