Your Questions Answered

I asked for your questions about my Kenya trip and the response from both of you was overwhelming! I will take the time to selectively answer some of your questions - mainly the ones that do not implicate me in an international incident.

Have you learned things from a medical perspective that you would never have learned anywhere other than Kenya?

How to treat Malaria - nearly every patient is tested for it and almost all are positive. You have to deal with a high grade of ambiguity here, we only have an old xray machine and rudimentary ultrasound - preventative medicine is a bust here, but diabetes is rare and hypertension is much less common here. GI cancers are ridiculously common though.

Can you summarize the last month in one sentence? In one word? In one smell?

No

How truthful do you think you have been in your blog?

Are you calling me a liar? Sometimes when something is too strange to be true, it probably is. The material in my blog is very much true as experienced by me or read in good trustworthy sources.

What was your most difficult case?

I’ve seen some things here I probably won’t see in the US, but every case is difficult because of the cultural differences in medicine between here and the US - most folks here can’t afford to go to the doctor until it’s too late.

Are they using solar or wind to at least charge the smaller appliances like phones, flashlights etc?

Hahahahahaha, you realize that transistor radios are high tech here? Solar and wind technology isn’t used at all and the roadsides all pretty much have trash on the side of the roads. Since most people don’t even have electricity or running water, I feel they are a little away from that technology.

Are the Swahili translations for real? Are those all really from a kids book?

All of my translations from the same 40 page swahili kids book and I have only posted about 40% of the funny ones. I have the publisher info if you would like to get me a copy-you would be my hero.

and then the biggest question: Would you go back?

That’s the hardest question for me to answer. Folks are incredibly friendly, the landscape is beautiful, and the US dollar goes a long way in western kenya. Having to be locked in at night to avoid being murdered, being a constant novelty because I am white, being covered with bugs at night, fear of getting a disease or hurt and not having the facilities to treat it are all very real fears though. The fact that many of your patients are dying of problems that can be treated in the US is very hard. I would love to explore other parts of Kenya – especially Mombassa, but I probably wouldn’t do another medical mission trip here. I would probably go to a spanish speaking country next time - probably in South America.