In the Field with Elizabeth

Today a medical resident, Kim, and I accompanied Elizabeth and Loice, a community social worker, to visit homes and families affected by HIV-AIDS in Simat, a rural area outside of Eldoret. Elizabeth is the field director of AMPATH’s orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) program, which assists children that have been orphaned or affected by HIV-AIDS. Two to three times a week she makes visits to different OVC homes that are covered by the OVC program.

This is the road on our way to Simat.

 

A community of AMPATH patients (HIV+ clients and/or parents/guardians of HIV+ children) is supposed to meet Elizabeth and Loice at this church at 9:30 AM. We are on time, but the majority of them haven't arrived yet. Westerners often joke that Kenyan time is different (much later) than the actual time.

 

Inside the church, which I think is Seventh Day Adventist. We don't want to wait at the empty church for what may be an hour or more for the patients to arrive, so we decide to walk to a nearby home of one of the patients for a visit instead.

 

On the way, Elizabeth and I take pictures of a roadside milk vendor. What a nice milk stand!

 

The vendor, seeing that we are taking pictures of his stand, gets up and moves the milk carton closer to the front, although we protest that it is okay where he has had it before.

 

After repositioning the milk carton, he poses next to it for us to take photos.

 

He is tickled after seeing himself on Elizabeth's camera.

 

This is the woman whose shamba (homestead) we've come to visit. Kim, the medical resident who accompanied us, dubbed this woman as the Kenyan Martha Stewart, because she plants beautiful flowers as well as practical maize and other edibles, and because she keeps a meticulous home. Her shamba, both inside and out is neat, pretty, functional, and well-planned. Elizabeth says she and her shamba make good role models for the rest of the community of AMPATH patients.

 

This photo doesn't do this shamba justice. At this shamba there is a maize field, several vegetable patches, lush flower beds, and a great view beyond.

 

The bedroom inside the house. The aqua-blue blobs suspended above the beds are folded-up mosquito nets.

 

The living room.

 

The kitchen. The stove is heated with coal or firewood, which is stacked above. Notice a sliver of blue in one opening of the stove -- this is a warming hole. In there being warmed are several plates of ugali (ground maize paste) each covered by a matching bowl. Whenever her children get home from school for lunch, they will have a hot meal waiting for them. Ingenious, isn't it?

 

After an hour and a half after the appointed time, the community of AMPATH patients finally arrives. They are meeting Elizabeth for the first time. Each person introduces himself/herself. Some make speeches of thanks and/or appeals for additional assistance. Nearly everyone of them is HIV+. Some don't speak English, so either Loice or another patient interprets for them.

 

Here I pose (next to the Kenyan Martha Stewart) with the entire group.

 

On the way to another patient's home, we pass by a maize field. These men hack down the maize stalks and stack them (with the maize cobs still attached) in bundles to be dried for a couple of weeks, after which the maize cobs are harvested, and the maize kernels removed.

 

When I see this young man munching a stalk, I think he's eating sugar cane, but I don't see sugar cane being grown nearby. I ask him what he's eating. He says he's eating maize. I ask if he's eating sugar cane. He says again he's eating maize. I ask him to cut me a piece to try. To eat, first peel the beige outer layer of the stalk, then munch/suck on the ecru stringy-soft-porous inside to get the juice, which tastes mildly sweet with a hint of apple flavor. I love it and I get Elizabeth and Kim to try it too. What a wonderful experience -- the kind I relish as opposed to the usual touristy experiences when traveling!

 

Here is another AMPATH patient (let's call her Alice, because I have forgotten her name now) and her daughter standing next to their home. Will you believe that this mother and 6 of her children live and sleep in this tiny hut??? Alice, her husband, and their 6 children used to live on her in-law's compound, but after her husband gave her AIDS and died of it himself, her in-laws kicked her and the 6 children out of their compound. Her brothers then built her and the children this little hut on their land and gave (or lent? I forget this part of the story) a piece of land on which to grow maize (which you can see behind the hut on the right side of the picture).

 

One of her sons comes home from school during our visit. Isn't he a picture of cuteness with his shoes and shoulder bag?

 

One of her sons, a baby, sleeps in the hut on the floor, with only a bag filled with plastic bags for cushioning.

 

The baby wakes -- no, not my fault. We meet only 3 of her children because the others have not come home from school. We are glad to hear that none of her children is HIV+.

 

Nearby blankets and cushions are aired out between uses.

 

See that brown thing behind the cow? That's the family's latrine. It's about 50 yards from the hut.

 

Now we're visiting another patient's home. This time the patient is this little girl (let's call her Joy) standing next to Loice and Elizabeth. She's wearing her school uniform, having just arrived home from school. She lives with her grandparents on their comparatively large shamba.

 

This house and hut belong to the girl's grandparents. They live in the house and cook in the hut, which serves as the kitchen. This house-hut combination is typical if one can afford it. Generally people like to separate the cooking area from the living area because of the smoke caused by coal/wood cooking.

 

The grandparents' bedroom. They point out to Elizabeth and Loice that they sleep on this bed with only an animal skin as cushioning. If you look carefully, you can see the bed slats where the skin doesn't cover. The grandparents are hoping to get a free mattress from AMPATH.

 

Here is a closer look at the grandparents' kitchen. Note that this family's kitchen hut is BIGGER than Alice's home hut.

 

Inside the grandparents' kitchen. Here is the grandmother plucking a couple of gourd containers to sell to Elizabeth, who has always wanted some authentic and used ones for decoration. These gourds are used to store milk. This grandmother makes and decorates these containers herself. Kim and I want to buy some too, but the grandmother refuses to sell more than the two she's selling to Elizabeth. Actually she wants to sell one and give one to Elizabeth, but Elizabeth insists on paying for both. The gourds are 100 shillings ($1.43) each. I imagine that it's a long and laborious process from fresh gourd to dried container.

 

Kim, Elizabeth, and Loice posing with the grandfather next to his maize field.

 

I can't resist including a photo of the grandfather's personal latrine that is placed apart from the rest of the family's. Actually, I don't see where the family's latrine is located. No one else can use this one but him. Notice how nicely it's covered/decorated with growing vines.

 

A neighboring home next to the grandparents' shamba. See how the ground is dotted with cutout tires? These are used to catch rain water for the cows to drink. Ingenious, I think.

 

Kids like to gather around visitors.

 

More kids.

 

Sometimes he has on one sock, and sometimes no sock at all.

 

I really like this boy's features.

 

Joy (right) has changed into her play clothes.

 

I love taking photos of kids. They don't mind having their photos taken even when they are not wearing their Sunday-best clothes.

Tags: -AMPATH, Kenya, orphans and vulnerable children