Zungu

4-8-08 (still lost…) Kenyans refer to white people as “Zungu”, which means dizzy. This harkens back to the early colonial times when the europeans (British) came here and were so buzy running around trying to accomplish so much that they appeared as if they would pass out from dizziness. I must fit this description perfectly. I have a feeling the nurses on the ward cringe when they see me coming as I will ruin their perfect morning with incessant questions and requests for interpretive services. I seem to create a lot of work for them without making any progress in the realm of patient care. My questions are as basic as: Where is the sink? Where is the bathroom? Where is the door? Fortunately they are very gracious with me, smile and answer my questions for the umpteenth time.
The Kenyans that I have met are very gracious, thoughtful, conservative (in dress and speech). In the waiting rooms for the outpatient clinic, where a couple hundred people will wait to be seen (they see about 300 outpatients/day, I say they because I contribute very little to the hospitals total work load) it is as quiet as an Episcopal church service. You can easily hold a conversation without raising your voice above a whisper. However that doesn’t keep me from raising my voice so the elderly Maasai gentleman can understand my English. In the labor room (yes, I mean room… there is only one labor room… with eight beds, no more than an arms length apart) women don’t scream or yell or swear or spit or bite or kick, they occasionally moan through a contraction. And no, there are no epidurals.
People come from all over eastern Africa (Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania) to this little hospital where they’ve been told great things happen . They may travel for days by multiple modes of transportation. Because of this we have the opportunity to see people from many eastern Africa cultures and tribes. I love to just stare out the window of the hospital and watch as moms hold their babies or have them strapped to their back in their brightly colored clothes and the Maasai men may have their ear lobes adorned with bones or wood carvings. I am truly overwhelmed at times at my good fortune of being able to be here and hopefully be of some assistance to these gracious people.