Rain, Rain, Go Away

Yesterday, I experienced the full force of rainy season in Kenya. It rained most of the day, turning my path from the hospital to my house into a mudslide. Needless to say, the rain boots that I contemplated buying before I came here would have definitely come in handy. I am told that yesterday was an odd day as usually it rains at night only. It then got pretty cold last night – all the Kenyans were bundled up in 4-5 layers. A sweatshirt worked for me :) Today it is very sunny and warm, so that's an improvement!
Things continue to go really well here. I have established good relationships with the nurses here. They are a great bunch of ladies and dedicated to their patients. Also, I have gotten to know the OR staff well and they are wonderful. They are always ready with helpful suggestions during surgery. It has also been a joy working with the Kenyan medical students. Yesterday, one of them scrubbed a tubal ligation with me and I let her do a lot of it. She was SO excited afterwards. Apparently, during their training here, they only get to observe and rarely get to do anything. So, it was great to let her experience what actually doing surgery is like. She is thinking about doing OB/GYN, so anything I can do to encourage her is worth it.
An update on a lady I told you about. Betty, the patient that became very sick after her C-section and was transferred, is doing well. We have heard from her family that she has been discharged from the ICU. Still haven’t heard what the final diagnosis was, but I praise God that He protected her and that she will be able to be there for her new baby.
A couple of days ago, the Lord blessed me through a conversation with Tekla, one of the head nurses at the Maternal Child Health Clinic here. She spoke to me openly about how she ran from her family to avoid being circumcised and about how difficult that was. She also talked to me about her heart for young girls who are still, in some parts of Kenya, being forced to undergo female genital mutilation against their will. They are doing it in younger girls now (8-9 years old) because they fight back less. Even though it is banned by the Kenyan government, it is still being practiced in some tribes, including the Marakwet tribe in this area. She is passionate about reaching out to these girls and hopes to one day have a place where they can come and be protected. She is also passionate about health education and it was great to hear her ideas for how to reach out to the many women in the villages that never make it to the hospital. I really appreciated her willingness to share. It gave me a lot of insight into what women here go through.
Please continue to pray for wisdom and guidance as I search out where I should go after graduating. I am having dinner with the Larsons tonight to talk with them about possibly being here. I appreciate the prayers of all of you who have been faithfully praying for me. God Bless you all!