Differences

As I sit under my mosquito net, fighting the jetlag and urging my body to recognize that it is 11:30 in the evening rather than 4:30 in the afternoon, I am inclined to write you a post. Granted, I am certain that this will not be put online until sometime tomorrow, but at least I have something to say.

As you know, we arrived in Kenya early today and spent many, many hours traveling from Nairobi to Maua (pronounced Ma-ooh-uh). The proposed trip of 5 hours quickly stretched into 8 long hours, confined to a tiny van. I will admit I slept a majority of the way and woke to find one arm pinkened by the African sun--a stark contrast to my otherwise pale skin. During the hours that I was awake, and not devouring the last of my Lottie Moon letters (yes, professors and preceptors--I AM still writing papers), I spent much of the time reflecting on the three countries I had explored in the last 24 hours.

Of course, America--rampant with excess goods, food and cleanliness--served as my plum line for which I would compare England and then Kenya. In London, I was taken with the history, the architecture, and quite honestly, the fashion. As we sat on the tube, Casey and I tried to distinguish other fellow Americans from the much trendier Brits. Despite the fact that I could hardly understand a word they were saying (I have trouble with accents!) and their clothing and demeanor were quite different from the Americans, I was struck by the similar feelings that I have while riding the public transportation on Duke's campus. All around me, people were avoiding eye contact, engrossed in their cell phones, iPods, novels and newspapers. No one was in conversation with one another--save for the occasional set of lovers curled closely into each other in a corner--and overall the feeling was tense and slightly uncomfortable. This is not all together different from the bus rides from parking lots on to campus, or any other public arena, for that matter. I am struck by how unconnected we are as humans, drawn much more to our toys than to one another. A product of our technology, perhaps?

A stark contrast to this phenomena, are the people of Kenya. It is rare to find folks isolate from one another here. On the streets, people are in constant communication--though I couldnt tell you what they are discussing. Undoubtedly, on the streets there is much bartering and selling going on (they walk up to your van windows when stopped, offering to sell everything from neckties to pillows to newspapers), but more than that, tjere seems to be a fellowship of sorts. Earlier, Clay ran into our hotel yelling for Casey and me to follow him up the road to see a "once in a lifetime opportunity!" I quickly threw on my jacket and shoes and blindly followed Clay down the road to where a large crowd had gathered. There, a man of about 3 feet tall stood on crutches with a microphone in his hand, singing something undistinguishable (though Clay and I did agree that we heard the word "Jerusalem" repeatedly). The man then lifted a Bible into the air, held it against his head, and said, "This is the Bible. The Word of God. Hallelujah!!" I will admit that a street evangelist is probably not that foreign to those of you reading this, but what might amaze you is the size of the crowd (comprised of people, cows, and chickens... a weird grouping, no doubt!) gathered to share in this time of praise. In America, this man would have likely been ignored. For all our technology and money and excess, I wonder if the people of Kenya do not better understand the power of the human spirit than we crazy "mezungus" (yes, they call white people that here, too!).

Tomorrow, we will meet at the Maua Methodist Hospital and then venture out into the city to do home visits and house calls. Hopefully, I will be able to post this at the hospital at some point, as the Internet here at the hotel was minimal this evening. The hotel we are staying at is brand new, though sparse in nature. For the majority of the evening, we had no running water (I feared we would be without showers for the duration of our stay) and we were offered candles in case we also ran out of electricity. However, all is well now and we are mostly clean and rested. We will do our best to continue the updates, as many of the team members are missing family and wish to connect with them as often as possible. Please feel free to leave us comments, as it is good to hear from you as well!

We love you all and are excited to share with you more stories that are more interesting and descriptive than the adventures of air travel...

Until then,
Amanda