February 4th

Another less than exciting morning, I decided I wasn’t up to going
down to the hospital. I just felt like writing so I spent some time
working on a story, got four pages in and then decided I didn’t like
it and it wasn’t turning out how it had in my mind so I decided to
stop writing it. Classes today were ok, I only had two of my three
classes. They canceled the last class of the day to pass out report
cards from first term, four weeks into second term. Talk about
slow. With the SS 1s I just finished going over cockroaches. I tried
to draw a cockroach but I don’t think I did a very good job. The
students thought so though, so I guess that’s ok. I tried to at least
give them an idea of part placement on the cockroach even if I
couldn’t show them what the parts actually look like. I had to give
them a little talking to about studying before the test so that if
they have any questions they can ask me. The day of the test is
too late for that. Class with my SS 2s wasn’t so good. I was not
very happy with them. The majority of them failed my quiz/test.
Only one kid obtained a passing grade before I curved it. I was
worried maybe it was too hard but when I asked who studied
only half the kids said they had at all, and the ones who had said
they’d studied only on Wednesday. So I had to have a chat with
them about what they should be and what their current level
of effort was going to get them, absolutely nothing. I told them
if they didn’t start working NOW then when WASSCE time
comes for them next year they would fail. They seemed to
understand, but we’ll see. I’ve had similar talks with them
before. I also explained the advantages of studying before the
day of the test with them. After class I visited Solomon for a
little bit. He told me about a guy who had come in last night
unable to pass urine. The guy told him that it hurt so much that
he prayed to die, then thought about how painful dying could
be then prayed that he wouldn’t die. I guess that doesn’t seem
very humorous, but it did a little when Solomon told me. After
dinner I waited until 8 to take a board game over to where
the two nursing students and the guys from Itech are staying,
Settlers of Catan. When I got there I heard they went to the
hospital to see a snake-bite victim. When I got there they told
me the boy had died. He was fourteen years old. A death is
never easy, but it seems particularly hard when it’s someone
that young. I mean I literally watched a man die before my
eyes and that wasn’t as hard as just hearing about the death
of someone that young. And it’s not like he was careless or
anything. He had been in his home, reached into a cupboard
to get something and wham, done. Every time I see or hear
about someone dying here it’s like somebody plunges a
dagger into my heart. It makes me so sad. Not only does it
seem fair to die (especially so young) but life is hard enough,
but it also leaves the family to go on without the person. I
can’t by any means fathom that is easy by any margin. One
of my college friends died last year and that was hard enough,
but to lose a family member so prematurely, I can’t imagine.
Karen told me it would be hard, and it is. I don’t think it’s too
hard to deal with but it takes a little time for the occurrence
to settle. Anyway, I don’t mean to be a downer. I don’t know
if those of you who read this do this regularly. But these
people need all the prayers they can get, so the more the
better. Thanks. Anyway, after that we returned to the house
and set up the board game and played a game. Emily ended
up winning. I did pretty poorly. I hedged my bets around a
couple of numbers of high probability numbers but they didn’t
roll much and I couldn’t get the resources I needed. I only had
four points by the games end. Well, that about wraps up the
fluffy bunny, rainbow experiences for the day. Night all.

God bless,
Ryan Brooks

February 3rd

So today went pretty well. I started out the morning going around
the women’s ward with Dr. Tom and part way through the medical
student Laura joined us. One lady has what is called
spleenomegaly, which is an enlarged spleen, and hers was huge.
It was so large you could see it bulging all the way down her side.
Normally you can’t see it at all but hers was clearly visible. Usually
here it’s due to prolonged malaria which attacks the red blood
cells and the destroyed red blood cells get stored there. Sure, you
probably don’t care to know about that, but it’s my blog and I can
do what I want so there. Haha, anyway, we continued on in the
ward but then I had to go help Alusine out. He’s been sick the last
couple of days but doesn’t have the means to pay for a visit to the
hospital. When he gets sick his method is to scrape together
whatever little he can run to one of the town pharmacy’s, buy
some Tylenol and take it. Not gonna work when you likely have
stomach parasites. So I got him registered to see the outpatient
nurse then returned to the wards. I went with Tom and Emily to
see the pediatric ward. I still have a love hate relationship with
that ward. The kids are cute but I can’t stand to see them sick.
Anyway, today wasn’t too bad, most of the kids were healthy.
Just as we were about to finish Alusine let me know he was done
so I went over to help him get his medicines. He also had to give
the lab a sample to test for parasites, which he couldn’t do until
the afternoon. Since I had to be teaching then I left the money
with Tom for anything he might need to get. I was right about
him having parasites but they set him up with the meds and that
should be all handled. Overall paying for his visit, lab test, and
medicine cost me very little (I wish I could get health care that
cheap) but he could never have paid that himself since his only
living family is his grandmother and she doesn’t work. He is at
the orphanage but I guess they don’t have provisions for the
kid’s healthcare because he said he’s not been to the hospital
since he was a very small child. Anyway, teaching went ok today.
I took the cockroach I had caught before to school to show to the
SS 1s, they laughed that I had actually caught one. I passed it
around but most of them didn’t want to hold it so I’m not sure
how much they saw it. I didn’t pay attention as I kept teaching as
they passed it around. I was two periods into my three with them
when they told me that it was time to go. They had to go up to
the school proper and register for their “house” one of four
groups they break the kids up into for spring sports. They do
track type stuff for their spring sports. It could be interesting
but I’m hoping they don’t let it interfere with school too
much. The teacher’s tell me it is part of their curriculum that
the kids do spring sports. So I let them go do that and headed
home and finished off the book I was reading. It was really
good. After dinner Laura, Emily and I were playing a game
called Bananagrams. I did really bad the first game. Then
Karen joined us. I proceeded to win the second one, lost a few
more and then won the last two. I don’t know if you know what
the game is, but it’s like speed scrabble. Each person has their
own tiles and has to make their own words. You work your way
through the tiles one at a time and the first person to use all
their tiles after they’ve all been taken wins. You have to keep
the words all connected just like traditional scrabble. It was fun.
I am particularly proud of my words I used to win the last game.
I had most of the letters to spell the word triumvirate and so I
decided I was going to build my puzzle around it. I made some
other words, like zealot, winnow, and fie. All four of which
were contested and I had to use a dictionary to prove it. I didn’t
even care if I won, I just wanted to spell triumvirate (part of my
obsession with Ancient Rome I guess). I didn’t have the T I
needed but I kept waiting and it paid off, I got it and ended up
winning. Of course, due to my use of several bigger words I
several pitiful words like pig, gum and so. Anyway, that was the
finisher for this evening (other than that we just learned that
our two cats are not in fact female but male, four months after
we got them…). Oh, and I called and talked to my dad which was
really nice but I didn’t get to say bye because I wasn’t paying
attention to how long the call was going and used up all my time.
Which makes me sad since it’s my Grandpa’s birthday and I don’t
have any credit left with which to call him. I’ll just have to call him
tomorrow after I’ve gotten some credit. Anyway, that will actually
wrap this entry in my adventure up. I wish you all a good evening.

Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks

February 2nd
Today was not the most terribly exciting of days today.
I spent the morning writing some chemistry exams for
my SS 1s and 2s. After I finished that I spent some time
reading some article on Wikipedia. The internet here
isn’t great but it is good enough to let me load Wikipedia.
Some people may dispute the information there but it is
well cited and so I think it’s pretty correct. Lately I’ve
been reading about the Ancient Romans, their kingdom,
republic, empire and finally the fall. I love Ancient Rome,
which is why getting to go there was like a dream come
true. I went for a mission’s trip which was great but being
in Rome was just awesome! I am so going back one day,
for longer, and hopefully I can arrange some friends to go
with me. I know some who would like to go. Anyway, back
to now and Africa. I administered tests to my SS 1s and my
SS 2s. They were far from thrilled but one can’t fault them
for that, I always hated tests. My SS 3s still have theirs
coming up. Three guys from Itech arrived today, Tom (who
was hear back in November for the celebration) Gary and
Gene. They are all three pretty nice. They came for a
couple of days to work on the electrical systems he
hopefully they can do some stuff now too. They are trying
to make plans for an upcoming renovation to the hospital.
The hospital wants to grow but currently power is the
limiting factor. Anyway, I had a pretty relaxed evening
reading. I don’t what’s up exactly but I haven’t felt much
like going out at night like I used to. I think I’m just feeling
a little homesick. While it has seemed like the past four
months has gone fast, thinking about the roughly four
more to come has me a little down. I love the people here
but I am going to be so glad to see all of you when I come
home. Plus I think I’m just a little stressed out by everything.
I really need to work on some practical stuff for classes and I
don’t have any idea what to do really. I haven’t done this
type of lab stuff since general chemistry. The lab work I’ve
done over the last few years at school is way too complex
for here so I just need to try and figure out what I’m doing.
Anyway, not to make it seem like I’m too down. I’m not
really, it’s just a little bit and I’m not surprised in the least
bit. Anyway, have a good evening. I hope you are all well.

Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks

February 1st
Boy did it get hot today. It hit 102 degrees today during
the afternoon. I didn’t know it was that hot but I totally
believe it. I felt really faint in the middle of class. I was
sweating badly so I thought maybe I was getting sick
again. Classes were ok other than that. But after I got
home and got some water after classes and I started to
feel much better. I did go on rounds today, I miss going
on rounds everyday because I really enjoy it but it’s not
why I’m here so I can’t let it interfere with teaching and
any preparations that go along with that. After classes at
around 5 I got to have another lesson on the bike. I went
all the way to Kamakwie 3 and back, and went around
Kamakwie 1 a little bit. I think I’m getting better at
starting the bike and getting going without stalling. The
clutch is very touchy so as you try to let it go to get
moving you have to release it very slowly or you stall. As
I was passing a roundabout this guy comes flying down a
hill on a bicycle and he sort of just stared at me shortly
before slamming into a cement retaining wall. He flew off
the bike, over the wall and between two metal signs. He
got very lucky overall I would say. The wall was short so
the crash didn’t throw him into it and there could have
been serious injury if he had hit one of the signs. As it was
his knee got messed up and his bike was totaled (the front
fork bent back so far the tire actually touches the frame
of the bike. Plus the front wheel is mangled. At first I felt
bad thinking I had distracted him (not that that would be
my fault anyway. It’s not my responsibility to keep people
from staring at me just for being white). But I found out he
hit the wall because his breaks gave out (poor planning on
his part so I didn’t really feel like I was at fault anymore.
Solomon took him to the hospital and then gave him a ride
home. He’s a really nice guy to do that. After that fiasco I
returned to the house for dinner. After dinner I was in my
room reading when I heard a “whack” sound several times.
I came to investigate and found that Abdul had just
finished killing a black mamba in the back yard. That was a
real comforting thought. Black mamba in the back yard,
great… Anyway, that’s about all for my evening. Hope you
all have a great night.

Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks

January 31st

Today was Monday, so I didn’t go on rounds today. Not
only do I not like going on the ground rounds (when Tom,
Solomon and LA go together) but I also had some
preparing to do for classes and stuff. Mostly I was
preparing some biology notes for the SS 2 students. For the
1s I use Tom’s old notes and the 3s I use a text book now. I’ve
just started trying to do so. Giving them reading assignments
and comprehension questions. But for the SS2s they already
had Tom and I have to prepare my own notes for them.
Classes went fine, today is my long day but it didn’t seem too
bad today. After classes I (shocker) read some more. I’ve
started reading a very interesting book and I just can’t
put it down. Well, I guess today is a pretty short entry. Not
a very interesting day as a whole. Anyway, night all.

Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks

January 30th
We went to church in Kakamba today (Tom, Emily, Laura and I).
In kakamba there was some sort of mourning session going on.
I guess two people had passed away, one last night one today.
So attendance at church was a little low. I really enjoyed the
service. It’s small and it’s actually quite cool watching the
beginning of a church. I feel like Kakamba is “my village” what
with the church project I’m hoping to be able to help with. I’m
definitely continuing to pray that funding can be found to help
establish an official church here. After church we headed back
to Kamakwie for lunch and then after lunch I decided to go
walking for a while. I took my camera but unfortunately the
battery was dead. I thought I had just charged it but I guess not
well enough. After my little walk I decided to walk to the school
and worked there some more on cleaning up my lab and
preparing to do labs, I really need to get onto doing lab
practical stuff. It should be easy now what with all the new
glassware and chemicals that came in the shipment and the
chemicals I’ve identified from what they had. After returning
home and have dinner I spent a lot of the night reading for a
while. I’ve just been in the mood to read a lot lately, not that
it’s a bad thing. I love reading and I definitely haven’t been
doing enough of it. Well, that’s about all. Have a pleasant
evening and try not to freeze.

Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks

January 28th and 29th

Friday morning was ok, I helped at the hospital, going on rounds
in men’s ward with Solomon. Every day I learn a little something
new. Classes went pretty good today. They usually do on Friday
because I know that they are almost over for the week. Haha. I
had a pretty laid back evening to end my Friday. Saturday I spent
most of the morning working on sorting out some unknown
chemicals. I spent a couple hours in the afternoon wandering
around the Kamakwie area. I ended up by the baker and went
to buy some bread only to realize that I hadn’t brought any
money since I didn’t plan on getting anything. So I walked home
to get some money. On the way there I passed a big group of
kids who all wanted me to give them sweets. I told them that I
didn’t have any so they told me to send them some. And then
they told me to greet my pikin for them (pikin is child). I
immediately explained that I do not in fact have any children.
After I made it home and grabbed some money I went back
(taking with me some suckers for the kids) to the bakery and I
bought some fresh bread right from the oven, so wonderful. At
the same place I met the children I also met a lady who makes
this stuff called country cloth. It’s a hand woven fabric and it can
be quite nice. I was debating on buying some from her to help
her out since she said she sold everything and now doesn’t have
the money to buy any more stuff. I don’t know what she did with
that money but I thought maybe if I bought some I’d give her a
chance to actually make money. However, she wants 100,000
Leones (25 $) and I don’t even have any samples to see how she
does. I thought I give it as gifts since it is nice and you can do all
kinds of things with it but at that much I couldn’t buy many gifts.
I’m still not sure. After bringing the bread home I went back to
the school to work a little more. I got all the chemicals cleaned
up and identified what I could. There is still a good deal of
chemicals unidentified or too contaminated to be of use. I
returned home for dinner and just spent a relaxing evening
reading for a while. Now for bed, night all.

Blessings from Kamakwie,
Ryan Brooks