Life in Wajir...mzuri

I still think it’s much too hot here, but I must be getting used to it. I’m not waking up nearly as often during the night from feeling too prickly and parched from the heat (i.e., less interrupted sleeps), and I’m not sweating quite as much at night. As you might imagine, given the heat and that it’s predominantly Muslim here, I’ve stopped running in the mornings, even within the area of the guesthouse. I suppose I could just don my quickdry REI pants rather than my shorts, but I don’t really feel like sweating through more clothes in a day than I have to. Instead, I do exercises in my room most mornings and then try to take brisk walks in the evening after I’ve finished for the day if time allows before my evening shower and dinner.

I’ve fallen into a sort of routine here, which is actually kind of nice. I wake in the mornings, do some exercises for about 45 minutes, take a quick shower to rinse off (and cool down), dress and grab breakfast (milk tea, bread or mandazi [kind of like puffed fried dough], or some waffle-like things, and sometimes a hard-boiled egg), then start my day, which can be anything from meetings with district Ministry of Health staff to usually driving around the district (or, more like, bumping along) to visit health care facilities. Sometimes, I get a real lunch (usually spaghetti with some sort of tomato? and potato based sauce and some beans); sometimes, it’s just a Power bar; and sometimes, nothing but my water – or, if I’m lucky, some milk tea, chipati, and sometimes even some goat meat to accompany the chipati, at some very modest hotel in some bush bula. (I'm probably taking some risks eating/drinking in the bush, but I'm careful to drink only tea, which is always boiling hot, and avoid any water or other nonboiled liquid - funny that I've grown accustomed and even look forward to hot tea even in the scorching 40+ degree C heat.)


In the afternoon/evenings, if there’s time, I take that walk I mentioned down the road away from town. It’s pretty safe. The few people I run into are friendly, although they probably think I’m an odd “white woman” to be walking and walking so quickly compared to them; my pace isn’t particularly fast, but a normal Western pace is practically cruising compared to their walking pace. (Oddly, they don’t have a word or distinction for Asians from Caucasians here, and in their minds, I’m just as white as any Caucasian. Very funny – although most still tend to think I must be Chinese or Japanese and are very confused when I tell them I’m American. They insist I can’t be from the U.S. Bizarre, since Kenyans have migrated to the U.S. just like every other ethnic group.)

Walking has allowed me to see some of the interesting wildlife in the area – especially, the giraffes that amble down the road almost all the way to town every morning and evening as they feed on the trees in the area – very cool. One evening, my driver, one of the guesthouse staff with whom I’ve become friendly, and I drove the 6km or so down the road to “Lake Wajir,” actually it’s called Lake Yahoud. OK. It’s not a lake. It’s an old quarry that’s been drilled down to the water table to allow it to fill. Although when we visited, only birds, especially the large, scavenging, and peculiar Maribou storks, abounded, there was plenty of evidence of other animals. Seeing the water was really comforting (I really miss the water – especially the clear blue waters of home); and it was very peaceful to stand in the shade of a tree and watch the birds.

Just before dinner, which is usually at, 7pm, I take a shower to clean off everything, and I mean, everything. Since the sink isn’t conducive to washing clothes (small, kind of dingy, and no plug), and since the water is pretty hard here (so soap doesn’t lather at all), I walk straight into the shower with all my clothes and even my shoes (I’ve got a pair of Keen sandals) on and use a lot of shampoo to clean everything. Works OK, and my clothes and shoes all dry, for the most part, within a matter of an hour or two.

So that’s pretty much my routine here in Wajir. The next week will get a bit busier as we start the second round of the sub-national polio immunization campaign, but at least I have a relatively comfortable home base.