First Impressions

I landed at Nairobi airport at about 10 pm local time on Tuesday after 24 hours of traveling. Thankfully, the driver was there to meet me and take me to the hotel where my friends had already arrived a short while earlier. We stopped at a checkpoint/tollbooth as we left the airport which was staffed with guards holding fully automatic weapons. It was a bit intimidating. The next morning we took a quick flight from Nairobi to Eldoret. We gave our driver an already arranged fee for his services and the plane tickets and he disappeared with our passports for about 5 minutes. Perhaps we were a bit too trusting, but he returned with our check-in information and we were on our way! The flight took place during sunrise and it made the African topograpy even more dramatic and foreign. The Eldoret airport was very interesting - it was not a completley inclosed stucture and had a partially open roof and trees within it. We met our preceptor (Sonak) and he took us to our quarters for the next 8 weeks and on a tour of the hospital. It was all a blur as we were very tired and were introduced to so many people.

Yesterday and today I rounded with the medical team on the woman's ward. There were two people on most beds (twin-size beds) and we rounded on about 40 patients. It was very challenging as Kenyans are very soft-spoken and we rounded with 16 people on the first day (only about 8 today). It was cramped quarters and I could hear almost nothing. Today it was a bit easier as I was paired with a Kenyan pharmacy technician who could help translate and teach me some things about the hospital's system of charting and medication administration.. This will be a very challenging rotation both academically and emotionally. It is very difficult as the hospital in general is very disorganized and their resources are so limited. Once I become better acclimated I will be able to have a huge impact as pharmacy students can write orders for medications and tests. I hope I can help the patients here, the organization, and learn a great deal in the process.