Trashed

E and I were walking through the hospital on the way back from lunch yesterday and we came across an interesting pile: syringes, ampules of medicines (Valium, adrenaline, anti-malarials, to name a few), and various other medical sundries. These were unceremoniously piled on the floor of the waiting room for the pediatric clinic. From the appearance, I think that these were long-expired medical supplies awaiting a yet unknown fate. I do hope that fate isn’t in a crawling child’s belly.



I’ve run into the issue of getting things disposed of properly here. A few weeks after I arrived, office space was scarce, partially because a good deal of real estate was taken up by archaic computers and printers that haven’t been used for 20+ years. I inquired about getting rid of the junk, and I was told that nothing could be done without a signed letter from the boss giving permission. Fine, so with eager naivety, I spent the next several hours pulling the very dusty, very old equipment from desks and shelves to catalog. I then typed up a letter, sent it to my the head of the study at my school, and by mid-afternoon, the letter was here. Alright!

Me: “Where are we taking all of the stuff?”
Lab people: “Let’s put it back on the shelves for now”
Me: “Why? Let’s just get rid of it. We can’t sell this stuff”
Lab people: “Let’s just leave it for now”

Fast-forward four months. Everything remains where it was. The very large computer box pictured below is in the middle of my lab floor, obstructing my path every day. I tried to deal with it the other day, and was told that “we should leave it there for the time being”. I’m beginning to think that Kenyans might be the human equivalent of Ents, the giant, slow-moving tree-people from Lord of the Rings. Literally, it is impossible to get anything done with any sort of alacrity. Geologic time is more the clock that we’re on here. It’s not that their pace of life is wrong, but that it’s just so incongruent with the haste that Americans are used to, it’s hard to deal with sometimes.

I'm pretty sure this was the latest model circa 1990:


To be fair, part of the problem has to do with lack of infrastructure in dealing with waste. There aren’t many trashcans around, so people just end up throwing their trash along the side of the road. This may have been acceptable when the vast majority of the waste was organic, but now, plastic bottles litter the country. In E’s Ukunda post, she showed the town’s trash infrastructure. Not so sweet. I’m not even sure if disposal of large items (i.e. refrigerators, cars, etc) is ever dealt with. Check out the Land of Forgotten Hospital Toys. It is a 15x15 room piled to the ceiling with I don’t know what and it will remain there for another 30 or so years. I imagine someday that someone will excavate this hospital and think that the Kenyans worshiped old and broken machines since they kept them all.



While the old machines are a nuisance, the expired medicines could actually be pretty dangerous. Kenyans are very resourceful and I can easily see someone trying to make a quick buck by selling these expired medicines. Since most of these things can be bought at a pharmacy without a prescription, buying medicines from someone at a kiosk is not foreign to Kenyans.

We're headed off to Israel in just a few hours to meet up with some of E's family for Christmas. Hopefully we'll be able to go to a Christmas service in Bethlehem, but as of right now, it seems there's no room at the inns (seriously, they're all booked up). We are REALLY excited to have a change of scenery and food for a while, as well as seeing some familiar faces!

On an unrelated note, I just received this text from our Swahili teacher, who has now missed six straight lessons, due to toothaches, malaria, or just plain forgetting:

"M and E, poleni sana! (very sorry!), beginning to remember now that I was to come for Swahili y'day evening. Some matters and issues have really consumed even the memory section of my brain. Twice having not fulfilled my promise due to forgetfulness?? The whole idea may sound hypocritical but in reality this is what has been like this week. Just bear with me for the near-fatal state of mind. Kindly accept my apology, I'm very sorry for the expectation and anticipation I created in you. Have a wonderful weekend! Juma"

We laughed for a long time at that one. Oh well, pole pole (slowly, slowly).

Anyway, Merry Christmas to you all, have a wonderful holiday!

Love,
M & E