Mini Up-Date

I know that people would rather look at pictures
than read my words. But the internet is very slow so it is quite difficult to download pics. But it WORKED!
So here I am with my new friend, Annie at the Giraffe Centre. (place that has helped increase the population of the endangered Rothschild giraffe). The "Intern team" went out together to do some touristy things around Nairobi. The "Intern team" consists of 2 Kenyan interns and 1 Canadian that I trained with.
We will all be out of our comfort zone living in the village with no electricity, using a pit latrine, walking far for our water and living with rodents. =) But if our time together will be anything like this day-we will laugh lots and have fun together.

PS. I thought I would update my blog since my jet-lag has kicked in and I am not able to sleep. I have been up since 4 am and can't seem to get back to sleep.

Finally!!!

Jambo! I send greetings from Kenya!
After my long travel (about 26 hours), we finally made it. We arrived this morning at 7am.

I am quite tired but I am trying to stay up so I can switch quickly to the new time.
We are staying at a very nice guest house and have met many Samaritan's Purse staff so far. They have been very welcoming and helpful to us. Already today we have laughed lots and learned lots.

I will update more before we fly out to the coast and when I do not have to struggle to put sentences together.

Gratefully,
Teresa

Reflections of the "water logged":

Everything you EVER wanted to know about water, filtering it and water related illness and MORE!
Who knew there was so much to know about water? I thought I was really ahead of the game when I could identify the chemical make-up as H2O. woo hoo! But apparently there is much more to know- MUCH more!
From bacteria to protozoa to e. coli to worms to how to kill them to all the disgusting body effects of consuming or even bathing in water that contains these microscopic organisms. Perhaps I didn't make a mistake to have avoided the health care field. But for all the engineers and biology people in the group of interns, they are quite in their element, learning about all the effective ways of filtering water and all the "techy" terms of how to get "improved" water. Meanwhile I am still stuck on the visual of the huge guinea worm that can take over my body.

Despite the repulsion of hearing about the worms and viruses and their effects, I know that their are millions of individuals who personally experience these illnesses. And they can't just go to the hospital and get medicine. In a small way I can help these people who are chronically sick and unable to work or go to school because of their water. I can provide a method to help reduce the likelihood of people getting sick through the BioSand filter.

SO appreciate your clean water!

FACT for you: 9 million hours are spent daily, to collect water in Kenya alone.

Check out my Kenya map link on the right. You are able to zoom in on the coast by Mombassa and then head South-West to Kwale to the village where I will be staying.

Going to Kenya

So it is official, I am going to Kenya for my Internship- as for sure as the constant shifting of decisions and events that occur when you are in International work. I believe that i will be going to a village called Kwale (K-Wall-eh) near Mombassa, which is on the coast.

I am attempting to set up and up date this blog so I can keep people in the loop as to what I am doing in my Internship.

I have been accepted as a "Water for Life" Intern and will be working to help provide clean water to the rural communities of developing countries. We will be working with communities and local partners to build BioSand Filters and educate about health and hygiene practices. The hope is to provide an opportunity to help break the cycle of poverty and to increase people's chance at health and life (1.8 million people die per year from water-borne diseases and poor hygiene practices).

In 35 hours, will begin by training in various topics such as, project management, HIV/AIDS education, theories of development etc. and then i am off to wherever they send me.

Let the adventure begin!