Names and Water

In Kenya, people usually have 3-4 names. One of these is their "tribal" name. There are 40 different tribes in Kenya and the Bukusu are the ones that live in Bungoma (among other areas). Bukusu tribe is one of the 16 Kenyan tribes of the Luhya Bantu people of East Africa. Besides Swahili, they also speak the Bukusu dialect. We were told on our first day (after introducing ourselves by our "English" names a million times) that we would be baptized with a Bukusu name. Sure enough, within 5 minutes of the jigger clinic, the Kenyan interns were asking us when we were born. They decided on "Nikesa" for me, which means born during the harvesting season. December is technically Kenya's fall season so this makes sense. I loved my new name but was not used to people calling me it. For instance, during the jigger clinic, Morina -one of the interns- needed more shoes and kept yelling my name. When I finally turned around, she said, "Nikesa, you have forgotten your name! I have called it 10 times!" My ears are now fully tuned to this new label and I turn and look whenever I hear it. In fact, I've been introducing myself to others around town or at the Red Cross with this name. Some laugh, others stare blankly, and a few tell me I am now a Bukusu. When I introduced myself to highschool students last Wednesday, I told them my "English" name first and then said, "But while I am in Kenya, you may call me Nikesa." They loved it.

Although this has nothing to do with names, I felt I needed to write about my new found appreciation for H2O. On Thursday, we were moved out of our hotel we had been staying at in the city center and into the compound where we will be remaining for the rest of our time here. The compound is brand new, closer to the Red Cross and was supposed to have running water and a Western style toliet. And was also supposed to be completed June 1st. As with time, dates don't really carry as much significance here as they do in the States. The reason we had to stay at the hotel for our first week was because our huts were not even finished. We moved to them because they believed we would have running water by the end of the week. Javen, the landlord, told us that we would have it by Sunday....and then the plumber got malaria.

Moral of the story: we still don't have running water. But I'm not complaining. I'm appreciating. The cook and housekeeper of the huts provided us with two HUGE barrels in our bathrooms last night. One was for flushing the toliet and the other was to bathe. I was so estatic I basically flooded my bathroom last night because of all the water I was splashing on my face. I washed my hands for the first time in 24 hours and could actually splash some on my arms. Tonight, I took my first bucket shower which felt so refreshing! I loved it and the water pressure was better than any shower here! While I was getting impatient and frustrated the three days we were without any sort of water, I realized people here go much longer. And when they do get water, it is often not clean, even to bathe with (this is of course my/US standards for water). Because I am a public health student, I can't stand not washing my hands. But I realized I had to get creative. During the day, I would wash my hands at the Red Cross, a restaurant, wherever I was with running water. I would also try to make sure I washed them before I headed home and then put hand sanitizer on before and after dinner. I hope I will never take water for granted again. I will probably keep turning my faucet on and off when I return home just to make sure it is still functioning. 

There is so much I complain about when I am in the US and even take the little things for granted. Little things, like water, that are a big things Kenya. And yes, I am sitting in my hut, in rural Kenya, with internet....but no running water. Totally ironic. Everyone...and I mean EVERYONE has a cellphone here, but water is scarce. And hot water is non existent. Unless you want to boil it and let it cool down before bathing. Which means you have to buy a burner and a pan. I'm very thankful to live in a country where I can drink out of the tap if I want to let alone come home to a steaming hot shower. These are things that I have expected to be in my life but living in Kenya has taught me how to appreciate these things I have taken for granted for so many years. And opened my eyes to how other people are living. And surviving. 

(Coming soon!) Here is a video of my hut. It's still messy as I am trying to get set up and organized. The black barrel in my bathroom is for the toliet and the yellow one is for bathing.