Lessons & Blessings from Africa

As those of you that have participated in international volunteer work know, these experiences can be life-changing. Our trip was no exception. I see the world through different eyes because of what I have learned and seen. I'd like to share with you some of the lessons that I learned and some of the blessings that I (re)discovered while I was away. Perhaps my experiences will resonate with you.

1. Lesson: For many women there is nothing routine about a Pap smear or any other health care for that matter. In our country we throw around the term "routine Pap smear" with great familiarity- patients and providers alike. I spent a day at Nazareth Hospital outside of Nairobi. They do their Pap smears in the "theatre" or the operating room. There is nothing routine about that. Blessing: We are so lucky to have access to routine preventive screening like Pap smears. (And we resist getting them! What is that all about?!)

2. Lesson: Just when you think you have seen poverty you realize it could be a lot worse. I have been working at SF General Hospital for over 20 years. Most of the women I care for are very poor, some of them homeless. But I was deeply affected by the poverty that I saw in the slums of Nairobi. Millions of people living in shacks made of mud and wood with tin roofs. No running water (no toilet) and no electricity. A stream of filthy water carrying human waste and anything else you can imagine runs in front of their doorstep. AND THEY PAY RENT! Blessing: I am SO grateful for all that I have including my home.

3. Lesson: Life in Kibera is testimony to human resiliency. I met some amazing women living with HIV through a program called SWEP.

They are making beaded jewelry and learning other skills so that they can earn money to buy food and other necessities. I was able to visit one of their homes and while I cared for them I heard their stories about living with HIV. Many of them have endured devastating violence and have been abandoned by their husbands and their families. Programs like SWEP have gotten women out of their homes (where they were preparing to die), have lifted their spirits, and helped them with resources to make a better life for themselves. Blessing: I have witnessed such strength, resiliency and spiritual grace in the women I met; I can't help but carry them with me in my heart.

4. Lesson: The earth is an interdependent web. We spent time with some amazing guides in Tanzania. They taught us about everything from the traditional uses of native plants to the migrational behavior of the wildebeest. Here is an example: We learned that the hyena eat the bones of the carcasses left by other animals. So their scat or droppings are white because they are largely made up of calcium from the bones. The porcupines eat the scat of the hyena because they need the calcium for their quills (and they are vegetarians). Our guides gave us numerous examples of how our environment is an interdependent web and how any change in one part of the system impacts the whole system; the plants and the animals alike. Blessing: We came away with a renewed appreciation for how close to the earth people in Africa still live and how much closer to the earth we would like to be.

If you'd like to see more of our pictures from Africa follow this

link.

child in slums