As I wait for the interns to call me to start my last day of
rounding, I have a little time to reflect.
Zoe and I were up early, as usual.
I enjoy the groggy first portion of the day, with little but enough
spoken. Strong Kenyan coffee and generic
coffee cake, then the short walk to the gate.
The guard is there more to watch for girls leaving than strangers
entering the boarding school.
Four weeks has gone by quickly. The last week has brought some semblance of
normal living, with friends stopping by our house, we visited others, exchanges
of gifts, and even the packing up is familiar.
The everyday living outside our home is the unfamiliar, and every day
still brings unexpected and poorly understood moments. I found myself yesterday trying to impart
last impressions and recommendations to various members of the hospital staff,
despite my striving to not play the know-it-all white guy from the rich country. I don’t know how these encounters went.
As we pack up for safari, we know how fortunate we are, and
at the same time feel a little strange going to Kenyan destinations most of our
friends here have not seen. But there is
no point hiding it. It is our life, and
we’ll share it, as our friends and acquaintances here have shared theirs.
I will miss the 4 boys in pink scrubs who are so joyful
despite being stuck on the hospital grounds while their parents find money to
pay for their hospitalization. I will
miss the long hand shakes and hand holding.
I will miss coming home for lunch and having time at the end of the day
to process with my family. I will miss
being called “LenaDaddy” by little kids in school uniforms.
No comments:
Post a Comment