"MAT!" - The pharmacist on shift is calling us into the maternity ward around 10.00pm, roughly half an hour after my fellow volunteer Cindi and I have started a game of UNO in the vaccination room. I can't believe we are finally going to observe a delivery. After working at St Anthony Health Centre for a month, I have almost given up on getting to see a baby being born. During my last week, Cindi and I inquire about deliveries as they never happen during the day while we are

This being the second day this quarter (and in a long time) with some rain in usually sunny San Diego, I thought I should take the time to share some memories of rain in East Africa. And by rain, I actually mean rain. I don't think I knew proper rain before coming to Kenya. And that should mean something considering the fact that I grew up in Germany. My first encounter with Kenyan rain must have been during my first week there – rainy season! When I arrived in late August, i

I lived in Arusha, Tanzania for less than a month last year and actually ended up shortening my trip because I was not enjoying it as much as Kenya. To be honest, I was glad to leave and didn't think I'd go back anytime soon. Sometime in June last year, when heading back to Nakuru from Nairobi on the matatu, I met two Canadian backpackers. They were looking for a backpackers place neither me nor my piki guys (motocycle drivers) knew of. Long story short, they spent the nigh

Today's "story" is not going to be a story but rather some thoughts I have had since I moved to Kenya and from Kenya to the US. I was watching a documentary on civil wars and their consequences on Sudan and got upset about a certain quote I later posted on facebook. "In a world virtually unchanged since the very first outsiders came to save South Sudan." It is absolutely beyond me how people keep assuming that Africa needs to be "saved", whether that is South Sudan, Kenya or

One night in November in rural Uganda, I awake from hearing unusual sounds outside of my window. Sixty-seven children and House of Hope staff are catching something looking like giant flies. The "flies" are flying through the night, gathering especially on the walls of the girls' dormitory and in front of the only outside light. The girls use broomsticks to force the insects into buckets, catching hundreds of them. The next morning I am enlightened by the kids about the event

As promised, I will be sharing a memory or story from my time in East Africa for every day of this week to draw attention to our work and my life over there. August 8th, 2014 – Kampala, Uganda 11pm There is not a single star visible on Kampala's cloudy night sky. It's been unusually cold and rainy despite the fact that it is supposed to be dry season until the end of August. I'm sitting on a plastic chair outside of Kampala Coach waiting for the 11pm bus to Nakuru, Kenya. Eve