There hasn't been a whole lot going on, but here's a quick update.
Life at St. Julie Center has taken on two new additions- professional consultants. They'll be here for the whole week, assessing how productive we are as an organization. They're meeting with our board, community members, local churches and medical professions, children, parents and of course the staff. We had our meeting this afternoon- me, Tom, Angela and Grace had a chance to sit down with them and answer some questions about how we influence the program and what we think about how to sustain the program. For a meeting in Kenya, it was pretty quick. The whole process was initiated by the leadership of the SND's, so I'm hoping that the report that put together says good things.
Life otherwise has been pretty uneventful. I seem to have recovered full from the most recent battle with malaria. Here's hoping I'm done with it for good. Next weekend we have a staff outing for St. Julie's center, although we still haven't all agreed as a group where to go. Later this month we'll head to Kisumu for an overnight (probably for the last time) to buy vacation plane tickets and enjoy being in a city. Its hard to believe its October and in just a little more than two months I'll be back in the states. Kate comes to Kenya on December 8th and I'm so excited. Its going to be wonderful to be able to share my life for the past year with someone from home.

Happy birthday to Laura and Stacy!

Well I was afraid this would happen sooner or later. Looks like I have malaria for a third time. Its not too bad, but they decided to treat it this time with quinine (the stuff they put in tonic water to make it bitter). The side effects may actually be worse than the malaria. It makes me really dizzy and leaves that tonic water bitter taste in my mouth. But the weirdest thing is that I feel like my ears are stuffed with cotton and they're ringing like I just left a night club. But hopefully this will be it. Quinine is apparently very effective at getting rid of malaria that is other wise drug resistant. I surely hope so!
Otherwise there's not much going on out here in Malava. Things have been quiet at St. Julie's since we got back from our Nairobi vacation. We have a staff outing and teaching Kenyans about Halloween to look forward to in October- and if anyone wants to send us candy, that would be awesome!

I realize thats its been a while since I posted last and I want to let everyone know I did get back safely to Malava a week ago. Vacation was really nice, but it made me realize I'm so happy I wasn't placed to do my service in Nairobi. First of all, its really expensive (at least when you make as little money as we do). Secondly, there are lots of places where you can really forget you're in Kenya. One night I went to see a movie and while waiting for Tom and Michael to get out of the movie they were seeing, I sat and read my book at a nice little coffee shop in a mall. I realized that I could have been anywhere at home, doing the same thing. It was nice to get back to our little community where everything moves a little slower.
Last Saturday we went and saw my friend Lucy take her first vows as a sister of Notre Dame and celebrated with three other sisters who were celebrating their golden jubilee (50 years). The whole thing was great- full of music, dancing and great food like most Kenyan celebrations.
I was on my own this week at St. Julie's Center since Tom was still on vacation with his family. If you haven't check out his pictures from Masai Mara, you should, they're amazing. It makes me very jealous to know that I won't have a chance to go down there before I leave. Anyways, being there by myself didn't make it that much busier, but I did get the preliminary draft of a grant I've been working on done which was a big relief. If we get it, it could mean up yo $10,000 USD for our program.
We've also had a lot of visitors with us recently. There are two SND novices who are from Zimbabwe (but live in S. Africa) staying with us for a few weeks. They're been at St. Julie's center and i've been able to ask them lots of questions about what Zimbabwe and S. Africa are like. Tumaini also had two British volunteers last week who stopped by St. Julie's to see what it was all about. Finally, Katie's sister Amy has been with us for almost three weeks and heads back to the US this Wed. Its been so nice to have Amy here and I hope she's enjoyed having a chance to visit all our service sites. She's going with Michael to school tomorrow to test out her English teaching skills.
The rest of this month will be filled with grad school applications and making bookings for Kate's big visit in December. It's strange to think that I'll be back in the US three short months from Thursday.

Vacation in Nairobi has been more adventure packed than I thought it could be.
Last Friday we hired a car to drive us from Malava to Nairobi for our retreat with Sr. Jane. Probably something I won't do again, considering the guy nickel and dimed us until the drive here cost as much as it would have been to fly. The retreat over last weekend was fairly uneventful, but Fr. Gene (we're staying at a retreat center that is also the home of Carmelite Fathers) gave us some interesting food for thought. Staying out in the Karen area of town has given us a chance to explore parts of Nairobi we haven't been to yet, including stumbling on a bronze foundry with some truly amazing artwork (Tom has pictures up on his blog).
Vacation really began for me Monday afternoon. In an effort to start my Master's program next fall, I've been working on applications here, which meant taking my GRE in Nairobi on Monday morning. It went as well as I had hoped, so to celebrate I met Katie, her sister Amy (our first American visitor!), Tom and Michael at the famous Carnivore restaurant. Named one of the top 50 restaurants in the world, the offer more than 10 kinds of meat that waiters bring on swords to your table until you signal that you're through. I honestly can't even remember everything I ate, but I know it include some delicious spare ribs, crocodile and ostrich. Monday I also finally got to see the 6th Harry Potter movie.
Tuesday I wondering around central Nairobi with Tom and Michael. We tried to find a modern art museum that we just couldn't locate, ate at an American like fast food restaurant and went to Nairobi's national museum. The museum is highly rated in the guide books, but I thought it was pretty disappointing. There was an interesting photography exhibit and an area displaying the pre human skeletons found by Dr. Leakey up by Lake Turkana. But for all the historical things this country has to offer, the museum glosses over most of them. I will admit that the space and the land surround the museum are beautiful and it was a nice place to spend the afternoon.
Yesterday we got up bright and early and Tom, Michael and I hit the road in our rental car. We planned to climb Mt. Longonot (a recently extinct volcano offering amazing views of the Rift Valley) and then drive around Hell's Gate National Park in hopes of seeing more animals in the wild. We got to Mt. Longonot around 9 and I'm so happy we decided to climb it in the morning. The whole climb was very steep and challenging, and I don't think I would have made it to the top if it had been hotter. Mostly the climb was challenging b/c with out the rain, the path had the consistency of kitty litter mixed with sand. Think about hiking up a mountain in sand from the beach, and thats kind of what it was like. Despite the physical challenges, the view from the top was worth the pain. Check out my picasa page or Tom's blog for photos. After climbing back down, we headed to Hell's Gate. Thee park is beautiful, with tons of wild life and a staggering gorge of reddish cliffs. I saw ostriches and warthogs in the wild for the first time. I think game viewing for the day included ostriches and warthogs, zebras, giraffes, Buffalo and tons of birds. There might be more, I can't remember. We drove around Hell's Gate, snapping photos and looking for animals until I got the car stuck in deep sand at the top of a hill. The boys pushed the car out, only to get stuck again in a ditch when turning around. This time, all the pushing could not get the car to budge. We tried everything thing we could think of. We put rocks under the wheel hoping it would grab on to those. We tried prying it out of the sand with logs. We tried everything we could think of for two hours with no luck. At this point we were about 10 kms from the ranger station and only had about 3 hours until it got dark. We tried calling all the numbers we could find for the warder at Hell's Gate, but b/c Kenya has been rationing electricity, none of the phones were working. Finally, while I was trying to explain our situation to Kenya Wildlife Services, we decided to start walking to the main gate, hoping it wouldn't take more than a few hours. Unfortunately, each of us had only brought a liter of water for the day, and while the morning was nice and cool, the afternoon had become very sunny, very hot, and we had already drank all the water we had. So the prospect of walking 10kms in the sun with no water didn't sound like much fun. Michael drank a half full water bottle he found on the side of the trail. Luckily, after walking for only about 20 minutes I got connected to the cell phone of the warden for the park. She arranged for one of the rangers to come out with a big truck and pull us out of the sand. We made it safely back to the main gate and headed back to Nairobi after buying several large bottles of water. But, as luck would have it, less than 5 kms out of the park, we got a flat tire and found out that the jack we had in the back of the car didn't work very well. A helpful matatu driver stopped and changed the tire for us in the time it would have taken be just the get the jack in the right place. We finally made it back to Nairobi, covered head to toe in dust and dirt and exhausted.
Today and tomorrow we have sometime to do more laid back touristy things around the city and on Saturday Michael and I will go to the first vows of our friend Lucy who up until this weekend was an SND Novice. Saturday night, Michael and I head back to Malava (Tom and Katie will be on vacation still with their families) and its back to work next week!

While I began this week thinking that this week and next could be nice and calm before vacation, they turned out to be anything but. Katie made brunch on Sunday, but mid way through the day started feeling really terrible. Not hungry, achy all over....and those of us who have had malaria know what those symptoms mean. Unfortunately for her, this would be the 5th time she's had malaria since March. Sister Jane surprised us Sunday night with a visit from Nairobi and she determined that Katie needed to see a specialist rather than going to Malava hospital. So Jane took her to St. Elizabeth's in Mukumu, run by the Sisters of Mary. B/c she seemed to be having such a tough time getting rid of this nasty little parasite, they decided to admit her and give her a two day quinine drip to see if that would kick it once and for all. So Jane brought her back to Malava to get some overnight things, picks me up for moral support and we stayed with her until she got settled. Tuesday I drove Tom and Michael down to visit her, and despite everything, she seemed pretty up beat. While the hospital certainly isn't what you think of when you think of a hospital at home, it was clean and everyone was friendly. After getting a clean bill of health on Wed. I took Katie home. She seems to be doing ok.
Last weekend Angela's son Gracious turned two and not only did we attend the birthday party, we also got to help with the prep work. I went over with Tom and Michael in the morning b/c they wanted to learn how a chicken is killed and prepared for a meal. Angela let each of them kill a chicken (there are pictures of this and from the party on Tom's blog...I forgot my camera). I did not take part in killing the chickens, but I documented it on Tom's camera for posterity. Michael also threw one of the chicken heads at me, but luckily he has terrible aim and it missed. The party was a great success, even if Gracious did cry through most of it. We had an excellent meal and great company.
We head to Nairobi a week from tomorrow for our August retreat and a little vacation. I'm taking my GREs while we're there and the novice, Lucy, will take her first vows on Sept. 5th. Both Katie and Tom have family coming into town while we're there and it will be really nice to have our first American visitors!
Speaking of American visitors, Kate has finally bought her plane ticket! My sister will be joining me here in Kenya on December 9th for a whirlwind vacation before I return with her to the states on December 17th.

Weddings all over the world

First of all, it was really nice to see the Casey side of my family on Skype last night! I hope you all had a wonderful time this weekend...I was very sad to miss seeing all of you.
While I missed my cousin Caitlin's wedding this weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the wedding of Angela's sister. Saturday morning was supposed to begin with a Harambe for David's church, but like most African events, when we arrived on time, it hadn't started yet. So after donating what we could to help David's church find a new worship space, Tom, Neto and I hopped on a matatu to Bungoma. We arrived expecting the ceremony to already be over (it was supposed to start at 8am). When we finally reached the church (around 1pm) we discovered that the ceremony had yet to begin. When Angela and the rest of the wedding party arrived, we learned that all the vehicles had broken down and the priest was not going to show up until three. So we hung out long enough to watch the wedding party process in and hear some of the speeches from family members (not that we could understand them). Finally, before anything had really begun, it was time to head home. We had a soda and some chapatis with Angela and then headed back to Malava.
Last Friday was our epilepsy clinic and my one task was to fetch the doctors from the hospital in Mumias (about an hour away). When I asked where to find the hospital, everyone told me just to take the road to Mumias from Kakamega and I would see the sign. They promised me I couldn't miss it. I now know I must ALWAYS ask for more specific directions. Long story short, Tom and I ended up being an hour late picking up the doctors. Despite that, it was our fastest clinic by far and Tom and I got out of there around 1:30.
This week is a trip to Sababtia Eye Hospital, which I'm really looking forward so since I haven't been out there in several months. Saturday Angela's son Gracious turns two, so we get our first taste of how Kenyans celebrate their children's birthday. It should be alot of fun.

The last few days have been crazy eventful. Last Thursday was an Eldoret day and also my first time driving the big 11 seater matatu. It was a challenge and honestly, the less I have to drive it the better. I did make progress with a little girl names Priscilla. She usually screams when I come near her, but I guess she decided on Thursday I was cool and wanted to be my friends. I also think she's associating me with the toy library and what kid doesn't love the person who gives them toys.
Friday I headed to Tumaini with Tom and Michael. There was a group of 12 Americans from an Evangelical Christian Sports Mission group. They had been running a sort of summer camp all week, playing games and telling bible stories, so we went to help out where we could and have a chance to talk to some more Americans. My day started with taking my buddy Clifford back to the hospital so the doctor could check out his broken arm and hematoma that formed from his mom not taking good care of it. The doctor had good news and it looks like he won't need surgery, but he's going to keep on monitoring him. My afternoon at tumaini was spent chatting with the new Americans, playing jump rope with the girls and basically being a human jungle gym for the some of the little kids.
Friday we were invited to lunch at John's house. John works in town helping to put people on the matutu. He had been reminding us all week, but he was no where to be found when we showed up to meet him. We had to send the other Matatu man, tyson, to go find him at the chaanga den (changa'a is an illegal alcohol that's brewed here and sold really cheap). John finally showed up three sheets to the wind and took us to where he lived. An afternoon that was supposed to be lunch with his family turned into a three hour hike around rural Malava meeting all of his family, seeing where his church is and where his kids go to school. All the time he was talking to Michael trying to negotiate a bride price for me or Katie. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but polygamy is not only legal here, but widely practiced. He already has a wife and four children but recently decided that he wants an American wife and more children that would be African American. I guess John kept telling Michael "I just want one American girl and you have two. Surely you can give me one". I went from being throughly entertained to really pissed off to shrugging the whole thing off as a learning experience. Michael did finally convince him that we were both married to American men, but promised to look for any American women who might want to come back and marry him. The whole thing was just really crazy. Here was this man who is probably old enough to be my father expecting me to just be handed over to him to be his wife. No one ever asked me, it was just expected that once they negotiated my price that I would be handed over. Michael tried to explain to him that he wouldn't want an American wife- that I wouldn't cook or clean or listen to him or be quiet, but John didn't understand. All he could see was the money and prestige that an American wife would mean for his family. The day ended with a lunch of ugali and veggies where his wife reiterated how much she would also like an American wife. Luckily his children were adorable and kept us entertained for most of the day.
Sunday was my day to make brunch, but the girl who does laundry for tom and Michael needed some extra money for a doctor visit so we pushed my lunch and invited all the Tumaini American volunteers over for a laundry girl pilau lunch. The pilau was DELISH and hanging out with Americans my own age who were Tom, Michael or Katie was really fun. I have to be honest, being around that many Americans after 7 months out of the states was kind of overwhelming. Tom put it really well. When all the conversations going on around you are in Swahili, you can tune them out b/c for the most part we can't understand them. But Sunday all the side conversations were in English, so I couldn't really tune them out. So it just felt like there were a ton of people all talking at once. But besides that, it was really nice to meet some friendly new volunteers. Unfortunatly that was the extent of our interaction with them. They leave today.
Monday it was back to Eldoret in the big matatu for me. One of our clients who is in school needed to go in for surgery for an abscess above her eye and our night watchman needed to see his doctor. Sr. Joy and I left at 6:45 in the morning and didn't get back until 7 pm. This is a long long week in front of me. We had a staff meeting today and Friday we have an epilepsy clinic before which I have to pick up the doctors for the clinic in Mumias. There is also a Harambee and wedding this weekend and trivial things like the fact that I desperatly need to do laundry. So there should be lots of good stories after next weekend.
I'm sad to miss seeing all of my Casey family this weekend. An early congrats to Caitlin and Mike on the wedding!
Also, the volunteers being at tumaini this week reminded me that I don't think I've ever blogged about the sponsorship program at the school and orphanage where Michael works. For about $25 USD a month, you can sponsor a child who might not be able to afford school fee, uniforms, doctors visits, etc... Anyways, if this sounds like something interesting, go to http://www.tumainimilesofsmiles.org/.