The road to Tenwek

This morning, I left the guest house in Nairobi and traveled 4 hours by car to Tenwek hospital.  Once you get out of Nairobi, the traffic isn't really that bad and I think I could have driven for most of the drive.  Tenwek is about 150 miles outside of Nairobi.  The roads were for the most part paved and looked very much like American roads.  There was one spot that they were working on the road and so cars basically have just made up their own detour in the field next to the road.  The thing that strikes me the most as we drive pretty much anywhere here is the amount of people alongside the road.  Some are walking someplace, but many are just standing, sitting, or laying there watching the cars go by.  Ocassionaly, we would drive through a small town.  They would make cars slow down with speed bumps when going through the town.  Most of the towns have just a row of businesses such as a local bar, a gas station, and maybe a family owned restaurant or hotel.  It is all very different than the US.  Driving through Nairobi, we saw many vendor with their products out by the road. 

We also stopped by "Meijer" on the way out to Tenwek.  It was kind of a grocery store/shopping mall.  It had many American brand foods there.  Some were fairly expensive.  A jar of Ragu was about 4 - 5 dollars.  I of course just bought some candy to try that I had never heard of.  A dad and his daughter that are here that came with us are on a different meal plan and they had to buy groceries for the two weeks they are here.  He said it was about 180 dollars. 

So, I am finally at Tenwek.  I have my own room and bathroom.  Tonight will be my first attempt at sleeping under a mosquito net.  I dont see any mosquitos yet so hopefully it doesnt get to crazy.  I was given a tour of Tenwek Hospital.  It is a fairly large complex of buildings and seems kind of hard to figure your way around.  I am sure that will get easier after tomorrow.  I had dinner at my host's house this evening with another couple who are here for a short term.  Afterwards, I talked with the hospital administrator about their IT infrastructure.