hakuna matata

Hey everyone. Just a quick update that my host dad was spoken to the other day by my program manager in Mombasa, and it seems things will be much improved now. It was an unpleasant thing to have to go through, but definitely a valuable learning experience. Additionally, my health is now much improved and I hope to never step foot in an African hosptial again! (At least not as a patient). I think I'll stick to traditional methods like that medicinal oil rub I got from my mom! =P

Also, I've been wanting to write about the work I got to do this past week for SOLWODI. I've finally found something that I can be quite useful at. Some of you know that I worked for the Rape Crisis Line in Madison this past year, so I received some (very minimal) training in crisis counseling for rape victims. I've begun putting that skill to good use by providing non-official counseling to some of the women in the TiP program (Trafficking in Persons). This past week I found myself at Mewa Hospital in Mombasa town every day visiting with a SOLWODI cilent who'd been admitted there. For confidentiality reasons, I cannot give her name or too many details of her story, but I can say this: she was a former sex worker in Nairobi who was trafficked to Germany by a German national who promised to marry her and give her money for starting a business. When she arrived, however, he confiscated all her documents and locked her up in an apartment where he would go daily to rape her, torture her, and all around degrade her. He also got 2 Turkish guys in on the scheme. Through some smart thinking, she played along with him until he began to trust her a bit. Then he provided her with a cell phone and she immediately contacted a friend of hers, who contacted the police in Germany and they stormed the apartment and set her free. SOLWODI Germany picked up her case and gave her counseling until they could come up with the funding to send her back here to Kenya to restart her life. She got back and, through the help of SOLWODI Kenya, was able to start a good business. But then the post-election violence occured and her business was looted and everything was taken. She started over with a small vegetable stall in another town, but then learned that the case against her rapist was going to be dropped due to "lack of evidence"(a blatant dodge if there ever was one!). She was plunged into a major depression by this news and sold the business and disappeared for a while. Now, she was in hospital with uterine bleeding from an unknown problem. And that's when I came in. Of course, her situation is very serious and she will be receiving professional counseling. But in the present, she feels abandoned (both by her family, who only want her to send them money that she doesn't have) and by the justice system (which dropped her case against her aggressor). The second I met her, I felt such a connection to this woman who has been through so much tragedy, but is still surviving somehow. And I could tell that the most important thing is just that she has someone who will listen to her, validate her feelings, and help her regain a sense of control over her life. I spent a few hours every day at her hospital bed, just listening and guiding her, and in a week she went from sad and depressed all the time to occasionally smiling and adopting a positive attitude towards her healing process. It was amazing to see the transformation that such a simple thing as listening could do and I'm so grateful I got a chance to meet her. I will be continuing to work with her in the future now, and the TiP Program director, Winnie, saw what I was able to do and decided I could continue doing that work with English speaking members of the program! I'm so excited to have a real purpose in the organization, and I think I will continue to pursue the counseling route...maybe someday in Kiswahili (though I doubt I'll be that good fast enough). I've also started finally doing my own interviews with potential new clients and writing a few reports. It's all falling into place!

Okay, miss you all much!! Kisses and hugs