an interesting discussion 11/17/10

This morning our Personel director, Jackson, our Education Director, Chacha, and I had a meeting at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Migori. This is one of the two hospitals that we refer our patients to. We started by meeting the head doctor who gave us an hour long tour of the facilities. Then we met with the Chief Administrator. As most of my interest was in the medical end of things, our conversation quickly drifted away from the business of medicine.

                It turns out that Okumu, the administrator, had spent a month in Minnesota. He and I began discussing some of the differences between the US and Kenya and were trying to explain them to our colleagues who have never left this part of Africa.

“It is so quiet there,” Okumu began. “No music blaring, no roosters, no people yelling. There aren’t even any dogs barking!”

“No dogs barking?” asked Chacha in disbelief.

“No! If a dog barks at night the neighbors think it is a disturbance. You can be fined”.

“But, if it is not protecting your house at night, why are you keeping a dog”.

“As a pet,” I interjected.

Blank stare.

“As a friend,” Okumu explained.

“But, how do you keep the dogs from barking at night?”

“Well,” I explained, “often the dogs sleep inside the house at night.”

As Chacha took a moment to wrap his head around this concept Okumu got very excited. “Do you know what else?!? They have clinics just for dogs! Doctors that specialize in dogs. People even pay for dog surgeries”.

Chacha looked at me for confirmation. I nodded.

“And on top of that, when a dog gets sick they don’t walk the dog to the dog doctor. They drive it!!! They pick up the dog, put it in the back of the car, and drive it to the doctor!”

“It that true, Jackie?” Chacha asked

“Actually,” I replied, looking down sheepishly, ”my dog prefers to ride in the front seat”.