The Malek Diaries - 4/26/2011

Nairobi.

We arrived in Nairobi two nights ago and have been making progress on our plans to buy the medical supplies and materials needed to finish the clinic building. Yesterday, we met with many of our students to follow up with their issues, including school fees, paperwork and any medical illnesses. We met with Nhial and Jool, high school students (Nhial just graduated!), and Deng and Thion, both medical students. Deng is in his 3rd year, Thion in his 2nd. We also met with John Alier, who has a diploma in pharmacy and will be going to Sudan with us. We also met with the rest of our team, including Mario Bol, a Lost Boy from San Jose, CA, and Mayen, a Universal Unity graduate who has been invaluable in our education project in Kenya. Deng, who many of you remember from our fundraiser event, will be arriving tonight.
Today, we are going to MEDS, a warehouse for nonprofits that sells reliable medications at low cost. We will pick up the medications we ordered for the clinic there. We will also have a meeting to decide, within the next two days, whether we will purchase the generator, windows, plaster, doors and other materials to finish the clinic building from Kampala (Uganda) or Juba (Sudan). We have done an extensive cost analysis with the help of Garang, another Lost Boy currently in Juba, but we want to make sure we get the best value as well as the best materials for the clinic, so it's an important decision!
From the medical/clinical side, we have also got a hold of a malaria net distribution evaluation questionnaire to evaluate the 500 nets passed out during Deng's and Jordan's trip last year. Evaluation is a crucial component of any public health intervention and one we are trying to be particularly mindful of as we move forward. We also have a contact knowledgeable in latrine interventions and are planning community meetings to discuss the logistics and community readiness for a dry bathroom vs. pit latrine project. Communication is everything!