Days 6 and 7: September 27 and 28, 2007

The Internet Cafe is still not in service.  Kevin Jennings has written today's blog entry via Blackberry:

As a twelve-year old in 1975, I was transfixed by the images of the final American pull out from Vietnam, with people clawing their way on to the helicopters as they took off from the roof of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon.  That panic, that sense of desperation, terrified me. 

Here in Kenya, I have tasted a bit of that desperation this week.  After working in the Kapenguria clinic for three days, I was assigned Thursday to go on the "Tooth Tour."  We needed to stop by our other clinic -- Mt. Elgon in Kitale -- on the way, and Debbie Croll and I got out of the van to stretch our legs. Debbie was soon accosted by a Kenyan man who was frustrated by our inability to serve all who needed our services.

"Why can't you serve all of us?"

Nonplussed, Debbie began to explain that there are a limited number of us, that we are only here for a week, but got cut off. 

"Why can't you stay longer?"

Debbie began to explain that we all have other jobs, that we are volunteering our time, and that we have to get back to our regular lives.  The Kenyan cut her off once more, asking what older folks like me like to call the $64,000 Question.

"People in your country have so much.  Why don't more of you come to help us?"

Why indeed.

We began Friday at Kapenguria by explaining to folks that this would be our last day, that we could not serve everyone, and that those whose names were past a certain point on the list should go home.  But they didn't. They stayed, hopeful that somehow we could control the space-time continuum and serve more of them than is humanly possible given the time and resources we have.  In the early afternoon, as it became apparent that we were indeed closing down the clinic and that all hope was about to be lost, a sizable group formed and began to press closer and closer to the doors of our treatment rooms.  It felt a bit like that day in Saigon in 1975, with the privileged Americans taking off and leaving the less fortunate "natives" behind.  It was the hardest moment of my week as my privileges were so nakedly apparent.  For no other than reason than I was lucky enough to be born in North Carolina and not Nairobi, I get to go back to New York, knowing I have the money to call Dr. Trey whenever my tooth hurts and get him to fix it.  I was on the proverbial helicopter.  The Kenyans would be left behind.

"People in your country have so much.  Why don't more of you come to help us?"

Why indeed.

Kevin Jennings,
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