25 Things I've learned in Kenya

1. The world seems a little brighter with a generous scoop of peanut butter (if it doesn’t taste like dirty socks).
2. Don’t piss off the village people and especially don’t steal from them!
3. You can only accomplish things if you have a willing and able team to assist. In fact, no matter how strenuously you work, if you don’t ask for help, you won’t get anywhere
4. Nursing is not a popularity contest; inevitably it isn’t about me, it’s about the patients I serve.
5. Nurses (and other medical professionals) treat, God heals.
6. Make friends with everyone: Young and old, rich and poor, educated and uneducated. You will gain a wealth of knowledge from each individual you meet, if you listen well.
7. Sleeping with a giant mwiko (ugali cooking stick) in your hand probably won’t save you if a robber comes knocking on your door (he probably has an enormous knife), but it sure makes you feel damn powerful.
8. It only takes one act of evil to demolish a building, but it takes many good acts to reconstruct what was lost.
9. “What we do in this world is only a drop in the ocean, but if we fail to do it, that drop will be missing forever.” ~Mother Theresa
10. If you make one person smile every day, you’ve done your job.
11. Children aren’t the only people who squirm with delight when they get a sticker.
12. A little kindness goes a long way.
13. Always check your shoes before donning them. For that matter, check your glasses, cups, bowls, and sugar container before using. (Definitely are learned this one the hard way—many times.)
14. If you think you saw a rat, you probably saw a rat. Those beasts frighteningly speedy.
15. “Stoney” is the best soda ever.
16. Matatus are surprisingly a rather sophisticated way to get around—in a primitive sort of way.
17. I don’t completely abhor running, only slightly.
18. Opposed to popular belief, not every area in Africa is springing with exotic wildlife. In fact, many Kenyans have never seen an elephant or lion.
19. Don’t swim in Lake Victoria, unless you want to be eaten by a hippo or to succumb to some sort of amoebic infection.
20. Failing to watch where you walk/run can be detrimental to your shoes, knees, and overall ego.
21. Rats eat soap…and candles. Also, I’m pretty sure rats intentionally aim their poop pellets at the most inconvenient places (honestly, they’re pretty talented, in that respect).
22. Prayer is an incredible weapon.
23. When you ask someone if they’d like some chocolate here, they think that you mean hot chocolate.
24. That stick that those children are chewing on, is actually sugar cane, not a stick.
25. We as citizens from a developed country have the ability to really help people from countries like this, but we need to be cautious about which organizations we support. We should be supporting organizations that focus on teaching locals about how to stand on their own two feet.

I’ve learned these and so much more, but I figure this is a nice list just to start off.