Happy 4th!

 I spent last weekend with some of my closest Peace Corps friends hanging around the pool, playing beer pong, and enjoying the closest thing we could get to a 4^th of July party. The hotel had an amazing buffet dinner planned for us and we all stood together around the banquet tables singing the national anthem in unison while some made speeches about how these were the Peace Corps moments we will remember for the rest of our lives.

Back in my village I met up with a Public Health graduate student from Seattle University who will be working alongside me for the next six weeks. I sometimes forget how beautiful my village is until I hear the words out of someone else’s’ mouth. I didn’t even know it was possible to take living in the village for granted!

Our first big project together is first Aid training with my health club students. The students were so excited about the lessons and the certificate at the end, although a few seemed a bit queasy when I had to explain what the word “amputation” meant. One of my students was especially enthusiastic sitting in the front row and asking me for the topics that would be covered in next week’s lesson. He is the student that during my Goal setting lesson, told me he wanted to be a doctor. He is the same student that asks me to photocopy pages from my HIV/Aids handbook and told me his dream is to see what a hospital looks like.  I don’t think I have ever seen a high school student with such thirst for knowledge.

So here I sit, appreciating the country I was born in, the country that I am privileged to experience now and the amazing people, Kenyan and American, that I am surrounded by.