"In Kenya anything is possible". That phrase would be a lot more reassuring if it wasn't referring to the feasibility of fitting five people on to one motor bike. However, making things work with limited resources is definitely a necessity here. My second week on labour (British spelling) and delivery went well. I think I'd now feel reasonably comfortable if I had to do a normal delivery somewhere random without supervision. Let's hope that never happens...but it's good to be prepared.
There's certainly plenty of babies to keep things busy. Large families are still the norm here and one nursing student even asked me if I felt lonely just having one sister. I love my sister dearly, but one was plenty if you ask me. Over a dinner of Nyama Choma (roasted meat) with some Kenyans, I learned that they think Americans worry way too much about their kids instead of just letting them learn and grow naturally. Apparently another common saying is that your biggest blessing may still be inside you, meaning that you want to have as many kids as possible because who knows which will turn out best!
Children are often raised in a village surrounded by many relatives who can take care of the kid if the parents aren't around because they live about 10 feet away. Just the environment in which kids grow up here is so different from that in suburban America where you live in isolated houses usually far from other relatives. These differences are adorably illustrated in the movie Babies, which follows four babies (from San Francisco, Japan, Mongolia, and Namibia) through their first year of life. Honestly, I think by the end of the movie the African baby is the most self sufficient...she can even balance a bowl on her head while walking. Although my feelings about larger families have started to shift recently (I always thought 2 kids was the perfect number but now 3 seems like a possibility) I can still safely say that 11 is too many and some good family planning would be the real blessing here.
I wonder how Kenyans would feel about China's one child policy. I have a feeling that most would find "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" completely ridiculous. Of course, there's a big difference between raising a child who can function in a rural village and one who will succeed in New York City. Torturing your children probably shouldn't be a valued parenting technique in any setting, but demanding hard work and discipline seems reasonable. I really hope I don't become a completely overbearing mother.
We saw lots of baby animals at Lake Nakuru this weekend. Baby rhinos, baby zebras, and baby baboons. Amazing. We even saw a leopard walking through the forest this morning and two female lions relaxing after killing a poor water buffalo (with hungry hyenas waiting in the background). It's the circle of life (cue Elton John).
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