TEA AT MAUA METHODIST HOSPITAL

Jennifer P in VIM team's tea room

At the hospital, we stopped work for tea at 10 am and 3 pm each day. The hospital set aside a room for us and a staff person named Florence put food out for us.

In the beginning, we were served soft drinks, cookies, bread and butter, hot water and hot milk in large thermos jugs, powdered coffee and cocoa and tea bags, sugar and bananas. Later, Florence also provided lots of cut up fruit as well.

We came to appreciate these times not only for the chance to rest and interact but as opportunities for a staff meeting (identifying supplies we needed Florence to purchase for us out of our VIM supply fund, learning what we would be doing that evening or the following day, etc.). We also enjoyed these opportunities to visit with staff personnel who joined us for tea.

At our Monday morning tea break (10 am), Florence Mubichi spoke with us. She is the head of the nursing program here and teaches on Tuesdays and Thursdays but she drove up especially today to just to see us. (On other days of the week, she is on the faculty at Kenya Methodist University in Meru.) She filled us in on what we will be doing in Meru and answered many of our questions. She told us that women painting is a strange sight for men in Maua but we should just “be assertive” and do what we need to do.