Back in the UssA

**WClarkB** · 24th February 10, 08:10 AM

I am again in the USA after being in Kenya for a month working at a mission hospital. It is hard work, immensely satisfying, professionally stimulating and exhausting. Major downside was that local mores means that I could not go hiking in a kilt.

**Santa Kona** · 24th February 10, 08:15 AM

Thank you for the great work you do for the ones that have are in a great need.

**Tartan Hiker** · 24th February 10, 08:15 AM

Welcome back, and thank you for serving.

**Tobus** · 24th February 10, 08:22 AM

I tip my hat to you, sir. Doing mission hospital work in a lesser-developed country like Kenya tells me a lot about your character (and it's all positive!). Good on ya! And welcome home.

I'm curious about the 'local mores' being such that hiking in a kilt was not possible. Do they have laws against it, or is it just more of a cultural taboo that would put you at possible risk from unfriendlies?

**Galician** · 24th February 10, 09:46 AM

What they all said.

**MacLowlife** · 24th February 10, 09:53 AM

Be sure to check with the Red Cross if you are ( or were) a regular blood donor. There are some pretty strict rules about travel to Africa. Thanks for what you have done and welcome back to the ( almost) sunny southland.

**WClarkB** · 27th February 10, 08:52 PM

Originally Posted by Tobus

I'm curious about the 'local mores' being such that hiking in a kilt was not possible. Do they have laws against it, or is it just more of a cultural taboo that would put you at possible risk from unfriendlies?

Real men don't wear shorts in Kenya, they are for schoolboys only. To the great credit of the very conservative rural Kenyans (heaven knows what goes on in the big city, it has been rumored that at one wedding the bride and groom were seen to kiss each other but that is probably a shameless exaggeration) they have accepted the mzungu (thou and I) as exercising in shorts however.

The idea of a kilt is not even on the radar. My knees are pale but unchapped.

walt

**WClarkB** · 27th February 10, 08:55 PM

Originally Posted by MacLowlife

Be sure to check with the Red Cross if you are ( or were) a regular blood donor. There are some pretty strict rules about travel to Africa. Thanks for what you have done and welcome back to the ( almost) sunny southland.

Too true, and as I am still taking my Lariam, I would nopt be a candidate. However, as an intern I was given a a souvenir from an inmate-patient of Hepatitis B and became a daffodil for a few months. No one had been asking for my blood since then, anyhoo.