Summer, School, and Society

The summer of 2009 was the most fun summer of my life, yet. I have never had a more fulfilling, exciting, and thrilling time in college than I had this summer of 2009. First off, I engaged in a journey of personal growth and independence through scientific research at the Yale School of Medicine. I have gone into research labs before, but this time was different from previous occasions because I had to act more mature. Greater expectations were put on my shoulders, but to borrow President Obama’s words in his eulogy speech at Senator Ted Kennedy’s funeral, I “surpassed the challenge because of what [I] became.” At the end of my summer lab experience, I felt thrilled at my achievements. I have not published my results in the lab but I know that I have attained a more important goal than an article in Science – the fulfillment of having pursued independence in scientific research. The experience was not without hiccup, however. I recall several hurdles in the form of lengthy experiments that yielded little positive results, sometimes none. Nonetheless, every time I ran my samples on an electrophoretic gel, or through a spectrophotometer I felt as nervous as a debutante on her coming out party. My anxiety would be alleviated  by the appearance of any form of result – be it a messy band on the gel, or a flat O.D. curve.

However, my lab experience was not the height of my summer experience. The best time of my summer was spent wandering the town of New Haven. Summer in New Haven can go from hyperactive to plain serene. On the hyperactive days, I would find myself exercising my muscles stiff, sweat dripping down my brow, and my lips locked in forced grimace. I would blast reggae and dancehall in my ears until my head threatened to implode on itself, then I would watch some violent movie. Every time I never failed to amaze myself at my ability to maintain unclouded judgment despite the euphoria.

On the more somber days, I would take a walk around the dusty streets: hands in pockets, head drooped, back bent and thoughts focused. I recall one time I bumped into a parking meter when I was briefly distracted from one soul-searching walk. I was walking along Park Street towards Elm Street when I turned my head to look at the other side of the street. I noticed a young couple walking, hand-in-hand, in the opposite direction. But it wasn’t the intimacy with which they held each other that caught my attention. It was the young lady. She was beautiful, nay, very beautiful. I recall thinking that she was so fine it was almost unfair for her to be with the dude! I let my mind wander into imagination land where the fields were green, streets plush with rose petals, and the wind chiming with serenades. In this land, I was. She was. We were. Only the two of us, and a vast beautiful paradise. I was looking in her face about to say something when I felt a sharp pain in my chest. I was jerked back to reality only to realize too late that I had run into a parking meter just outside of the St. Thomas Moore Chapel.

I learned from my unfortunate experience with the parking meter but that did not stop my misfortunes. On several occasions, I felt either too excited or frustrated and I punched brick walls and other hard surfaces with my bare fists. Needless to say, the three scars on my right hand knuckles bear testimony to my impulsiveness and folly. A friend of mine commented that I was simply providing living proof that the Swahili proverb “Mpiga ngumi ukuta huumiza mkonowe” was valid. The proverb is translated: He that punches a wall only hurts his fist.

I’d like to think that my summer packed a punch. Now, school is starting again and I would love to carry that punch through the end of the semester. I am not certain that I can do that but my optimism has always received excellent ratings among my close friends. So, I will ride the wave of positive attitude and hope for the best. To start off, I have decided to engage in a humanitarian effort through my blog.

This is a jerrycan. For more than 1.1 billion people on Earth living without water, the jerrycan is a symbol of life and hope.

You will notice that I have added a new Widget on my sidebar. I have signed up my blog to stream Sprint ads, and have the proceeds go to charity in a deserving third-world country in need of water.

These past couple of months, my country, Kenya, has been hit by a severe shortage of water due to prolonged dry season. As a direct consequence, food supply has dwindled, subsistence crops have failed and folks are starving. The situation is exacerbated by corruption and lack of social responsibility of the ruling elite in Kenya. Kenyan leaders have displayed shameless indifference at the situation, choosing instead, to focus on mere politicking. The plight of the victims of famines is real in Kenya and other developing nations and must be addressed with urgency.

Therefore, I am taking action with the hope that many will join the cause to provide water to deprived third world nations. By clicking on the SocialVibe widget on the sidebar, you join millions other kind people around the globe who have come together to address the problem of water shortage in third world nations. Your contributions to charity will go a long way to support a frail mother in Kenya, Ethiopia, or Haiti. It will go a long way to help an orphaned teenager who has to travel kilometers each day to fetch water to  quench the thirst of her malnourished, underfed siblings. Your help is only one click away.

In order for you to help with the cause, simply click on the “Help Now” button on the widget, and rate the Sprint ad. That is all. By rating the video, Sprint donates money to help Charity:Water build wells and provide clean water to people in Africa.

If you would like to learn more about charity:water, please visit their website at http://www.charitywater.org/index.htm.