Made in Kenya! (Our new scrubs)

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So, finally our official 3^rd semester started last week and tomorrow we will have one week of third semester under our belts. Best feeling ever about this semester is we are at last getting to do something that is truly and directly related to teeth. By this, I mean Dental Morphology and Head & Neck anatomy.  The other building subjects are not lesser it’s just that I personally do not see the direct relationship between the molecular structure of wax and teeth.  

So far what has really impressed me is all the parts that we have just in our face. Philtrum, wait, what again?! Vermilion zone, vermi what? Stensen’s papilla…and the list go on and on. Being an avid reader of almost anything that has pages on it I must admit I have never come across any of these words until last week. There’s simply no clear way to describe the excitement and feeling of knowing that the little shallow depression extending from the area below the middle of the nose to the center of the upper lip has a name. Philtrum! We have body parts that’s we see every day and take for granted or assume they have no name. And I’m not even talking about the inside of the mouth yet. To me, that’s truly learning and enjoyable. I found that there is even whole research papers dedicated to that little shallow depression describing its role in smile and many other interesting theories.  Many more words and new parts are all fun to learn of course until we get to the exam room and the silly brain wants to assume you have never seen, leave alone heard any of those parts.

Okay, back to the title above. Kenya. Beautiful country where I was born and raised. Right under the equator so that means weather that is never too dry, neither too wet. Never too hot or too cold. Throughout the year. In short, anyone  dream weather. This is not a travel blog for sure but Kenya to me remains ONE OF the most beautiful places there is in the world (and trust me, I have traveled a bit of this world). Of course CNN and other international media houses won’t say or show any of this. Again, like any other nation, there are challenges in Kenya. Political, social and even economic just like every other nation. So what is Kenya doing in our dental hygiene blog?

Today I had a chance to go and get measurements for my uniform (Black scrubs and a white coat). See? Every day it feels like we are truly getting closer to our profession.  One of my classmates was in there trying her outfit and so I got to chat with the very friendly and nice old lady who runs the place as we waited for my other classmate to get done. She asked where I was from as I had an accent. Now, oversensitive people with low self-esteem will immediately get in self-defense mode whenever someone mentions that they have an accent and try to find out about where they come from. I have seen people label others as racist if they observe that they have accent. There’s dumb and then there’s plain dumb. This lies in the plain dumb.

 The oxford dictionary defines accent distinctive mode of pronunciation of a language, especially one associated with a particular nation, locality, or social class. E.g. Strong German accent, strong American accent and strong other languages accents. So whenever a person asks me where I am from due to my accent I find that person to be honest, straightforward and confident. I do not imply that those who do not ask are any opposite of this. Those who ask what accent was that after someone leaves are the ones who might need to work on themselves. Anyway, so I got talking to the lady about where I’m originally from. I like to tease people by first telling them that I’m from somewhere like Germany or Sweden and love the look of confusion on their face. So we got talking about Kenya with her and how I ended up here in the states. Immigration is a touchy issue for some people due to their personal reasons but I find it interesting to discuss about my decision and reason to come to this country (Legally of course! In case the border and customs people are reading J) And contrary to what my desk mate and former friend turned friend Marc says, I did not swim across the ocean to this place! Sometimes I will tease him and say how his American Accent is so strong I can barely understand him and so he needs to talk to me in Swahili. Keeps the hours rolling when the school day seem to have 37 hours.

So back to the lady at the store, after discussing about Kenya and how cost of living is over there compared to here I went and fitted my uniform and since I love business and I want to always find out where stuff is made (In case of a business chance) I checked the tag on the scrubs only to see ‘MADE IN KENYA’.  Interestingly, I happen to know the exact place in Nairobi (Mombasa road) where they produce all kind of export stuff in Kenya. I just never thought that that my Dental Hygiene scrub would be made in Nairobi and I would come to wear it in Erie! As a side note, the people who work in those companies are paid every day at the end of a work shift from 8Am to 5AM. Is it true they are paid like 5 dollars every day? That’s right!  But before anyone takes you on a guilt ride( I have heard all kind of claims, That these things from 3^rd world countries are made by kids….that the people working in them are not paid enough)  That mostly, is not true. People working in these companies are not paid less. The cost of living is almost as low as the payment they get. If someone for example living in Kenya makes 5 dollars at the end of a shift, and someone in the USA makes $80 at end of a 8 hr. shift they have almost earned same amount of money to meet there family needs. Most house rents will go for  25 dollars a month in some parts of Nairobi and so within 5 days someone has rent paid, and if you compare with someone paying 400$ a month over  here for rent, same thing, within 5 days their rent is paid too. So, in the long run everything else balances out and the only people really making any money is the big business importing those clothes.  It got me thinking that if our Mrs. O our new director allowed me to bring my own uniform from home, now that they are made in Kenya, I would end up paying like 5 bucks for them! 

The new scrubs with the made in Kenya tag

Well, that got me a little excited and a bit confused too on what side to support since I’m big supporter of bringing back all the companies and jobs to good old USA.

Anyway, I can’t wait to don those scrubs and get my tool kit and get inside those mouths!

I will be posting about our upcoming trip to work with cadavers for our Head and Neck anatomy at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM). Thank you for reading and drop comments below.