Less than a week to go until our next team of volunteers leaves for Kenya. Team members and supporters gathered for a meet and greet night where some stories were shared and new friendships began. Kathie & Deb will take on the role of team leaders. Ann, Terri, Kym ,Chris & Carol will be in good hands on their first trip to Kenya.

First Aid training with the lovely staff at Rafiki Mwema. Looking forward to being back there in 2 weeks time. It will be almost time for a refresher to see how much everyone remembers.

Day 14 Saturday 26/10/13: Off to Prison! As with previous KH mission trips, we had been asked to provide a christian program for the inmates and so we set off with 12 M.I.A. children. One of our team members: Tagisia Krouse had been asked the previous year by our local coordinator: Lilian Marwa, to preach, which she did, while Lilian interpreted. & the beautiful children sang 4 musical items which mesmerised the inmates, who no doubt were thinking of their families left behind.An appeal was made at the end of the sermon and 10 inmates came forward. The program was well received and all are excited about our return tomorrow morning to run clinic. We hope to be able to include bibles for the 10 inmates. Lunch was at with Mary & Adam in the main house of M.I.A. Adam had only just arrived the previous night & was jetlagged. After lunch, half the team took the children from M.I.A. 1 for a walk to the river, while Jan P, Tagisia & Grandy, accompanied the evangelists: Joseph & Abraham. 7 of the most needy families in the near vicinity were visited and donated gifts of clothing, blankets, underwear (which the [...]

Day 4: Thursday 17th October 2nd day of clinic at Rhonda east SDA church: it became quite a family affair as one of our regular local volunteers, Cyrus Kivuki's, baby son Denver came to clinic to receive his 9 month immunisation, as well as Cyrus's wife, mother and Grandma. The day began a little slow as we had only one interpreter arrive on time (the rest on Kenyan timing) but once it got rolling, the clinic went smoothly and became very busy.In total we saw 170 patients, distributed 15 pairs of reading glasses and now have 6 more surgical referrals to add to our growing list. Our day began at 9am and ended at 4pm. If it wasn't for the kindness of one of the church members bringing us each a banana, we would have been famished. There were quite a few more complicated cases today: cardiac related, oncology cases, renal, all chronic and the people have little or no means to receive continued treatment and care sadly. When we left the people were begging us to please return soon. Our itinerary is tight and there are many more places with desperately poor and needy people to reach. If you [...]

Wednesday 16th October  Today we had a small clinic (I don't think it was advertised very well) only 119 people with 2 requiring surgical intervention in the very near future...  if we can raise the funds. Mostly chest, ear, eye, skin infections as per usual, with some family planning, gynaecological and pregnancy problems. We had 4 daktari: myself, Jan Powell, Rosemary and Sue Anderson. This time we had a local nurse offering counselling and testing for HIV as well as vaccinations, which was good. Clinic finished after 2pm, back into town for a belated lunch, home to MIA for showers, family worship, re-stocking and debriefing. All in all a good start to our clinic trips. A lovely couple Ivan aka "Grandy" & Judy Leahy who have been volunteering at the MIA in Mary's absence due to daughter Sarah's wedding; also volunteered as our pharmacists and proved invaluable. Tuesday 15th October Yesterday was spent on meetings galore with Anisha (from Play Kenya) organising sex education and first aid talks for the carers of Rafiki Mwema, and also meetings with Rosemary, Lilian and the rest of the Kenya Health team. Picking up our medical supplies (which had been stored at Nakuru hospice) [...]

A team meeting was held on Sunday to finalise our plans for our departure to Kenya on October 12th. It was with mixed emotions that we discussed the work that  Lyle, our Kenya health founder had started only a few short years ago. First item on the itinerary in Nakuru will be a memorial service for Lyle, done the “Kenyan”way. We look forward to sharing some special memories of a very special man at this service. Our dedicated Kenyan staff Lilian and Rosemary have been busy preparing things ahead of our arrival and we are so grateful to have them as part of Kenya Health.