Lyle rang this morning and gave approval for the various cases we'd identified as being the most urgent, in need of  intervention. Fortunately, we were able to obtain an appointment for this afternoon at 2.30pm for Beatrice. We also tried to get in contact with the lady who needs a knee replacement (from our first lot of clinics) but we were unable to reach her in time. Rosemary will take her to see Dr Kalande on Friday afternoon. This morning we were all invited to go to the hospice (a relatively new facility in Nakuru, which services over 700 palliative patients). It was founded by Elizabeth, who after seeing a close family member die from cancer with only paracetamol for pain relief, decided to ensure this tragedy wouldn't happen again. Kenya Health has been supporting the hospice with monthly donations to cover costs of medication, so consequently we were treated as celebrities and given the grand tour of the hospice and P.G.H. (the provincial general hospital in Nakuru). The hospice has so much potential, and a great vision but lacks further funding at this stage. The staff there are extremely dedicated to their cause. We also were allowed a tour [...]

All the team soldiered on, and despite a flat tyre and being pulled over by the "Askari" (local police), we made it to Pondamali where a crowd of patients, already registered by the teaching staff and dear old Pastor Williams, waited. The clinic began well, as Corinna, Cathie and Michele, were well orientated to the running of it. The leg in the photo below belongs to a gentleman who was involved in a car accident2 years ago and who had sustained crush injuries. Because he couldn't afford treatment, he used traditional herbal medicine. Consequently he had infection and the bones had never knit. Unfortunately, after just 2.5hours, an urgent meeting had to be held, as a directive from the Minister of Health had been given to close down our clinic. Apparently regulations had changed and permission had to be sought from him. In the past, approval only needed to be sought from local elders/village chiefs and district community nurses.  It was very difficult and distressing to pack up while there were still patients awaiting assessment. There really is so much need and so few options available to these people. Mary and Lillian went directly to the M.O.H. office to resolve [...]

Half of the team went into town for supplies while the other half remained at MIA to run a "mini-clinic" completing health assessments on all the children. Some of the staff also needed treatment. Gemma and Mikey are asthmatics and were commenced on Ventolin with the carer's given education for administration. Baby Evan and Zippy were the sickest of all the children, but overall the children are a healthy and happy bunch. After the clinic, we took the elder boys (the older girls had their turn last time) on an excursion to Kivu water park near town. They'd been looking forward to this all week, and even the rainfall in the morning couldn't dampen their enthusiasm! David and Helen (a German volunteer who's been in Kenya for 5 weeks already with MIA) braved the cold water with the children while we supervised and took lots of photo's, of course. Corinna and Michele went into Nakuru and attended a local Baptist church there. Meanwhile back at M.I.A. we soon realised that 3 out of 4 of us were unwell with various URTI like symptoms, gastro, aches and pains, leaving only Corinna to be "Daktari" for all of us, poor thing. After [...]

Slept in until 6.30am!!! We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast until Habibi (one of the elder girls at MIA) collected us for church. We joined MIA 1 at MIA Nyota and had a lovely time with the children. They all get involved with the church services with various singing items and some of the children being up front presenting little talks or introducing the next item. The singing was especially wonderful. Imagine nearly 100 children of all ages with carers, teachers, volunteers plus Mum & Dad (Ivan & Mary Budulica) singing in both Swahili and English. It was thrilling! Lunch time we joined Mary and Lillian for lunch at the main house, bringing our contributions to the meal. We needn't have worried though for Mary's culinary skills are amazing and we all enjoyed ample portions of the meal. We also met David, a young volunteer who just graduated  from Law school, who is with us for a week (he's travelling for 3 months around the world, before beginning work). Saturday night is movie night in the MIA household and is a treat that the children look forward to. Kamahl's latest birthday gift from his sponsor was the Muppet movie, so we [...]

We all slept so much better with our new pillows and mosquito net. Today we're spending the day at home, restocking for the next clinic, catching up on housework/washing in our little mud hut and generally recovering from the trip and big week. In the afternoon we were treated with lovely shoulder rub/back massage from Pauline at MIA, all for the bargain price of $3-$5 each! Prepared our meals for the next day and spent family worship with all the children at MIA. "Stanley", Cathie's Canadian brown bear puppet, has proved a real hit at storey time each evening with the children ever since she introduced 'him' at family worship time on Wednesday night. Tonight she introduced 'Ming' a panda bear puppet :-) ps Stanley has been 'kidnapped' by the elder children for the night. Cathie, Michele & Corinna hamming it up on one of our walks around M.I.A.

After breakfast we received a phone call and heard a familiar voice: it was Lyle! He sounded good and gave us all encouraging words. Kathie chose to remain at the orphanage and stocktake/organise the medical supplies, while the rest of us returned to Nakuru to pick up the last of the medical supplies.By now each of us gotten to know each other quite well and have dubbed certain nick-names. Corinna is "the Oracle" for she has an answer for everything, Kathie is "Mrs Bucket" due to her habit of rattling the bucket in our bathroom to provide a little privacy while using the facilities in such close quarters where noise travels, Tagisia is "Mother Teresa" due to the children always milling around her and Michelle is "Mrs B.Q." (for bargaining queen) due to her prowess with the street hawkers at Nakuru. Even though the mornings have been lovely and sunny, each afternoon brings heavy rain and of course it poured down as we maneuverer bulk items in and out of the stores into the waiting vehicle. We attempted to cook our very first meal in the mudhut, after 1 1/2 hours of fiddling with the gas cylinders, where we were [...]