A huge sigh of relief today as we enjoyed a very relaxing day: first a sleep in (these have been few and far between, since our arrival) breakfast than we joined six of the orphans from M.I.A.2 and off we went to the SDA Racetrack church in Nakuru. It was packed already when we arrived but we were welcomed and room was made for all 13 of us to sit down. Anisha took part in the youth choir’s item and children’s story. We all enjoyed the singing part of the service the best! After church, we had the privilege of meeting the young mother of the child with an large umbilical hernia,as we were taking her to be reviewed by a surgeon: Dr O’Doer?????? On the way we also picked up Mary – one of the M.I.A. carer’s who also needed a surgical view for a benign cyst on her axilla. Kenya Health is already treating the 2 year old girl, for a minor chest infection and worms, and as she looked anemic a full blood count was recommended as part of her pre-operative care. We took her to a reputable pathologist: Peak Health Medical Centre, and for the equivalent [...]

Early, noisy morning as we loaded 2 van’s filled with very excited, vocal M.I.A. children, off to their annual “Sing-off” with the surrounding schools in their district. We thoroughly enjoyed experiencing the ‘surround sound’ impromptu singing along the way – it distracted us from the atrocious roads we were travelling on. After we dropped off the children, we met up with Regina, a friend of Martha’s, who also runs a reputable orphanage. Lyle and Regina discussed and organized for the malnourished 2 year old child (weighing only 4kg) that we’d seen in clinic at Nymondo, to be cared for at Regina’s orphanage. Kenya Health will be sponsoring that child to cover her needs. We also met with Rosemary to finalize arrangements for the clinic we’ll be running this Friday 60km out of Nakuru: apparently the dreaded jiggers is a problem there, and also to discuss next week’s clinic’s at Pondamali slums. The elusive condys crystals that Lyle had tried so hard in Siaya to obtain: as part of the jiggers treatment, Rosemary had found in Nakuru ? We discovered that it’s difficult to purchase as it’s used in the process of bomb-making! The previous day, we’d sorted through several large [...]

After a hearty breakfast of mung bean stew, mashed potatoes, chai tea and toast, we bade farewell to our hosts: Augustine, his wife Mary and neice Helen, leaving behind a monetary gift to thank them for their hospitality. An hour and a half later, we found, Pastor Daniel was waiting for us at the turnoff – to ensure that we didn’t get lost again lol- Clinic ran smoothly albeit with less patient numbers than yesterday, as apparently it was market day. Those we did see were mostly suffering from minor ailments: worms, gastro, ear, skin and chest infections, all very happy for the free service that we provided. The man whose son had the shortened, deformed tibial bones returned for Lyle to review, anxious that his son receive help. Assurance given that Kenya Health would do all possible to help him, and that he would not be forgotten. As numbers dwindled, we closed clinic for the day around 2pm, said goodbye to the people and wonderful children before heading back to Kissi, staying at the same guest house. We’d all bathed ‘african style’ the night before so a hot shower was very welcome. Eventually sat down for our evening meal [...]

Breakfast 6.30am leaving 7.30am as we’ve got a 2hour drive ahead of us to reach the village of Olo Soit, where we’ll be running the clinic. The last leg of our trip was through fields and fields, no road signs to be seen, so consequently we got lost, gratefully being rescued by Pastor Daniel who arrived on a “picky-picky” to lead the way. A good sized mud classroom was where we ran the clinic; desks and chairs were removed and the Kalenjan young warriors did a wonderful job of organizing the patients in and out of the clinic, keeping it orderly. Cases that stood out: a 3 year old boy with grossly deformed and shortened legs (tibia’s) ?due to thalidomide use during pregnancy. His father was embarrassed but hope that his son could be helped motivated him to come to clinic. Lyle will discuss the options available for him ie possible surgical intervention and will contact him via Lillian and Rosemary. After clinic, a group of young women dressed up in their special finery: beaded head gear, necklaces etc and performed a wonderful dance for us in gratitude. The children absolutely loved the bubbles and balloons they were given. Weary [...]

Packed up and said goodbye to our wonderful host’s especially Simon – the maitre de. Detoured to see Nigel and his team: wife Tiffany, Hopal and Cara, and visit them in the village. The rest of the supplies for the Jigger’s program we left with Nigel to distribute to the community. Enjoyed wonderful hospitality by Kekenya and his 3 wives. Apparently it takes all 3 wives to care for Nigel & his team. The people here give of their best and Kekenya gave up his mudhut for their accommodation. 11.30 we finally headed to Kissii, where we’ll be picking up “Mrs Pastor” aka Lillian. A long road trip again, it should’ve taken 3 hours but for the state of the roads and the depth of the potholes. 5/30pm we arrived at our accommodation “Timoko” guest house: very clean, mosquito treated,non-sagging, non-bed bugged, quite modern rooms (1,500 shillings per night includes buffet breakfast). Kissii has a very strong SDA presence but also a strong witch doctor presence as well. Saw many street children, chaotic, busy streets/markets, makes for a very interesting drive through the roads. Regina (the manager of Timoko) requested a review: of her CXR, she’d fallen in November and [...]

Clinic was held at Gona dam today – where the water sanitation project Nigel – an SDA engineer from Tweed Shire Council- is heading. Today was better organized and not as busy as yesterday. We saw approximately 250 people: cases from a young 19year man with Retinitis pigmentosa??? a young 17 year old woman wioth possible breast cancer and an elderly woman with advanced cancer, hypertension, muscular aches and pains, chest ailments, various skin infections including Jiggers – the worst case belonging to an elderly man- to dehydration. Again, no cases of malnutrition which was good to see. 7 cases of those with jiggers were used to demonstrate upon, in order to train the community health workers, one case was a 12 year old girl. Each was given a new basin, detol, healing salve and dudu dust. Kenya health paid for supplies to treat 100 homes, ( a total cost of about $1300au ) which will be a fantastic start in eradicating this scourge for the people. Once the training was done, a formal meeting to discuss the practicalities of running such a program took place. A valuable lesson was learnt by two of our volunteers who unwittingly gave out [...]