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 team had brought with them) were distributed and very gratefully received! Poor Lilian is unwell tonight, past week catching up. After checking on her, we re-stocked for tomorrow’s clinic before retiring for the night.
Day 15 Sunday 27/10/13: Prison clinic All up early and about to leave for the prison, when Ivan Budlica rushed over from MIA Nyota, requesting assistance as village elder had rung alerting of the discovery of a newborn baby in the bush nearby (see previous blog:”Saving baby Lyle”) Alison Weatherstone (a volunteer for M.I.A. who also happened to be an RN & midwife) had planned to join us on clinic. However with the safe arrival of baby Lyle, and the obvious need for him to be closely monitored especially the first 24hours, it was decided that she was the best choice to do so. All this excitement, delayed our departure for the prison, yet our tardiness wasn’t a problem for the inmates, for all were very happy to see us. This clinic was to date the most orderly & well run. A few chosen inmates (long termers) helped interpret/crowd control, which aided the flow of patients we saw. In total 154 inmates & staff as well as all the children were seen. All very well behaved, courteous and grateful for our care & attention.Previous trips we have brought “pamper packs” – a brown paper bag containing hygiene/personal items ie soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, cotton wool, sanitary pads, detol-. However due to time constraints this trip, we chose to bring bags of fresh fruit instead, which was readily accepted with pleasure, as such food items are regarded as treats for the inmates, especially the children. Lunch in town on the way home, then back to check on baby Lyle. Due to hypothermia, his temperature was so low, it couldn’t register & it took 6 hours of skin-to-skin treatment before it stabilised. Alison is taking sole care of him tonight in her hut (permission secured from Ivan B).
Day 15 Monday 28/10/13: Nakuru South Clinic (day 1) What a day! The church that hosted this clinic was by far the most well organised, orderly one to date. They had even created cubicles; using curtains and wooden frames to provide us with privacy in which to see each patient. Many other acts of thoughtfulness did not go un-noticed by the team, and were very appreciated.We even had a visit from the Public Health Officer for this district: George Kungu. He expressed appreciation at how the clinic was flowing & requested an appointment with him in the morning. We had an appointment at Rafiki Memwa 4pm so ran a short clinic today. Saw 155 patients till 2pm, lunch then over to Rafiki Memwa to provide first aid training for the staff (provided by Sue, Rosemary and Tagisia – while the rest of the team cared for the children so the staff could attend) It was a most enjoyable afternoon and we hope to do such training for MIA 1 & Nyota and other establishments in future KH trips. Arrived home to MIA and about to pop the kettle on when Joram (one of the elder orphans from MIA Nyota) brought over Shadrach: 12 year old boy, who’d been fell onto rocks, while running in the dark and sustained a deep laceration to his forehead. Never a dull moment! . You may remember from last October’s blog that Joram was the lad who’d sustained burns to his face, chin especially and chest, when a large pot of boiling porridge spilt onto him. He grinned when he recognised Tagisia and became our photographer, while Jan P stitched and Sue & Tagisia assisted. The poor lighting in the mud hut, inadequate equipment ie sizing of needle, suture etc, the occasional invasion of the hungry cat who wanted her dinner, made stitching a bit of a challenge to say the least :-)6 stitches later, he was packed off with prophylactic oral antibiotics and analgesia. Now we could enjoy a cuppa finally ps Baby Lyle was officially examined by the local Peadiatrician and given a clean bill of health :-) Day 16
Tuesday 29/10/13 Nakuru South Clinic (day2) Huge day! Began with our appointment with George Kungu at his office which was very positive. Home 8.15pm after seeing 415 patients, not to mention the ones who skipped the registration process in the last hour and came through clinic as well. Saw many interesting cases, and have a few more referrals for pending surgeries to add to our growing list. For more information of how you can assist in making just one of these surgeries a reality, please contact us. 6pm we finally closed for the day, but not before an appreciation speech from the Pastor & elders of the church and a group photo. Homeward bound, via the Java house for a belated lunch (this is becoming a habit lol) Very long but satisfying day! Discovered when we returned that poor Adam is suffering heat stroke (yep never a dull moment for K.H.) after checking on him we also received the good news that baby Lyle is officially just that! He has been registered in the family court as Lyle (after our founder of KH) Blake (because of his jet black hair) Abihu (means Father in swahilli: for our Heavenly Father must’ve been looking after him!)
Day 17 Wednesday 30/10/13 Hilton Dump clinic (Last clinic!!!) Up and at ’em early! All very weary but excited that the light is at the end of the tunnel so to speak and delighted at the success of this trip so far. Even though we’re spending less than one month, we’ve been able to run more clinics and hence cater to more patients needs! The trip to Hilton (the nearest suburb to the dump in Nakuru) was interesting to say the least. Rosemary had organised x4 final year nursing students from a nearby university to assist us with interpreting, as well we picked up x2 community nurses to care for the HIV counselling/immunisation for our patients. Combined with all our medical equipment/medications etc, we had such a full van! We had antiscipated it being a very busy clinic, yet in the end it was quite a steady pace. In total we saw 187 patients and ended the day by 4pm (quite a civilised time) Of all the clinic’s we have run this trip, Hilton & Rongai especially were by far attended by the desperately poor and needy. Early night tonight. God is good!
Final days in Kenya – 3/11: were busily spent in meetings: finance, our growing list of pending surgeries, planning for our 2014 KH trips and long term plans for Kenya Health as a whole, now that our esteemed leader, dear friend and mentor Lyle Bourgoyne is laid to rest. Packing, stock-taking and storing of equipment to the rest of our time, but especially spending our last days in Nakuru with all the wonderful children at MIA 1 before leaving for Nairobi. Grandy’s birthday fell on the thursday, and we celebrated in style with an afternoon safari -organised by Mary & Adam- which we all thoroughly enjoyed, followed by a delightful dinner in style at the new Ziwa resort located at the East Africa Mission Orphanage, just up the road from M.I.A. Our very last day was spent simply being a tourist, visiting more orphanages only this time it was the elephant and giraffe orphanages as well as the Matbronze gallery situated nearby, where we met Sue’s local friend for lunch. Finally flew out of Nairobi 11.30pm, arriving in Brisbane 6.40pm on the 5th November. Yes the trip isn’t getting any shorter but each trip is more and more rewarding, exciting and we can definitely see the valuable difference Kenya Health as a not for profit health organisation is doing, even in the short time we are there. Next trip is planned for February 2014.
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