Kapsabet Day 1

What a day.  I seem to say that a lot, lately.  Today was the first day for the medical portion of our trip.  We were all very excited to see what God would do with us.  As usual, He did not disappoint.  We arrived at Kapsabet around 9 and Bernard Kibet, our WBS worker for this area showed us around.  Kapsabet was the second orphanage built, and it has the easy, comfortable feel of Dirubi and Ndhiwa.  We met the nurse, saw the clinic and decided that Ben Doke, our MD, would set up there.  Bernard had rented a large tent for us in the compound and Leslie Doke, with Maureen assisting, set up registration there.  Brad Sears, our dentist, set up in the dining hall.

We asked the widows to help us identify those kids with known problems so we could see them first.  After some organzing of instruments we got to work.  Thus began a long grind of one child after another, pointing to where it hurts and compliantly waiting for the doctor to make it better.  On the dental side, that usually meant a filling or extraction, with anesthesia, something Kenyans almost never get.  I assisted Brad as a sterilizer, (I washed bloody instruments) while Deborah assisted Brad with the patients.   My first observation was that Kenyan kids are tough.  They don’t whine or complain or refuse to open their mouths.  They just lay there and take it.  American kids are not like that, according to Brad, and I believe he is right.  Brad saw dozens of kids and widows today, and pulled teeth and filled cavities like a champ.  One of the widows had problems so bad that Brad said she must have been in pain for years.

Dr. Doke saw the medical patients, and that was a little tougher.  Many of the problems the adults have he can do nothing for.  My back hurts, my chest gets tight when it’s cold, I have cataracts; these are far beyond a simple medical screening.  He did identify one child with a parasite and one with a previously undiagnosed heart arrhythmia.  There were infections and eye problems and vision needs aplenty.  He made a list of medicines needed for all those he could help and we picked them up this evening at the pharmacy that Bernard uses in Eldoret.

Everything went very smoothly.  We had no particular plan about how to set up when we arrived, but we were able to fall into a rhythm fairly quickly.  I floated between each station, putting out fires and encouraging our people.  After lunch, I met with the orphan’s board of Kapsabet and got many things accomplished. Susie took amazing pictures, and Cherie played with kids and helped with vision screening.  Maureen translated everywhere and was incredibly useful as usual. All in all it was a very satisfying day. 

Tomorrow we will be back at Kapsabet, well, at least the medical team will.  Susie and I are headed off to visit the Pokot.  They are a nomadic tribe that lives much as they have for centuries, raising cattle and wandering the arid areas east of Eldoret.  Our worker Wilson Kiptoo, felt a calling to minister to them and now lives among them half the time.  He will be taking us to meet them for the first time.  It’s a long, six hour drive over very bad roads so we will not be staying there very long.  If all goes well we will be back in time for dinner tomorrow night.  It may be too late to blog by then, so don’t panic if I’m a little late with tomorrow’s report.  Our blessings to all of you back in the US, we miss you terribly.  Be thankful for what you have; there are things that you haven’t even thought of that are blessings laying all around you.

Kapsabet Day 1