Clinic Day One

Finally!  This is what we came here to do.  Today was the first day of clinic, where we begin to do health screenings, vision screenings, dental screenings and real dentistry for our orphans in this area.  Today was for the Dirubi Orphanage (130 kids), tomorrow we will do their feeding station and nearby Lee McGraw Orphanage (110 together).  Then on Thursday we will do Lee McGraw Orphanage and Sondu feeding station (140 combined). On this trip we are able to set up once here at the Vocational Training Center, and have the kids walk down from their homes to us.  This saves us a lot of time packing, setting up, and driving to hotels, like we usually do.  The team all agrees that this is a much better way.

 

Before the clinic opened, I began to teach the directors from all of our orphanages how to build tippy-taps.  This cool invention, which Becca Yocham found on the internet, is a way that kids can have a hand washing station nearly anywhere, and can be built with easy to find, local materials.  The plan is to have one outside every choo (latrines) at our orphanages and feeding stations. You can read more about these at tippy-tap.org.  Also you can see our pictures from the day at facebook.com/kwoministries, assuming the network is stable enough for me to upload.

 

As the kids began to arrive, they first washed their hands with the tippy-tap.  Then they were greeting inside and Rhonda Jones did a demonstration of good hand hygiene, using the black light and special hand cream to show how much dirt and germs remain after washing, then by demonstrating the proper way to wash your hands.  The kids really love the hands-on and the activity really helps break the ice.

 

Next, the kids went to Elise Howard's station where she demonstrated how to brush your teeth and floss.  Each kids gets a flosser and a new toothbrush with cover.  She also brought her guitar to play for the kids, and let them play with as well.  She has been a big help.

 

After tooth-brushing each patient sits down with SheriHoward and a translator to take a medical history and discover any health concerns.  She writes their comments on a patient record card that follows each one from station to station.  This is sometimes a tedious process, as communication between two different cultures and languages is difficult.  While the kids wait on the doctor, they have a vision screening.  Todd Yocham, Becca, Shelly Durham and several of the Kenyan nurses have taken turns at this station.

 

Doctor Howard then meets with each one, trying to help with their health complaints.  Mostly he is respiratory problems and skin issues, but there have been other issues as well.  His son, Daniel has been acting as the pharmacist, dispensing prescriptions according to his dad's directions and also for the dentists.

 

Next the dentists do a quick screening and decide weather they need any fillings or extractions. If not, they are given a fluoride treatment, de-wormed, and sent on their way.  If further dental work is required, these Doctors are well equipped.  We brought a new portable dental machine, giving them the ability to do fillings and complicated extractions with air, water, drills, and suction.  There is also another small drill, and suction machine so the two dentists, Bob Sears and Reno Sonneberg can work simultaneously.  Ruth Sears is supervising the dental side and rotation our Kenyan nurses through the stations so they can see in a practical way how to do many of the simpler processes.

 

Things went very well on this first day and we were able to see everyone, though it took working til 7:30pm to do it.  Tomorrow we plan to streamline operations a bit and try to be done earlier.  Also we are having to adjust to a Kenyan meal schedule.  They typically eat lunch at 2 and dinner as late as 8.  Tomorrow there will be adjustments for that as well. 

 

After we closed up shop, we went to the Dirubi Orphanage for evening devotional.  Their chorus sang us beautiful songs in the near-dark and Thomas delivered an inspiring, short lesson.  He is really a good preacher.  I can't wait to see him in the pulpit at GCR some day.  It was a very long day, but our team was ecstatic with all we had accomplished.  Tomorrow, should be even better.

Nurse’s Training Day

Today was the day that Ruth and Bob Sears and Cheri and Kris Howard have been working very hard for the last several months.  All of the nurses from the clinics at all of our orphanages were here today to learn from our American doctors and nurses. 

Our doctors have been developing a curriculum to teach some basics to these nurses, who have a wide background of training.  Some were midwives, some medical techs, and some have had a 1 year nursing course.  Not knowing the exact educational level of all the nurses, they decided to start simple.  Even I could understand most of it.

There were lectures on basic diagnostics, wound care, malaria treatment, and other medical issues.  The dentists also talked about how to evaluate a tooth, make a temporary filling for a cavity and make toothpaste from common local ingredients.  The focus for the day was on prevention and a variety of topics were covered from food safety to hand hygiene, and more.

See our pics and like us on Facebook. www.facebook.com/kwoministries

All the nurses were very grateful for the training and attention.  They were each given a medical kit, with samples of common medicines and treatments.  Also each got a notebook, with Swahili translations of all the material.  Mauryn communicated with the doctors by email for the last few weeks, doing page after page of translations so the nurses could have good reference material.

In the afternoon, Susie and I went in to Kisumu for water and other supplies.  We arrived back just as the training was ending.  Then came the prep work for the start of clinic the next day.  There were hundreds of items to prepare, medicines to get ready and new dental equipment to test.  After a very long day, everyone was ready for dinner and bed, but we took a few minutes to share a devotional with the training center kids before we turned in.

Tomorrow we start seeing our orphans for medical checkups and dental exams.  We plan to see over 450 kids in the next three days, so we have our work cut out for us!

The Medical Team Arrives

Saturday, Susie, Mauryn, Francis and I spent the day packing and getting ready for the medical team’s arrival.  Francis brought by his new friend from America, an FBI agent named Troy.  Troy is friends with the Colston’s daughter and is here to help teach the team at MITS some conflict mediation techniques.  While we were visiting with Troy, he asked if we had any volunteers who were from Andrews, where he grew up.  We told him the Sears’ were coming that night and they are from Andrews.  He was surprised to realize that he knew them, having been classmates with their son, Truman in high school.  So we set up a plan to surprise the Sears with Troy Sunday morning.

Check the KWO facebook page for pictures from today.

Later Saturday, we went in town to do last minute shopping for the team and pick them up at the airport.  Francis drove one van, and I drove the other.  It was like my final exam for Kenyan driving, Nairobi city driving, also know as urban warfare.  I managed not to hit anything and we made it to the airport around 7:30.  The team was set to arrive at 9pm, but it takes that long to find a parking place at the airport.  It takes skill, teamwork, and ruthlessness to get a parking spot, but we managed.

The medical team arrived on time, and all baggage arrived with them.  That in itself is a miracle.  We spent more than an hour in the airport parking lot loading the vehicles, as all baggage had to be tied on top with our the new tie downs that we brought from the US.  Then we drove on to Kamulu for the night.

Sunday morning, after we surprised Ruth and Bob with Troy, we said a prayer and loaded up for the long journey to Dirubi.  Driving the other van was Arrington, our long time friend, who was very surprised to find me behind the wheel of the second van!  On the way out, we stopped at the Rift Valley overlook to see the view, though it was overcast and somewhat foggy.  I asked Arrington how I was doing and he said I was too fast.  I seemed to remember him being a very fast driver, so I was surprised he was so conservative, but dismissed it as a language problem, or sour grapes.  Turned out he meant something else.

As we approached Niavasha, we found our first Police checkpoint.  I was surprised when they motioned for me to pull over, as they usually do not like to mess with mzungu.  The nice office told me that they had a “sophisticated speed camera” up the road that had clocked me at 92kph, 12kph over the limit.  I doubted the camera story, but kept quiet.  He took my license and went to consult with another officer.  At this point Arrington and Mauryn got involved and tried to find out what they really wanted.  They said that we were going to have to go to the Niavasha Police Station and “post bail” for me for the speeding charge.  They gave my license to a messenger who drove off with it motioning for us to follow.

By this time, the team was getting a little apprehensive.  So was I.  I figured all they wanted was a bribe, but it turns out they really wanted the fine and to charge the American.  So we posted a $35 bail and left, giving the name of our worker in the area who would come on my behalf next week to clear the fine.  So we were on our way again, driving a little slower and an hour late.  We stopped for lunch at the Delemere, our usual roadside haunt and then pushed on to Kericho.  The long diversion was still there, made even slower by our heavily loaded vehicles.  We arrived in Kericho around 5:30.  We made a quick pit stop at the Tea Hotel to borrow their facilities, (Susie managed to shop for soapstone there, again) and then we were off.

The last hour of driving was some of the hardest I have done.  In the failing light, we drove a long, winding, hole-filled road from Kericho to Sondu.  Fortunately, the rain stayed away and we made it fine.  In Sondu, you have to drive through the town to get to the little road to Dirubi.  It feels a lot like driving through the middle of an African block party, and one wrong turn had us wondering if we were stuck. But we pushed through and the team breathed a little easier, at least until we got to the really bad, dirt road to Dirubi.  I wasn’t worried, because I had driven it last week, but some of our passengers were sure we would get stuck.  Finally we arrived in the dark and gave thanks for our deliverance.

We spent a long couple of hours unloading and getting set up for our Nurses’ training Monday, where we are sitting at this moment.   I’ll write more about that tomorrow.

Travel Day

Today we drove from Nakuru to Nairobi to meet Francis Mbuvi, who had just retuned from the US, at Java house.  He was a little late, but it was great to see the reunion of spouses, separated for the last 6 weeks.  After that we just did some shopping at Nakumat for the guest house and then we returned home to Kamulu.  

So this is not really a blog post, more like a status update.  Thanks for caring.

Londiani 30 May 2012

We slept well last night at the training center.  The widows brought us mandazi (Kenyan Pastry), bread and butter, and chai for breakfast and I covered the last minute details for next week with Thomas.  I think the medical team, and all who visit will really be impressed with what we are doing here.

The training center and Londiani orphanage are about 40miles apart as the crow flies, but it took us 3 hours to get there, that’s 13 miles an hour.  Today’s roads were the worst ones we have seen on this trip.  The road from Dirubi to Kericho is OK, but then there is the killer diversion again, 1 hour to go 5km.  The Londiani road has always been bad, but they are working on it now.  The Chinese road crew is building a really nice highway, but some of their detours are downright scary.  Check out the photos on Facebook (facebook.com/kwoministries) for some pics of the road and us crossing a Lego block bridge!

As we approached Londiani, we passed the Chysliot Feeding Station, but we did not have time to stop.  Richard Koech knew we would be passing by, so he had all his kids dressed in their Sunday best, run out to the road to greet us.  It wasn’t a fair trick, but we stopped by the side of the road and spoke to them for a few minutes. 

Londiani looked really good.  We spent some time with the nurse who will be joining all of us at the training center next week for some training with the American doctors.  They have a microscope at Londiani and can do malaria, typhoid, and some other tests on the spot.  Mauryn volunteered to do a malaria test for us so we could see the process.  Pretty neat.  They have made some good improvements to the kitchen there as well.  We met with the widows and loved on the kids.  It was a great visit.

We left there happy but tired and made our way back to Nakuru to stay at the Kunste.  We will go back to Nairobi in the morning and meet Francis Mbuvi, fresh back from the US, at the Java House for our weekly fix.  More tomorrow.

Training Institute

The Kenyan power company teased us last night with the power coming on and off.  This resulted in a cold shower and blogging by flashlight; very African.  This morning the power was on and we were on our way to the Training Institute.

 

In case you are behind, let me update you.  Last year we decided to do something about the orphans who were graduating from secondary school and leaving our orphanages.  We built the training institute across from our first orphanage at Dirubi to teach our kids life skills and trades to help them find employment and break the cycle of poverty in their families.

 

Now the center is open and we are using the location to host a medical clinic next week and training for all of our orphanage nurses from the American doctors who are coming.  We will have 14 mzungu (white people) here next week so I wanted to make sure that everything was ready to receive them.  I'm happy to report that everything is in hand and will be ready for our visitors next week.

 

Susie, Mauryn, and I are staying here tonight, though our generator hookup is not quite ready, hence the flashlights.  The guest houses will be fine for all of us.  The water is flowing, the toilets are flushing, and we may even have hot water in the showers. 

 

To make sure we had what was needed, we made a quick afternoon trip to Kisumu to the Nakumat City Mega store.  If you have read this blog before, you may remember my love for our Wal-Mart wannabe, Nakumat.  This store has a little bit of everything, like Wal-Mart, but not as big a selection.  There are dozens of Nakumat across Kenya, but the granddaddy of them all is the one in Kisumu.  You could put the Midland Wal-Mart and Sam's inside it!  We were just able to stay for a short time however, to buy a generator and some household items for the guest house. 

 

We took Thomas and his wife Sharon with us shopping.  It was fun to watch Sharon open up and flex her shopping muscles with Mauryn and Susie.  Thomas dropped a bomb on us by revealing that Sharon is pregnant again.  She's due in August, and they are hoping for a girl.  Great news!

 

Driving back, we just made it back to Dirubi before dark, after a brief rain shower.  This is the tail end of the rainy season here, so everything is gloriously green and slightly muddy.  The rain didn't cause us any problems today, though.  We were back in time to share evening devotional with the orphanage kids at Dirubi.  This has become my favorite time in Kenya.  The medical team will be blessed to share it with us next week.

 

Tomorrow we are on to Londiani, staying the night at the Kunste Hotel in Nakuru.  Then Thursday we are back to Nairobi to reunite Maureen with her traveling husband Francis Mbuvi, who has been in the US for the last six weeks.

Back to Kenya

 We arrived last night safe and sound with all of our bags.  In itself that is a small miracle.  The trip was hectic, with short layovers and very long security lines in London, but we made it.  Joel from Made in the Streets and Mauryn picked us up from the airport.  The drive to Kamulu at night has been my first view of Kenya every time I have travelled here.  This time it seemed very familiar.  Gone is the feeling of differentness; this is another home for me now.

This morning we got to spend a few minutes with Jay and Remy before they went to school, then we saw the Coulstons before we drove into Nairobi for a Nakumat run.  (Yes, I drove.  No one died.)  The new bypass highways around Nairobi make getting out of the city a lot quicker.  Even with the Village Market diversion, we were out of Nairobi faster than I have ever been.

We drove on to visit our fiends at the Kikitemo feeding station.  No longer internally displaced persons, they are now landowners and their generosity combined with yours has resulted in the construction of our newest feeding station.  The buildings are nearing completion, with some finishing work and the floor still needed in the Dining Hall, and the Kitchen is only waiting on the mortar to dry in the new stoves.  They are excellent stoves that will save us a lot of fuel cooking for the orphans and widows.  The new cho was just ready to use, and Susie got to be the very first one.  They used a kikoi (big scarf) for a door since the wooden ones were not on yet, but she was fine. 

The Kikitemo residents had relocated their structures to their new plots and were already busy clearing ground for planting.  The man from GEMA, a tribal organization, came by to see the progress.  He noticed our vehicle and just stopped in.  He helped the Kikitemos purchase this land and was happy to see so much progress.  When we met the first time he seemed a little skeptical that we would actually build what we said we would, but today he quipped, “You weren’t joking, where you?”  I told him we never joke about saving orphans and widows.

The drive out to Kericho was beautiful.  The rains are just ending, we got a little shower but not much, and the country is colored so many shades of green it’s hard to describe.  Coming from brown and dusty Midland, green looks awful good.  Susie got some amazing pics shooting from the window as we navigated the world’s longest detour, arriving at Kericho at sunset.

(Picassa Web Albums are messed up, again.  Go to either my or the KWO Facebook Page to see the pics.)

Tomorrow we go on to the training institute to make sure all is ready for our medical team next week.  If you are reading this guys, get ready for an amazing time.  This place is beautiful and there is much work to be done.