Craftmanship

Day 24 – Monday, February 22, 2010

Here in Mombasa, we’ve been so busy! Clinics started Monday morning. We were driven in our combies to clinics, which was about a 15 minute drive. Our hotel is on the island of Mombasa, which it turns out isn’t an island, there is one small strip of land connecting it. Our clinics at Camp David are on the edge of one of the slums on the mainland. The building we’re in has many windows, but is smaller than our previous sites. The vision clinic is downstairs and is an open building with no real walls. We added chalk boards to the beams holding up the ceiling so we could put up our vision charts. At this site, we are handing out de-worming and Vitamin A to everyone who comes, not just for those who come for medical as at previous clinics. The dental clinic is upstairs, which came as a surprise to me as we have to make many people wait after their extraction for fear they’ll fall downstairs. Today, the dentist came downstairs to treat one many who couldn’t make it up the stairs! Most of our medical and dental team has left, so the majority of the nurses, doctors, and dentists are local Kenyans, so we are still able to see a great number of patients every day. The clinic is beautiful but it is very close to the slums.

On Monday I worked in the vision clinic. It was very busy, as usual. The big difference is it was very very hot and humid! More so than every other day. An occasional breeze would come through, and you could see all of us muzungos instinctively turn our faces towards it and smile. Every time, it was a pleasant treat. Meanwhile we were all in the shade when many of the locals were standing at the gate waiting to get in. Jo Ann adds that the reading portion of vision clinic moved outside as it was actually nicer than being under the roof. They move their station then all day to stay under the shade of the tree and avoid the sun. Jenny mentions our lunch and coffee break was up on top of the roof, where the breeze was fantastic! Theresa recalls that a few people have come back a few times, insisting they need glasses. One woman was asked to leave 4 times and was eventually escorted out by guards! She was convinced she needed the dummy glasses (that have no prescription and helps us find out who is faking it). We made a lot of referrals to the optometrist, who came on Tuesday and Wednesday. Sam is a local optometrist who has joined us at the clinic, treating more severe cases. He individually assesses people with vision issues: cataracts, post surgical consultations, allergies in the eyes. Most of the concerns were minor, but he was able to listen and make them feel better. Most of the translators at this site are teachers at the school. They’re giving up their mid-term break to help us!

Monday afternoon, a few of us went to say goodbye to the Jewells, since they left without much fanfare the day before. They were spending a day at the resort. Ted, Greg B, Greg McKenna, Karen, and I were wandering around their resort looking for them, calling out ‘Edwin! Dawn!’ It was too funny. We found out they were on a glass bottom boat that was on its way in, so we went to the beach to greet them, and there were camels there! Well Karen is convinced to ride one and requests I go too. Now, I can’t really turn down a camel ride on the coast of the Indian ocean! It was surreal. It felt like we were playing hookey from the clinic (left about 30 minutes early) to go for a nice camel ride! We had a heartfelt goodbye with the Jewells and headed to the orphanage. (Again…so surreal!). The orphanage was beautiful! It was for children infected with HIV or who were affected by it (parents, etc). Cheri was dressed in her Clown outfit and the kids just loved her! There were 32 children there from 18 months to 12 years old. Their bedrooms were beautiful and everything was very clean. The children looked very healthy and we had 7 giant bags of clothes to donate, and they sure can use it!

No, our Monday is not yet over. We then headed to dinner at this Chinese food restaurant recommended. Unfortunately, our drivers took some of us to one restaurant, and others to a different one. We didn’t realize until the fateful call of ‘I’m here where are you?” Our very tolerant, easy going group got back in the car, went to the right restaurant, and enjoyed a fantastic dinner around 9pm. (And all this right after I applauded our drivers in the last blog!) We all found it funny but a little sad too. Driving around Mombassa at night was scarier than anything we’ve experienced so far. In the nice part of town, there are short one story shops, with street vendors on blankets outside. I know this sounds quaint, but it just looked dirty, dusty, and dark, as the only lighting on the street is small candles on the blankets. We were told that urban poverty is extremely different than the rural poverty, and boy were they right. The rural poverty looked so much more appealing. Even in the dirtiest of places I’ve been to in the states, there is nothing to compare with the nice parts of downtown Mombassa (not even the slums!) Also, driving is as crazy as every in Kenya.

Summary: I was at the clinic, then riding a camel, holding orphans, then eating Chinese – weird weird day!