From Danelle Besaw (on medical team)

Hello from the medical team. We had a nutzo week on our first try. Starting early in the morning, we’d be the last to finish with the last doctor finishing at 7 at night, but what joys there were hidden inside. We saw everything from little babies to an 80 year old man who complained about sore knees from walking miles a day and climbing trees. We had a few emergencies that came in that thankfully turned out for the better. They are now happily in the Meru hospital, being looked after. We’d see many very disabled individuals who never had wheelchairs and were carried around all day. Thanks to Ed and his skills, many of them walked away with crutches. There was even a four year old who got a tiny wheel chair.

There were many interesting cases. People get malaria like we get colds. Many of the mothers were quite young. For the most part, we didn’t see very undernourished children, except for the third day when a bus came in from a far off community. Nearly every child had arms like twigs. There was Libby and Maribeth hiding in a closet corner secretly handing out food to the children, afraid that a mob of hungry people would swarm them. Unfortunately they weren’t so successful on Thursday when Libby and Jordan handed out milk towards the end of the day, right when the gates were opened to swarms of people. It was bedlam, but we’re happy to report they’re still alive and no bruises. On the first day, Greg McKenna took on quite the role in the clinic. First he switched watches with one of the nurses, but the dainty pink plastic didn’t quite match his outfit. Then he was found a few minutes later, holding a pair of newborn twins: Ivy and Dorothy. (Awww). Another exciting story, one of the babies in the maternity ward where the clinics were being held, was named after our very own Kathy Mutch, because she was seen the day before passing out blankets and hats.

At one point, I asked my translator, ‘oh my gosh, they’re fighting over there’, but she laughingly responded that they were simply having a conversation. ‘That’s just how we talk’, she said. The sheer volume of people we helped was overwhelming. We thought, what difference can we make when we’re only here one week, but with the amazing referral process, allowing people to get help while we’re gone, supported by the MCOH, and the amount of people we saw, it really is effective, long-term impact. Many people would try to find me after being seen. They’d smile and shake my hand, thanking me for help. Well that’s all from Mikinduri. We’re on the move again. Miss you all!

Here's a blog form the dental team:

I found it neat to work out of a tent versus being inside a building the last few years. The local dentists also found it easier because there was better airflow and lighting. We made great use of the dental chairs donated by the provincial (local) government. We used four of the chairs for the dental clinic and passed 3 of them to the medical clinic for their use. It’s an interesting dynamic to be in the middle of the camp where my patients can not only be seen, but heard all over. As before, the patients are in dire need of treatment and you’re only alleviating a bit of the pain, and could easily come back for a number of appointments. Our last case was to remove baby teeth out of a malnourished child with downs-syndrome, aged six and looked no bigger than the age of three. It was heart wrenching, but seeing the condition of his medical and dental health, it warmed my heart. Statistically we’ve taken out 530 teeth in four days thanks to the help of Mercy and George (local Kenyan dentists).

Faith, who’s mother runs St Anne’s orphanage that supports 21 infants, worked as my chair-side assistant. Her compassion put the patients at ease, and she was a great communicator. She pursuing an opportunity to study nursing in Canada, but we couldn’t quite convince her to become a dentist. Florine, a Mikinduri local volunteer, did all the oral hygiene instruction, post op instruction, handling paperwork, and patient movement. When walking home at night, I’ve never before had kids begging me for toothbrushes.

Monday morning in Mikinduri, we headed up to the clinic. While walking through the village, we felt a bit like a celebrity or rock star, as kids were pointing, laughing, and saying ‘muzungo’ (white person). The people were all very friendly and quite excited to come up and talk to us. We then walked up the dirt lane to get to the clinic and people were already waiting to get in. There were 3 main clinics set up, medical, vision, and dental, and an area set up for registration where they also learn about hygiene. We got the vision clinic situated and were open for business. I was working at the reading station the first day helping determine which reading glasses people needed. It was amazing to see their faces light up when you got the right pair and they could read their bible again. We were all a bit nervous to start the day, as you felt the weight of finding the correct prescription but that was soon assuaged. There was one gentleman, (as George relates), that was a preacher and he had memorized the bible since he could no longer read it. When he was fit for the correct glasses, his face lit up like a school boy when he realized he could read again.

The interpreters are the key to vision clinic; they are local Kenyans who have amazing English. Without them, it would be impossible to perform the duties. Plus, they’ve been super helpful in learning Swahili. Margaret and Evans taught us part of the local slang. ‘Mougo’ is followed by ‘Mougo Muno’ (Hi…hello). Also ‘Sasa’ (how are you) is followed by ‘fit’ (fine). It has really helping with the kids and walking up the street.

The vision and dental teams got to leave at the appointed time, but the medical team was working into the night. When we were headed back to the hotel we were praying there would be running water as only the ground floor had (cold cold) water when we left in the morning. Then most of us headed to the ‘tusker room’. It’s a room on the third floor that we can all meet and relax with the local beer ‘Tusker’. It’s becoming quite a highlight for developing bonds within our group. After a late dinner, and team meeting to discuss how we can improve. The teenagers with us have become addicted to the local Fanta soda flavors: orange, pineapple, and pear. Also, one thing I didn’t expect, we are all becoming one big family to fill the void missing our family and friends have left. We hope you all know how much we miss you!

Note: attached pictures (courtesy of Karen McKenna are Greg Butler with the children on Saturday and a few of the team (Jewell Family, Greg Butler, Ryann Jinks, George Likely, Catherine Sue, and Joann Boere) in the town of Mikinduri on the way back from the clinic.

Preparations

Day 9 – Sunday, February 07, 2010

This morning we had church at 7am (gasp! So early!) at Fr Bernard’s St. Massimo’s Church. It was a special service just for us, as the regular mass at 11am will include confirmation for 100 kids from the nearby area. The church was a massive stone building that could hold a few hundred people. It was sparsely decorated on the inside but was clearly a huge luxury for the town. On the way to mass, we ran into a woman who was much to skinny, and clearly a little touched in the head. She was dancing and singing with a metallic blue garland and she followed us into the church. The alter boy, a local seminarian, chased her out with a stick…literally. I guess she had been a nuisance before. That was my first shocked moment. I have never seen anyone chased out of church before, but I’m sure they had their reasons.

After a lovely mass followed by a hearty breakfast, (thank you Bongoman – yea…that’s our chef’s name!), we got back to sorting. So far the weather had been cool (80’s) with the occasional hot day. Today was hot! It was easily 100 degrees and not yet 11am. We had a nice lunch, a break in the afternoon as we worked so quickly, then headed up to the clinics to get set up and be oriented. After finding out how the vision clinic would run, I am a bit trepidatious as everyone else was trained previously in Canada (while I was in Arizona), but quite excited to see what this is all about. Today was a day for learning words (note: phonetic spelling): ‘Mouga’ (hello) is followed by ‘Mouga Moona’ (hello) for some local slang. Also, ‘Sasa’ (how are you) is followed by ‘fit’ (fine) or ‘nzuri’ (fine but also means pretty). You have to be careful though as just ‘Sa’ means what time is it. The local children all stand outside the hotel so when we stand on the second floor, we can converse with them. Caroline is there to help us with the English; she’s a local child, but a real asset to have nearby. We had some socializing time before dinner to relax and I tried a local lager. Then we went to dinner and had a great beef stew over spaghetti (not curry!) with some local wine called ‘mass wine’ that tasted just like a white port, not what mass wine typically tastes like. We had a bit more time for socializing, then it was off to bed. I have to say it was quite odd to walk down the street and have every face staring at you. Maybe this is what it is like to be famous, and if so, I don’t want it! They are all friendly, and often smile back, but it is a different feeling.

Summary: While not used to all of the attention when walking around the town, today was a day for setting up the clinics.

The first day in Kenya that my heart was touched

Day 8 – Saturday, February 06, 2010

I was awoken by my uncle with a giant pounding on the door, about 10 minutes before my alarm was set to go off. (Random, but should be documented). We trudged through the rain to breakfast and enjoyed a nice English breakfast. We saw an amazing view of the jungle with lush green everywhere! Apparently 9 elephants (including four babies) had walked through the day before but we just missed them. We jumped on the bus, for a 3 hour van ride, to a town called Meru, and had a lovely lunch (curry). In order to get to the town, we passed the equator. Cool! We also had 10 minutes to run to the internet and a walmart-like store.

Then we headed for a 20 minute drive to Mikinduri and on the way stopped at the dining hall that Mikinduri Children of Hope sponsors where the kids go once a week for a meal and education on nutrition or job training. We were going to serve a meal to them. Well that was the plan, but unfortunately we were about 30 minutes late. We pulled up to 100 children and adults cheering, singing and dancing on the side of the road. We got out and were enveloped by these adorable, loving children, who had an endless supply of hugs and were eager to hold our hands, even though we were complete strangers. They escorted us back to the dining hall, which was about a ½ mile walk from the road. It was incredible. All of the kids were staring up at you and as soon as you smiled at one, they’d shyly look away but give a great big grin back as soon as they’d raise their head. I walked with two adorable girls called Ruth and Margaret, who were quite happy to pronounce ‘My name is ___’, in very clear English. The rest of what they said was a bit hard to understand, but their English was way better than any other language I can speak. All of the children were a sea of dark skin, short, shaved hair, and purple uniforms. Shorts for the boys and dresses for the girls. It was nice to have this distinction, because with the short hair, it was a bit hard to tell boys from girls, especially because they were all so beautiful! Every child except Ruth had dark brown eyes, but Ruth’s were a captivating hazel that just made her stand out from the crowd. They gave a short presentation in which a girl named Caroline, with amazing English, explained to us that they were happy to have us there and they would do a dance for us. The song and dance were great! After a prayer from the local priest and a few speeches by local dignitaries, we got to serving rice, stew, and papaya. First for the kids, then for their parents. Then we had the opportunity to play with the kids: Macarena, chicken dance, hokey-pokey….all the classics! Upon leaving it was amazing to see how touched we were by these children and their parents in such a short time. I really couldn’t have expected it, nor am I putting it well in words.

Then we travelled to Mikinduri. This is the site of our first clinic and this town is the whole reason the foundation was set up 10 years ago. The town was remarkably different from every other town we had visited. It was very sparse and poor. We got to stay at the brand new 5 star hotel in Mikinduri. This is a bit of a joke as the 5 star is only a comparison to the other hotel in town. Apparently last year, they were run out of the other hotel by the number of beetles and cockroaches. Nonetheless, this is the experience we were expecting, so really we were spoiled the last few days by our previous hotels. The mattress was brand new, with the plastic still on, and felt like a combination of straw and dirt. Let’s say, it is very firm. J The pillow (yes only one) that mom and I shared on our double bed had the airplane quality with a scary cover, that I just don’t want to think about now. We added a few plastic chairs in the room so we could unpack our suitcase (as much as you can on two plastic chairs). No I’m not done. The bathroom was about 3 ft by 3 ft with the toilet tank mounted 7 ft up on the wall, and a pipe that ran to a hole in the floor. Odd….that was directly under the shower head as well. “Holy crap”, I realized, this is a ‘long-drop’ toilet inside the shower! It’s a one stop shop! Additionally the locks on the doors were quite indescribable, but I’ll try. It involved (from the outside) putting your arm through a small slot in the door to maneuver a deadbolt into the hole on the inside, then attaching a lock. All of this is unseen, (covered by a flap) for security and just to make it as hard as possible! All of these hardships were really only seen on the ground floor, which is meant for the people who have been on many trips before, and those lucky enough to be related to the organizer. All of the other floors have a toilet, a nice mattress, pillow, and a key lock. There were a few other issues with my room including a leaky ceiling in one spot, no electricity for my computer (gasp!) and a running toilet (yes that is somehow possible with only a hole in the floor), but I don’t want to go into that. Considering the local economy and housing, I feel quite fortunate and am so blessed to be able to complain.

We went to the church and had a lovely dinner (yes, an amazing curry!). Then sorted the glasses into strengths, sorted the pills, and did general preparations for the clinic on Monday. It was an exhausting day and I was quite happy to hit the plastic covered mattress with the mosquito net covering. Another amazing day, where we are getting a taste of what is to come.

Summary: An amazing welcome (Caribou!) by some beautiful (nzuri) children.

A Forest in Kenya??

Day 7 – Friday, February 05, 2010

We started our day only a few hours after the previous one ended. It was great to sleep under the mosquito net – felt like a princess covering like in the good old days of England. I had a piping hot shower and headed to breakfast, unsure of what would be available. There were really nice fruits, including star fruit, bananas, watermelon, and pineapple, British sausages, hard boiled eggs, and a grain I was brave enough to try called Ugi that was a nice experience….once. The grain was a brown color that had the consistency of cream of wheat. It did not taste like that at all. The after-taste was pleasant, but the initial taste was somewhat bland and an odd texture.

After lunch we loaded the vans with the giant bags and headed on a few errands before heading out of town. The driving was crazy! Everyone seemed to know the rules, but it really just seemed like some kind of ordered chaos. There were no street signs, or distance markers, but everyone seemed to know where they were. The houses were beautiful behind large gates with armed guards. Later on as we got out of the city, you could see the change in affluence. People were walking everywhere, including children wandering on their own down the road. We came across a number of school students once out in the country who were too excited to wave and say hello! Apparently we’re quite a freakshow to the kids – a van full of white faces. The crazy part was, everything was green and lush! We passed by the largest pineapple farm in Kenya and a number of other farms including tea leaves farms. There were people along the road carrying large loads, goats and cows roaming everywhere, and the neatest most colorful shops. After a bit of a bumpy drive, we came to this shockingly small dirt road with thousands of bumps. It was probably 10 miles long, which took an agonizing 30+ minutes!

Once we arrived at Castle Forest Lodge, which I thought was supposed to be an ironic name, I realized it wasn’t. The rooms were actually bungalos and a main large lodge. Each lodge was for two people with single beds and the bathroom had a shower that was a spout and a drain in the corner of the room. No curtain or separation from the bathroom at all! It was beautiful with a nice waterfall nearby, great food as we settled in for the calm before the storm. In fact, it did rain that night! Lunch and dinner were both curry based and we had the afternoon to relax and explore, and a nice team meeting in the evening.

Books finished: 5

Summary: Kenya is so green and the people are so nice!

Planes Trains and Automobiles…and buses…and subways

Day 6 – Tuesday, 2/4/2010

 

So I just want to start off with the fact that within 24 hours, I was on a plane, train, bus, and underground (no automobile, but then it wouldn’t be like the movie if I left that out). I empathized with the disheveled and disoriented feeling that Steve Martin and John Candy projected. I woke up bright and early ready for my flight to Kenya, an hour early in fact. This makes a big difference when it’s 5:30 vs 6:30 (7 hour time change to AZ, 6 to TX) in the morning and I didn’t get to bed until after 2am. I realized many of you would still be up from the night before. What a funny feeling as I was already onto an entirely different day while many of yours were winding down. I grabbed my stuff, tottered along with both giant bags behind me to the underground and boarded a subway.

Sidenote (as this becomes important to the story later): I think I need to explain the difficulties I had with packing. First off about the group: 90% of the group is from Prince Edward Island, Canada, where my mom grew up. My uncle is one of the main organizers of the trip and has gone many times now. With this experience, he gave us a packing list quite long, including binoculars, toilet paper, only 2 changes of clothes, and other random selections. He then said we can only bring one carry on suitcase for ourselves, implying small. Either the list or restriction of one bag could be followed, but no way both could. I decided to manipulate the system and bring a backpack in addition to the suitcase. Initially my intentions were admirable, as all of it would fit in the carry on. Then I arrived in England and saw all the candy…well and the shipping debacle of yesterday, along with finding a couple of really cheap books I wanted in the airport. I now have two bags. Hopefully this will not be too big of a deal. Anyway the main reason for the restriction is that both suitcases we can check should be filled with medical equipment for the mission, and the weight of carrying extra heavy bags would be taxing for the vans. I completely understand this. However, The group leaving from PEI had someone organizing what would be brought in those medical bags. One of my bags is full of stuff my mom got from this guy in a warehouse downtown….literally, that I then got to tote back from San Antonio in my tiny car. I’m not sure if they can use any of this, but hopefully they can and it all works. The other bag was clothes for an orphanage we visit for kids 0 – 5. Lindsey’s sweet sister and a coworker from work donated a large portion, and I filled the rest of the bag with cute onesies from Goodwill. In addition to the packing confusion, I had to try to include clothes for the cold England weather, but that made it hard considering I was only allowed 2 changes of clothes. I left the small bag I clothes I wore while in England behind…maybe Lisa needs a pink or green vneck….who knows! Another fun part of packing is that I didn’t want to have 3 suitcases and a bookbag throughout London…how could I get anywhere!? So I distributed the small bag into the very packed mission bags. I redistributed these once I was at the airport and 34 bags were now manageable.

Okay, back to the day. I started chatting with this nice man on the subway who eventually gave me his email address. Kinda funny, I thought, because we didn’t chat that much, but he seemed cool enough. He’s in an 8 person acapella group that did some of the music for Glee – the background bits that really do enhance that show. Like do you remember the episode with the slushies? The music while you were chasing the slushie cup around was great! Anyway I thought this was a pretty good start to my day, but was surprised 8 people could make a living in a group like this. Awesome work if you can get it I guess! I go through heathrow, check my enormous bags, get through an appalling poor security. They asked us to take out our liquids in a bag, like in the States, but I realized I left a pretty big bottle of mouthwash, lotion, and washing detergent (as I’ll be washing my clothes in the sink every night from here on out) in the carryon. Before you assume I was trying to be sneaky, I wasn’t. I thought these were in the checked bag. Also, I think I accidentally left my little girl watch at security. No I didn’t steal it from a little girl, but for some reason, little girls keep coming up and telling me they like the watch I bought purposefully for this trip. That sucks! Anytawho, I caught a bus to my terminal, met up with my new group, of which I know at least ½ of everyone’s names already! Okay…maybe a 1/3…but I’m getting there.

Final thoughts on England: I had the greatest sense of independence while in England. Truly on my own wandering around new and old places where I wanted, when I wanted. I would seriously consider travelling alone more often, but am somewhat fearful for security purposes. Additionally this trip put England in a much more positive light. Apart from my friends that I still keep in touch with at school, everyone was nasty to me while I was in England, especially the British teachers. The weather was so dreary, and I missed the conveniences of Target and up to date movies. Now though, I can see that was really just high school, which sucks in some way everywhere. Why should my experience have been different? Coming back, everyone was lovely to me and really helpful when I was lost or looking for things. Also the weather wasn’t nearly as bad as I remember, and not having driven yet at 16, I didn’t appreciate the convenience of the bus and train system like I do now. Additionally, the movies are finally up to date and there are two superstores in Harrogate! This was a really great trip for closure. I really wouldn’t mind visiting England again!

In London, I met up with about 20 people from the KenCan group, including 4 teenagers, a few doctors, nurses, a dentist, and the rest of us that will comprise the vision team. Onboard, I’m in coach as coach can be, but on British Airways it didn’t feel like it. I got a nice serving of wine for free with my amazing hot Tiki Masala Dinner (not a McDonald’s wrap like before). Free wine! No way! Maybe this 12 hour flight won’t be so bad. Sadly I read this really scarring book that I’m not sure I would recommend as it was really scary and awful with what this poor girl went through in her life, but kind of uplifting how she started to overcome it. Kind of…. Anyway it’s called Push by Sapphire (Yes I know there’s a movie based on the book called Precious but I haven’t seen the movie and after reading the book I don’t think I will). She had a neat style of writing as you could see how she was learning, but it’s such an awful thing that happened to her by so many people.) Anyway I spent the rest of the 7 flight getting caught up with this journal and getting excited to see my mom! (oh and uncle ted too!) The cute little tv screens showed our journey and I’m pretty sure they use STK (engineer program used for tracking satellites and orbiting information). That’s neat!

During the flight I glanced out the window as we were over the Lybian desert. It was so much of the same in every direction. There was not a cloud below us and it was so beautiful. Later, as the sun was setting, the view was gorgeous! There was black above, and black below, and the brightest orange in the middle. Surely the prettiest sunset I’ve seen from a plane! Then we landed, made our way through a fairly benign immigration, and waited for our bags. At this point we met up with a few more team members, including my mom and Uncle Ted. Getting baggage sounds simple right? Well each of the team members has two large hockey bags that look identical with a giant number on the side. There were only 3 bags missing! Unfortunately, we had to isolate which tags matched the missing bags, which was not a trivial effort. We then got on combies (a ten person van that has a roof that will raise for the safari) for a 5 minute drive to the hotel. About 25 minutes later we got to the hotel and were informed that Kenyan time is not measured by a watch. The hotel was lovely with a very large pool and really nice rooms. There are two single beds and mosquito nets over each bed, and a small bathroom that has the luxury of toilet paper and a shower. I was quite impressed! We unloaded all of the bags, got checked in, and crashed for the night. As it was dark, I didn’t really have an impression of Nairobi, but was surprised to see everyone drove on the left side of the road. I thought I had left Engalnd! A marvelous start to the Kenyan portion of the trip!

Books finished: 4 (additional audiobook by Kristin Hannah: Harvesting the Heart)

Time on a plane: 20 hours

Summary: Another day of travel, with a lovely group of people.