Moments with Michelle

This is Why I'm Here

2011-12-25T12:11:00.000+03:00

My Christmas started at 5:30 this morning with a phone call. I was being summoned to the clinic to see a friend who I’ve been doing OB/GYN care for over this past year. After nearly a year of trying to conceive, and some problems with ovarian cysts, she finally was expecting. At almost three-months along, I saw her for her first OB appointment on Thurs this last week and immediately had some concerns. I shared these concerns with both her and her husband. She was to follow up with me just before I leave for the states next week. I told them to call me sooner if there were any problems. They were calling this morning to tell me that she was bleeding.

With a heavy heart I got dressed and made the walk to the clinic. As I saw hints of the coming sunrise spreading across the sky this Christmas morning, I asked the Lord “Why? Why today on Christmas does she have to lose this baby she has been longing for? Why ever Lord?” I can’t say that I got an answer. But what I did feel was a calm assurance that this is why I’m here.

This is why I’m in the medical profession. This is why I’m here in Africa. This is why I’m here on earth. God has a calling on my life to use the skills that he has given me to reach out and touch others with a tangible expression of his love. I don’t know why my friend has to suffer. But I can be there to walk through the process with her. I can explain what is happening to her and her husband in a way that they can understand the physical process and know what to expect. I can ease her physical pain, and hopefully her emotional pain a bit as well.

I took a deep breath and walked in the room. Tears were streaming down my friend’s face. Her husband looked up with huge relief when he saw me walk in. “I’m so glad you came” he said. I confirmed that they were in fact experiencing a miscarriage. We spent a while talking about what had likely happened and how she needed to be cared for right now. I gave her some medicine to ease the pain. I held her in my arms and cried with her. We prayed together. It was somehow a sacred moment even through the pain.

And later as I walked home to prepare for Christmas breakfast with my family I thought again, this is why I’m here….

Wordless Wednesday

2011-12-21T12:08:00.000+03:00

I have several friends who put pictures up on their blogs every Wed. I realized that today is Wed and I have a bunch of pictures I've been wanting to upload. I think technically I'm only supposed to post one picture on Wordless Wednesday. And I've obviously already messed up the "wordless" part. But here are some pictures fromWilliam's famine-relief trip to Samburu a few weeks back.

The team got stuck in the mud in the middle of nowhere.

It took hours to dig the truck out.

Some passing zebra stopped to watch the poor team trying to dig their way out.

It was the first large rain that the area had experienced in years. Many roads were flooded.

This man was so excited for the arrival of the maize that he did not want even one kernel to be wasted.

Masai man watches the unloading of the first bags of relief food.

Waiting for the maize to be ready for disbursement.

I love all of the bright colors!

So thankful to receive the maize.

William helping to pass out maize.

Saying "Asante"

Practicing what I Preach

2011-12-15T21:35:00.000+03:00

I figure if I'm going to promote dental care in the village I better be taking my own family to the dentist! Yesterday Jonah and Moses both had their teeth professionally cleaned for the first time ever. Moses was convinced that we were going to kill him and was pretty much sobbing as he was being led to the chair. The air compressor spitting right before he started didn't help anything either! So we wound up asking Jonah to go first so that Moses could see that he lived through the procedure. I unfortunately did not get any pictures of Moses, but here is Jonah just as the dentist is about to get started. You can see Moses' arm and sleeve in the corner.

Back on the Front Lines

2011-12-09T18:26:00.000+03:00

Today I put on my women's health hat and went back to GYN clinic. Last month I went back to work in our clinic here in Kipkaren, but I had asked my women's health team for an extra month before putting me back on the schedule. Earlier this year I connected with an incredible team of doctors and nurses who are on the front-lines of fighting cervical cancer here in Kenya. I've been training under a team of Kenyan, Canadian and American doctors.

As a way of saying thanks for the training, and also getting on the front lines myself, I've volunteered to rotate through some of their satellite clinics a few times a month. Two of the clinics they rotate through are just 20 and 40 minutes drive from my home. So this morning I was at the Turbo clinic seeing patients.

It was my first time in four months re-entering the women's health world. And I was reminded that this is what I really, really, really want to start doing at our clinic in Chebaiywa. Please pray with me that God opens the doors for us to get the equipment we need to launch this program. The exciting thing is that we will not only be screening for cervical cancer, but doing interventions and procedures in simple office visits that can stop it in it's tracks!

The team was excited to have me back. The nurses asked if I had any pictures of my baby. I showed them a recent one of my sweet little guy. The nurse squealed and said with a big smile "Oh look, he's fat just like his mom!" Um, thanks?......

Anyway! It's exciting to be back on the front lines again. I've talked with one of the American GYN docs about going into the big Eldoret hospital for some further training in basic surgical procedures used in GYN care. She was very welcoming. I'm excited to see what this next year will hold as I continue to train and provide a greater spectrum of services in the more rural areas of Western Kenya.

My Three Sons

2011-11-29T20:16:00.000+03:00

Okay, so in the most technical sense they are not all mine. The two oldest ones are sort of foster-sons.

I don't normally capture moments like this one, but I got it tonight! We are doing an advent devotional as a family before supper every night. Tonight after eating it was reading time while I caught up on the computer. I glanced up and saw Moses about to fall asleep, cuddled up to Jonah, as Jonah read a book and rocked Ryan at the same time.

William and I assumed responsibility for Jonah a little over two years ago. He has had a difficult upbringing with a mother who severely mentally ill and no father in the picture. Although he was quite a few years behind, he somehow managed to score extremely well on his primary school (eighth grade) exit exams. He was invited to attend a secondary boys boarding school with a very good reputation. At that time we decided to stand by this young man and assist him in obtaining his goal of getting an education. The first year we did a harambe (local fundraiser) in our church and community to help raise his school fees. This year a woman from my church heard his story and helped sponsor him for this school-year. Last year, whenever he was on school breaks he would come and work with William at the farm. He would show up at breakfast time and leave in the early evening. I always assumed he went home to his mom's house. Half-way through this year I found out that he was moving from place-to-place to sleep and that he never ate supper. Since then we have pulled him in more and more as a family member. We are so proud of him. He finished his sophmore year of high school strong, ranking fifth in his class of fifty-five!

I shared about Moses a few posts back. Moses has a family in Turkana but they are not in a position to care for him at this time. So we are fostering Moses as our son until his family is in a position to care for him again. We know for sure that he will be attending Brook of Faith (ELI's primary school) this next school-year starting in January. We have already had one person step up to assist with school fees for Moses. If you are interested in helping sponsor either of these special young men please let me know!

Giving Thanks: William's Relief Mission to Famine-Affected Families

2011-11-23T22:51:00.001+03:00

On this eve of Thanksgiving my heart and mind are both very full. I find myself especially thankful for the gift of life this year. And I find that I'm asking myself what I am to do to truly make a difference in this world.

I would love to share some pictures with you. William recently returned from a relief mission to Turkana, one of the areas in Kenya that is currently affected by the drought and famine. The team of four Kenyans were able to distribute relief food to 1,800 families. Here are some photos documenting their trip.

This is one of the churches in Turkana as they are holding the maize for distribution

In the capital of the region there was a borehole near the church. This is the only source of clean water in that area and people will walk miles to come for the water.

Unloading the Truck

This woman came 40km to receive her relief food.

William was so blessed to bring hope along with food to these struggling people.

Add caption

People all crowded under any piece of shade they could find while waiting for their food distribution

Women waiting for the distribution

And the Kiprop Family Grows Again

2011-11-18T14:52:00.001+03:00

William and Moses in front of our Home

William recently returned from a special mission to Northern Kenya to help with a famine relief outreach. You have likely seen in the news that the horn of Africa is currently undergoing a severe drought which has led to famine. During William’s mission to the Lake Turkana region he met a struggling pastor with eight children. His fourth-born, Moses, immediately latched on to William. After spending some time with William’s team, Moses began to beg to go with William so that he could go back to school. Do to the family’s current struggles to just survive, Moses had to leave school. The last class he completed was Standard Two (second grade). We think he is around 11 years old but we really aren’t certain of his age. His father came to William and asked if there was any possibility that William could take Moses home with him to offer him a better future. At that point William called me. We both had a strong sensation that this is from the Lord.

Moses in his home place of Turkana

William spent most of his growing-up years in an unofficial adoptive family. It was the amazing care of that family that has shaped William into the incredible man he is today. Before William and I were married he told me that it is in his heart to reach out to other struggling children just as his second family had reached out to him. So we always knew that sooner or later we would be getting involved in the lives of children like Moses.

William and Moses arrived home yesterday at 4:30 in the morning. He is very energetic and outgoing. I have a feeling he likes to be at the center of attention. He is double jointed, has a great sense of rhythm and loves to dance. He could not believe that music was coming out of baby Ryan's stuffed lion. He just stared at it for about five minutes this morning. He is terrified of our dogs; absolutely petrified. And it probably doesn't help that one of them is named Kali (which means harsh!). He refuses come close to them or let them smell him. And when William and I have tried to walk him over to them he grabs our arms and tries to hide behind us. So I'm going to just leave it alone for now. He may need to just be escorted around the yard until he gets comfortable with them.

He has a big smile and an air of confidence for such a little guy. He does understand and speak a little English. I have a feeling he understands more than William first realized, and I think he will pick it up quickly. Yesterday he was pointing at things and telling me their English names. The first time I saw that confidence crack was when I put him to bed last night. As I tucked him in he looked so small and insecure. He ducked his head under the covers as I prayed with him. Today when I came home from the clinic for lunch he came running up to greet me.

In Our Yard

His situation has reminded me of stories I have heard about families giving out their children during the great depression because they were unable to care for them. I can’t imagine being so desperate for my child to get food and education that I would be willing to send him with strangers. But that is exactly what happened to Moses.

It is our hope to enroll Moses in ELI’s private school. They have just completed the school–year and will open school again in January. We would appreciate your prayers for this special little boy as he adjusts to new people in a new environment. If you would like to partner with us in financially helping to support Moses to go to school please let me know. We are unsure of how long he will be with us. But we do know that we want to do everything in our ability to help him pursue his education until his family is in a position where they are able to provide for him again.

TIA - This is Africa!

2011-11-14T13:39:00.001+03:00

Nothing is easy in Africa. Okay, I really shouldn't say "nothing" because there certainly are some things that are easy here. But today is one of those days when that statement feels really true. On one of my earlier visits to this community, my friend who has lived here for a number of years told me "Michelle nothing here is simple or easy." And she really had a point.

Our electric shower-head (yes we do combine electricity and water here, and yes it is a bit scary!) quit working a few nights ago. My hubby is off on an incredible mission for a few days (which I'll blog about when he gets back) so I'm here fighting cold showers and bucket baths with just a two-month-old for moral support. I decided to do the logical thing and call the electrician to come and take a look at it.

The last time I called an electrician, he took our money for new parts and disappeared for a few days. William had to hunt him down to get him to actually apply the money to what it was intended for. When he finally came and got the job done William wasn't home so he charged me twice as much as he should have for labor. Seeing as I would like to use the shower sooner rather than later and William is not here to help me negotiate labor costs, I decided to call someone else.

After very quietly working in the bathroom for about fifteen minutes he came out carrying the shower head. The conversation went something like this:

Electrician: So some of the holes are blocked, do you have a needle so I can clear them?

Michelle: Sure, but is that really the reason that the water is not getting hot?

Electrician: No, that shouldn't make the water cold. There was some rust inside, but I fixed it and it's working now.

Michelle: Can you show me how it is working?

Electrician: Okay let me just re-attach the head. See it's okay, the water is flowing here. (And the water certainly is flowing, in fact it seems to have flowed all over my entire bathroom. I'm starting to wonder if there is a single square-inch anywhere in the room that is not covered in water.)

Michelle: But the water is cold.

Electrician: It's not that cold, did you really need it to be hot? (Note, the water is COLD, not even lukewarm.)

Michelle: Umm, yeah. That's why I called you. The water is not getting hot and it needs to be hot.

Electrician: Okay, let me work on it a little longer. (Another 15 minutes and he re-emerges.) So it's time for you to buy a new shower head. This one is finished. (Which is what I had kind of suspected from the get go.)

Michelle: Really? It's only two years old. (We finally got indoor plumbing exactly two years ago.)

Electrician: Two years! It's amazing it lasted that long.

Michelle: Okay well how much is the new one going to cost?

Electrician: Well you know that with the current inflation (which is a whole other blog post) it's almost double what it used to cost. And he gave me a price range based on the different qualities available.

Michelle: Well I obviously need to get the higher quality one this time.

Electrician: Oh you had the highest quality one last time, that's why it lasted you so long.

Sigh...... Sometimes you just have to say TIA (This is Africa!) and take a deep breath and go on with your day.

Growing Up

2011-11-11T20:01:00.000+03:00

Our kids from the Children's Home are growing up. I'm so proud of how they are maturing into lovely young men and women. I remember so clearly the day the first children arrived. You can read about it here. This week some of our children completed eighth grade. They are required to take an important exam that will determine their high school eligibility. It's almost like taking SAT's and applying for college. High schools choose students based on how well they score in these national exams. We invited the kids who just finished exams to come take chai and visit with us. We went around the room and had each child share what they want to be when they grow up. They asked me a lot of questions about my career choice, education, and how I came to be in Africa. We had a great time of sharing together and discussing the future. We ran outside to snap a few pictures before the rain came. The kids chose their own poses for the photos.

The Girls

The Boys

Harvest

2011-11-08T10:46:00.000+03:00

In our community people have been extremely busy these last two months getting their maize harvested and stored. It's been a fight with the weather as the rains have lasted much longer than normal and have caused many farmers to lose portions of their crops. Nonetheless, Kenyans are hardy people who know how to push through challenges. Here are some snapshots of the harvest this year.

Resting in the Shade While Mommy is Working

Removing the dry maize from the stalks that have been put into stacks for drying

Spread Out in the Sun to Dry

The Process of Removing the Maize Kernels from the Cobs

Health Center!!!

2011-11-04T18:49:00.000+03:00

In the last few years our clinic has continued to expand and grow. Quite some time ago we outgrew our official title of "Dispensary". So we have been pursing the next level of licensing which is to become a Health Center. I'm pleased to announce that in September our application was approved and we are officially registered as the UPEC Chebaiywa Health Center now!!!

So what does this mean? Well it means that we can now act as a referral center for other smaller clinics in the surrounding areas. When they have cases too challenging for their facilities, they can send the patients on to us. It also means that we can admit patients for longer than 24hrs to receive inpatient care. And finally it allows us to launch a full Women's Health Center with services ranging from maternity to cervical cancer prevention and early intervention.

And with the upgrade to Health Center we have also joined the world of Facebook. Click here to like the Health Center and stay updated on what's happening.

This will be the Women's Health Center when we Launch in January

The Kiprop Family with the Health Center Staff

The Health Center Main Buildings

Home Life

2011-10-23T14:29:00.000+03:00

Here are a few pictures I snapped at home this past week.

One of the advantages of getting up to feeding the baby is catching the gorgeous sunrises!

William brought me this giant grapefruit. I actually thought it was a melon until I cut it open!

That single grapefruit made me a liter of juice!

Battling Malaria

2011-10-23T14:22:00.000+03:00

Our clinic recently participated in a campaign aimed at helping to battle malaria. Malaria is transmitted through mosquito bites. One of the best ways to prevent it is by sleeping under a treated net at night (when the mosquitoes are most active). We were able to distribute free nets to everyone in our community. Here are a few snaps from the day.

32

2011-10-23T14:11:00.000+03:00

This weekend was my thirty-second birthday. William and I invited some friends to join us at one of our favorite day-trip, getaways for lunch. We met up at the Kerio View where we enjoyed a nice BBQ lunch and spent time just visiting and taking in the incredible view.

I think this year my birthday meant a little more to me. Having baby Ryan sure changes life! He has got to be the best present I've ever received. At the time of his birth I had some complications which provided a sharp reminder of my mortality. So I think this birthday was just a little more sentimental than usual. I feel blessed to be here and that God has granted me the privilege of raising little Ryan. Here are some pictures from our day.

Most of our group. A few had already left at this point.

The views are incredible!

Hamming it up with the crocodile statue.

Jaden loves trying to help out with his baby cousin Ryan.

New Arrival

2011-10-11T19:24:00.000+03:00

I've been absent from this blog for quite some time. In the coming weeks I'll try to get some updates on news about the clinic and ministry. But for now let me dish out my excuse for lack of posting. I'm a new mommy! My sweet little boy was born on September 5th.

I realize that not everyone wants to hear the play-by-play on my child. So I'm starting a blog just for him. That way those of you who just want to know about the ministry and general news won't be overwhelmed with baby pictures etc. I'm keeping the new blog private for his privacy. So if you are interested in following it please send me a message so I can add you to the list. And hopefully I can get some update posts up here sometime soon!

Empowerment through Healthcare

2011-07-12T11:17:00.009+03:00

We currently have a team from Lambs Fellowship Church here with us in the village. Half of the team has been working on some very special medical projects in conjunction with our clinic staff. Their main project was an outreach to our local primary schools. The team started with an educational preventative-health presentation about sanitation. They then assisted the clinic staff in providing medicine to de-worm (kill intestinal worms) for approximately 1,000 children in our community! They also were able to provide free-treatment for around 200 sick children from our local public school. They also hosted a medical conference for our staff AND assisted in furthering our ultrasound skills. Here are some highlights from their time here:

Clinic staff member Margaret carrying supplies for treating sick children at the school

Team member, Craig, assessing a child

Joyce and Catherine providing wound care

Dr. Larry with Shadrack interpreting to treat a sick child

Craig training our staff in more advanced techniques on our ultrasound machine

Catherine giving a lecture at the medical conference for the clinic staff

The Gift of Sight

2011-07-11T12:36:00.011+03:00

We have been super-blessed with some amazing teams and interns who have traveled from the USA to assist us in our work. In June we were able to host a team from Kingsburg, CA who came to assist us with some optometry outreaches. We have never done more than two medical outreaches from the clinic in any single month before. But while the Kingsburg team was here we did FOUR in just ONE WEEK!! It was a marathon. Over 350 patients were seen and treated at four different locations where patients have little-to-no access to eye-care. Here are some pictures to give you some of the highlights. The above picture is of the Kenyan and American teams who joined forces at our outreach to the community of Sosiani.

Packing up equipment at the clinic in preparation to hit the road

Patients waiting patiently to be seen

A grandmother from the community testing out a prescription to see if it will work for her

Excitement over the realization that the world is so much clearer when you can see!

On one of our outreaches we lost ALL of the lug-nuts on the left, rear tire. The tire came off as the team was cruising down the highway. Thankfully no one was injured. We were all glad that we had prayed for protection as we started the day.

Here I'm working the phone to try and arrange alternate transportation to our outreach site. Where is AAA when you need them?! The team took the whole situation in stride and we shared stories as we waited on the roadside for backup.

These ladies were styling in their new sunglasses!

It felt good to sit down for a breather in the midst of so many patients!

Blessed be Your Name

2011-06-18T10:25:00.006+03:00

Shortly before I moved to Kenya the Holy Spirit really put the song "Blessed be Your Name " on my heart. It was a wonderful time in my life when everything was going as right as it possibly could. I had graduated from UCLA, was fulfilling my life-long dream of moving to Africa and then preparing to marry the love of my life! I sang the words to that song with a heart full of joy.

And then it was like I heard a whisper in my ear "Right now you are in the land that is plentiful; will you still bless me in the desert place?" And I suddenly had this vision of some difficult times ahead. In that moment I chose to answer back "Yes Lord, I will bless your name!"

Yesterday a dear friend of mine went to be with the Lord. I sat in the hospital and held her sister's hand as they wheeled Betty's body past us to the mortuary. The tears were streaming down both of our faces. And suddenly the chorus began to run through my mind.

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your glorious name
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say "Lord blessed be your name"

It was a holy moment. Truly. Holy.

Many of you who have visited us in the Kipkaren area have had the privilege of meeting Betty. I had the great honor of calling her my friend. She was one of the greatest jewels I have had the blessing of knowing in this life. Betty was redeemed by her Savior from a dark past. She chose to live each day for that Savior. And she has touched the lives of literally thousands. She allowed God to use her HIV/AIDS to glorify Him.

In the past she asked me to pray for her sister. She told me "Michelle, she is living in darkness. She doesn't know what she is missing. Please pray with me for her." Well that same sister has been at Betty's bedside during her recent physical decline. During the course of Betty's illness, she has made a decision to follow the Lord.

For the last few weeks I have known in my heart that Betty was preparing to make her debut in heaven. Yesterday morning I was hoping to spend some time with her at the hospital before we brought her home to say goodbye. Unfortunately as William and I were getting in the car to leave, we received a phone call that she had passed away.

As we pulled into the parking lot at the hospital Betty's sister met us. We threw our arms around each other. She looked me in the eye and told me "Two hours ago, the angels came for her and she flew to heaven with them!"

There are always mixed emotions when faced with the loss of a brother or sister in Christ. I have NO DOUBT that Betty is happier and more full of joy than she has EVER been before. Her infectious smile is lighting up in the face of her Father. She is dancing and so full of joy. And it honestly makes me picture heaven a little differently than I ever have before. There is something so right about picturing her there.

But a part of me is seriously grieving her loss. I'm realizing that I can never sit and visit with her again. Those sparkling eyes won't light up in my presence. I have some regrets. I didn't get to give her a hug goodbye. Her sister said that she was crying and screaming in pain in the final hour of her life. That hurts. Badly. She wanted to die at home. And that is what we wanted for her. I really can not understand why God allows things like this. And the fact is that in this lifetime I never will.

But I do know that our God is a loving God. I know that He used Betty to touch countless lives. I know that she has left a legacy behind that will not be forgotten. I also know that she is rejoicing and worshiping at the feet of her Jesus. I know that she is shaking her head with a smile at how simple the things that used to baffle her really are. She has that eternal perspective and understanding that one day those of us who have also placed our faith in Christ will share. And with that knowledge I will lift up my head and say "Blessed be the name of the Lord!"

*This gorgeous photo of Betty was taken a few years ago by another dear friend, Adele Booysen. It's getting a workout this week as we all remember Betty together.

Matope (Mud)

2011-06-10T20:41:00.005+03:00

I only started driving in Kenya this year. The highway used to terrify me. And never having lived in snow, ice or mud prior to moving to Kenya, tackling our muddy roads has been a bit much for me. But today I braved the elements to pick up our newest clinic intern from the airport. On the way home I made the mistake of taking the short-cut road. It becomes the super-long-cut during rainy season due to the mud. I managed to get us really really really stuck. As in the car actually bottomed out in the mud. I had to call William to come and rescue us. Even he wasn't able to get the car out. And that was with people pushing. We finally had to have it pulled out by a large truck. Fun stuff! And welcome to the village Renee!

Monday

2011-03-28T12:19:00.007+03:00

Okay let's face it, Monday is not most people's favorite day of the week. But this morning I woke up very much on the right side of the bed. Spring is here in Chebaiywa and everything is turning from brown to green. I can feel life in the air. I just wanted to share a few pictures from my morning.

These ladies are neighbors who come to get clean water from our home every day. We are blessed to be able to share disease-free water for them to use in their homes.

My friend Victoria stopped by the clinic with the two youngest charges from our neighboring ministry, the Living Room. Victoria is pictured holding Chepchumba. Purity and I are in the next two pictures. She is four years old. A while back I referred her to the Living Room for severe malnourishment. She is really starting to thrive as she loves to laugh and play!

A Helping Hand

2011-03-24T14:50:00.003+03:00

Just over two years ago MIT Sloan School of Management sent a team of grad-students out to our clinic to do an assessment. They were working in partnership with the Global Health Delivery Project. They did an assessment of the clinic and helped with ideas on how to improve customer service. At that time they also made some reccomendations in regards to strategies that the clinic could implement to increase our self-sustainability. (In layman's terms they gave us ideas of how we could generate more money for the clinic and become less dependent on donors from the west.)

This week we were blessed with a follow-up visit from a student who is about to graduate from the program. Her name is Lillian and she has been a joy to have around. I have to confess that I was a little nervous about the follow-up visit. Would there be a noticeable difference from early 2009 to now?

We reviewed the report from two years ago and then evaluated the differences between now and then. I was blown away by how far we have come. Maybe because I'm here on a day-to-day basis I don't always see the changes as big. I'm also not a big numbers/stats person. So I do what needs to get done but don't dwell on it. But as we began to crunch numbers we found that the clinic is now 53% less dependent on outside funding than we were two years ago. And not only that, but we have added 4 staff members to our clinic since the initial survey! So we are now employing more Kenyan health providers, at the same time as we are requiring less in donations from the USA to keep the clinic running. It was a very exciting discovery!

We were also able to look at some areas that the clinic can continue to improve. Things like how to best utilize our staff during the down-seasons when we have a slower patient flow. As she made some recommendations I felt my creative juices starting to flow.

As Lillian and I sat in my office she asked me to share some of my dreams and visions for the clinic. We talked about how to use business strategies to continue to improve quality of care. She is planning to advocate for a future team or possibly even an intern to come and spend some more time in our clinic. Very exciting!

Picture Update

2011-03-16T16:12:00.009+03:00

Jambo! Sorry I've been absent from the blog lately. Sometimes life just gets so incredibly busy. Add that to the fact that we are expecting and I'm battling pregnancy nausea and fatigue. Anyway, enough with the excuses! Here are some pictures of what I've been up to.

Our last sewing meeting was held on Saturday. We had a guest speaker come and talk about what it means to run a business. We had over 150 ladies and ran out of chairs for them all!

I've been putting my new ultrasounds skills into practice. And hopefully further developing them as I practice. I realized it was time to start passing the knowledge along. One of the nurses has been shadowing me whenever I scan patients. So this week I had her put her hands on the scanner and try a few herself. It reminded me of the old saying "See one, do one, teach one!"

Ways to Pray

2011-02-23T11:14:00.002+03:00

One of my favorite blogs that I follow is "In Real Life with Jamie Jo". She writes specifically to women who are full-time on the mission field. This week she posted a great list of ways to pray for women on the field. So I thought I would borrow and re-post it. Not all apply directly to me, but most do, and I thought it was a great list. A big thanks to each of you who regularly prays for us!

Encouragement in God's Word daily

Evidence of spiritual fruit being produced

Genuine love and compassion for the people

Satisfaction of accomplishing each task she is called to do

Someone to call a friend, to share burdens

Grace in family relationships

Clear communication with supporters and home office
Unity with coworkers

Adequate medical care when needed
Flexibility

Wisdom in setting priorities and diligence in keeping them

Finances

To remain hidden from the enemy

Adjustment/ continual readjustment to the culture

Salvation for unsaved loved ones

To not weary in well-doing

Willingness to suffer when needed - keeping eyes on the unseen reward
Cheerfully making necessary sacrifices

Victory over daily annoyances (noise, dirt, unreliable amenities, lack of conveniences, etc.)

Good relationships with local authorities (if applicable)

Energy, endurance

Spiritual renewal

Awareness, repentance, and freedom from besetting sins

To pray without ceasing

Rejoice in all circumstances

Sensitivity to the Holy Spirit

Daily needs (devotional time, rest, diet, exercise, solitude, companionship, etc.)

Discernment and diplomacy to proclaim the truth

Passion for serving others

Emotional stability

Health and safety of family on the field and of grown children / aging parents in the home country
Protection in travel

Hidden treasures: daily reminders of God's love, mercy, and grace

Balance of responsibilities (family and ministry outside the home)

Provision of educational needs for children, particularly those with special needs

Diagnosis - Hysteria

2011-02-22T14:49:00.002+03:00

This afternoon a 15-year-old, female, patient came to our clinic with a problem that can be somewhat common here. It's actually psychologically induced, but we always have to take care to make sure there aren't actual medical roots.

It's one of the conditions I had to learn about after moving to Kenya. They simply label it as "hysteria". It typically happens in women from Jr. High age through later adulthood. The best way I can describe it is that the lady just feels a need to check out for a little while. The patient typically faints or collapses. She then goes into a catatonic state where she cannot be aroused from anywhere from a few minutes to an hour.

The first time I saw it, I was baffled. The patient is really, genuinely, out. She doesn't respond to any stimulus, even the ones that we used to use in the ER to tell if someone was faking. But the vital signs remain stable and you can't find anything physically causing the problem. I most often see women go into this state when they are attending burials of loved ones.

The client today has quite a traumatic past. She is a child who has been living with HIV. Her parents are both dead and she was displaced during the post-election violence in 2008. She has been living in a displacement camp for the last 3 years and has not been able to attend school during that time. She sat and told us about how she was going to try to learn how to braid hair so she could get a job in a salon to save money to get back in school. Through a special program assisting children living with HIV/AIDS she was able to get a scholarship to attend our school Brook of Faith, through Empowering Lives International (ELI). This is her first week. She is in the fifth grade and trying to catch up.

My friend and colleague, Juli, and I had a lovely visit with her as she told us about her journey to Brook of Faith. In short, she is precious! I think she was overjoyed to get to spend some time with the white ladies in the village.

After she left Juli and I agreed that it was a simple case of hysteria while adjusting to a new environment. We both agreed that if we had been raised in the environment our patient had, we just might feel the need to check out every now and then too!

Waging War

2011-02-17T10:01:00.000+03:00

Cervical cancer is a huge issue in the developing world. I would say that 99% of the women I see in my clinic have never had a pap smear. Unfortunately most cancers are usually not identified until a patient is in the final stages with metastasis throughout his/her body. Last year I looked at some statistics regarding cervical cancer. Unfortunately Kenya came up as one of the countries in the “red zone”; meaning that they have some of the world’s highest death rates related to cervical cancer. I consider this fact to be a tragedy when one considers how preventable and treatable this cancer is. I performed pap smears while I was working in the USA. But here in Kenya I was stuck with a dilemma. If I do a pap, who is going to read it and tell me the results? And secondly, what good is it to have results if I don’t have treatment options available for the patient? It would be totally unethical for me to tell a patient “You have pre-cancerous cells on your cervix, but there is nothing I can do about it.”

Last year I lost a friend in the USA to cervical cancer. I think that this personal loss strengthened my desire to wage war on this disease.

So while William and I were in the USA last fall, I was able to take a post-grad gynecology course through UCLA. The main focus of the class was cervical cancer screening and early intervention. What attracted me to the course was the fact that I would be trained not only to identify the problem, but also how to do something about it. The first part of the training was the classroom/lecture portion. Now I’m getting into the hands-on part where I’m doing an internship one day a week with a team of OB/GYN’s in Eldoret (the town about an hour from our home.)

Last week was my first day in the clinic in Eldoret. The physician I was working with was incredible. She was right at my side, but also got me right into performing the nitty gritty parts of the procedures. Once I complete my training, I’m hoping to launch a women’s health center right from our clinic in Chebaiywa. I want to turn my office into a make-shift gynecology exam room. Where I can assess, diagnose AND treat patients with pre-cancerous lesions.

We still have a road ahead in obtaining all the necessary equipment. But I believe with all my heart that God will open the doors and help make it happen. And I feel so blessed in that I’m able to actually do my hands-on training here in Kenya. It is so much better than if I had interned in a fancy USA office. As always, thanks for joining me on this amazing journey. I’ll try to keep you posted on my progress as I work to complete my training and prepare for a final exam later this year.

Sew What?

2011-02-16T10:56:00.008+03:00

When I was in Jr. High my mother gave me a sewing machine. I have to confess I didn't really take to sewing. My mom had this great goal that I could make my own Easter dress. I was really struggling with every aspect of the process. She gave me two pieces of fabric to sew together and said "Michelle, really, only an idiot could mess this up, you can do it." So as you probably already figured, I messed it up. I think that was the last time I really tried to use a sewing machine.

Fast forward about two decades. I'm now a consultant helping to organize a group of ladies who are starting a sewing business. Go figure at the irony of that one! God certainly has a sense of humor! Because only He could call someone with absolutely no sewing skills and virtually no business skills to help with the launch of a sewing business. But I have to confess that I'm really excited to see what He has started with this group of ladies. I just feel like he is speaking to me saying "In your weakness I will be strong".

We would appreciate your prayers as we are in the very beginning stages of this new venture. We are hoping to find markets in both Kenya and the USA for the work that the ladies are doing. At the end of next week I'll be traveling to Nairobi to do some research on quality fabric and materials.

The ladies first project was to make quilts. Here are a few pictures from our meeting yesterday.

We have approximately 170 ladies registered in the group.

Some of the ladies display their first group quilt.

Another Finished Project (This one even came with pillow cases!)

The Farmer's Wife

2011-02-03T14:25:00.003+03:00

Growing up I always was fascinated with Little House on the Prairie and bygone eras. Turns out that this was a good thing since in many ways, moving to Kenya was like stepping into an era of the past. Who would have ever guessed that this American girl raised in the suburbs of CA would wind up living on a farm?

Saturday we had a major celebration in our village as friends of mine launched a new hospice ministry in our community. So I got dressed up for the event. Later while cooking dinner William came rushing to the kitchen door with this brand new little lamb. I helped him wash her with warm water. He then asked me to assist him up on the hill in our yard where our livestock stay. So I marched up (in my best dress) to assist. The mama was delivering the placenta right as we got there.

William needed my help managing mom and baby while he created a safe space for them to spend the night. Our sheep sleep in a pen that has slats at the bottom. The slats are so that we can easily collect their dung for our compost. Well the slats were a bit big for our little lamb and we were afraid she would slip through. So we moved the calf, cleaned out a shed and made a place for mama and baby. Turns out that in our excitement we left the gate open and one of our milk cows got out. So after chasing Daisy back in the pen I headed back in to finish dinner. I have to confess, on evenings like that one, I really do love being a farmers wife!

In other news, things are going well at the clinic. I've been doing ultrasounds on our pregnant moms. Today we picked up a case of twins. It was a huge blessing that we were able to pick it up during a prenatal visit. Otherwise we would have been dealing with the delivery of the twins just a few weeks from now!

Tomorrow I'm starting the hands-on part of the advanced gynecology training I started in the USA. I'll be going weekly to train alongside American physicians working at a teaching hospital in Eldoret.

Back to Life

2011-01-21T11:44:00.001+03:00

Well as of today we have been back in the village for three weeks. Somehow it feels like three months though. We really hit the ground running. As soon as we arrived William was asked to help coordinate an engagement ceremony for one of his cousins. This kept him quite busy. We then had a super, incredible, team from Iowa come. The leader, Dr. Fitzgerald, always brings incredibly motivated and caring teams. They keep us running from sunup to long after sundown. We were very blessed to have them in our village last week. Many great things were accomplished through their efforts.

We have also had some emergencies in the clinic. It seems that the good old phrase “When it rains, it pours!” holds true to night duty at the clinic. We had a double stabbing case, several sick children, and woman in labor all within an hour’s time. The woman wound up losing the baby. It was a case we call Cephalo-Pelvic-Disproportion (CPD) basically meaning that the baby’s head was too big to fit through the birth canal. It was a truly difficult night for all of us involved. Getting the mom transferred out to the hospital was quite a challenge. Finally William wound up driving her there. They did a C-section but it was too late to save the baby. Thankfully both stabbing victims wound up surviving.

On a completely different note, yesterday I made my first solo trip to town (Eldoret). Driving here is a bit of an art. I’ve often thought that a video game could be made called “Driving in Kenya”. I’ve done the drive before, but always with William in the car. Yesterday we had a missionary friend coming in to town and I needed to go pick her up. So I took a deep breath, said a prayer and climbed behind the wheel. Our road to town is a narrow, paved, two lane highway. It hosts large trucks, buses, private cars, motorcycles, bicycles, donkeys, tractors, matatus (public-transport-vans), and pedestrians. Driving here is not for the faint of heart. The matatus like to drive at about 70 mph, whereas many of the trucks tend to move at around 30mph. Because the trucks are so wide, you actually have to pull out into the oncoming traffic to determine whether it is safe to pass or not. Then you have potholes and random speed bumps to navigate as well. I know I’m not even beginning to do this explanation justice. But it at least gives you an idea. My mom says that driving in Kenya is like constantly playing chicken on the road. There is an element of truth to that. Thankfully I made it to town and back without hitting anyone or being hit!

But enough about that! The point of this blog was to say that we are back in Kenya. We are safe and sound, and we are in full-speed-ahead mode. We are looking forward to seeing what God is planning to do in this community this year. Stay tuned and I’ll keep you posted!

Cultural Adjustments

2010-12-27T04:20:00.003+03:00

Tues, Dec 28th, we will begin our journey back to Kenya. We will begin at LAX in the afternoon, and reach our home in the village on Fri night. From Los Angeles we will fly directly to London, where we have a 23hr layover. Then we continue on to Nairobi where we will spend the first night. Finally on the 31st we will travel by road to our home.

As I begin to mentally prepare for the journey I'm reminded of some of the little differences that always take some getting adjusted too. At first they came as a surprise on re-entering the USA, but now we get to do the reverse on our return to Kenya. Here are just a few that come to mind right away.

Re-Packing my Purse: In Kenya I always carry the following in my purse: toilet paper, hand sanitizer, flash-light, and small umbrella.
Crossing the Street: In Kenya we drive on the left side of the road (as opposed to the USA where we drive on the correct, ahem, right side of the road. It should also be noted that pedestrians in Kenya do not have the right of way. This has resulted in me nearly running some people down when I first get back to America, and then nearly being run down myself when I first return to Kenya.
Weather: Glorious, year-round, 12-hour days and beautiful weather in Kenya! Since being in the USA we have experienced temps that ranged from below freezing, to 114.
Roads/Traffic: William and I were commenting yesterday that we should be thoroughly enjoying our final days of CA driving. I think I would need an entire blog-entry to begin to explain the craziness of driving Kenya.
Food Prep: Here we have so many fast and easy choices. In Kenya you pretty much need to make everything you eat from scratch. This generally does result in a healthier diet though. So there is an up and a down to that one.
Mosquito Net: When I first arrive in the US it is so strange to be sleeping without a net. Now I get to readjust to life under the net again!

One thing that I have found to be universal is our humanity. No matter what color our skin is, or which language we speak, we all have so many things in common. We laugh, we love, we cry, we are human!

Wrapping Up

2010-12-12T17:20:00.002+03:00

Jambo from California! Yes, we are still in the USA. We are wrapping things up and preparing to head back to Kenya in two weeks. Our time here has been extremely productive and we both feel so very blessed.

I've been able to take two courses while here. One for obstetrical ultrasound, and one for colposcopy (an advanced form of women's health-care). I have learned so many new things that I'm excited to take back to the clinic. I really can't even begin to describe how amazing these classes were and how beneficial they are going to be to the work in Kipkaren!

William just got back from a 5-day agricultural convention and symposium in Florida. He was blown-away by the material and the networking that took place. Delegates from literally all over the world attended and shared what they are doing to use agriculture to sustainably feed the poor in their parts of the world. He is also returning to Kenya with new ideas and strategies in mind.

As we wrap up and prepare to head back to Kenya we are going to be sending out our new prayer cards. It's been quite a while since we actually sent out a physical mailing but we want to do so to get the new cards out. If you want a prayer card can you please make sure that we have your most up-to-date address? You can e-mail it to me at michellekiprop@empoweringlives.org

I'll try to be back up on the blog soon with some more pictures and stories about our time here as well as our plans for implementing what we have learned when we return to Kenya.

Our Time in America

2010-10-25T21:46:00.001+03:00

William and I are currently in the USA. There are a few purposes to our trip. We are both getting some educational/professional development opportunities. I am taking both an Ultrasound and a Women’s Health course. William will be attending the annual International Agricultural Conference and Symposium at ECHO Headquarters in Florida.

We are also here to raise support for our work in Kenya. As missionaries we raise our own salary and ministry funds. By joining with us financially you can partner in our work and ministry in Kenya. I’ve recently been asked to post some of our needs. If you are interested in partnering with us you can go to our secure donor page by clicking here to make a tax-deductible online donation. Here are some of our current needs:

ONGOING PARTNERSHIP

· We currently need monthly commitments adding up to $500 a month. That can break down to:

o 20 donors at $25/month

o OR 10 donors at $50/month

o OR 5 donors at $100/month

o OR 2 donors at $250/month

o OR of course any combination of the above!

ONE TIME DONATIONS

· Financial donations of any amount for our ministry fund. No gift is too big or too small.

· Projector for trainings and presentations (approximately $700)

· Helping to complete a staff house at the clinic so that staff members can be available to provide night and emergency care at the clinic (approximately $4,000)

· Helping to Fund a Village Health Fair (approximately $2,500)

· Sponsor high school education for one of the youths William is mentoring (approx $600/year)

· Medical Equipment: Colposcope, Medication Nebulizers,

· Blood Sugar Test Strips

· Printer Cartridges for ink-jet printer HP92 and HP93, or laser-jet printer HP CB436A 36A

When filling out the form, just choose “Missionaries” and then select “William and Michelle Kiprop” If you have questions or would like to partner in a specific area of our ministry just send me an e-mail and let me know. Thanks so much!

Snapshots of This last Week

2010-09-18T22:13:00.005+03:00

Here are some pictures from this last week. It was an extremely busy one, with some big highs and some big lows. Here are some of the highs and a look at some day-to-day life in our clinic and village.

One of my friends, Ruth, recently had her fourth baby. A sweet little girl named Chepchirchir. I had the privilege of helping in the delivery. She had some complications and wound up needing some extra care. Here Ruth talks about how thankful she is for access to good care when complications such as hers arise. I'm bonding with little Chepchirchir.

During lunch one day in town I decided to snap a picture of the very popular lunch plate of chicken and chips.

More than a decade ago our clinic actually originally started with dental services. A dentist from the USA came and taught some of our villagers how to pull teeth under a mango tree. From there, health care has blossomed in Kipkaren. This week a dream came true as we were given a dental chair/unit by some generous caring people with the non-profit Spanda. We will now be able to expand our current services (deep cleaning and extractions) to offer dental fillings as well. We are pretty excited! The chair/unit will be installed early next week.

Unfortunately we see a lot of wounds in our village. Children here do household chores, just like kids in America. Only the household chores in Kenya often involve sharp instruments for tasks like cutting grass for cows, chopping firewood etc. This little boy wacked his finger with a machete. The nurse who was on call had a very difficult time managing him and the wound so she called me for backup. It took nearly an hour to get the wound closed. His mother, auntie, and grandmother were all in the treatment room. There came one point where everyone was yelling while he was screaming and I was sweating! I asked everybody to stop and take a deep breath. I told the boy that we would wait to proceed until he was ready; and if we needed to wait until the sun went down, that was okay with me. The women all looked at me in disbelief. I explained that he needed to know that he had some control in the situation and we weren't just pinning him down to torture him. A minute later he relaxed and gave me his hand. This picture was taken two days later when he came for a wound check. I've refrained from posting the close-up of the finger.

Well that's it for now. We are actually on our way to America for a few months. Yesterday we made the drive to Nairobi, and tonight we fly to London, then on to CA. We would appreciate your prayers for a safe and smooth journey.

Highlights

2010-09-10T15:05:00.006+03:00

Okay, I realize I am very overdue for an update. I feel like I've been burning the candle at both ends lately in preparation for our trip to the USA. There is a lot to organize when you are going to be away for three months!

The big project hanging over my head right now has been our protocol book at the clinic. I've had it in my mind to write it for about two years now. The hiring of two new-graduate nurses combined with the fact that I'm not going to be around to consult, has prompted me to finally get it done. I feel like I'm back in school writing my comprehensive finals as I pound out page after page of information for treating everything from malaria to retained placentas! It's also a reminder of how it is virtually impossible to know everything about everything. I just hope that the other providers benefit from reading and implementing the book as much as I have in writing it!

So before I get back to my monster project let me just share some pictures from recent highlights.

I was recently blessed to have an intern from my home church Life Bible Fellowship church in southern CA. Christina was with us for two months. Here she accompanied me to a high school girls conference where I was a guest speaker.

Four years ago I shared on my blog about a boy named Patrick. You can read about him here and here. This is a recent picture of Patrick and I as he receives a folder prepared especially for him by someone from my church. Patrick is doing very well and is as tall as me now!

Below are pictures from our first major mobile outreach. We went to a remote clinic and provided dental and optometry services. We treated nearly 150 patients that day!

Goodbye Friend

2010-08-30T11:24:00.001+03:00

This morning I just said goodbye to a friend. Between my home and the clinic is a building that is being used by my friend’s organization, The Living Room. It is a hospice. Although I’m not officially a part of the Living Room staff, I regularly do consults and put together care-plans for the patients there. From day one I have called this patient Agui, which means grandpa. He has been at the Living Room for a number of months. I’ve performed a number of his medical procedures and done some of his dressing changes over the months. Every day he has been out laying or sitting under a tree as I pass by on my way to the clinic. I often stop to visit with him for a few moments. Although we shared neither genetics nor the same language, he became my Kenyan grandfather.

An older man, in his early nineties, he has entertained us with his twinkling eyes and strong spirit. There are times when we have actually thought he might make a full recovery. But last month he developed pneumonia and it finally got the better of him this morning. My friend Juli, who is the international founder and director of this hospice, was away this morning. One of the caregivers from the home came running breathless to my office. He rapidly told me in Swahili that it was Agui and they needed my help. I raced down with him to Agui’s bedroom and saw that he was definitely on his way out of this world.

I sat at his bedside and began to stroke his forehead as my mother had when I was a little girl. I then prayed with him. I asked the Lord to be near to him as he made this final journey. I asked for peace of body, mind and spirit. I asked God for relief of any pain or suffering Agui was feeling. I then asked our friend Morogo, the social worker, to pray in Kalenjin. Morogo asked me if Agui would really understand. I replied that we wouldn’t know for sure, but on the chance that he could it was good for him to hear a prayer in his mother tongue. I then invited a few of the other care-givers to join us in the room to sing songs and hyms. As we sang “Rock of Ages” in Swahili Agui took a final breath and then slipped away through heaven’s door.

I can’t tell you how thankful I was to be there in his final moments. There is something powerful about holding the hand of a friend who is about to meet Jesus face to face. It was a holy moment; one that I wouldn’t trade.

Discombobulated

2010-08-29T09:13:00.002+03:00

That's how I feel this weekend. Life has been moving at high speed lately and the pace just keeps picking up. The last two weekends I was involved in outreaches of one sort or another. I really will try my best to get pictures and reports up in the coming days.

We have been searching for two nurses for the clinic for a few months now. About three weeks ago we hired a new graduate and this week we hired another new-grad. The most recent hire is William's cousin and this is her first time away from home/school. We don't have the staff housing for her finished yet so she is actually living with us. She is on call this week and because she is brand, brand new I'm doing a lot of after-hours trips to the clinic with her.

Sometime between Thurs night and Fri morning, William's grandmother suffered a stroke leaving her right side paralyzed and taking her speech. The influx of family members has brought us an additional house-guest. Yesterday was William's 35th birthday so we had a small dinner party for him. Talk about highs and lows!

Add to all this, the fact that we are preparing for a trip to the USA. No wonder I feel a bit discombobulated! I will however, try to get at least one more update posted this week. Take care and God bless!

Shadrack - A Story of Hope

2010-08-18T15:20:00.005+03:00

Lately I have had a few blog posts in my mind. I've just not had the time and/or energy to get them actually written and posted. But I wanted to share about last night's events while they are still fresh.

The young man with William and I in the above picture is named Shadrack. And if you live in Southern CA get ready to be blessed by his presence!! Shadrack's is a story of hope. When he was still a young boy in elementary school his mother died leaving him and his siblings behind. After the funeral, the crowds left and there were three children left standing at the graveside, Shadrack and his two sisters.

David Tarus, William's uncle, approached them and asked what they were going to do and where they were going. They looked up with hopeless eyes and told him they didn't know. At that moment God moved David's heart and he told them "Come on, let's go home." Since that time Shadrack and his two sisters Jane, and Carolyne have truly been adopted into the family. Last year Shadrack finished high school with very high grades. The entire community celebrated with him. This year the doors have opened for Shadrack to attend Azusa Pacific University in southern CA.

Just over a week ago the entire community came together to raise money for his plane ticket to America. It was a beautiful time as people came to commission him from our small village to the USA. They asked him to represent our people and to study hard so that he can come back and make a difference in the community.

Last night was Shadrack's goodbye service. William and I had a long day making a road trip to recruit a new nurse for the clinic. By the time we were getting back to the community it was long after dark and we were both exhausted and worn out from hours of bumping on the rough roads (think Indianna Jones ride for hours on end!). For a moment I considered not going to the service, after all we were several hours late! But let me tell you I am so glad that I went.

The service went on until nearly midnight as friends and family members took time to recollect Shadrack's growth and to encourage him in this new endeavor. Boy did the tears flow! After many, many words of praise, encouragement and advice, Shadrack was given a turn to speak. He went around the entire room personally thanking each person in attendance and telling them what a blessing they had been in his life.

After the speeches were finished and the tears continued to flow, the group stood together to anoint and pray for Shadrack as he was sent out from our community. The picture below is of that prayer time. Friday night he will board a plane to Dubai and then on to Los Angeles. Life is about to change drastically for this young man. Please pray for him as he goes through the culture shock and transition to life as a college student in the USA. William and I are looking forward to spending some time with him on our upcoming trip. That's right, we will be in the USA from Oct through Christmas!

Comedy of Errors

2010-08-06T20:15:00.004+03:00

Well it is another day for two blog posts. This one may be a bit long and hopefully make you smile and possibly even laugh. I confess, I'm hoping that writing the play-by-play of my evening will be therapeutic for me and entertaining for you.

As you know from my last post, I was involved in a late-night and early-morning delivery. We are almost 24 hours out from the beginning of my last post. So I was pretty tired this morning.

During the morning delivery the power went off. Unfortunately this is not at all unusual in Kenya. At any moment the electricity could turn off anywhere, and be out from moments to days. Often when it goes out in the morning it will be gone for the day and then return at either 5, 6 or 7PM.

True to form, the power was off all day. But that was okay, I've got an incredible long-life battery on the computer and so I was still able to complete clinic paperwork and our medication order for the month. The day wrapped up nicely and I prepared to head home.

As we were locking the clinic we had a teenage girl arrive who had slashed her toe open with a machete. It was getting dusky outside but with the help of my handy, dandy, headlamp I was able to get the wound closed and give her a tetanus shot.

I got home and wanted nothing more than a shower. I then remembered that there is no electricity. Which means that my electric shower-head will not work to heat the water. Which lead to the internal debate: To heat water on the stove for a splash shower or not? Then I remembered that we use electricity to pump the water to the tank for running water. No electricity = no water. UGH!

I also had plans of baking chicken wings for supper. With my electric oven it seemed another plan was foiled. So at this point I decided that the best thing to do was to lay on my bed for 30 minutes and hope and pray that the power would return by then.

After 15 minutes on the bed I started thinking about what would happen if the power did NOT return. That would mean that I had to go find a bucket to clean out for water. I would then have to pull the water out of the well, haul it in the house and cook supper on the gas range. All of the above activities are better done when there is still a bit of sunlight peaking through.

So I got the water and started supper; 6PM came and went with no power. I gave up on the power returning in time for the chicken to bake and resorted to frying it. As the chicken was finishing up my phone rang. I had a case at the clinic. I should also mention that at this time the skies decided to open and rain.

So after getting the chicken off the stove, and finding an umbrella, I made my way back to the now dark clinic. There I found a 7-year-old boy who had been chopping grass for the cows when his machete slipped and he chopped the end of his thumb. The wound was deep, and went halfway around the digit and into the nail-bed. I just love doing complicated suture cases in the dark! (I hope you can read the sarcasm there!)

So I'm rooting around the treatment desk for supplies and I can't find a suture set. So I pulled out my keys and went to the maternity building to get a needle driver, tweezers, and scissors. I carefully lock maternity back up and return to do the suturing. Just after I finally finish the last stitch, the power comes on. What great timing! (Insert more sarcasm.)

I then remember that I need to give him a tetanus shot and the tetanus vaccine is back in the maternity room. So out come the keys again and another trip to get the vaccine. Finally he has been stitched, wound-dressed, and injected. After a trip to the pharmacy to get him some pain killers he discharges home. As I'm heading out the door a girl shows up with some random red pills in an envelope. She wants to know if she can trade them for de-worming medicine for someone's baby. Only in Africa! I explain to her that I can't trade the pills but that the medicine is only $0.50 and she will need a bottle to put the syrup in. She agrees to come back in the morning.

Now that the power is back on, I'm on a single-track mind. Shower!!! I remember that I will need to pump the water first. So I go out to the pump-house, grab the extension cord and head for the house to plug it in. I then have to run out to the water tower to listen for the sound of water coming in. Because if I don't hear the water flowing the pump probably needs to be primed (which is a whole different blog post for another day). Thankfully I hear the water flowing. So I head in the house to plug in the computer and start charging it.

After the tank has had a while to fill I turn on the sink tap to see how the pressure is. It's just a trickle! What's up with that? So I poke my head outside. I hear water pouring on the ground. This doesn't make sense to me, because if the tank is full enough to overflow I should have some water pressure. I run back inside to unplug the pump. Then back outside with a flashlight and still hear water pouring. I then notice that someone left the outside tap wide open. A neighbor probably came to fill a bucket with water and kept cranking the tap wider and wider. Upon not finding water he or she must have just walked away. So all of the pumping I just did has resulted in a flooded yard. Big sigh.

I close the tap and go back inside to turn on the pump again. By now I'm praying that there is enough water in the well to fill the tank for my shower. Thankfully there is. During the second filling of the tank I call my husband to say "Where are you and why aren't you dealing with this crisis for me?!" He is on his way to a goodbye service for our colleagues who are headed back to the states. No one told me it was their goodbye tonight. Another sigh. But alas it wouldn't have mattered anyway since I'm on call at the clinic.

As I write, I'm now showered and feeling much better about life. I even have to giggle a bit as I imagine Lucille Ball playing the part of Michelle Kiprop tonight. It would be good for some serious laughs I think. Now here's to hoping that there are no more machete injuries, deliveries, or any other chaos tonight!

In Just 12 Hours...

2010-08-06T09:26:00.004+03:00

..... we received the official results that Kenya had voted yes on the new constitution, and then in the clinic delivered not one, but two babies! All of this between 9PM and 9AM.

Last night the official results were announced over the radio that the constitution had been approved by the Kenyan people. It will go into effect just two weeks from now. The leader of the "No" campaign, William Ruto, conceded defeat earlier in the day and made a statement that he accepted that Kenyans had made their choice. His peaceful response is a huge answer to prayer as his reaction was watched by many. So far Kenya continues to be at peace. Praise the Lord!

Shortly after hearing the official news, I headed over to assist with a delivery at the clinic. Our two American interns joined Kitur (our clinical officer) and myself in helping bring a baby boy into the world. It was a text-book smooth delivery. Then this morning as I was waking up I learned that there was yet another delivery in progress. The interns ran from the training center to assist yet again. This delivery was quite a bit more challenging but still resulted in a healthy baby girl. At one point we had 11 people in the room with the mom.

The late-night delivery was a friend of mine and this morning's was another friend's sister. So I was extremely thankful that both babies were born healthy and strong. The picture below shows the team of friends and relatives who were supporting and assisting the mom through her labor. Now I'm off to the office to see what today holds!

2010-07-31T11:29:00.002+03:00

Earlier this month our clinical officer, Kitur, I attended a one-day seminar hosted by Mission for Essential Drugs and Supplies (MEDS). This is the company we order our medications and supplies from. It's a Christian organization that does it's best to help get faith-based clinics supplied with quality materials.

It was well-done, and I was impressed with the patient-focus that the company has. Most of the times in the past when I attended a seminar put on by a pharmaceutical company or supplier, it was a big pitch for why you should prescribe their brand name. It was refreshing to hear lectures about how to provide the best quality care for the patient.

I also learned that in sub-Saharan Africa there are only four laboratories monitoring the quality of drugs that are marketed in medical facilities and pharmacies. One of those labs belongs to MEDS where they are vigilant in checking the quality of their drugs. I also learned that up to 25% of medications sold in pharmacies in Kenya are either contaminated or just flat-out placebos. Rather scary! It was a relief to know that the company we order our medications from is working hard to provide quality care instead of just focusing on the bottom line.

Field Trip

2010-07-30T15:15:00.004+03:00

Not long ago, the local public primary school decided to have a field trip to our clinic. The purpose of the trip? To see our fish tank!

Just Checking In

2010-07-22T16:20:00.003+03:00

Well I'm definitely not meeting my goal of blogging twice a week. But honestly there has been nothing too exciting to blog about. This week has been one of catching up.

As usual I have under-estimated how long it would take to do something. I remember setting up study sessions where I planned to whip through two chapters and out line both in a set period of time. I would always be devastated when the time would arrive and I would only have completed half of one chapter.

Well thankfully I no longer get devastated if my "to do" list doesn't get completely checked off by the end of the day. Living in Africa has taught me a bit about flexibility. Someone recently recommended putting the item "interruption" on the list a few times. That way you can gleefully check it off when you get called here and there for one reason or another.

I don't dare say that I am completely caught up. But I've made progress. My calendar is updated. I think I'm just about caught up on old e-mails. I have food in both the pantry and fridge. I know what's been going on at the clinic. My updated prayer letter went out yesterday. Our bookkeeping is relatively up to date. And we are planning a big mobile outreach for the 22nd of next month. Although I hoped to have all of this done on Monday (hahaha what was I thinking?) I think it has been a pretty productive week thus far.

Tonight I have an internet chat-date set up with an old friend to talk about the possibility of a special photography project in our village. Speaking of which, hopefully this next week I can break out the camera and get some pictures of our running water at the clinic!

Close Call

2010-07-13T18:14:00.005+03:00

It's been a while since my last post. I had a family emergency that took me on a quick trip to the USA. But I'm back in Kenya now, and back to blogging. And what a return! I'm doing some serious jet-lag. I didn't have too much on my arrival to the USA a few weeks ago, but I think I'm making up for it now on my return to Kenya. My luggage made it half-way around the world from Los Angeles to Nairobi via London with no problem. But somehow it didn't get on the plane with me from Nairobi to Eldoret. So William and I will be tracking it down tomorrow.

William picked me up at the airport this morning and on our way home we had a very close call on the road. I've shared with many of you how terrifying driving on the roads in Kenya can be. We were almost run off the road by a big truck on our way home. William scooted to the side and let him zip around us. As we followed him he made an abrupt turn into oncoming traffic. He was broadsided by a poor Toyota Landcruiser who never saw it coming. There was no time for him to even attempt to avoid the accident. So we didn't hear any skidding, just the huge impact and the cruiser and truck spinning to the side.

Unbelievably enough no one was killed or even badly injured for that matter. And what is really crazy is that there were half a dozen men riding on the open bed in the back of the truck. My mother-in-law and I were pretty sure that someone would have been killed. William had us sit in the car while he ran to check things out. Since there were no serious injuries I never got out of the car. And we weren't far from a police check so they quickly made their way to the scene. Unfortunately this is a very typical daily occurrence on the roads here.

We were blessed to get a dinner invitation tonight. It is always enough transition getting moved back into the village without having to figure out what to make for dinner that first night. So I'm going to enjoy some fellowship and food then hopefully sleep a bit tonight. I should be back with an update on things at the clinic soon.

Been There. Done That.

2010-06-16T22:19:00.003+03:00

Getting better at it. But still hate it...

Tonight I was starting to turn my thoughts toward bed when my phone rang. The caller ID showed that it was the new clinical officer (CO) at the clinic and I knew he wouldn't call me at night unless he needed backup.

"Michelle, we have a poisoning, can you come?"

I HATE poisonings. It is how people try (and often succeed) to commit suicide here. There are very strong pesticides and poisons available here that are not so easy to access in America. So when someone wants to kill himself or herself they will often drink poison.

Three years ago I didn't have a clue what to do when someone drank a glass of concentrated pesticides. Now the protocol is becoming second nature.

This case was a 19-year-old young man. The CO and myself were pretty aggressive in his treatment. And thankfully his family had found him and got him to treatment quickly. It didn't take long for him to turn the corner and start improving. This is the second crisis I've worked on with the new CO. And I must say we worked well together. William actually came in the treatment room to give an extra hand. I told him he has no idea what he just got himself into. Cause now I'm taking my hubby with me on future emergency calls!

As I was starting an IV I was pondering differences in practice here. There are the obvious ones, like lack of hospital gadgets, that make life easier. Or the fact that my dog comes with me and I often have to chase him out of the treatment room multiple times during a night encounter. But there are social issues too. Treating a suicide attempt in our little clinic is very different for me than treating one in the ER in southern California. It's somehow more personal, more dramatic. We are in a village setting where everyone is involved in everyone's lives. There is no anonymity. The people I am treating know me and look at me with hope in their eyes. I don't think I'm doing a great job of putting words to it, but it is definitely very different.

The young man I took care of tonight will be fine physically. But the spiritual and emotional injuries will still be there. Please pray for him as his family come around him and hopefully are supportive during this time.

As for me, well I'm gonna wrap a few things up and hit that pillow I was picturing before the phone call came!

Special Patient

2010-06-16T15:12:00.002+03:00

Sometimes in the clinic we have patients who we treat on an ongoing basis for a chronic condition. This patient is one of those. I've been treating him for several months for a wound on his ankle. He told me it was a snake bite from the 1950's that never fully healed properly. He has been to various hospitals for multiple treatments without success in the past. Here at our clinic we have been blessed to have some specialty wound care items that were donated by generous medical professionals in the USA. I've started using some of those products on this old grandfather and they have been working miracles. It also helps that he is a model patient. He came in this afternoon for a dressing change and I asked him if we could snap a photo while he was here. I'm trying to be better about carrying my camera in my purse to capture those little special moments in the day.

Rough Day

2010-06-09T21:47:00.005+03:00

*This is a very detailed and graphic post with material that is inappropriate for children.

Well this is one of those nights where my body wants to fall in bed but my mind just can't stop. And I know if I don't share the day now it won't happen.

Today we lost a baby. Today was the most horrific delivery I have ever assisted in. Really, really horrific. I just can't post all of the details here because it is to horrible. But we had a breech delivery. We didn't know that it was breech until the delivery was way too far gone for us to do anything about it.

As the mom was pushing I kept having doubts about the presentation (which part of the baby is delivering first) but my colleagues kept assuring me they felt confident it was the head. When we could finally see something, I felt confident that it was in fact, not a head. It was a little boy who came boy parts first. He got stuck. Really, really stuck. We did everything we possible could to get him out. Did I mention it was horrible?

There finally came this point where I was 95% sure that the baby wouldn't make it if we hadn't lost him already. The point when I had to fix my mindset on saving the mom because it was coming to the point where her life could be in danger. It takes more than an hour to get to the hospital from our clinic. So once a woman starts pushing it's pretty much impossible for us to refer. But the thought went through my head that maybe we would have to send her even in her current state because we wouldn't have another choice.

Then I had this thought that we needed to use gravity. So I asked everybody to help me get her off the delivery table. We put sheets on the floor and had her squat. Okay, I'm getting a more detailed than I planned. But let me just say that after much work we finally got the baby out. I was already mentally prepared for him to be gone. But I told the staff we would do ten minutes of CPR so that we all knew that we had tried.

After the first cycle of CPR I checked and found a strong heart beat. Since we had a heartbeat we all felt that we needed to do our best. We did two hours of support resuscitation. At one point I actually came very close to passing out. (I passed out on my very first day of nursing school and felt that same feeling washing over me.) I hadn't eaten or been able to use the restroom in over eight hours. I was overheated working over the baby who had the warmer blowing hot air on him. I broke out in a sweat and saw the room spin. Yet it occurred to me that everyone in the room was looking to me. So I asked someone to bring me some water, took a deep breath, pulled up a chair next to the warmer, and pulled it together.

Every time we got close to giving up, the baby would take a few gasping breaths and we would start up again. Finally after the two hours I told the family that we had done everything we possibly could. It was now in God's hands. We wrapped the baby skin-to-skin with his mom while he struggled to breathe. It didn't take long before the gasping stopped. Within fifteen minutes his heart stopped beating.

I laid my hands on his little body and prayed that the Lord would receive his spirit and comfort, love and care for him until his mom would one day join him. It was a horrible, yet somehow holy, moment.

Obviously I'm still processing the day. I would appreciate your prayers for the mama as she has to endure the physical pain of recovering from a traumatic delivery at the same time as she goes through the emotional agony of empty arms.

And I'm frustrated. Extremely, extremely, frustrated. Because you see, we have an ultrasound machine at the clinic. But we have had a terrible time trying to use. We desperately need a professional to come and train our staff on it. It seems like it should be easy, but every time we try, we feel lucky when we find the heartbeat. We have yet to be able to figure out the position of any baby we have tried to ultrasound. If only we knew how to use it! We could do a sixty second ultrasound on every mom who was admitted in labor. Then we would know immediately that a referral to the hospital for a C-section needed to be made. Maybe this baby we delivered today would be happily breast-feeding instead of wrapped in blankets in preparation for his burial in his mother's yard tomorrow morning.

Snapshots from Today

2010-06-04T18:08:00.007+03:00

A few posts back I blogged about debrieding a burn on a sweet little girl. She came back to see me again today for another treatment. She got a pre-treatment sticker that she promptly stuck on her forehead. She is improving with each dressing change and soon won't need to come see me anymore.

The water project is going strong. The clinic has been filled with the sound of holes being pounded through our walls in preparation for the pipes that will thread through them bringing us clean water. We are hoping to have running water by the end of this month! Below you can see that fresh water being pumped into a big bucket for the construction use.

It seems we very well may have the most deluxe waiting room for a rural-clinic in Africa. Today we got fish! One of our nurses has a brother who builds fish tanks. He wanted to show his support for the work we do by donating a fish-tank and fish to the clinic! It was installed today and is sure to make the wait to see a provider just a bit more interesting!

What Was I Thinking???

2010-06-01T08:36:00.002+03:00

So I have lived in Africa for going on three-years now. It's been a year and a half since our last trip to the USA. And on top of all of that I'm a medical professional. You would think that I of all people wouldn't slip up and use unsafe water. For goodness sakes, I battled worms and bacterial infections most of my first year here!

But this morning I was deep in thought as I was brushing my teeth. I had my glass of pure water at the sink right next to me. But for some crazy reason I flipped on the faucet and splashed water in my mouth to rinse. By the second splash I suddenly realized what I was doing. This was followed by a lot of rinsing with the pure water. And the rinsing with pure water was followed by a good gargle with Listerine. Considering I didn't swallow and I quickly washed away the "icky" water I'm hoping I'll be okay. But as I go about my morning I keep having flashbacks to my gastrointestinal issues from my first year.

So note to future visitors, do not drink the water unless it is bottled, comes from the deep borehole, or has been boiled! And I wouldn't mind if you say a little prayer that any buggers that made it to my system die a quick and painful death!

Mud or Rainbows?

2010-05-26T16:14:00.006+03:00

Lately I've found myself facing some unique challenges. I've found that when these challenges come (and we all know that they always will!) that although I can't always control circumstances, I can choose to control how I respond.

This was clearly illustrated to me in the last week as we had quite a bit of rain. I slipped in the mud one day on my way home from work. I nearly ate it but got my balance just in time. Nevertheless my shoe and foot were rather muddied. As soon as I got home I grabbed the camera to document the moment.

Not long before the mud incident I had found the need to grab the camera to capture some amazing rainbows. With the rainy season we sure get a lot of mud. It can be a pain trying to get from point A to point B. But we also get some amazing rainbows. And the flora becomes lush and green with flowers blooming everywhere.

So it's occurred to me that I have the choice to focus on the mud or to focus on the rainbows. The same applies to challenges when they come our way. Will we see mud? Or will we look up and see the rainbows?

Just Another Day

2010-05-24T16:45:00.002+03:00

Well today was just another day in the clinic. Nothing particularly outstanding or special. But I don't often write about what a typical day looks like. In many ways our walk-in clinic probably has some similarities to clinics in the USA.

There are the patients who you know will not take your advice unless it is in alignment with what they already had in mind. There are the patients who started self-medicating before they came to you. Because antibiotics can be purchased over-the-counter here that one can be a bit scary at times. Bactrim is the drug of choice for patients to take one or two doses and then come in a few days later because the medicine didn't work.

Today I was the only nurse in the treatment department. I have to say that my preference is to work alongside another nurse because I strongly believe that two brains are better than one. Especially with some of the crazy things we see. But thankfully I didn't see anything too scary today.

My first patient of the day didn't really want to be at the clinic. She had malaria and clearly felt horrible. I think she just wanted someone to pick up the medications and bring them home to her. She was refusing a physical exam, refusing lab tests, pretty much refusing everything but medicine. Fun stuff!

I made a referral this morning for a two-year-old who is severely developmentally delayed. The mom brought her in because she has a respiratory infection. But she hasn't walked yet, is cross-eyed and doesn't interact with people much.

My typhoid patient of the day was diagnosed at another clinic. The mother of the 10-year-old girl brought her lab results and the medicine they gave her a week ago. She hadn't improved so they wanted another opinion. Well sure enough she had typhoid, unfortunately they were giving her antibiotics for a skin infection. So we started her on a new medicine and hopefully she will turn around quickly.

I had a 19-year-old girl who is finishing HS at a boarding school. She has a menstrual problem and is really embarrassed about her teachers and peers knowing about what she is being treated for.

My toughest case so far today was the three-year old with the third-degree burns on her hand. They aren't fresh burns but she has to come regularly for wound care. I had to pull of some of the dead skin before putting on a fresh dressing. The sweetie is a little trooper. Trembling all over and tears rolling down her face she holds up her hand to me to begin debrieding. I was wishing I had stickers to put over the bandage when I was done.

And the funniest case of the day was the old-man (that is a respectful term here) with the chronic ulcer on his ankle. So the ulcer wasn't the funny part. The funny part was that he told me "I'm here to get my dressing changed from my snake bite." I asked him when he had the snake bite and he told me "1950, and it's doing much better now than it was then!"

Just another day in the clinic. Thank you Lord for giving me this opportunity to reach into people's lives when they are at their most vulnerable. Please use me to make a difference in the lives of each patient I encounter this week....

On Loss

2010-05-19T12:33:00.002+03:00

I'm wanting to share about some of the events of this past week but I'm not really sure where to start. I think I've told you a bit in the past about Living Room Ministries (LRM), an organization headed up by my friend Juli. Her hospice building is located between my home and the clinic, literally steps from both my house and the clinic. So even though I'm not an official part of the LRM team I find myself regularly getting involved.

This past week one of William's relatives was admitted to LRM for hospice care. So I've been even more involved than usual. After spending several days in the local government hospital, it was finally determined that his cancer had spread to several key organs and was untreatable. Hospice was recommended. So he came home to The Living Room.

Since his admission I've been consulted on his care and have assisted with several treatments (including the placing of a nasal-gastric tube and syringe-suctioning his stomach contents).

On Saturday one of the family members came to share the salvation message with this man. It was a precious time as both he and his roommate, a precious old man, prayed a sinners prayer in their mother tongue.

This morning he went to be with the Lord. It happened sooner than we expected, but he went peacefully. As the news began to break, the air was filled with the sound of screams of agony and cries of anguish. You see, Kenyans may not be very emotive most of the time, but when it comes to death they grieve hard and fast. It's normal to see women falling on the ground or even going into a catatonic state upon receiving the news that a loved one has died.

It was quickly determined that it was not in the best interest of the other patients to witness the family's demonstration of grief. So the family were relocated to our home. Today we have had dozens of relatives pass by our home to share together in this time of grief. The relative who has passed away is actually from a village a number of hours from here. So William has gone with some of the closest relatives to go break the news to the friends and family in his home village. The home burial will likely take place at his home in a few days. Please join me in praying that Christ's light will shine brightly in our lives during this time of pain and loss for William's family.

Food Poisoning

2010-05-18T09:47:00.002+03:00

Yesterday was my first full day back to the clinic after two weeks of being gone for my PMTCT class. As I approached the clinic I quickly noticed a group of people sitting on the benches outside. It's pretty unusual for us to have patients when we open at 8AM. They usually start flowing in around 9:30 after taking care of the kids, and farm/home issues.

Well it seems that one of the dormitories for the ELI boarding school had contracted food poisoning. We had 25 girls with "it" coming out both ends. Definitely a handful! No, make that two handfuls! One of the girls had malaria on top of the food poisoning. A few were so dehydrated that they needed IV fluids.

I'm convinced that somebody snuck some sort of snack food into the dorm. Because the symptoms were very classic food poisoning and were very isolated to the one dorm. None of the boys or children from the children's home were affected.

As the day progressed a few girls were carried to the clinic from the local public school. As I saw them coming my first thought was "Oh no, this is not food poisoning, but some sort of an epidemic!" But thankfully the two girls from Chebaiywa had malaria and a different set of symptoms from all of our Brook of Faith girls. This morning we were able to discharge our last malaria and food poisoning patients from yesterdays madness.

I'm hoping for a slower day today and a chance to finish catching up on the admin stuff for the last two weeks. At the moment the sun is shining and the day looks good!

PMTCT

2010-05-12T19:47:00.002+03:00

For this week and last I've been in a course called "Preventing Mother To Child Transmission" or more simply, PMTCT. And it has been quite a class! When the Ministry of Health first called me and invited me to come I thought it was going to be a one-day seminar. I was a bit surprised to learn that it was an 80hr course crammed into two weeks.

I have been boarding at the church guest house where the class is being held. I could write an entire blog just about my boarding experience. Maybe later when I don't have homework!

The class has covered everything from a review of midwifery (yes it is expected that everyone in the class regularly delivers babies!) to the pathophsyiology of HIV, to counseling couples when one tests positive and the other is negative, to the medications you put an exposed newborn on. I'm the only mzungu (white person) in the class. It has been a blast making friends with other health professionals from our region.

I think the best part has been the class discussions. It has been so refreshing to hear Kenyan healthcare providers verbalize things that have strongly been on my heart and mind. As an American outsider I often have to hold my tongue when I see what I would consider to be problems within the culture. But this week I heard Kenyan men and women stand up and say "Just because this is part of our culture does NOT make it right." There were a lot of stimulating conversations about how to bring about change.

Ive also got some great potentials for networking. I have a passion for women's healthcare. It drives me crazy that most women in Kenya don't know what a Pap smear is, let alone have ever had one. I have talked for the last two years about investigating the possibility of launching some sort of screening and treatment program for cervical cancer. Through the PMTCT course I have gotten some phone numbers of key individuals that may be able to give me some pointers and connect me with others who are like-minded. Hopefully something will come of it. I will keep you posted!

Sunday Night Fun at the Children's Home

2010-04-27T08:35:00.002+03:00

Since stepping into an administrative role at the clinic, I find that I often stay in my little medical world on this side of the village. I live right next door to the compound the clinic is on. And since I have internet through a cell-phone modem I can access the internet from my office at the clinic or even my living room for that matter! Although I see many ELI staff members and children when they come to the clinic for treatment, I find that I don't make it over the the ELI Training Center or Children's Home unless I make a conscious effort to do so.

I recently got the Disney movie "Bolt" and immediately thought of our kids at the Children's Home. It's been a long time since I've done a movie night with them. Like more than a year at least! So William arranged with one of the Baba's (fathers) for us to bring the movie on Sunday night after dinner.

Those kids are so special! I may not spend much time with them, but every time I stop by, they truly fill my heart with joy. I think they are such a symbol of hope. I did their medical intake in 2006 when they were first being brought into the home. Many of their stories and backgrounds are heart-wrenching. Yet when you visit today you will find children full of joy and energy who are living their lives to the fullest.

We drove to the home after dinner. Thank God for four-wheel-drive because our roads are SERIOUSLY muddy right now! When we arrived at the home the children were all waiting in their gazebo for the film to start. They broke into applause as we walked in.

At the beginning of the movie there is a huge chase-scene that Bolt (the dog hero) is filming. This particular scene got a lot of response from the kids. William was enthusiastically giving a play-by-play commentary in Swahili that the kids were just eating up. I enjoyed the movie, but even more, I enjoyed watching the audience!

Hopefully we can make this a monthly event. I would love to actually have the kids over to our home to sit on the lawn and watch a movie projected on the wall of our house. But we will have to wait until the it warms up and the rains slow down for that one.

Staff Development Retreat

2010-04-21T15:23:00.005+03:00

Thanks to a generous donor, this last weekend I was able to surprise the staff by taking them out for a day of retreat and staff development. It was great because I was actually able to pull off the surprise. They were all convinced that we were going to spend Saturday in our clinic hall having long boring meetings all day. So when they arrived and saw the van to transport them to a field trip they were thrilled. We went to the Kerio View Restaurant overlooking the Kerio Valley. We were able to do some great team building exercises and enjoyed a delicious lunch of nyama choma (roasted meat).

Here are some great views of the Kerio Valley which is part of the Rift Valley

The Termites are Here

2010-04-16T09:17:00.006+03:00

Spring, the word brings to mind images of flowers blooming, new life, baby chicks, lots of warm fuzzies! What may not come to mind are flying ants and termites. Each year as our heavy rains begin, we get swarms of flying ants followed by swarms of termites. Last night we somehow were blessed by both on the same night! The termites definitely won the competition for biggest turnout!

Even with sealing up the house, some of them managed to find their way into my kitchen where they settled in the sink. They normally come out in swarms during the night hours. They are strongly attracted to light. Since we happen to have electric security lights they really swarm our house. They then crash their bodies into the sides of our house and windows. So thousands of little bugs (or maybe not-so-little!) are effectively knocking on the window while we try to sleep. I actually put earplugs in last night!

The first year I was here I HATED the termite season. The second year I tolerated it a bit better. Well this year I'm actually feeling the excitement of the arrival of the termites. Many of my Kenyan friends and neighbors will tell you that they are "Tamu Sana!" (Very sweet!) I have been told that they are full of fat and protein. They are definitely a delicacy since they only come around during the beginning of the rains. Here are some pictures from the termite excitement this morning.

When I went outside they were basically everywhere

Friends and neighbors came to collect them to fry and eat later

My kitchen sink was full of termites. Two spiders and a beetle decided to join the party

Percival, one of our nurses, offered to demonstrate the proper eating of a raw termite. First you need to get a good up-close-and-personal look at one:

She explained that you have to pull off the head prior to eating or it will bite your tongue:

You don't eat the wings so you can either pull them off or hold it by the wings and bite:

Yum Yum!:

As I write, there are half-a-dozen children outside my office collecting termites for later and getting a little snack in at the same time. Just another day of life in Kenya!

Water is Coming!

2010-04-08T18:50:00.007+03:00

This afternoon there was great rejoicing at the clinic. After many setbacks and a lot of patience (well sort of patience!) the water project is no longer a dream but a reality. The drilling team broke ground this afternoon. As I type my home is filled with the sound of the drilling. Hopefully I'll soon be posting about striking water!

Here is the drill bit being positioned next to the stake that the surveyors marked

Local villagers gathered to watch the process

A close-up of the drilling action

Lex Update

2010-04-06T20:16:00.000+03:00

Thank you all for your prayers! It looks like Lex does have RSV but he is doing well that he will be going home later today. He will discharge with home breathing treatments and oral steroids for a little while. But he has definitely taken a turn for the better. Thanks again!

Please Pray for Lex

2010-04-05T09:24:00.002+03:00

I'm writing today to ask you please intercede for my dear nephew Alexander James Buckland (Lex). Lex was admitted to the hospital this afternoon for respiratory distress. At this point no one there is quite certain as to what is going on with him. He has been wheezing and coughing which has lead to throwing-up. His oxygen saturation is low so they have him on oxygen and are giving him breathing treatments. Also, he has been placed in isolation. My sister Danielle and her husband, Brett, are at Lex's bedside in the hospital right now.

Please pray for Lex to quickly recover from whatever this is that is going on. Pray for the doctors to have wisdom as they treat him. Pray for Danielle and Brett to have supernatural strength and peace during this time. Thank you!

There is No God Like Jehovah!

2010-04-01T06:59:00.003+03:00

Well let me start out by saying this will be a more personal post and is not clinic/ministry related. It may be a bit rambly (is that a word really?) but I want to solidify my commitment to personal health by publicly posting about this journey I'm currently on.

Last fall I started to seriously think about increasing my activity level and start exercising. The good old contemplation stage! The thinking stage moved into me doing an occasional dance DVD workout. Then our schedule got busier, my parents came to visit and I just didn't make the time to exercise. Shortly after my parents left I came down with malaria and pneumonia and wound up in the hospital with a two-month recovery after my discharge.

Finally at the end of Feb I was ready to start. I decided I was going to do it the Kenyan way, by running. Deep inside somewhere I've always wanted to run but never really have. Well with my current physical condition, running was seeming like light years away. But I began to faithfully get up and walk/jog. Mostly walking! Lots of sweating! In just days I had rubbed some blisters. I pressed on and the blisters broke open, bled and became extremely painful.

So I started in with some exercise DVD's while I waited for my heels to heal. Last week marked five weeks of exercising for at least 20 - 40 minutes between 4 and 5 times a week. William and I will be in the USA this fall and my goal is to be able to run a 5K for breast cancer research while we are there.

I had decided that this week it was going to be time to get back outside. However I tried a new DVD a friend loaned me on Saturday and spent the next two days in excruciating pain (the good kind though) after facing "Billy's Bootcamp Workout". So Monday didn't happen, Tues I did an aerobics DVD because of rain, and yesterday exercise didn't happen due to a combo of sleeping in and a busy afternoon/evening.

Today I'm heading out for a two-day leadership conference. So I realized last night if I hope to even make three days of exercise this week, I was going to have to get up and do it in the morning. I dragged myself out the door at 5:45 AM for my first jogging attempt since the "great blister breakdown".

I'll be honest it was tough this morning. My friend and colleague, Juli, has told me that she wants to walk/jog this journey with me. She has repeatedly encouraged me and told me that next week she is going to start joining me for my morning jaunts. As I was struggling down the road this morning I was full of negativity. "Who are you kidding to think you can run a 5K in October? You can barely walk/jog 2K's!" "Juli shouldn't put herself through this, it's a joke watching me try to amble down the road. She climbed Kilimanjaro for goodness sakes!" And the kicker was that after five weeks of exercise I've only lost two lbs. (Definitely need to attack the eating patterns next!) I was again discouraged, tired, and my muscles and ankles were screaming at me that my body was not meant to do this.

When I walk/jog I carry my CD player with an inspirational CD that I burned at the start of this exercise journey. As I began to get closer to my home Twila Paris singing "Days of Elijah" came on. I decided that with her song, I could jog the rest of the way home. As the song moved into the chorus it began to repeat the phrase "There is NO god like Jehovah!" My eyes suddenly filled with tears.

I realized that I am not on this journey alone. There really is NO god like MY JEHOVAH! Suddenly it was time to run. I ran the rest of the way home. I was jumping over rocks and my heart was soaring. I was thinking about how many things my Jehovah has brought me through. Why is it that this journey should be any different than the past? He has taken me through the loss of people I love. He walked with my family through my father's cancer. He held my hand through the Post-Election-Violence in Kenya and spared our lives during that time and later when we were in a serious car accident on an African road. He truly is a great and mighty! And I cannot tell you how glorious it felt to actually run (even if it was only a few meters).

So I share this with you, the general public of the blogging world, for several reasons. First I want to tell you that there really is no God like my Jehovah. He has walked me through the fire in the past and will walk me through this journey as well. Wherever you are in your life today He wants to meet you there. He will walk through the journey with you if you just ask him. It doesn't matter how high the mountain may be or how low the valley may dip. Once you ask him to join your life's journey, he will NEVER leave or forsake you!

Secondly I want to put my commitment to a healthier lifestyle out there for the public to see. I want the accountability to keep pressing on in this journey. By just reading this you are somehow joining me in that journey.

Thirdly, when I get discouraged I want to come back and read this post and remember that my God will give me the strength and energy to continue down this road to a new me!

Maji ni Uhai! (Water is Life!)

2010-03-18T12:25:00.001+03:00

At 11:25 this morning of March 18th, 2010, history was made on the compound of the Chebaiywa Dispensary! The rumbling of big trucks could be heard as they began to roll on the compound to begin work on a long-awaited water project.

For many years we have talked about the dream of getting clean water to the clinic. A dynamic group from Iowa, called Spanda, jumped on board with the dream and began spearheading the fund-raising for the project. This week that dream of clean water is becoming a reality!

Funds have been raised for the drilling and sealing of the borehole. There are also funds for the purchase of a pump and the building of a pump-house. Before April is finished we will be able to access clean water from the pump. Fund-raising is currently going on to get the funds for the piping and plumbing that will bring running water right into the clinic treatment rooms.

I have to say that as I saw the huge trucks pulling onto our compound, I felt a surge of adrenaline that reminded me of the moments before walking into the stadium for my graduation from nursing school. How exciting to see such a huge dream coming to fruition! I'll keep you posted on the progression of this incredible water project!

William and I showing the marker for the drilling site.

Unloading one of the trucks with supplies for the drilling.

One of the last times this field will look like this!

Twins Update

2010-03-04T12:25:00.003+03:00

This morning I was thrilled to be able to do a well-baby visit with the twin sisters I told you about last month. (Click here to read about their birth.) There names are Ivene Chepchumba(left) and Ivone Jerop (right). It was Jerop who we did CPR on. And unbelievably she was the most alert and interactive of the two today. Thanks for your prayers for these precious little ones!

Sunday Thoughts

2010-02-28T12:33:00.003+03:00

Yesterday I was at a Seventh Day Adventist Church for the entire day. As a clinic we have been doing quite a few health-education outreaches lately. We had been invited by this particular church to come and give a health presentation after the service. We arrived around 9AM and took part in the morning small-group Bible study. That was followed by the service. Let me tell you that church can sing! I felt like I had stepped into a concert hall with all of the beautiful melodies and harmonies.

After the church service it was time for lunch. This is where the fact that I was the only white person in the group became really apparent. We were served a very traditional lunch of maize and beans. As I was eating my lunch I spotted a bug, then another, and then another. That's when you have to make the decision to stop looking for bugs, focus on the people around you and just eat!

As we finished up the meal I was surrounded by children. Now most of these children have seen a white person before but not touched one. I told William last night that I kind of felt like I had become an animal in the petting zoo. I had so many children trying to shake my hand, touch my arm or stroke my hair. Because I live in a village where the people are used to me and other wazungu (white people) I don't get the reaction of kids clambering to touch me on an everyday basis.

After the visiting time, the church had a scheduled business meeting. By the time we were starting our presentation I think it was around 4PM. Needless to say, it was an all-day experience. But we had lots of interest and lots of questions at the end of the presentation. I'm glad we went!

Next week is going to be pretty full, so I had decided that after an all-day church experience on Saturday I was going to make Sunday a day of rest. I slept in a bit and then enjoyed breakfast with William. As we ate, he put on a slideshow of all the pictures from our visit to America in 2008. As we saw pictures of people surrounding and encouraging us we were both blessed. It was a wonderful reminder of the team we have back in the USA and around the world who are standing with us in our work here! As we saw pictures of specific donors or prayer partners we took a moment to thank the Lord for their partnership.

My heart was filled with the knowledge that sometimes we can be the hands and feet behind the heart and mind of those outside of Africa. We truly are a body doing ministry together! So to those of you who help make it possible for us to be here, please know that you are truly appreciated. Have a beautiful Sunday!

The Degree's I'm Missing

2010-02-26T19:06:00.002+03:00

Sometimes, when I feel that I have to be a Jack-of-all-trades, I wish that I had more education to back me up. I think by now I should have earned honorary doctorates in flexibility and creativity.

Yesterday I was wishing that I had formal training in accounting. I have always HATED math and dealing with numbers. Just ask my dad who persevered through my tears in teaching me my times tables. As the clinic administrator I handle clinic finances. I've been keeping these beautiful spreadsheets updated. (I just learned how to use Excel last year!) But it's about to get a lot more complicated as I'm learning the Kenyan way of managing a checkbook and bookkeeping. They prefer paper to electronic. Say a prayer that I maintain my sanity!

Today we had another one of those complicated cases that makes me wish I had a strong background in social work. I'm telling you, being a medical provider in a village definitely has different dynamics than being one in Southern CA! Two of our community members got in a fight early on in the afternoon. We could hear the emergency village alert screams coming from across the river but didn't know what was going on until the wounded started showing up at the clinic.

The first patient had his head cut and needed suturing. The other man didn't show up for a few hours. But when he arrived we could see the situation was critical. He was intoxicated and had been stabbed in the flank. The wound was extremely deep. He needed to get to the hospital. The challenge was that he didn't have the funds to pay for the fuel to be transported. What is really frustrating about this situation is that one of my colleagues had hired him for a short-term labor job. She paid him a decent sized sum of money for the work just last night. So we knew that less than 24 hrs ago he had more than enough money to handle the situation.

We had to call the family to get them to pool resources to buy fuel for the transport trip to town. It's times like this when I really wish I could pick up a phone and activate the social services system. However it never ceases to surprise me how families and community members do come together at times like this. Hopefully the man's internal organs weren't horribly damaged. After all he does have a family to take care of (and an alcoholic habit to break!).

As I was in the process of writing this post I was reminded of a third skill I've had to acquire, grant writing. We just received word that our clinic has been chosen to receive a grant for a medical referencing program. I had applied for it last year and actually forgot that we were waiting for an answer. I recently applied for another grant which would fund us for a women's health education program. Please pray that our proposal is looked at with favor during the review process. We won't find out about that one until sometime in May.

Well I need to finish up a brochure I'm designing for the clinic and then I'm going to call it a day! Tomorrow we are doing an outreach project at one of our staff member's church. Have a blessed day!

Baby Warmer

2010-02-24T12:53:00.004+03:00

At the clinic we recently had this awesome "Baby Warmer" custom made for us. Thanks to a generous donor in the USA we were able to design and have this piece of equipment built for our maternity unit. Heat loss in a newborn can be a serious situation. So it will be a huge blessing to have this unit to assist babies who are in distress or just need a little warming.

The unit can serve as a crib, a warmer or a resuscitation unit. There is a heating unit on the left side that blows warm air on the baby.

The front and right side break down so that the nurses can get in close to the baby to do emergency procedures if needed. There is even a hidden drawer on the right side where emergency equipment can be stored.

Phoebe, one of our expectant mamas was checking out the new unit with our nurse, Percival.

oops

2010-02-19T10:36:00.004+03:00

Well I had this great plan of trying to make sure that I get at least one blog post up every week. And it's been more than two weeks since my last post. Oops! Sorry for those of you who regularly check!

It feels like the last few weeks have really just flown by. It's been good though. I spent quite a few hours pounding out a grant proposal. I've been dreaming about doing a big women's educational outreach for a long time now. So I've recently applied for a grant to run an education program for the women and girls in our community. After all those hours of work to get it submitted before the deadline, it's a bit of a let down to realize that we will have to wait almost four months to hear if we will be awarded money for our project!

We did a photo shoot with the clinic staff earlier this week. I really believe that we have been blessed with an awesome staff! It's been exciting to see the different people who I believe God has hand-picked to work together in this ministry. It's great to see the heart's of compassion that they have as we reach out to patients on a physical, emotional and spiritual level.

In these last two weeks our friend Juli brought in the first two patients for her new work, Living Room Ministries International where she will be providing hospice care. As the ministry is just launching she doesn't really have a regular working staff yet. There are a few volunteers from our community who are cooking and care-giving to these two ladies. One of the patients really needs a high level of care and has been suffering for some time. The building the patients are staying in is on the same compound as our clinic. So we can all hear her regular cries of fear and pain. I told Juli that I was willing to assist her however I could, and we made arrangements for me to come assess the patient's pressure sores and help put together a skin-care plan.

Some of our clinic staff members came to my office yesterday before I left and said that they want to help Juli and her patients. So a few of our staff joined Juli to help care for her patient yesterday afternoon. It was a heart-breaking and moving hour as we assessed her skin and provided wound care. As I would approach her wounds she would cry out and scream like a fire-siren in both fear and pain. There were moments where I wanted to put in ear-plugs or run out of the room. But there were other moments where my heart was so full of love and compassion it was overwhelming. As I would take this beautiful woman's hand in mine and look in her eyes I could see Jesus. She would make eye contact through the tears and one time did her best to smile at me.

Please pray for Juli and her team as they launch this powerful new ministry. Pray also for our clinic staff as we will often be working closely with the ministry in our work. It is such a blessing to me to see what can happen when a group of people not only listen to the call God has put on their hearts, but respond to it in action!

INSANE 24 Hours

2010-02-05T09:18:00.002+03:00

WOW! The last 24 hours have been absolutely insane! If I hadn't put up two posts yesterday I wouldn't even know where to start. We've had a few major events since the last post. Here are the highlights and then I'll go into details below:

My sister Danielle Buckland gave birth to her firstborn a little before 6PM on Feb 4th. Baby boy Lex had some complications and may have to spend some time in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)
Right around closing time at the clinic here in Kenya, we had a twin delivery. The second baby had complications and we provided support resuscitation for over an hour before she perked up.

Now for the details! If you read my posts from yesterday you will know that it was a rough morning and our staff were already wiped out by mid-afternoon. It's been over a year since we had a patient die at our clinic. So our staff took it pretty hard. Especially because we all thought that this little girl was going to make a full recovery. We were able to get her body transported to her home where she would be buried.

Late in the afternoon we had a mother in labor arrive. She was already dilated to 7-8 cm so she was too far into labor to refer out. On assessment Kiptoo found she was carrying twins. Baby girl #1 delivered just fine. The problem was that part of baby girl #2's umbilical cord came out with baby #1. The danger of a prolapsed cord is that it will be compressed as the baby delivers. Basically the cord gets squeezed during the delivery process. That squeezing cuts off circulation to the baby thus depriving her of oxygen.

As soon as we saw the cord, the power went out and the room went completely dark. Thank God we had some awesome donations of head-flashlights by some teams last year. We now keep one in each department. So I fumbled around finding the maternity headlamp as someone else ran to get a second one. In less than a minute I was gowned and gloved and reaching in with my fingers to decompress the cord. I could go into a lot of graphic details here but I've probably already gone a bit to far....

So finally the baby was delivered in the dark and was pretty much non-responsive. No breathing, but she had a strong heartbeat. So we initiated support breathing with a resuscitation bag. After a few minutes the heartbeat dropped below 100 so we began support compressions. We were now doing CPR for the second time in one day. A pretty big deal for our little clinic!

We continued with supportive resuscitation and suctioning for well over an hour. I kept doing spot checks and kept finding a decent heartbeat. Our team decided that as long as we had a heartbeat we would keep going. And we were thrilled with the fact that the baby never turned blue. About thirty minutes in she started trying to gasp every few minutes. As her gasps got closer and closer together our faith grew. Her sister start crying and we told baby #2 "Can you hear your sis cheering for you? Come on breathe little one!". Then as I would suction her she would make an effort to suck on the tube I was placing in her mouth. Soon enough she started breathing steadily on her own. Within a few hours she had a hearty cry and was breast-feeding. Mom and both babies were doing great when they discharged this morning.

It was late by the time I got home. After assisting with a delivery I always want a hot shower. Our shower uses electricity to heat the water and since the power was out I heated water on the stove to get washed up. We had scrambled eggs for dinner. Sometimes I wish we had take-out or could call for a pizza!

About 20 minutes after I went to bed I got a call from my sister Danielle that her water and broken and she was in labor. She delivered a baby boy a little before 6PM CA time. Baby Lex had a double nuchal cord which means that the cord was wrapped around his neck twice. He was born almost three weeks early and was 6lbs 5oz I believe. My sister had gestational diabetes and when Lex was born his blood sugars were extremely low. There was talk about sending him to the NICU but they are trying to bring his blood sugars up while he is with Danielle and Brett.

They are closely monitoring the situation and will take him to the NICU if it becomes necessary. Danielle went totally natural for the childbirth and has already advised me that when it is my turn I should come to the USA and get hooked up with an epidural! I've asked them to text me if he gets admitted to the NICU. Otherwise I'll just call them in the morning (my evening) to check on things.

As you can probably imagine, I'm hoping for a calm, slow day today!

From Hope to Tragedy

2010-02-04T15:21:00.003+03:00

Well I don't often blog twice on the same day but I feel obligated to follow through on what happened to the girl in my previous post.

As I mentioned in the last post, she came in with malaria this morning and was treated. She quickly improved and was looking close to being ready to discharge home.

I was getting ready to wrap up some paperwork when I got a call from William that there was a group of wazungu (white people) headed my way. He said he met them on the road and they wanted a tour of the clinic. They arrived just a few minutes later.

I was starting the tour with them when our receptionist came and told me that Kiptoo (our most experienced nurse) needed me NOW. I knew that there was no way Kiptoo would have interrupted a clinic tour for something minor. I rushed to the observation room and found him with emergency resuscitation equipment and our little girl. In medical terms she had crashed.

I gave myself about two seconds to get over the shock and then started in with CPR. We worked on her for a good half hour doing CPR and giving resuscitation drugs before acknowledging that she was gone and there was nothing more we could do.

Her mother told us that right before she got really sick and became unresponsive she told her mom that she had fallen out of a tree that morning but hadn't told anyone at the time. She said that her chest had been hurting since but she didn't say anything because she thought she would be in trouble.

Our staff all came to the conclusion that she must have had internal injuries from the fall. Because her malaria was turning around and we thought things were looking great before she suddenly crashed.

Talk about a rough day! We then had to go out in the hallway and break the news to mom. We took her in my office. It took a while for the fact that her daughter had just died to really settle in. The moment it really hit her she doubled over and began wailing. My eyes filled with tears as I wrapped my arms around her. Days like this are so hard. Yesterday we victoriously helped save a young life, today we lost one....

This is How We Do It

2010-02-04T12:19:00.002+03:00

Every now and then I'm reminded of the vast differences of practicing medicine in the USA and in rural Africa. This morning I had another one of those little reminders.

Before moving here I had worked in an emergency room for a few years. Whenever we had a patient come in by ambulance we would get a phone call ahead of time. Before the patient arrived we would know the age, sex, chief complaint and some vital statistics on the patient. The patient usually had an IV in place by the time they arrived. Once the patient arrived a team would practically pounce on him/her drawing blood, giving medications, prepping for x-ray/CT scan etc.

This morning one of our nurses, Percival, came and got me from my office. "We have an emergency on the way. It's a child maybe about ten-years-old." I was surprised that she had this info in advance. So I asked her if someone had called to let us know that the child was coming. "Oh no, I just looked out the window and saw the mom carrying the child here." By the time we got to the front of the clinic the mother and child were almost here.

Sure enough it was an 11-year-old girl with severe malaria. Fever of 103.6, vomiting, weakness, headache, body aches etc. When I first moved here I probably would have motioned to send such a case to the hospital immediately. But with time I've learned that our clinic can manage a much higher acuity than I would have expected. Time and time again I've seen these cases turn around with just a few hours of treatment in our observation room.

Don't get me wrong, we do refer patients to the hospital, just not as quickly as my American mindset originally thought that we should. Yesterday we sent a 12-year-old girl to the hospital. After an hour of treatment it was clear that she was not improving and was possibly even getting worse. We all started working the phones looking for a vehicle to take her. It wound up being our ELI Kipkaren director, Peter who drove her to the hospital in a vehicle from the Training Center. As our staff carried the girl to the car and tried to make her comfortable the thought crossed my mind "This is how we do it." No fancy Western-ambulance transfers, no medical transport team, no frills, bells or whistles. But we always do the best we can with what we have to work with. And our awesome little team saves lives every week.

Peter later reported to me that the doctors who first saw her told him that there was nothing to do for her at the moment because our clinic had already done so much. The last update was that they would admit her for observation and do lab tests continuing the treatment we initiated in a few hours.

Our little girl today got some IV fluid, quinine, antibiotics and medications to stop the nausea and bring down her fever. After an hour her fever had broken and she was resting much easier. We will keep her for a few more hours to make sure she is really on the mend before letting her go home. She'll have to return for another injection tonight and again tomorrow morning.

Under an Acacia Tree

2010-01-28T15:17:00.004+03:00

Health Classes being taught by clinic staff under an acacia tree

Just this month our clinic has launched Dental and Optometry Services. We are in the process of doing some community outreach for both of these departments. We are currently going on the road and visiting local primary and secondary schools. At each visit we let the children and teachers know about the services that are now available at the clinic. Then Jeremiah does a dental presentation and Kemboi gives a presentation on eyes and eye-care.

Kemboi using a model eye to teach about the lens.

Jeremiah demonstrates what can happen to your teeth if you don't take care of them!

At the end of the presentation Jeremiah questioned the children about main points from the talk. This young man answered enough questions correctly to earn a toothbrush and toothpaste!

Thankful

2010-01-26T10:25:00.002+03:00

This weekend was a bit difficult for me. I lost uncle David on Friday and missed my little sister's baby shower on Saturday. I have to confess that Saturday afternoon was one of those times that I was really wishing I was in America and not in Kenya. Yet over Sunday and Monday my spirits were lifted as I took some time to count my blessings. Among those blessings are the people in our life who support William's and my work in Kenya.

This morning I'm taking a moment to be thankful for the amazing team that helps William and I to be here doing what we do in Kenya.

I'm so blessed with the support we regularly receive. I appreciate the little things like encouraging comments on this blog and uplifting e-mails. And let me tell you those care packages make my month when they come! The teams and interns that come and give of their time to volunteer in our village are such a blessing. I'm incredibly grateful for the partners who stand with us daily in prayer for our work here. And of course I am very thankful for the financial supporters who make it physically possible for us to be here. From the one-time donors to the monthly supporters, please know that you are making a difference in Africa through your giving. If you fall into any of the above categories please know that I thanked God for you this morning!

So as I move into the busy parts of my day let me begin with the thought that "This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it!"

FYI from Haiti

2010-01-24T09:56:00.002+03:00

I know that there are nurses who follow my blog. The following post is from a physician working in Haiti. They have an urgent need for qualified nurses to come and volunteer in their hospital. As I'm unable to go myself I thought I would pass the post along to those who may be willing and able.

ATTN:

We are in urgent need of nurses who are able to come down here and volunteer ASAP. We are specifically looking for people who are able to leave within the next 2 days, and stay for 2 weeks or longer.

Your role could include the following:

Wound care (wound debridement, dressings, wound vac placement, etc)
Med/surg inpatient care (with shifts being 12 hour days or nights, likely 5-6 shifts per week) with a probable patient load of 10-20 patients per nurse
Acute care ER/OR nursing, assisting doctors in the care of injured and ill patients
Managing the flow of patients, assisting doctors with completing medical records, gathering medications and supplies, providing discharge instructions, restocking supplies, managing the central administration desk, etc

MUST have the following qualifications:

Be able to leave by Monday or Tuesday and stay for at least 1 week (prefer longer)
RN certification
At least 2 years clinical experience in an inpatient, ER, ICU, or OR setting. WOUND CARE nurses are especially needed, especially if you are also skilled in ER/inpatient care
Previous travel to the developing (3rd) world
Flexibility (you may be asked to do things that are not officially a part of your job description)
Ability to work long hours and function in less than ideal conditions with less than adequate sleep
Ability to submit to our medical chain of command that is already in place; we do not want people who are going to come down here and try to do their own thing (in other words...leave your egos at the door)
Be able to fund your own travel to Florida, and possibly to Haiti (we are currently bringing in medical professionals free of charge on many flights from various locations in Florida, but this opportunity may not last)

We prefer the following qualifications:

Previous medical experience in the developing world
Ability to speak Haitian Creole
Ability to stay 2 weeks or longer

While you are here, you will be staying in cramped quarters. You will likely eat snack foods most of the time and may not eat a hot meal for several days in a row. It is hot and dusty here. You will get dirty. You may not be able to shower every day. You will need to pack your bags with medical supplies from our needs list, and also bring in food for yourself (things like granola bars, fruit snacks, cereal, etc).

At the same time, you will have an very rewarding experience caring for some special and grateful patients. You will be helping save lives. And you will be working with some incredible people. This work is demanding, but very gratifying.

If you meet these qualifications and are interested, please contact Shelley Stammis ASAP at lexismom1972@yahoo.com and please cc me on the e-mail (halv0105@umn.edu). In your e-mail, please describe in detail how you meet the above qualifications. If you are interested but do not meet ALL of these qualifications, we are grateful for your interest, but please do not contact Shelley or me at this time, as we simply do not have the time to respond to every inquiry we get.

THANK YOU in advance for your interest and for caring about Haiti! We so appreciate your support and willingness to help.

Jen Halverson, M.D.

Heartline Clinic & Hospital

Photo of Robenson,
4 year old boy that came in very lethargic with a broken arm -
now doing really well.

Kids in Simone Pele, taken on one of the runs to pick-up patients.

In Loving Memory

2010-01-22T17:20:00.003+03:00

Uncle David and Aunt Betty

After a long battle with ALS my Uncle David passed away at 7:30PM on January 21st. I can't write enough here to describe what a wonderful and amazing man he was. First and foremost he loved the Lord. He was a man who knew what he believed and lived his life by those principles. He loved my Aunt Betty and he loved his family. He was never afraid of hard work. He loved America and was proud to have served his country.

I remember as a little girl being amazed at his skillful style as he poured me a glass of milk. When I was fourteen and preparing to leave for my first mission trip he pulled me aside and said that he knew many people wouldn't understand what I was doing, but that he did and he was proud of me.

In recent years it has been hard to see my strong and vibrant uncle begin to lose coordination and mobility. I knew that his disease was progressing. But when I left the USA a year ago I imagined to myself that Uncle David would be there for my next visit. It's really hard to know that I'll never see that amazing smile and get one of those special hugs again. It's hard to know that I never got a chance to say goodbye. And yet at the same time I wouldn't want him to be here suffering. And I know that he is once again full and complete. I bet he is jumping around in heaven and doing a jig now that he is no longer constrained by ALS! His greatest desire was "That every one would come to Jesus for eternal salvation."

I would greatly appreciate your prayers for my family during this time of loss. Please pray especially for Aunt Betty as she has just lost her life partner. Thank you.

Scantania

2010-01-21T18:46:00.002+03:00

This is Scantania. She is four-years-old and much cuter than a bugs ear! Scanti (as her mom calls her) recently suffered an injury that is all to common in our rural community. She fell into a cooking pot of boiling fluid. She actually fell backwards and burned her bottom badly. She threw her arms back to try and break her fall and had her hands burned as well.

She had pretty horrific third degree burns and spent quite a bit of time in the hospital. She was discharged earlier this week and is coming to our clinic for regular debrieding and dressing changes. The debrieding involves the removal of the dead tissue. It is a pretty traumatic procedure for poor little Scanti. If you look closely at her right hand you will see the pink skin showing through after we removed all of the dead crusted skin over it. She is such a trooper. And she is probably one of the most eloquent four-year-olds I've ever met.

She was given a doll at her last visit. During the procedure she cried out in Swahili "I don't need your things, take the doll back and stop!".

Please pray with us for the quick healing and recovery of Scantania. Also pray for wisdom on how best to approach this issue in our community. The challenge is that women cook over fires on the ground. Unfortunately we see these types of injuries all too often. I'd like to start doing more education in our community about putting up some sort of barrier around the cooking fire.

Children's Home Shout-Out

2010-01-21T09:45:00.002+03:00

Yesterday Kenya's newspaper "The Standard" ran a two page article on ELI's children's home here in Kipkaren. What's really exciting is that this is the main national newspaper for Kenya. Click here if you would like to see the online version of the article.

My Journey to Kenya - Part 3

2010-01-09T09:51:00.004+03:00

All right, today I'm back on track with the story of how I came to be in Kenya.

Needless to say those mission trips as a high-school student had a huge impact on my future. I actually went back twice with TMI as a leader spending time in Madagascar, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

I was pretty sure that I was going to wind up as a full-time-medical missionary somewhere in either Zimbabwe or Mozambique.

The road to my nursing career took many twists and turns along the way. I spent time as a pre-med student, pre-PA student and then finally decided that I ultimately wanted to be a Nurse Practitioner.

After finishing my bachelor's degree in nursing I was starting to think about master's programs and about mission agencies. That's when my church decided to send a short-term team to Kenya with Empowering Lives International (ELI). I have to be honest and tell you that I never had much interest in Kenya. I always thought it was a very commercialized country with a huge tourism industry. I had a passion for the remote and wanted to serve somewhere where I felt like I was really making a difference. I also knew that I wanted to work with an organization that valued nationals and the strengths that they brought to the table. I hated the old-school model of missionaries coming in as the "Great White Hope".

So although I never thought I would have a long-term interest in Kenya I was very interested in going to do some short-term work with my church.

When I got to the village of Kipkaren I was blown away by what I found. I discovered that Kenya actually does have rural villages. I found national Kenyans striving to make a difference in their community. I found a health clinic that was doing the things I had dreamed of doing.

And I met William... We spent a bit of time each afternoon just talking and getting to know each other. At the time that I left I felt like there might be something there but also thought I could be imagining things.

I went back to the states and wound up applying to UCLA's Family Nurse Practitioner program. I also approached ELI and told them I would like to go back to Kipkaren on my own to really see what day-to-day life and ministry were like there. I stacked all of my vacation time together and did an internship in the clinic in the spring of 2005. I loved my work in the clinic. It was a privilege to finally get a taste of the work I had dreamed of for so many years. During my time there it became clear that there definitely was something there with William and I.

William told me that he was interested in pursuing a relationship leading toward marriage. I told him that I had just been accepted into a two-year master's program at UCLA. He told me he would wait for me.

When I returned to the states, William and I stayed in close contact. We spent time praying and seeking the Lord's will for our future. It became apparent to me that I was going to need to spend an extended period of time in his village before I could know for sure if this was where God was leading me. I approached the ELI leadership and told them of our situation. I told them that I wanted to be honest and up-front about my relationship with William before scheduling a return to the village.

In 2006 I spent my entire summer break in Kipkaren. The timing was perfect because ELI was getting ready to open their children's home in the village. I was able to do the medical intake on the first 60 children to enter the home. That summer William and I became engaged.

I graduated the summer of 2007 and moved to Kenya later that year to join full-time staff with ELI. William and I were married on December 14, 2007.

So here I am in Kenya living out my high-school dream of providing medical care in rural Africa. Thanks for joining me on this journey!

Side trip on my Journey to Kenya

2010-01-08T14:17:00.003+03:00

Okay so I have to say that I've enjoyed this trip down memory lane. While I was thinking about my summer in Mozambique I couldn't help but remember the crazy journey from Mozambique back to the USA. So let me head down a little rabbit trail today and take you along on the memory train. Okay, so maybe it's actually a big rabbit trail, but I think the story is too entertaining to miss out on sharing. Now it's been almost 15 years so hopefully my memory serves me right. Fellow Mozambique team members please feel free to add your memories or correct mine if you deem necessary!

I remember that leaving Mozambique was very emotional for me. God had done so much in my heart during that summer that I didn't want to leave the place behind.

After leaving Mozambique but before going back to the USA we spent some time in Zimbabwe debriefing and preparing for re-entry to US culture. On our way to our debriefing site we took an overnight train. (Just picture early American trains traveling across an African countryside that looks like it is out of the Lion King.)

As we were waiting for the train to depart I decided to step away from the group to get a bit of personal space. Now I could still see the group so I really wasn't that far away. But I definitely wasn't right next to anyone from the team. Well a man came up and grabbed my arm and started pulling me with him. I said no and pulled my arm back. He grabbed me once more and this time I pulled my whole body away and shouted NO! By then a few of my team members/leaders had noticed what was going on and headed my way. The man immediately left. This is the first time I have publicly told that part of the story. If my parents had known back then I doubt they would have EVER let me go back to Africa!

After our time of debriefing we again traveled by train to the Harare Airport in Zimbabwe. We were flying on Balkan Airlines. (I was going to allow them to remain anonymous by calling them an Unnamed Eastern European airline. But I just learned they went out of business eight years ago so I will go ahead and name them!)

On our journey to Mozambique this lovely airline somehow managed to load only five or six (my memory is a bit fuzzy on exact number but I know it wasn't more than six) of our approximately 60 bags on the plane. It took more than a week for our luggage to catch up to us.

Well on our way home our lovely Balkan plane was sitting on the runway when we arrived at the airport in Zimbabwe. Shortly after we arrived our flight status went up as being "Delayed one hour". After a while it changed to "Two Hours". Soon it was "Four Hours". Before we knew it our flight was being "Delayed Indefinitely". We wound up spending 24hrs at the airport while they repaired the plane.

The next day we made the flight to Sofia, Bulgaria. We stopped in Lagos, Nigeria and Malta to refuel on our way to Bulgaria. Well somewhere along the ride it occurred to a number of the passengers that Bulgaria only has a few flights to the USA every week. And with our 24hr delay we had missed our connection.

A small group who were also bound for America decided that we should all stay on the plane and refuse to get off until they flew us directly to America. Hello people! Did you not notice that we had to stop TWICE for fuel on the way here? Our team declined the offer to join them in the protest and proceeded to the terminal. Well those that refused to get off the plane caused a bit of a ruckus and the next thing I knew the plane was surrounded with men with machine guns. Our team joked for a long time about the almost hijacking on the runway!

Of course we had missed our connecting flight. But because it was the airline's fault they were forced to put us up in a hotel for the night and then fly us on to London the next morning. Once we arrived in London we were put on Virgin Atlantic (one of the world's BEST airlines) where one of my leaders and I got a standby seat. At the last minute my leader and I were running to the plane to join the rest of our team.

The flight to NY was rather uneventful and before knew it I was home in Alta Loma, CA.

If you made it this far into the post congratulations! In all fairness I did warn you that it would be a rather large rabbit trail! I'll try to wrap up this Journey to Kenya series tomorrow.

My Journey to Kenya - Part 2

2010-01-07T16:06:00.002+03:00

After an amazing summer with Teen Missions International (TMI) in Brazil I flew home to CA.

(Note to high-school students doing missions trips: Please wait at least a few days after getting home from one missions trip before bringing up a future trip to mom and dad.)

I basically got off the plane and told my family that I was supposed to go to Africa the next year. And sure enough I did. I wound up on the 1995 Mozambique Orphanage Team that had captured my attention the previous summer. It was an amazing and life-changing summer for me. It turned out that half of our team members had been sitting in the same TMI training session the year before and had felt the same urgency as myself to be a part of this team. Having a group of young people so united in their desire to serve the Lord was a beautiful thing to be a part of.

Our first night in Mozambique we heard drums beating as local Bible-school students had their evening devotions. It didn't take long for Africa to get under my skin.

During my time in Mozambique I began reading a biography about Paul Brand. He was a physician who did amazing things with leprosy in India. His medical mission work really had an impact on me. If you would like to read his story for yourself you should check out this book: The Gift of Pain.

One day while on the construction site I had an eye injury. A string that had been tightly strung up was accidentally cut while my face was just a foot away. It flew up and whipped across my eyeball leaving a red mark behind. My vision was affected for several days. I remember someone mentioning that perhaps I should be flown out of the country to get medical attention. That's when it really hit me that because I was an American I had access to good health care. I asked myself "What about all of these Africans who have life-threatening medical problems and have no access to health care or options to travel to get it?"

By the end of that summer I knew that I wanted to pursue a medical route to my future missionary career.

After returning home from Mozambique I made a personal commitment to never date anyone who did not have a passion for full time Christian service in Africa. I knew that God had called me to a life overseas and I did not want any relationship to come between me and that calling. I was often questioned about the "radicalism" of such thinking. Once when in a discussion with someone who thought my commitment was ridiculous the other party asked: "So what if you never find anyone to marry then?" My joking response was "Oh heck, I'll just marry an African then!" So be careful what you joke about because it just may come true!

Part 3 to come soon...

My Journey to Kenya - Part 1

2010-01-06T19:04:00.002+03:00

My journey to full-time medical mission work in Kenya actually began when I was just fourteen years old. My parents had given me a subscription to Brio a Christian teen girls magazine. One of the magazines had a brochure for Teen Missions International (TMI) in it. As I read through the brochure I felt this incredible pull towards a team that would be going to Brazil to do construction and evangelism in the rain forest.

I went to my mom and told her "I really think I'm supposed to go to Brazil next summer." Her reply was something along the lines of "Okay honey, why don't you take some time to pray about it." I did just that. Then I went back to her again and told her that I really believed that God wanted me to go to Brazil. So she agreed that her and my dad would start praying about it as well. After some time they told me that I could apply for the team but that God would need to provide the money to go. If the money didn't come through, I wouldn't go.

I was accepted to the team and began to send out support letters. This was my first faith-building experience in the area of raising support for ministry. The money came very slowly. In fact just a week before I was scheduled to leave it was looking like the trip wouldn't happen after all. Then God worked miracles in the final days and provided me with the full funds for the trip.

The next thing I knew I was on a converted school-bus traveling from CA to FL to attend TMI's training camp. God began doing some amazing things in my heart during those two weeks of intensive training.

One night a man from Liberia spoke. He spoke about his country being from the "dark continent" and how great the need was for strong believers to go and make a difference. During his talk I somehow just knew that that would be my destiny. That God was calling me to a life of full time service overseas.

At the end of the message each night they would have a type of an alter call where students could go forward to do business with God. That night my heart was pounding and my mind was full. I knew that God was calling me and that I needed to respond. So on June 30, 1994 I made my way to the front and told God I was ready to go wherever he would lead me.

Shortly before our training time came to an end, the organization shared some of the plans for the following summer. They talked about teams that would be heading overseas in 1995. One of the teams they talked about was going to Mozambique, Africa to build an orphanage for children who had been orphaned due to AIDS. As they talked about this team my heart again began to pound. I believe the seeds of my love for Africa were planted that day...

Part 2 to Follow in the Coming Days

Mzungu in the Clinic

2010-01-05T10:05:00.002+03:00

After several weeks of sickness I'm finally back in the saddle. I'm still coughing quite a bit. But with my asthma and recovering from pneumonia I expect that will likely continue for a few weeks. But I'm definitely a thousand times better than I was Christmas week.

The other night William and I were settling in to watch a movie on the computer before heading to bed. We heard a vehicle outside. Now you have to understand that our village is a bit off the beaten path and hearing a vehicle at night is not part of our norm. So William went outside to check it out. Shortly later he called me and told me I was needed at the clinic.

"There is a mzungu (white) lady there and Kiptoo (the Kenyan nurse on call) wants your help." As I put on my boots I kept thinking. What the heck is a white lady doing at our clinic in the middle of nowhere at this hour?

It turned out that she was a college student from Wisconsin. She was with a team of 9 other students and teachers who were staying about 20 min from our clinic. They are in Kenya for a few weeks and are running a children's camp. She had just arrived a few days earlier and was super jet-lagged and having some altitude issues. More than anything she was overtired and afraid of getting sick in a foreign country. We gave her some medicine to help her sleep and some oral-rehydration-solution just to give her a little boost. I prayed with her and instructed her to come back the next day if she didn't improve. Well she didn't come back so I'm assuming everything was okay. It was just a funny way to start 2010 with one of my first patients being a college student from the USA.

This week I'm busy getting reports filed, clinic schedules organized, and paperwork ready for patient care in the new year. We are launching dental services at the clinic this week so I'm also getting the dental tech oriented and settled in. It's a week full of paperwork and admin. I'm definitely looking forward to what 2010 holds for the clinic as well as for William and I. Thanks for joining us in the journey!

Malaria Update and Info

2009-12-28T10:06:00.002+03:00

Well I'm very pleased to announce that I'm finished with malaria! Unfortunately I transitioned from malaria into a case of pneumonia. I'm still fighting the pneumonia but taking a turn for the better. Your prayers for continued healing continue to be greatly appreciated.

In the last week or so I've been asked quite a few questions about my malaria. Here are a few and some of their answers:

Isn't there a vaccine against malaria? Were you immunized? No, as of this time there is no vaccine that can prevent malaria. So no, I've not been immunized.
What exactly is malaria? It is a parasite that gets into the bloodstream. Because it is in the bloodstream and the red blood cells, it pretty much has effects on the entire body. The type of malaria I had is called Faliciparum and is actually one of the worst of the four types.
How do you get malaria? The parasite is carried by the anopheles mosquito. The mosquito bites an infected person and then becomes an infected carrier. It takes about a week to ten days before that mosquito can bite an uninfected person and spread the infection. Once an individual is bitten by the infected mosquito it takes a minimum of seven to ten days for the parasite to multiply enough for symptoms to begin.
Why is it that Westerners get so much sicker than nationals when they get malaria? I became so sick because of a few factors. Firstly I had never had malaria in my life and so thus I had not built up any immunity or natural resistance to the disease. My immune system was overloaded and didn't know how to effectively fight, causing me to become very sick. Secondly I had a resistant strain of malaria. So the first and even second-line drugs I was given were not effective in killing the parasite. I required the strongest IV therapies available in order to knock the parasite out.
What are the symptoms? Basically the worst flu of your life! It usually starts with a headache then moves into high fevers, chills, body aches, vomiting and diarrhea. Some people also get lung and kidney involvement. At it's worst it can invade the brain causing cerebral malaria which is often fatal. I did not get cerebral malaria. My fevers were staying in the 104 range while taking medications that are supposed to lower fevers. Because my immune system was so overloaded from trying to fight the malaria I also wound up with a urinary tract infection, respiratory infection and tonsillitis before I was admitted to the hospital.
Now that you have had malaria are you immune to getting it again? Unfortunately no, many of the cases that I treat at the clinic are individuals who have had malaria dozens of times. However, with each exposure to the malaria the immune system theoretically should be a bit stronger and more effective in fighting it.
Are there medications that can prevent malaria and do you take them? Although no drug is a 100% sure thing, there are medications that you can take to help prevent malaria. I highly recommend that anyone traveling to a malaria endemic area take these medications. However because I live in Kenya and plan to be here long-term it isn't so practical for me to be taking these strong drugs for every day of my life.

Hopefully this helps answer some of the questions you may (or may not!) have about malaria. If you would like more information you can click here and check out what the CDC has to say about the disease.

Malaria

2009-12-24T19:02:00.002+03:00

The last ten days I have been battling malaria. This is by far the sickest I have ever been in my life. I started out taking first-line anti-malarial oral drugs. They had no impact and my fevers were soaring up past 103 so the decision was made to switch me over to Quinine. After three days on quinine I continued to get worse with temperatures rising above 104. At that point (on Sunday) the nurse who was treating me referred me to the hospital.

I was admitted to Medi-Heal Hospital in Eldoret shortly after arriving. My white blood cell count's were nearly four times normal. My malaria test was highly positive even after five days of strong treatment. I also had a urinary tract infection, respiratory infection and tonsillitis.

Within 10 minutes of my agreeing to be admitted I had an IV started and was given no less than six drugs. When it was at it's worst I actually dreamed that I was in heaven and was disappointed to wake up. After three days in the hospital I was starting to improve a bit and we realized that we wouldn't be able to pay the hospital bill if I stayed an additional night. So I fought to be discharged with my IV in place.

So for the last few days I've been receiving IV infusions from home. The fevers and chills are completely gone now. I'm just about as weak as a newborn kitten though. I continue to fight this respiratory bug and have a difficult time even thinking about eating anything. I would greatly appreciate your prayers as I continue to try to fight this thing.

All in a Day's Work

2009-12-14T21:54:00.002+03:00

After a great trip to the coast with my hubby, parents, and baby sister I'm back to work. And let me tell you, work is in FULL swing! I'm on call for seven nights straight. The bummer about being on call here is that you still put in a full days work regardless of what happens during the night.

I'm hoping and praying for a restful night because today (besides being our second wedding anniversary) was a pretty full day at the clinic. Here are just a few of the MANY cases that I treated today:

A retained placenta from a woman who delivered at home. She arrived on the back of a motorcycle and was half carried to the maternity ward. The blood dripping down her legs clued me in that it might be a complicated case. The removal (by yours truly) actually went very well and she was able to head home just a few hours later.

The family who came for a follow-up visit for a wound. It was a crazy hand wound. I could see that it had been stitched all over the place. Turns out there was a family fight and the ladies hand got pulverized as a result. Oh, by-the-way, these people happen to be some of my immediate neighbors.

The mom who had her five-year-old stick out his tongue at me. She then explained "The witch did that to him." The tongue looked very normal to me so I asked her to explain. She told me that when he was bewitched he had stones and sand put in his stomach at the same time. She told me this had happened on Thursday. I asked her if she was sure there were stones and sand there; and if they were, how did the witch get them there? She told me that they aren't there anymore because the traditional healer removed them through the skin with his hands that same afternoon. So I verified, "you aren't actually here because of the tongue or the stones?" No, he has malaria. Go figure!

It certainly wasn't a boring day at the dispensary. Now let's hope for a nice, calm, and boring night!

Belated Birthday

2009-12-10T09:45:00.003+03:00

William and I took Ashley out for a belated birthday celebration while we were in Malindi. We took public transport to Watamu and had lunch together. We ate at what William and I call a "Real Kenyan Place". We knew it was a real Kenyan restaurant because my conversation with the waiter went something like this:

Waiter: What would you like?
Michelle: I'll take the pizza (there are lots of Italians on the coast so pizza is findable there!)
Waiter: Our tourist season has been low this year so we aren't making the pizza
Michelle: Okay, then I'll have the chicken
Waiter: We don't have any chicken today
Michelle: Can I get the mushroom soup?
Waiter: We don't have that either
Michelle: What do you have today?
Waiter: Chips (french fries) and sausage
Michelle: That sounds great, can you add an ice cream?
Waiter: Sorry, we don't have any ice cream
Michelle: Okay, no problem, we will all have chips and sausage

I learned a long time ago when eating at a real Kenyan place to not even bother reading the menu. It's better just to ask what is actually available.

After lunch, Ashley and I went into one of the world's leading snake research centers. It was pretty amazing. We saw some incredible and deadly snakes. Ashley got to handle about four of the non-venomous ones.