A full Day's Morning

Wow it's been a full day and I'm just now finishing lunch. Today is Kenyatta Day (a national holiday here in Kenya) so most of my staff are gone. The nurse who was supposed to be with me had a childcare emergency this morning. I am SOOO very glad that our volunteer receptionist offered to come in even though it was a holiday. I would have been dead in the water without her helping to check patients in, translate and help me dispense medications.

We saw 26 patients before lunch. Some of these were first-time prenatal visits. I sewed up a 2-year-old's nose that had been ripped on a rock when she face planted. Then I drained a few abscesses and quite frankly the rest is a bit of a blur!

Then suddenly our waiting room was completely clear right at lunch time. I can't tell you how miraculous that was. Just as Margaret and I were getting ready to close up for lunch a friend/neighbor/co-worker for ELI walked in. He looked extremely distraught. Now this man does not speak a lick of English. Not even the standard "How are you?" In his distress he was speaking Swahili so quickly I wasn't catching anything. I finally had to look at Margaret and ask what he had said. She told me that his daughter Jemeli is dead. I think Sambai must know the word dead because when he heard it he collapsed into a chair crying.

I've treated 24-year-old Jemeli on and off quite a bit in the last six months. She was a type I diabetic who had multiple complications. I've had her hospitalized a number of times in the last two months alone. I told William two weeks ago that it's been hard to see how much she is suffering. I know now that her suffering has ended, but Sambai's heart is completely broken. Please pray for this dear friend as he mourns the loss of his daughter. William is going with him to the hospital this afternoon to start the process of getting her body released. They won't release her today since it's a holiday so someone will likely take the ambulance to get her tomorrow. She will be buried at home just two houses down from my home.

Now I'm back to the clinic to see what this afternoon brings.