This is my last blog post from Kiirua… crazy… The day that we arrived in Kiirua seems like so long ago, yet the time has flown by. We started saying our goodbyes this week… It is strange to know that we probably will not see most of these people ever again. Christina and Kaylynne- the nutrition students- left on Wednesday morning. We were dreading that day, because we figured that once they left, we would be extra homesick. Now that I know that they have arrived in Canada, I am a bit jealous. In a way, I don’t want to leave Kenya, but I am really missing home and knowing that I will be there in a few days, and that Christina and Kaylynne are already there, is making me wish I was there now.
Even though our time is winding down, we’ve been keeping very busy this last week. There was a baby boy born about a week and a half ago. The day after he was born, his mother began feeling dizzy. She went to the bathroom to wash up, and while she was in there, she collapsed and died. We were not at the hospital that day, but Josephine sent us a message to tell us what happened. She was really upset about it. So when we got home that day, we went to visit the little boy, and we have been loving him ever since. His mother died before he had been named, so we named him Joshua. We found out that Joshua’s mother was not married but she knew the father of the child. He, however, is married with another family (which is common practice in Kenya) and is also HIV positive. He is not able to care for another child. It was decided that Joshua would go to the children’s home that we visit every Friday. However, the children’s home is unable to accept children with HIV as the other kids would be put at risk, so they have to do testing before he can go. He will spend the next 7 weeks in the hospital until (hopefully) he is confirmed negative.
When we went to see the baby for the first time, he was very hungry. The hospital does not supply formula like the hospitals at home- everyone is expected to breast feed, or they have to buy their own formula. Joshua’s family could not afford it, so the hospital was feeding him cow’s milk. We fed him a few times, but knowing that cow’s milk would be hard on his stomach, we decided to buy him some formula. Before coming to Kenya, the UPEI CNSA (Canadian Nursing Students Association) donated $150 for us to use to help someone out. We decided that Joshua was that someone. We bought 15 cans of formula. We know that it won’t last very long, but hopefully it will give him the best start possible.
Speaking of the CNSA money, we also used a bit to help out a woman that we met outside of the children’s home the first day we went there. Her name is Joyce. As we were watching the children in their little blue sweaters and their funny blue hats walk home, this woman with a baby tied onto her back came up to us. She was speaking in Kimeru, so we were unable to understand. She was talking to one of the nuns that run the home. Our driver was standing nearby and was kind enough to translate the conversation later on. He said that the woman was asking for help: she has epilepsy and she was out of medication and could not afford to buy more. I noticed that there were scars all over her hands. I was told later, by my friend Dennis, that when Joyce runs out of medication, she has frequent seizures. If she happens to be cooking when a seizure comes on, she often falls into the fire used for cooking. This really worried me- especially since she has a young baby. We decided immediately that we wanted to do something to help her. We purchased some pills for her and Dennis will keep them in the dispensary at the children’s home. When she runs out, he will have them there for her. We met Joyce a few times after we made the arrangements to supply pills for her. She is very shy and very sweet.
The ANS (Association of Nursing Students) of UPEI also donated some money. We donated that soon after we arrived in Kiirua. There is a group of children that come to Sunday school at the church on the hospital compound. Sister Agnes was planning a trip to take the children to Nairobi for a few days. Nairobi is about 4 hours away, but most of these children have never even been further away than Meru (which is 20 minutes away from here). While in Nairobi, the children would attend some church services and sing at them. They were also to visit the reptile museum, the animal orphanage, and the kissing giraffes (the same things that we are going to do when we get to Nairobi tomorrow!) Some of the children’s families were able to find enough money to send their kids on the bus, however there were many that just didn’t have enough. The money that we donated was used to top of the fees for the children’s whose families couldn’t afford it- that way, no one was left behind. We met with the kids after they returned from Nairobi, and they told us that they had a wonderful time. They were all incredibly happy that they were able to go. So thanks to the ANS and CNSA for their donations. The money gave those children an experience of a lifetime, and it helped a very deserving Joyce and little Joshua.
So what else has been going on around here? The first week we arrived in Kiirua, there were orthopedic surgeons from Nairobi doing consultations at St. Theresa’s. They were planning to come for a few days to do a bunch of surgeries. Well, on Tuesday, the surgeons arrived and some of the 41 patients began to arrive. They seriously had 41 surgeries planned for 3 days, using 2 theatres!! And then there were also all the emergency surgeries that happen… It was pretty crazy around there. There was lots of staff on duty, and the theatre staff worked through the night. We had some stuff planned for Wednesday, but we decided that two of us would stay to help and the other two would go do the stuff that we had already booked. Good thing we stayed… We were making deliver packs for sterilization (sterile instruments required for every delivery of a baby) because there were NONE LEFT! (It was that busy). We went to ask our friend Peter for some gauze pads to put in the packs… Problem… no gauzes. So, he handed us a giant roll of gauze and asked us to cut it and fold it accordingly. Ok. So we were making gauzes. When we finished the roll, he asked us to go the pharmacy to get another roll. Ok. When we finished that one, he asked us to please keep going. Because they had so many surgeries booked, we understood that they obviously needed lots of gauze. So we went over to the pharmacy to ask for another roll of gauze. They gave us nine. Soo…. We spent the next two days cutting and folding nine giant rolls of gauze- using the dullest scissors ever, by the way.
I met a new friend. Her name is Mary. She had a baby last week, but she hasn’t been feeling great since, and the baby hasn’t been well either. They are both on the mend, though. I first met her one evening when we happened to be visiting the hospital… I think it was the same day that Joshua’s mother died. Mary was coming out of the theater. She delivered the baby naturally, however had a few complications and had to go to the theater to be fixed up. They must have given her laughing gas or something… I was walking down the hall and Josephine and another nurse were pushing her gurney (which I am pretty sure they call couches here). I heard someone saying “I will doo doo doo doo doo then I will dah dah dah dah dah”… repeatedly. I was very curious about that was happeneing, so I asked Josie if they needed help. They did. I followed them into Mary’s room to help them transfer her from the couch to her bed. Mary continued her little rant about doo-ing and dah-ing, and no one was even cracking a smile. I was having a really hard time holding it in, and all of a sudden, I burst. I laughed and laughed and laughed until I cried. Josie and the other nurse started to laugh and so did the other patients. Mary started talking about God and how that we must fear him. And looking into my eyes, said “even the white people must fear him!” I warned the other patients in the room that it was going to be a long night, and I hoped that they could get some sleep. I visited Mary the next day. She was much less stoned and really sweet. I told her that she made me laugh the night before, and she was more than slightly embarrassed. I have been speaking with her a lot over the last few days. She told me that she is a teacher and a linguist. She knows 14 languages. It isn’t hard to tell that she is a teacher. Each time I see her, she teaches me a few new words. I counted to 10 in Swahili the other day! She told me that some people like to swim, others like to play soccer… but her hobby is making friends. Obviously!
We had a little surprise last Tuesday evening. We were sitting at home and the girls with the burns showed up. She had the saddest look on her face. She must have heard the word around the hospital that the nutrition girls were leaving the next morning. I think she thought that we were leaving too. She came to say goodbye. Luckily, two of the sisters happened to be in our little courtyard at the time, and we had them explain to her that we were not leaving for another week. But……. Now that week is up and today, we have to say goodbye. She has changed so much since we first arrived. First, she was ver yshy, but now… she locks us out of the hospital, grabs our fingers and bites them, mocks our voices and laughs out loud when we act silly- which is all of the time. She pinched me the other day and I said “Ow! Be nice!” and with her best nasally mzungo voice, repeated “Be niiiiice!” while scrunching up her face. She is so funny. Oh, and she also sticks her hands in our pockets and steals our stuff- but always gives it back… unless it happens to be candy. I’m going to miss her.
This weekend, we have been trying to spend lots of time with our friends. On Saturday, we spent the day with Josephine and Kiki. We went to the Meru Sports Club to go swimming. It was a public holiday and there were a million kids there, so it wasn’t the greatest, but we did have fun. Then we went downtown for a bit then went for lunch. We had pizza and fries- our new favorite meal. Kiki loved it, but Josephine had never eaten pizza before and was not a big fan. She likes fries though, so supper was sawa sawa. Saturday evening, we spent time with our friend Dennis and Josephine’s sister and her boyfriend- Mercy and another Dennis. A few other friends joined us. We went to Simba Wells, which is a restaurant/bar that reminds me a lot of the old Heritage. We had a lot of fun. Dennis visited yesterday to say goodbye. I don’t think he got enough of us, though, because he said that he is going to try to come today after work. We are really going to miss him. He has been really good to us and he is one of the kindest, most sincere people I have ever met. All he wants to do is help others. He is going to look out for Joyce and a few other friends that we made while doing outreach.
Last night, we had a few visitors. First, Martin and Kharol, our friends that work for Farmers Helping Farmers, came to say goodbye. We found out, however, that Martin will be in Nairobi until Wednesday, so hopefully we can meet up. Then after they left, our good friend Leonard arrived. I don’t even want to think about saying goodbye to Leonard. When we first met him, I made him a scarf and took a few pictures of him wearing it. I had them printed and gave them to him last night. He was pretty happy. He said that it was his favorite picture ever and asked me to put it on Facebook so he could use it as his profile. He told us that he was talking to one of his friends about us and that they had a conversation about us being fat. He translated for us and said that he told his friend that we have extra large seating capacity and problems with front cargo management. If it had come from anyone else, we may have punched them in the face, however, coming from Leonard…. Everything he says is so quick and dry and so funny. He was over one day last week. He calls Amy ‘Amy Somersault’ so I asked him if he had a funny name for me. Without missing beat, he said: “Yep. Big mama.”
Well, I suppose I have rambled on enough. This might be my last blog ever about Kenya… Maybe I’ll write another one in Nairobi… we’ll see. Thanks to everyone who read and commented. I’m glad to have been able to share my adventure with you. See you all soon!!! Leaving here is bittersweet. I am going to miss my new friends so much- especially knowing that I may never see them again- but I can’t wait to get back home to see you all.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Scouma capisa!
I have just been reading through blog posts from when we first arrived in Kenya, and I have been laughing at how surprised and overwhelmed I was at little things that we are now used to. Like how it was CRAZY that we shared a ride home with a live chicken…. Since that day, we have shared rides with several goats and have carried live chickens home. A live chicken, in a bag, in a vehicle with me is no longer a big deal. How funny is that?
So, we have a few more weeks in Kenya. We have been slowly making the transition from I-never-want-to-leave-Kenya to I-think-I’m-ready-to-go-home. I really do love it here. Someone told us that we would not be satisfied, living in a place like Kenya, because we would not have the things that we have at home. He was probably right, however there are things about Kenya that I really admire and I am really going to miss. People are incredibly resilient and very relaxed. I like that. We were warned, before we came, about a thing called “Kenyan time.” People here don’t value the idea of being on time the way we Canadians do. It can be a bit frustrating, but I think it might be a bit difficult being back in Canada and having to be on time again. Here, people either have to walk long distances or have to wait for a matatu, so when someone says “10:00” that usually means that they will try to leave around 10:00 but might not show up until 12:00. Which reminds me… I lost my watch the other day.
On Monday, I ventured back to the maternity unit. There was a woman in labour and I was getting excited to conduct my first birth. The woman was sent for cesarean… Then another woman came in and I thought that she would be the one. I stood with her for a few hours and held her hand and rubbed her back. I was all prepared to help with the birth of her baby. But all of a sudden, a woman burst through the door, ripped her dress off and jumped up on one of the beds. (It probably wasn’t quite that dramatic). Josephine asked me if I was ready, which I kind of wasn’t. Lynet threw a pair of gloves at me and told me to put them on. FAST. The patient and I both assumed our positions and all of the nurses started yelling “Scouma! Scouma capisa!” (Push! Push with all your might!). I said that I conducted the birth, but I really didn’t do a whole lot- the baby kinda just slid right out. I wiped the baby and clamped and cut the umbilical cord. One of the nurses and I assessed the mother, who seemed to be fine. This seriously happened: the mother, no more than 2 minutes after giving birth, got off of the bed, walked over to the baby warmer, picked up her baby and walked to their room. It was crazy! It was seriously about 15 minutes in total that she was in the labour ward. Not long after, the woman who I had been standing with all morning was ready to push. Allison conducted and I received the baby. She was a beautiful baby girl. The mother took a liking to Stephanie and named the baby after her. Yesterday, Allison and I went to see the mom, and she immediately asked: “Where is Stephanie?” When the mom and baby were discharged, the family made Steph carry the baby out to the car! So sweet!
And a quick little update on my little friend. She has been much more vocal and much less shy the last few weeks. I handed her a Werther’s Original the other day and she said in this loud, confident voice (and in perfect English): “Thank you!” She said all of our names and locked Amy out of the building. Yesterday, I tickled her neck and she grabbed my fingers and bit them! She is a funny little girl.
So we all went to a salon in Meru last week to get our hair braided. At first, I thought I looked hilarious, but it kinda grew on me. For a few days. I was the first to want to rip the ten pounds of extra hair out of my head. The girls helped me take it out on Tuesday… didn’t last long. I had a pretty big afro after the braids came out. Pretty hilarious. Amy’s came out yesterday, and Steph made an appointment to have hers out today. Christina is probably going to keep hers in until she goes home. It looks best on her anyway.
So, we have a few more weeks in Kenya. We have been slowly making the transition from I-never-want-to-leave-Kenya to I-think-I’m-ready-to-go-home. I really do love it here. Someone told us that we would not be satisfied, living in a place like Kenya, because we would not have the things that we have at home. He was probably right, however there are things about Kenya that I really admire and I am really going to miss. People are incredibly resilient and very relaxed. I like that. We were warned, before we came, about a thing called “Kenyan time.” People here don’t value the idea of being on time the way we Canadians do. It can be a bit frustrating, but I think it might be a bit difficult being back in Canada and having to be on time again. Here, people either have to walk long distances or have to wait for a matatu, so when someone says “10:00” that usually means that they will try to leave around 10:00 but might not show up until 12:00. Which reminds me… I lost my watch the other day.
On Monday, I ventured back to the maternity unit. There was a woman in labour and I was getting excited to conduct my first birth. The woman was sent for cesarean… Then another woman came in and I thought that she would be the one. I stood with her for a few hours and held her hand and rubbed her back. I was all prepared to help with the birth of her baby. But all of a sudden, a woman burst through the door, ripped her dress off and jumped up on one of the beds. (It probably wasn’t quite that dramatic). Josephine asked me if I was ready, which I kind of wasn’t. Lynet threw a pair of gloves at me and told me to put them on. FAST. The patient and I both assumed our positions and all of the nurses started yelling “Scouma! Scouma capisa!” (Push! Push with all your might!). I said that I conducted the birth, but I really didn’t do a whole lot- the baby kinda just slid right out. I wiped the baby and clamped and cut the umbilical cord. One of the nurses and I assessed the mother, who seemed to be fine. This seriously happened: the mother, no more than 2 minutes after giving birth, got off of the bed, walked over to the baby warmer, picked up her baby and walked to their room. It was crazy! It was seriously about 15 minutes in total that she was in the labour ward. Not long after, the woman who I had been standing with all morning was ready to push. Allison conducted and I received the baby. She was a beautiful baby girl. The mother took a liking to Stephanie and named the baby after her. Yesterday, Allison and I went to see the mom, and she immediately asked: “Where is Stephanie?” When the mom and baby were discharged, the family made Steph carry the baby out to the car! So sweet!
And a quick little update on my little friend. She has been much more vocal and much less shy the last few weeks. I handed her a Werther’s Original the other day and she said in this loud, confident voice (and in perfect English): “Thank you!” She said all of our names and locked Amy out of the building. Yesterday, I tickled her neck and she grabbed my fingers and bit them! She is a funny little girl.
So we all went to a salon in Meru last week to get our hair braided. At first, I thought I looked hilarious, but it kinda grew on me. For a few days. I was the first to want to rip the ten pounds of extra hair out of my head. The girls helped me take it out on Tuesday… didn’t last long. I had a pretty big afro after the braids came out. Pretty hilarious. Amy’s came out yesterday, and Steph made an appointment to have hers out today. Christina is probably going to keep hers in until she goes home. It looks best on her anyway.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Bread, Braids & Brannulars.
Another early morning in Kiirua. Since being here, I have been waking up ridiculously early most days. This morning, I woke up at 3:30AM. Awesome.
This week has been a bit of a rollercoaster. I don’t know what our problem was, but on Wednesday, we all woke up on the wrong side of the bed. It was the first day that I really felt homesick and the first time that I thought: “Ok. I am ready to go home now.” Fortunately, we had a really great day yesterday, and we’re no longer a bunch of irritable cranky pantses! Yesterday, we did outreach with Josephine, Dennis and Dorocas. We went to Ntemburi, where we never really see any people (so I’m not sure why we go there…) so we walked for a few kilometers down the tarmac (highway). We saw the biggest cows that we have ever seen. Seriously, they were GIANT. I got a few pictures, but I don’t think they really show exactly how huge they were. I wanted Amy to go stand beside one of them, but with her intense fear of cows, she refused. This reminds me of another cow story. Another day doing outreach, this time in Machaka, we were walking down this narrow road, and all of a sudden, a herd of cows (like 8) turned the corner and started walking towards us. Two of them were kind of butting heads and fighting, 4 of them had their eyes on us, and two of them started mating…. They were moving back and forth, all over the road. We had to jump out of the way so as to not get trampled. It’s going to be strange to walk down PEI roads and not move out of the way for cows, goats, and donkeys. The nutrition girls almost got trampled by a herd of camels yesterday. No big deal.
After outreach yesterday, we headed into Meru to get our hair braided. Yep… you heard me. We went to one salon and while we were waiting, a little boy came up and started asking: “How aaaare yoooooou?” He was a street kid, maybe about 8 years old. There are a lot of street kids in Kenya. They sniff gas- as do street kids all over the world, I am sure. It is pretty upsetting to see. He was also having fun lighting matches, which was especially frightening because of the close proximity of the bottle of gas he was holding with his teeth. The other day, we saw a young man with burns all over his face. We gave him a bag of popcorn and a loaf of bread. A few minutes later, we saw him walking down the road with a bottle of gas hanging out of his mouth. We are assuming that gas-sniffing and match-lighting contributed to his burns- and that he probably traded the bread that we gave him for gas. It is really hard to know if we are doing good or causing more damage. It’s something that I have been thinking about a lot since we’ve been here.
So, the hair braiding didn’t work out yesterday, but we made appointments for today. We’re pretty excited to see how ridiculous we will look! Our friend Kiki (Josephine’s daughter) got her hair plaited (braided) a few weeks ago and it looks super cute, so we decided that we’d all go for the same style. She is African and 8-years-old, though, so we are not expecting to look as cute as she does!
Since being here, we have been having a bit of trouble starting IVs. The brannulars (IV cannulas) are pretty different than the ones we are used to. Also, it is much more difficult to locate veins under dark skin. Plus, because many people work (with their hands and not with farm equipment) in the fields, their skin is very tough. I have tried to insert a few but was not successful. But, I was determined. On Monday morning, when I arrived at the hospital, I told everyone that if there were any IVs to start, I was going to do them. There was one. I went in to the room and prepared myself. I tied a latex glove around the patients arm- they use gloves as tourniquets. Did I mention that Kenyans are very resourceful? I asked the man to squeeze his fist a few time, and out popped the biggest, straightest, juiciest vein that I ever did see. I angled the needle, pricked the skin, and landed the brannula like an airplane- just like Margaret taught me. And FLASHBACK! I was successful- and pretty proud of myself. On Wednesday, I tried again on another patient, though was not successful. However, two other people had to try several times before they were able to start the IV.
Our little friend went for another skin graft surgery on Tuesday. We were doing a blood pressure clinic for a women’s group in Micanduri so were unable to attend, however, our friend Elisa, a medical student from Italy, went to the surgery and said that it went well. The skin from the previous skin graft was taking very well and spreading over the surface of the burn, so Dr. Ngeera only had to remove a small amount of skin from her leg to graft on to a small area on her back. She recovered much more quickly from the second surgery. One Wednesday, she was up and walking around the hospital and smiling her sweet little smile.
Well, that is all for now. I may post a picture later of our braids- depending on how ridiculous we look!
This week has been a bit of a rollercoaster. I don’t know what our problem was, but on Wednesday, we all woke up on the wrong side of the bed. It was the first day that I really felt homesick and the first time that I thought: “Ok. I am ready to go home now.” Fortunately, we had a really great day yesterday, and we’re no longer a bunch of irritable cranky pantses! Yesterday, we did outreach with Josephine, Dennis and Dorocas. We went to Ntemburi, where we never really see any people (so I’m not sure why we go there…) so we walked for a few kilometers down the tarmac (highway). We saw the biggest cows that we have ever seen. Seriously, they were GIANT. I got a few pictures, but I don’t think they really show exactly how huge they were. I wanted Amy to go stand beside one of them, but with her intense fear of cows, she refused. This reminds me of another cow story. Another day doing outreach, this time in Machaka, we were walking down this narrow road, and all of a sudden, a herd of cows (like 8) turned the corner and started walking towards us. Two of them were kind of butting heads and fighting, 4 of them had their eyes on us, and two of them started mating…. They were moving back and forth, all over the road. We had to jump out of the way so as to not get trampled. It’s going to be strange to walk down PEI roads and not move out of the way for cows, goats, and donkeys. The nutrition girls almost got trampled by a herd of camels yesterday. No big deal.
After outreach yesterday, we headed into Meru to get our hair braided. Yep… you heard me. We went to one salon and while we were waiting, a little boy came up and started asking: “How aaaare yoooooou?” He was a street kid, maybe about 8 years old. There are a lot of street kids in Kenya. They sniff gas- as do street kids all over the world, I am sure. It is pretty upsetting to see. He was also having fun lighting matches, which was especially frightening because of the close proximity of the bottle of gas he was holding with his teeth. The other day, we saw a young man with burns all over his face. We gave him a bag of popcorn and a loaf of bread. A few minutes later, we saw him walking down the road with a bottle of gas hanging out of his mouth. We are assuming that gas-sniffing and match-lighting contributed to his burns- and that he probably traded the bread that we gave him for gas. It is really hard to know if we are doing good or causing more damage. It’s something that I have been thinking about a lot since we’ve been here.
So, the hair braiding didn’t work out yesterday, but we made appointments for today. We’re pretty excited to see how ridiculous we will look! Our friend Kiki (Josephine’s daughter) got her hair plaited (braided) a few weeks ago and it looks super cute, so we decided that we’d all go for the same style. She is African and 8-years-old, though, so we are not expecting to look as cute as she does!
Since being here, we have been having a bit of trouble starting IVs. The brannulars (IV cannulas) are pretty different than the ones we are used to. Also, it is much more difficult to locate veins under dark skin. Plus, because many people work (with their hands and not with farm equipment) in the fields, their skin is very tough. I have tried to insert a few but was not successful. But, I was determined. On Monday morning, when I arrived at the hospital, I told everyone that if there were any IVs to start, I was going to do them. There was one. I went in to the room and prepared myself. I tied a latex glove around the patients arm- they use gloves as tourniquets. Did I mention that Kenyans are very resourceful? I asked the man to squeeze his fist a few time, and out popped the biggest, straightest, juiciest vein that I ever did see. I angled the needle, pricked the skin, and landed the brannula like an airplane- just like Margaret taught me. And FLASHBACK! I was successful- and pretty proud of myself. On Wednesday, I tried again on another patient, though was not successful. However, two other people had to try several times before they were able to start the IV.
Our little friend went for another skin graft surgery on Tuesday. We were doing a blood pressure clinic for a women’s group in Micanduri so were unable to attend, however, our friend Elisa, a medical student from Italy, went to the surgery and said that it went well. The skin from the previous skin graft was taking very well and spreading over the surface of the burn, so Dr. Ngeera only had to remove a small amount of skin from her leg to graft on to a small area on her back. She recovered much more quickly from the second surgery. One Wednesday, she was up and walking around the hospital and smiling her sweet little smile.
Well, that is all for now. I may post a picture later of our braids- depending on how ridiculous we look!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
What to do at 5AM when you can't sleep? Blog, I guess.
I have been writing this blog post for the last few days. It's 5AM and I am wide awake, so I guess now is a good time to complete it.
So my little friend with the burns… she went for her skin graft surgery last week. All four of us went to the theater (operating room) to watch. We held her hands while she was put under anesthesia. The surgery went really well. For any of you who have never seen a skin graft surgery, it is quite interesting. I am going to describe the surgery, so if you don’t want to read about it, here is your warning. First, she was laying on her back so that Dr. Ngeera could access the good skin on the front of her thigh. That was pretty much the only place where there was good skin. The tool that he used to harvest the skin was similar to a bread knife- long and serrated- and he just moved it back and forth across her thigh. The pieces of skin that he harvested were quite small. I think he got about 6 pieces that were maybe 2 x 3 inches. Next, he spread the harvested pieces of skin on a wooden block and made little holes in them with a scalpel. This was so that he could stretch the small pieces of skin over the large surface of her back. We all helped in flipping her over onto her stomach, and then I was the chosen one to remove the dressing that was on her back. I had done it before when she was awake, and it was horrible. Previously, we would remove one piece of gauze at a time. This time, however, I was not allowed to be quite as gentle. I was having a bit of a hard time- I was worried that even though she was under anesthesia, she could still feel the pain. Dr. Ngeera told me to rip it off- that in order for the skin graft to work, he needed the wound to bleed. He said: “Just do it! This is what you signed up for!” He said that if you choose nursing, you can’t just choose parts of it- you have to do all of it, and you have to grow and become better every day and never stop improving yourself. My heart still hurts when I think of removing the dressing. Moving on. While the girl laid on her stomach with her burnt back exposed, the doctor strategically placed the freshly harvested skin on her burn and sutured it in place. The whole burn was not covered, but the harvested skin will eventually grow and spread over the entire burn. As he was finishing up, the doctor said: “There. I’ve done my best. Now, I leave the rest up to God and the nurses.” A very wise man. We assisted in applying a new dressing, and Dr. Ngeera gave us instructions on how to take care of it. Since Allison and I were the ones on the surgery unit that week, he made us responsible for taking care of her. No problem. So it was time to wake her up. Sometimes, when people wake from anesthesia, they thrash around a bit. She thrashed around a lot. She kept trying to roll onto her back, which is obviously not recommended after skin graft surgery. The doctor started shouting: “Lift! Lift!” You can imagine how hard it was to lift a 10-year-old girl with burns over most of her body, and hold her still… Valium it is. She fell back asleep. We visited her several times for the rest of the day, but she was very sleepy. I did meet her father, though. He lives very far away and it is expensive for him to come to see her, so he only visits once in a while. He had stayed with her in the hospital for the first month, but eventually had to go home. He was a very sweet man- from what I could tell. He couldn’t speak any English and I can only speak a few words in Swahili- none of which were helpful for conversing with him.
The next day, we went back to visit. I think she was still feeling the effects of anesthesia, and she was feeling pain. She was not interested in talking to us. That evening, we returned again. I taught most of the girls to crochet since we’ve been here, and Allison made a blanket that she decided to give to the girl. We gave it to her with a little note that we had one of the nurses translate. It said that she is a very brave and beautiful girl, and that we are very proud of her. She was quite shy about it. She accepted the gift, but did not say much. We wished her goodnight and left. Because it was a while ago, I am getting the days mixed up. I think it was the next day. I went in to see her, and she was wide awake and full of smiles. The lady in the next bed has been very kind and has been translating for us. I sat on the girl’s bed and talked for about 45 minutes. She said that she was very happy to see me. She told me that she loved me and wondered if I loved her too. Another moment that I will never forget. We keep saying that we feel like the Grinch- when his heart grew three sizes! I think our hearts have probably grown a thousand sizes since we’ve been in Kenya! The girl asked if I had gone to eat lunch yet- I hadn’t. She said that she felt mercy for me because I must be hungry. She offered to share her lunch with me, though figured I probably would not like it. I told her that I like Kenyan food and I named all of the foods that I know: mokimo, chapatti, samosas, mandazis… She laughed at that. She said that she was very appreciative of the gifts that we gave her- the gift bag with the toy, candy and Canada pen, and the blanket. She wondered, though, if I would feel badly if she asked me to buy her a new pair of shoes. I told her that I would be honored. Our friendship is slowly becoming more comfortable. She is still nervous around us at times. We are trying to get her to say our names and do funny handshakes. She thinks we are crazy. The other day, she followed us around at different times during the day and would kind of hide behind walls or posts and then peek out and stick her tongue out at us. Yesterday, I as I was walking by, I reached out my hand to shake hers and she grabbed onto my hand and pulled me around the corner to sit on a bench with her. I gave her a Canada flag pin and stuck it to the shawl that she wears. Later, as I was going home, she grabbed my blood pressure cuff from me and pretended to run away with it. I thought she was going to follow me home. I am really going to miss her. I am going to get her address from her father the next time I see him so that I can write letters to her when I go home.
We have also had other exciting experiences. Last weekend, we went to Masai Mara. The nutrition girls had been organizing the trip with our travel agent, Henry. We had requested David, the driver that we had when we first arrived in Kenya. Those silly nutrition girls decided to play a trick on us and told us that Henry was sending a different driver. We were all very disappointed, because David is the best! So, Wednesday evening, we were sitting at the table eating supper and we heard a knock on the door. We all looked at each other and said: “Ugh… it’s probably the driver……..” The door opened and we heard: “Hi! It’s David!!!” We all jumped up and ran to give him a hug. Best surprise ever!! So, Thursday morning, we headed out for a long drive. We drove to Nakuru (through the Great Rift Valley) to pick up Vionna, one of the vet students, and then headed to Nairobi for the night. We at the Java House- which was amazing!! The first homey food that we have had in a long time. We did a bit of shopping, and visited Henry in his office. Then we went to our hotel. It was really nice for being super cheap. But… the walls were paper thing and there were people making noise all night. AND SINGING HAPPY BIRTHDAY AT 5AM!!!! We were not happy. Oh well. We got back in the combi very early and drove another looooong drive to Masai Mara. It was worth it. There is a game park there and we stayed in a beautiful hotel. We went on three safaris and saw some pretty amazing things. We saw a lion eating a zebra, which was pretty much the most exciting thing ever. We drove THROUGH the famous wildebeest migration, which was also pretty cool. There were thousands of them. They travel from the Serengeti to Masai this time of year. You may have seen it on Planet Earth. Or The Lion King. We also saw hyenas, a cheetah, three leopards, many zebras, giraffes, elephants, and a whole bunch of other things. While sitting by the pool, we saw several vervot monkeys who were endowed with some very interesting private parts. When we jumped in the pool, they tried to get into our purses- until the bartender ran over and chased them away with sticks. He didn’t hit them though- just scared them. Early Sunday morning, we piled back into the combi to drive all the way from Masai Mara to Nakuru and back to Kiirua. I don’t know how many kilometers it was, but it took something like 12 hours. We made a stop at this river where hippo families live. We took a boat ride through the river, which was really cool. Kind of scary when huge hippo would stare at us and then disappear under water for a few minutes. We thought we were going to be eaten. We weren’t, though, so don’t worry. The movie Out of Africa was filmed on a little island on the river. Pretty cool. Anyway, the 12 hour drive on bumpy Kenyan roads was not fun. Most roads do not have yellow lines painted on them, so the drivers drive all over the place and pass people when there is oncoming traffic. It was especially scary when it got dark and started raining. But our driver extraordinaire got us home safely.
Oh yes, and I better not forget to mention the 7 animals that we discovered at Masai Mara that had never been seen there before.
Well… that is all for today. We are going on outreach today and then tomorrow, we are going back to the children’s home. We haven’t been to either place in two weeks. We miss all of the little darlings, so we’re very excited to go! See you all in one month!!
So my little friend with the burns… she went for her skin graft surgery last week. All four of us went to the theater (operating room) to watch. We held her hands while she was put under anesthesia. The surgery went really well. For any of you who have never seen a skin graft surgery, it is quite interesting. I am going to describe the surgery, so if you don’t want to read about it, here is your warning. First, she was laying on her back so that Dr. Ngeera could access the good skin on the front of her thigh. That was pretty much the only place where there was good skin. The tool that he used to harvest the skin was similar to a bread knife- long and serrated- and he just moved it back and forth across her thigh. The pieces of skin that he harvested were quite small. I think he got about 6 pieces that were maybe 2 x 3 inches. Next, he spread the harvested pieces of skin on a wooden block and made little holes in them with a scalpel. This was so that he could stretch the small pieces of skin over the large surface of her back. We all helped in flipping her over onto her stomach, and then I was the chosen one to remove the dressing that was on her back. I had done it before when she was awake, and it was horrible. Previously, we would remove one piece of gauze at a time. This time, however, I was not allowed to be quite as gentle. I was having a bit of a hard time- I was worried that even though she was under anesthesia, she could still feel the pain. Dr. Ngeera told me to rip it off- that in order for the skin graft to work, he needed the wound to bleed. He said: “Just do it! This is what you signed up for!” He said that if you choose nursing, you can’t just choose parts of it- you have to do all of it, and you have to grow and become better every day and never stop improving yourself. My heart still hurts when I think of removing the dressing. Moving on. While the girl laid on her stomach with her burnt back exposed, the doctor strategically placed the freshly harvested skin on her burn and sutured it in place. The whole burn was not covered, but the harvested skin will eventually grow and spread over the entire burn. As he was finishing up, the doctor said: “There. I’ve done my best. Now, I leave the rest up to God and the nurses.” A very wise man. We assisted in applying a new dressing, and Dr. Ngeera gave us instructions on how to take care of it. Since Allison and I were the ones on the surgery unit that week, he made us responsible for taking care of her. No problem. So it was time to wake her up. Sometimes, when people wake from anesthesia, they thrash around a bit. She thrashed around a lot. She kept trying to roll onto her back, which is obviously not recommended after skin graft surgery. The doctor started shouting: “Lift! Lift!” You can imagine how hard it was to lift a 10-year-old girl with burns over most of her body, and hold her still… Valium it is. She fell back asleep. We visited her several times for the rest of the day, but she was very sleepy. I did meet her father, though. He lives very far away and it is expensive for him to come to see her, so he only visits once in a while. He had stayed with her in the hospital for the first month, but eventually had to go home. He was a very sweet man- from what I could tell. He couldn’t speak any English and I can only speak a few words in Swahili- none of which were helpful for conversing with him.
The next day, we went back to visit. I think she was still feeling the effects of anesthesia, and she was feeling pain. She was not interested in talking to us. That evening, we returned again. I taught most of the girls to crochet since we’ve been here, and Allison made a blanket that she decided to give to the girl. We gave it to her with a little note that we had one of the nurses translate. It said that she is a very brave and beautiful girl, and that we are very proud of her. She was quite shy about it. She accepted the gift, but did not say much. We wished her goodnight and left. Because it was a while ago, I am getting the days mixed up. I think it was the next day. I went in to see her, and she was wide awake and full of smiles. The lady in the next bed has been very kind and has been translating for us. I sat on the girl’s bed and talked for about 45 minutes. She said that she was very happy to see me. She told me that she loved me and wondered if I loved her too. Another moment that I will never forget. We keep saying that we feel like the Grinch- when his heart grew three sizes! I think our hearts have probably grown a thousand sizes since we’ve been in Kenya! The girl asked if I had gone to eat lunch yet- I hadn’t. She said that she felt mercy for me because I must be hungry. She offered to share her lunch with me, though figured I probably would not like it. I told her that I like Kenyan food and I named all of the foods that I know: mokimo, chapatti, samosas, mandazis… She laughed at that. She said that she was very appreciative of the gifts that we gave her- the gift bag with the toy, candy and Canada pen, and the blanket. She wondered, though, if I would feel badly if she asked me to buy her a new pair of shoes. I told her that I would be honored. Our friendship is slowly becoming more comfortable. She is still nervous around us at times. We are trying to get her to say our names and do funny handshakes. She thinks we are crazy. The other day, she followed us around at different times during the day and would kind of hide behind walls or posts and then peek out and stick her tongue out at us. Yesterday, I as I was walking by, I reached out my hand to shake hers and she grabbed onto my hand and pulled me around the corner to sit on a bench with her. I gave her a Canada flag pin and stuck it to the shawl that she wears. Later, as I was going home, she grabbed my blood pressure cuff from me and pretended to run away with it. I thought she was going to follow me home. I am really going to miss her. I am going to get her address from her father the next time I see him so that I can write letters to her when I go home.
We have also had other exciting experiences. Last weekend, we went to Masai Mara. The nutrition girls had been organizing the trip with our travel agent, Henry. We had requested David, the driver that we had when we first arrived in Kenya. Those silly nutrition girls decided to play a trick on us and told us that Henry was sending a different driver. We were all very disappointed, because David is the best! So, Wednesday evening, we were sitting at the table eating supper and we heard a knock on the door. We all looked at each other and said: “Ugh… it’s probably the driver……..” The door opened and we heard: “Hi! It’s David!!!” We all jumped up and ran to give him a hug. Best surprise ever!! So, Thursday morning, we headed out for a long drive. We drove to Nakuru (through the Great Rift Valley) to pick up Vionna, one of the vet students, and then headed to Nairobi for the night. We at the Java House- which was amazing!! The first homey food that we have had in a long time. We did a bit of shopping, and visited Henry in his office. Then we went to our hotel. It was really nice for being super cheap. But… the walls were paper thing and there were people making noise all night. AND SINGING HAPPY BIRTHDAY AT 5AM!!!! We were not happy. Oh well. We got back in the combi very early and drove another looooong drive to Masai Mara. It was worth it. There is a game park there and we stayed in a beautiful hotel. We went on three safaris and saw some pretty amazing things. We saw a lion eating a zebra, which was pretty much the most exciting thing ever. We drove THROUGH the famous wildebeest migration, which was also pretty cool. There were thousands of them. They travel from the Serengeti to Masai this time of year. You may have seen it on Planet Earth. Or The Lion King. We also saw hyenas, a cheetah, three leopards, many zebras, giraffes, elephants, and a whole bunch of other things. While sitting by the pool, we saw several vervot monkeys who were endowed with some very interesting private parts. When we jumped in the pool, they tried to get into our purses- until the bartender ran over and chased them away with sticks. He didn’t hit them though- just scared them. Early Sunday morning, we piled back into the combi to drive all the way from Masai Mara to Nakuru and back to Kiirua. I don’t know how many kilometers it was, but it took something like 12 hours. We made a stop at this river where hippo families live. We took a boat ride through the river, which was really cool. Kind of scary when huge hippo would stare at us and then disappear under water for a few minutes. We thought we were going to be eaten. We weren’t, though, so don’t worry. The movie Out of Africa was filmed on a little island on the river. Pretty cool. Anyway, the 12 hour drive on bumpy Kenyan roads was not fun. Most roads do not have yellow lines painted on them, so the drivers drive all over the place and pass people when there is oncoming traffic. It was especially scary when it got dark and started raining. But our driver extraordinaire got us home safely.
Oh yes, and I better not forget to mention the 7 animals that we discovered at Masai Mara that had never been seen there before.
Well… that is all for today. We are going on outreach today and then tomorrow, we are going back to the children’s home. We haven’t been to either place in two weeks. We miss all of the little darlings, so we’re very excited to go! See you all in one month!!
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Baby Jillian
It has been a fairly eventful week in Kenya- although I am sure no one is surprised about that. This week, Kenyans voted on a new constitution. The last time that Kenyans voted, violence broke out in certain parts of the country. Over 1000 people died, and thousands of people were displaced. Many people were worried that the same the same thing would happen this time around. Fortunately, there has not been any reported violence as a result of the referendum. Because of the potential for violence, however, we were instructed not to travel outside of the hospital compound for a few days. Instead of doing HIV outreach on Thursday, we worked at the hospital. It proved to be a good choice. I scrubbed in on my first cesarean with Dr. Erick. It was pretty exciting. I kinda want to be a surgeon now! When you are standing in the OR with your hand supporting a woman’s uterus while the surgeon stitches it up, it is hard not to love your life!! Erick let me stitch her muscles, which may have been the most exciting moment of my life. Seriously. Two of my favorite things- crafts and anatomy- coming together in perfect harmony. Umm… just kidding. My hands were a little shaky for the first stitch, and it was difficult to maneuver the instruments correctly, but I quickly got the hang of it. By the third stitch, Erick said I was using the instruments correctly and that I was St. Theresa’s newest surgeon! And then! The mother was discussing names with the other people in the room. The baby was a girl, and the mom told Allison to name it. Allison didn’t really want to take on that responsibility, so people were suggesting names. Erick suggested Stephanie, but since Steph already has a baby named after her, we all yelled NO!! Amy’s name was suggested, and so was Allison’s. The mom asked what my name was and Amy said “Julian! I mean… Jillian!” So the mom decided to name her baby Jillian! That obviously increased my level of excitement. Immediately after that cesarean, there was another emergency cesarean. Allison scrubbed in for that one. Then we saw part of a total hip replacement, which was pretty cool. The patient was wide awake the whole time… yikes. That one was taking forever, so we skipped over to the next operating room to see a 6-year-old boy having a surgery on poor little private parts. He, thankfully, was not wide awake. He was under general anesthesia and Sister Agnes, the nurse anesthetist extraordinaire, told me to squeeze the oxygen bag while she tended to the patient having the hip surgery. That was a feeling of power and control that I did not feel entirely comfortable with!!
Another update on the girl with the burns. On Monday, she is going for skin graft surgery. Until then, she has to have a wet-to-dry dressing change done twice a day. I will not describe what that entails. We have been making progress in our relationship with her. The other day, we went to peek into her room to say hello, but the room was full of visitors, so we left. A few minutes later, we saw her across the hall, peeking around the corner at us. She was playing with us!! We approached her and shook her hand. We stuck out our tongues at her, and she did it back. I winked at her, and she blinked back. I crossed my eyes and she giggled. We puffed up our cheeks with air and then poked them so them so that the air would rush out and make a funny noise. She laughed, and then hid her head under her shawl and we heard her make the fart-like sound with her mouth. It was probably the cutest thing ever. Then we proceeded to list all of the Kiswahili words that we know. In English, it would have sounded something like this: “Hello. How are you? Very fine. Please. Thank you. It’s ok. Slowly slowly. Where? Baby. Sorry. Where are the toilets? Push. Lay down. Good night. Get out.” She looked at us as though we were crazy- and so did everyone else who happened to walk by. As we were leaving, she followed us out of the hospital and watched us walk home. Later in the evening, we walked over to see if there were any women in labour. Her call bell was ringing, so we went to see what she wanted. We were the last people that she expected to see. Her dressing had just been changed so her bed was all wet and she wanted her sheets changed. So we did that. We said Lala salama to her, which means good night, or lay down good, and she said “Bye!” We were so excited!! She has spoken to us before in this quiet little voice, but this time, she spoke in English, and loud enough so that we could hear! Another of the most exciting moments of our lives.
A few weeks ago, one of the nurses, Chris, asked us if we would attend his graduation ceremony. We were hesitant because it was only two days after the referendum and we did not know if it would be safe or not. Also, let’s face it: graduations (at least in Canada) are super boring. So we told him that we would let him know. For the following two weeks, everywhere we went, people asked us if we were going. I met another nurse, Fredrick, on Monday or Tuesday. He works in the medical unit and I had never met him before. He was also graduating and asked if we would be attending. He seemed very excited, even though I was a complete stranger to him. So, we decided that we would go. I am very happy about our decision. It was really an honor to be there. We took a bus to Maua, a town about 2 hours away. The bus was PACKED with Fredrick’s friends and family and staff from the hospital. Chris’s family lives near Maua, so they were already there. The white girls all sat at the back of the bus, which I couldn’t help but chuckle about. We arrived just in time for the ceremony. Since we have been in Kenya, we have felt a bit like a circus act, because we kind of stand out a little bit. Walking into the chapel where the ceremony was held was no exception. I felt a little strange, going to see someone graduate, and having everyone staring at me. Anyway…. Chris and Fredrick looked very handsome in their suits and graduation gowns. The ceremony was really nice- except for the photographers that didn’t mind standing directly in front of the audience. One of the speakers spoke about how nurses are special because they have heart, and that if you don’t have heart, you cannot be a nurse. He also spoke about the need for improvements in maternity care, which I thought was really nice. He asked how many men in the audience accompanied their wives to the hospital when they gave birth. I don’t think anyone raised their hands. He asked how many women had been accompanied by their husbands… I think there was one woman who raised her hand. The speaker said that this is something that has to change, and change starts with nurses.
After the ceremony, we all headed back to the bus. As we were pushing our way through the crowd, Amy and I became separated from the rest of the group. Suddenly, I heard this sound, and when I looked towards it, I saw Chris, flying through the crowd with the hugest smile on his face. He gave us the biggest hugs. He was so proud to have his Canadian friends at his graduation, and I felt incredibly honored. He grabbed our hands and pulled us through the crowd to meet his family. His mom hugged me and his father shook our hands. Pretty sure that we were front and center in all of their family pictures. Then we saw Fredrick and went to congratulate him. More handshakes, hugs and pictures. Everyone gives graduates these Christmas garland necklaces. All the graduates were sparkling! Chris and Fredrick took us on a tour of the hospital- which was huge- and then we ate some Kenyan food- which was delicious! Soon it was time to go. We all piled on the bus and headed to the church that Fredrick attended while in school. There was a huge celebration with more food, plus speeches, singing and dancing. Fredrick submitted a list of people that he wanted to speak. Josephine, the nurse that we do outreach with, was on the list. And of course…. So were the Canadian nursing students. I hardly knew Fredrick, so I didn’t want to get up, even though Josephine was pretty much pushing me off of my chair! Finally, Steph got up and did a wonderful job, telling the crowd (who did not understand a word she said) that Fredrick is a wonderful man who welcomed her to the medical unit and showed her what to do when she was unsure. The staff from St. Theresa’s got up to sing and dance- and we had to as well. It was fairly embarrassing. Belton, one of the cooks was trying to show us how to dance, but really… there was no use. Later, when people got up to dance again, Belton tried to get us up. Amy gave me a look that I thought said: “If you go, I’ll go,” but really, what she meant was: “I’ll pretend I’m getting up, and then when you get up, I will sit back down, and you will look like an idiot all by yourself! Afterwards, I said to the girls that I felt like all eyes were on me- the horrible white dancer- even though really, everyone was probably watching Fredrick. Steph happily told me that nope… everyone was laughing at me. Awesome. Then it was time to cut the cake. Fredrick and some other nursing students from his school got up to cut it, and then he cut up a piece into smaller pieces and fed it to each student that helped him cut it. He fed a piece to his parents, and to some other special guests. Then, the MC realized that we were also student nurses, and decided that Fredrick should also feed us cake. What a hilariously awkward moment! Anyway, it was a really fun day. I am so happy that Chris and Fredrick included us in their special day. We felt so welcomed by their families. We’re only sad that we were unable to make it to the celebration that Chris’s family held for him after the graduation.
Today, we are off. It’s been a while since we’ve had a day off. We just walked the “Leonard Loop” and stopped in at the hospital to give Baby Jillian a blanket that I crocheted, and took her picture. We saw Leonard and invited him over to watch a movie with us tonight. Now… we’re going to lie out in the African sun and relax. I really love my life!
Another update on the girl with the burns. On Monday, she is going for skin graft surgery. Until then, she has to have a wet-to-dry dressing change done twice a day. I will not describe what that entails. We have been making progress in our relationship with her. The other day, we went to peek into her room to say hello, but the room was full of visitors, so we left. A few minutes later, we saw her across the hall, peeking around the corner at us. She was playing with us!! We approached her and shook her hand. We stuck out our tongues at her, and she did it back. I winked at her, and she blinked back. I crossed my eyes and she giggled. We puffed up our cheeks with air and then poked them so them so that the air would rush out and make a funny noise. She laughed, and then hid her head under her shawl and we heard her make the fart-like sound with her mouth. It was probably the cutest thing ever. Then we proceeded to list all of the Kiswahili words that we know. In English, it would have sounded something like this: “Hello. How are you? Very fine. Please. Thank you. It’s ok. Slowly slowly. Where? Baby. Sorry. Where are the toilets? Push. Lay down. Good night. Get out.” She looked at us as though we were crazy- and so did everyone else who happened to walk by. As we were leaving, she followed us out of the hospital and watched us walk home. Later in the evening, we walked over to see if there were any women in labour. Her call bell was ringing, so we went to see what she wanted. We were the last people that she expected to see. Her dressing had just been changed so her bed was all wet and she wanted her sheets changed. So we did that. We said Lala salama to her, which means good night, or lay down good, and she said “Bye!” We were so excited!! She has spoken to us before in this quiet little voice, but this time, she spoke in English, and loud enough so that we could hear! Another of the most exciting moments of our lives.
A few weeks ago, one of the nurses, Chris, asked us if we would attend his graduation ceremony. We were hesitant because it was only two days after the referendum and we did not know if it would be safe or not. Also, let’s face it: graduations (at least in Canada) are super boring. So we told him that we would let him know. For the following two weeks, everywhere we went, people asked us if we were going. I met another nurse, Fredrick, on Monday or Tuesday. He works in the medical unit and I had never met him before. He was also graduating and asked if we would be attending. He seemed very excited, even though I was a complete stranger to him. So, we decided that we would go. I am very happy about our decision. It was really an honor to be there. We took a bus to Maua, a town about 2 hours away. The bus was PACKED with Fredrick’s friends and family and staff from the hospital. Chris’s family lives near Maua, so they were already there. The white girls all sat at the back of the bus, which I couldn’t help but chuckle about. We arrived just in time for the ceremony. Since we have been in Kenya, we have felt a bit like a circus act, because we kind of stand out a little bit. Walking into the chapel where the ceremony was held was no exception. I felt a little strange, going to see someone graduate, and having everyone staring at me. Anyway…. Chris and Fredrick looked very handsome in their suits and graduation gowns. The ceremony was really nice- except for the photographers that didn’t mind standing directly in front of the audience. One of the speakers spoke about how nurses are special because they have heart, and that if you don’t have heart, you cannot be a nurse. He also spoke about the need for improvements in maternity care, which I thought was really nice. He asked how many men in the audience accompanied their wives to the hospital when they gave birth. I don’t think anyone raised their hands. He asked how many women had been accompanied by their husbands… I think there was one woman who raised her hand. The speaker said that this is something that has to change, and change starts with nurses.
After the ceremony, we all headed back to the bus. As we were pushing our way through the crowd, Amy and I became separated from the rest of the group. Suddenly, I heard this sound, and when I looked towards it, I saw Chris, flying through the crowd with the hugest smile on his face. He gave us the biggest hugs. He was so proud to have his Canadian friends at his graduation, and I felt incredibly honored. He grabbed our hands and pulled us through the crowd to meet his family. His mom hugged me and his father shook our hands. Pretty sure that we were front and center in all of their family pictures. Then we saw Fredrick and went to congratulate him. More handshakes, hugs and pictures. Everyone gives graduates these Christmas garland necklaces. All the graduates were sparkling! Chris and Fredrick took us on a tour of the hospital- which was huge- and then we ate some Kenyan food- which was delicious! Soon it was time to go. We all piled on the bus and headed to the church that Fredrick attended while in school. There was a huge celebration with more food, plus speeches, singing and dancing. Fredrick submitted a list of people that he wanted to speak. Josephine, the nurse that we do outreach with, was on the list. And of course…. So were the Canadian nursing students. I hardly knew Fredrick, so I didn’t want to get up, even though Josephine was pretty much pushing me off of my chair! Finally, Steph got up and did a wonderful job, telling the crowd (who did not understand a word she said) that Fredrick is a wonderful man who welcomed her to the medical unit and showed her what to do when she was unsure. The staff from St. Theresa’s got up to sing and dance- and we had to as well. It was fairly embarrassing. Belton, one of the cooks was trying to show us how to dance, but really… there was no use. Later, when people got up to dance again, Belton tried to get us up. Amy gave me a look that I thought said: “If you go, I’ll go,” but really, what she meant was: “I’ll pretend I’m getting up, and then when you get up, I will sit back down, and you will look like an idiot all by yourself! Afterwards, I said to the girls that I felt like all eyes were on me- the horrible white dancer- even though really, everyone was probably watching Fredrick. Steph happily told me that nope… everyone was laughing at me. Awesome. Then it was time to cut the cake. Fredrick and some other nursing students from his school got up to cut it, and then he cut up a piece into smaller pieces and fed it to each student that helped him cut it. He fed a piece to his parents, and to some other special guests. Then, the MC realized that we were also student nurses, and decided that Fredrick should also feed us cake. What a hilariously awkward moment! Anyway, it was a really fun day. I am so happy that Chris and Fredrick included us in their special day. We felt so welcomed by their families. We’re only sad that we were unable to make it to the celebration that Chris’s family held for him after the graduation.
Today, we are off. It’s been a while since we’ve had a day off. We just walked the “Leonard Loop” and stopped in at the hospital to give Baby Jillian a blanket that I crocheted, and took her picture. We saw Leonard and invited him over to watch a movie with us tonight. Now… we’re going to lie out in the African sun and relax. I really love my life!
Sunday, August 1, 2010
A box of chocolates.
Another week in Africa… we are almost at the half-way mark of our trip. I can’t believe it. It is going by so quickly. This has been another crazy week, filled with experiences that I could never have dreamed that I would experience.
Last Thursday, we went to Ntemburi for outreach. We took a matatu, a taxi, sort of. Most of them are 15-passenger vans. On the way to Ntemburi, there were around 22 people inside. There is the driver, of course, but there is also a guy that kind signals to the driver by whistling or banging on the roof of the van. This guy sits by the door in the back seat and collects money. He hangs out the door sometimes while the vehicle is moving- and vehicles move very fast over very bumpy and populated roads!!! Vehicles are always swerving to avoid other vehicles, people, or cows. It’s a wonder that I haven’t had a heart attack yet- the way people behave in (or ON TOP OF!!!) moving vehicles. Safety is definitely not the #1 priority! So, on the way home from Ntemburi, we all pile into another matatu. I was the last one in, and it seemed to be taking a while for everyone to get settled. I was wondering what was going on and why no one was moving to the back seats where there seemed to be a lot of room. Well, I soon realized that it was because there were 6 live goats shoved under the back seats. How they got in there, I have no idea! I know if I was a goat being shoved under the seat of a van, I would not go willingly! I saw them and may have cursed a little bit. Everyone laughed. Allison was sitting beside Dennis (and above one of the smaller goats). Dennis reached down and squeezed Allison’s leg, making her think that one of the goats bit her. Pretty hilarious!
Last Sunday, Josephine took us to Meru, to the market. People followed us around and asked for money and asked if we’d take them home to Germany or wherever it was that they thought we were from. We went to a restaurant where Kiki, Josephine’s daughter, got her face painted. The clown that did it asked her where her friends were from and so he wrote CANADA across her nose.
On Monday and Tuesday, we worked at the hospital. Monday was not very busy and we were a little bored. Not Tuesday, however. That may have been one of the most exciting days ever! I decided that I wanted to work in the theatre (operating room) for a few days. Luckily for me, there was a private surgeon coming in to do a bowel resection surgery on one of his patients. In a bowel re-section, part of the bowel is cut out because it is not working properly, and then the bowel is sewed back together. I scrubbed in, which is a huge deal for a nursing student. I held her skin taught while he cut her open. I held parts of her insides in place while the doctor was working on them. I touched her stomach, uterus and ovaries. I actually had both of my hands inside her abdomen, holding the skin up and open, so that he could replace all of her insides when the surgery was over. Yes, I understand that it sounds disgusting, but it was really incredible! And the day only got more exciting!
I was out in the hallway talking to Josephine. Dr. Erick, our friend that lives in the same compound as us, came down asking Josephine if he knew the status of the woman that was in labour. Another nurse had just done an assessment a few minutes before and said that the woman was 6 cm dilated and was not yet ready to push. Guess again! Amy and Stephanie came running out of the labour room to get help, leaving Allison to attend to the mom. They both had looks of terror on their faces and yelled “She’s crowning!!!” Then Steph heard Allison telling the mother to push, so Steph yelled “The baby is coming!!!” We all rushed to the room, which took all of 10 seconds. By the time we got there, the baby was out! Allison was the only one in the room with the mom. She didn’t even have time to put gloves on. She grabbed the blanket that was on the bed and helped pull the baby out with that. One of the nurses rushed over and clamped the cord with forceps and cut it, and took the baby over to the warmer. I put the little plastic cord clamp on and trimmed the cord. Cutting through human tissue is a strange sensation, by the way. Mom and baby were great.
The next day, we went to another school. It was really fun. After the presentations, the kids asked us a million questions about Canada and our lives in Canada. Where do you live? What church do you go to? What is your grandmother’s name? What is your favorite food? There was some hilarious little boys that thought it would be clever to rub white dust all over their faces and yell “Mzungo!!!” Mzungo is a white person, and everywhere we go, people point at us and call us mzungos. So that was quite entertaining.
We received sad news from our friend, Pasquelina. She found out on Tuesday that she is being sent to school in Tanzania, to learn to be a nurse anesthetist. While we are very proud of her and happy for her, we will miss her a lot. We took her out to supper in Meru- which was another crazy experience. We waited for our driver, Cletus, to pick him up. People pronounce his name like Crittass. So for a while, we though his name was Critters. Anyway… we stood at the end of the road waiting for him. When he got there, him and Josephine were talking about prices for driving us, and this woman walked up to me. She held out her hands, asking for money. When I didn’t give her any, she shook my hands. Then she gave me a hug. Then, she came in for a kiss. I tried to turn my head, but I was not quick enough. She licked my face. It was really a special moment. I got in the car and washed my face with hand sanitizer. So, we went to the Nakumatt for supper. Pasquelina and I shared a “chili first” pizza. I took one bite and seriously, thought for a minute that I was going to die. It was the spiciest thing that I have ever eaten. All around my mouth turned red and was burning. My eyes filled with tears, and I felt my whole body go tingly and numb. I thought for a few minutes that I was going into anaphylactic shock or something. We picked the rest of the peppers off of the pizza.
Pasquelina left on Friday morning at 4 AM. We were really sad to see her go. She called us on Friday night to let us know that she arrived safely, and we have been exchanging text messages. She is a very special person, and we are really going to miss her. Before she left, I have her one of the necklaces that Troy and I made from shells that we found on the beach on PEI before I left.
We bought a chicken. His name is Charles. Our friend Big Dennis got it for us.
On Friday, as usual, we went to the Children's Home. This is my friend, Little Dennis.
Friday night, we drank wine and beer and had Leonard and Erick over. Leonard got called into work, which was unfortunate. We played cards, and some of the girls played a homemade version of Twister, that Christina cleverly made earlier in the day. The next morning, our friend Martin took us to the museum in Meru. His wife and son joined us. They live in another town where she is a teacher. Then we went to a “restaurant” called the Rocky Hill. We waited several hours for them to cook some “nyoma choma,” which is roasted meat.
That brings you all up to speed on my life. Hoping the weather gets better here soon. It’s pretty chilly.
The other day, a woman arrived from Italy. Her name is Manuella. We were driving to Machaka, the children’s home, and I could tell that she was nervous that we were going to run over some cows in the road. I told her that they always move out of the way, and that not to worry, she would get used to it. I said that every day is an adventure in Kenya. She said, in a very thick Italian accent: “Yes! Like a box of chocolates!” I thought it was rather funny.
Last Thursday, we went to Ntemburi for outreach. We took a matatu, a taxi, sort of. Most of them are 15-passenger vans. On the way to Ntemburi, there were around 22 people inside. There is the driver, of course, but there is also a guy that kind signals to the driver by whistling or banging on the roof of the van. This guy sits by the door in the back seat and collects money. He hangs out the door sometimes while the vehicle is moving- and vehicles move very fast over very bumpy and populated roads!!! Vehicles are always swerving to avoid other vehicles, people, or cows. It’s a wonder that I haven’t had a heart attack yet- the way people behave in (or ON TOP OF!!!) moving vehicles. Safety is definitely not the #1 priority! So, on the way home from Ntemburi, we all pile into another matatu. I was the last one in, and it seemed to be taking a while for everyone to get settled. I was wondering what was going on and why no one was moving to the back seats where there seemed to be a lot of room. Well, I soon realized that it was because there were 6 live goats shoved under the back seats. How they got in there, I have no idea! I know if I was a goat being shoved under the seat of a van, I would not go willingly! I saw them and may have cursed a little bit. Everyone laughed. Allison was sitting beside Dennis (and above one of the smaller goats). Dennis reached down and squeezed Allison’s leg, making her think that one of the goats bit her. Pretty hilarious!
Last Sunday, Josephine took us to Meru, to the market. People followed us around and asked for money and asked if we’d take them home to Germany or wherever it was that they thought we were from. We went to a restaurant where Kiki, Josephine’s daughter, got her face painted. The clown that did it asked her where her friends were from and so he wrote CANADA across her nose.
On Monday and Tuesday, we worked at the hospital. Monday was not very busy and we were a little bored. Not Tuesday, however. That may have been one of the most exciting days ever! I decided that I wanted to work in the theatre (operating room) for a few days. Luckily for me, there was a private surgeon coming in to do a bowel resection surgery on one of his patients. In a bowel re-section, part of the bowel is cut out because it is not working properly, and then the bowel is sewed back together. I scrubbed in, which is a huge deal for a nursing student. I held her skin taught while he cut her open. I held parts of her insides in place while the doctor was working on them. I touched her stomach, uterus and ovaries. I actually had both of my hands inside her abdomen, holding the skin up and open, so that he could replace all of her insides when the surgery was over. Yes, I understand that it sounds disgusting, but it was really incredible! And the day only got more exciting!
I was out in the hallway talking to Josephine. Dr. Erick, our friend that lives in the same compound as us, came down asking Josephine if he knew the status of the woman that was in labour. Another nurse had just done an assessment a few minutes before and said that the woman was 6 cm dilated and was not yet ready to push. Guess again! Amy and Stephanie came running out of the labour room to get help, leaving Allison to attend to the mom. They both had looks of terror on their faces and yelled “She’s crowning!!!” Then Steph heard Allison telling the mother to push, so Steph yelled “The baby is coming!!!” We all rushed to the room, which took all of 10 seconds. By the time we got there, the baby was out! Allison was the only one in the room with the mom. She didn’t even have time to put gloves on. She grabbed the blanket that was on the bed and helped pull the baby out with that. One of the nurses rushed over and clamped the cord with forceps and cut it, and took the baby over to the warmer. I put the little plastic cord clamp on and trimmed the cord. Cutting through human tissue is a strange sensation, by the way. Mom and baby were great.
The next day, we went to another school. It was really fun. After the presentations, the kids asked us a million questions about Canada and our lives in Canada. Where do you live? What church do you go to? What is your grandmother’s name? What is your favorite food? There was some hilarious little boys that thought it would be clever to rub white dust all over their faces and yell “Mzungo!!!” Mzungo is a white person, and everywhere we go, people point at us and call us mzungos. So that was quite entertaining.
We received sad news from our friend, Pasquelina. She found out on Tuesday that she is being sent to school in Tanzania, to learn to be a nurse anesthetist. While we are very proud of her and happy for her, we will miss her a lot. We took her out to supper in Meru- which was another crazy experience. We waited for our driver, Cletus, to pick him up. People pronounce his name like Crittass. So for a while, we though his name was Critters. Anyway… we stood at the end of the road waiting for him. When he got there, him and Josephine were talking about prices for driving us, and this woman walked up to me. She held out her hands, asking for money. When I didn’t give her any, she shook my hands. Then she gave me a hug. Then, she came in for a kiss. I tried to turn my head, but I was not quick enough. She licked my face. It was really a special moment. I got in the car and washed my face with hand sanitizer. So, we went to the Nakumatt for supper. Pasquelina and I shared a “chili first” pizza. I took one bite and seriously, thought for a minute that I was going to die. It was the spiciest thing that I have ever eaten. All around my mouth turned red and was burning. My eyes filled with tears, and I felt my whole body go tingly and numb. I thought for a few minutes that I was going into anaphylactic shock or something. We picked the rest of the peppers off of the pizza.
Pasquelina left on Friday morning at 4 AM. We were really sad to see her go. She called us on Friday night to let us know that she arrived safely, and we have been exchanging text messages. She is a very special person, and we are really going to miss her. Before she left, I have her one of the necklaces that Troy and I made from shells that we found on the beach on PEI before I left.
We bought a chicken. His name is Charles. Our friend Big Dennis got it for us.
On Friday, as usual, we went to the Children's Home. This is my friend, Little Dennis.
Friday night, we drank wine and beer and had Leonard and Erick over. Leonard got called into work, which was unfortunate. We played cards, and some of the girls played a homemade version of Twister, that Christina cleverly made earlier in the day. The next morning, our friend Martin took us to the museum in Meru. His wife and son joined us. They live in another town where she is a teacher. Then we went to a “restaurant” called the Rocky Hill. We waited several hours for them to cook some “nyoma choma,” which is roasted meat.
That brings you all up to speed on my life. Hoping the weather gets better here soon. It’s pretty chilly.
The other day, a woman arrived from Italy. Her name is Manuella. We were driving to Machaka, the children’s home, and I could tell that she was nervous that we were going to run over some cows in the road. I told her that they always move out of the way, and that not to worry, she would get used to it. I said that every day is an adventure in Kenya. She said, in a very thick Italian accent: “Yes! Like a box of chocolates!” I thought it was rather funny.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
My Friend Leonard
I am up early again. I have been waking up at 6AM most days. Probably because of the rooster outside my window that starts squawking as soon as the sun starts shining. Here’s a little update on the patients at the hospital… The girl with the burns is doing well. Haven’t seen her in a few days, but she smiles at us most times we see her. The boy who we gave the teddy bear to… he is so friggen cute! He is medically discharged, but can’t go home until his family can afford to pay the hospital bill. Hopefully he can go soon. We had a few other notable patients. The first one was a mother who had given birth through the night. We were working the next day and happened to go into her room- we can’t remember why we went in. She had been bleeding very heavily, several hours after giving birth, which is abnormal. It is called a post-partum hemorrhage, and it is usually considered an emergency. She had lost so much blood that she was weak and tired and hadn’t fed the baby. The baby was severely dehydrated. Both mom and babe were in pretty serious states. We were able to rehydrate the baby with IV fluids and we encouraged staff to re-assess the mom and help stop the bleeding. They are both doing well now, and I think have gone home. There was another very special mama who had some complications during her pregnancy. She had a scheduled cesarean last week. The baby had some respiratory difficulties and we were all very worried. We had been visiting every day. Yesterday, when we got there, the baby was no longer in the nursery- he was in his mom’s room, and doing much better. We were so relieved.
Last Thursday evening, we baked chocolate chip cookies to bring to the kids in the feeding program at the children’s home. We don’t think that they have ever had anything like them before, so we were pretty excited. On Friday, we helped serve their lunch, and then we passed out the cookies. Before we left for Kenya, my Grampy, Stewart, gave me a bunch of Canadian flags to bring. After we passed out the cookies, we handed out the flags to each child. Then it was time for the kids to go home. Watching them all in their adorable little outfits walking down the road and waving their flags was one of the proudest moments of my life. Thanks for all the flags, Gramper! The kids loved them!!
I think it is about time I talk about my new friend, Leonard. He is a pretty funny guy. He is probably reading this right now and will quote it back to me word-for-word the next time I see him. We’re not really sure what he does. First, we understood that he was a nurse and had been trained in Italy. However, apparently we misunderstood him (he would never lie!!) and the real story is that he went to Italy before and he WANTS to be a nurse. So his job at the hospital is an “assistant,” I guess. He also helps people move. We saw him the other day outside of the neighbor’s house, standing on top of a truck with a bunch of furniture. He threw his arms up into the air and yelled: “I am the tallest!” The other day, Amy, Allison and I set out to go for a walk, and we ran into Leonard, who looked very smart in his little red vest. We asked him to join us on our walk. Because he is a bit slim, he had to go in and put on something for warmth. He took us on this road that we had never been on before. We were a little worried because it was getting late and we had to be home before dark. And sure enough, we arrived home at 6:05PM. Just like he said. Later that evening, he came over to our disco party, which consisted of Allison, Amy, Stephanie and I drinking wine and beer, and Leonard drinking mango juice. The girls played a game of Sociable. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it is a drinking game played with a deck of cards. Each card has a task. For example, the Ace is the “sociable” card, and everyone drinks. There is a rule card, where someone makes up a rule (like you can’t say anyone’s name) and every time someone breaks the rule, they have to take a drink. One of the cards is the “category” card. Someone picks a category and everyone has to say something that belongs in that category. The first person that can’t think of something has to drink. One of our categories was “Funny things that Leonard said.” It included these gems:
-“Oh, please no.”
-“I am the tallest!”
-“Please apply to be my friend.”
-“Ouch.” (as he ran into a branch).
-“You are all invited to the funeral of my cell phone. Please bring airtime and extra chargers. Don’t forget your manners. Amy Somersault will read the eulegy. It was a good phone.”
These may all be you-had-to-be-there moments, but we think they’re funny. Leonard provides us with non-stop entertainment. We won’t be giving him the red card anytime soon- that is, unless he ditches us to clean his shoes again.
Last Thursday evening, we baked chocolate chip cookies to bring to the kids in the feeding program at the children’s home. We don’t think that they have ever had anything like them before, so we were pretty excited. On Friday, we helped serve their lunch, and then we passed out the cookies. Before we left for Kenya, my Grampy, Stewart, gave me a bunch of Canadian flags to bring. After we passed out the cookies, we handed out the flags to each child. Then it was time for the kids to go home. Watching them all in their adorable little outfits walking down the road and waving their flags was one of the proudest moments of my life. Thanks for all the flags, Gramper! The kids loved them!!
I think it is about time I talk about my new friend, Leonard. He is a pretty funny guy. He is probably reading this right now and will quote it back to me word-for-word the next time I see him. We’re not really sure what he does. First, we understood that he was a nurse and had been trained in Italy. However, apparently we misunderstood him (he would never lie!!) and the real story is that he went to Italy before and he WANTS to be a nurse. So his job at the hospital is an “assistant,” I guess. He also helps people move. We saw him the other day outside of the neighbor’s house, standing on top of a truck with a bunch of furniture. He threw his arms up into the air and yelled: “I am the tallest!” The other day, Amy, Allison and I set out to go for a walk, and we ran into Leonard, who looked very smart in his little red vest. We asked him to join us on our walk. Because he is a bit slim, he had to go in and put on something for warmth. He took us on this road that we had never been on before. We were a little worried because it was getting late and we had to be home before dark. And sure enough, we arrived home at 6:05PM. Just like he said. Later that evening, he came over to our disco party, which consisted of Allison, Amy, Stephanie and I drinking wine and beer, and Leonard drinking mango juice. The girls played a game of Sociable. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it is a drinking game played with a deck of cards. Each card has a task. For example, the Ace is the “sociable” card, and everyone drinks. There is a rule card, where someone makes up a rule (like you can’t say anyone’s name) and every time someone breaks the rule, they have to take a drink. One of the cards is the “category” card. Someone picks a category and everyone has to say something that belongs in that category. The first person that can’t think of something has to drink. One of our categories was “Funny things that Leonard said.” It included these gems:-“Oh, please no.”
-“I am the tallest!”
-“Please apply to be my friend.”
-“Ouch.” (as he ran into a branch).
-“You are all invited to the funeral of my cell phone. Please bring airtime and extra chargers. Don’t forget your manners. Amy Somersault will read the eulegy. It was a good phone.”
These may all be you-had-to-be-there moments, but we think they’re funny. Leonard provides us with non-stop entertainment. We won’t be giving him the red card anytime soon- that is, unless he ditches us to clean his shoes again.
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