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.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
St. Theresa's Mission Hospital
I have been having a difficult time deciding whether I should blog about patients at the hospital or not. Being a nurse, I am supposed to respect the privacy and confidentiality of my patients, whether they are in Canada or Kenya. I do not want to disrespect them by publishing their stories without their permission or knowledge. Another reason is that we were told before we came that Kenyans do not want to be pitied: they are proud and happy people, and want to show their best face, always. But on the other hand, I am meeting so many special people and I want to share their stories- or at least what I know of their stories. Part of our role here in Kenya is to share our experiences with the people at home.
First, I will tell you a bit about the hospital. We live directly behind the hospital. It takes about 45 seconds to walk from our gate to the back door of the hospital. There are several buildings that make up the hospital, and everything is very open. The newest building houses the maternity and surgical units, and the surgical theater. There is a courtyard between the maternity and surgical units and we often see many of the patients sitting outside on plastic lawn chairs, or even laying on the grass. There is a television mounted on the wall in the hall of the maternity unit (which is open to the courtyard) and the men (the ones who can get out of bed) from the surgical unit are usually seated in front of it, watching the news.
The patients roam around freely. I will often see maternity patients walking around the medical unit, and every so often, we see patients standing outside the backdoor of the hospital, facing our home. I really like the openness of the hospital and find it comforting that the patients can sit outside in the sun. There is nothing more depressing than being stuck in a hospital room with a bunch of other sick people, and not having anywhere to go. The patients here have fresh air and sunshine all day. I think that is almost as important a treatment as medications.
For my first day on the job, I was on the maternity unit. The labour room has three beds: there can be three women giving birth at the same time, within feet from each other. I was there for about five minutes when I saw my first Kenyan baby being born, and a few minutes later, mom and babe were ushered off to their room. There was a woman in the next bed. I stayed with her and rubbed her back. Women in Kenya do not receive pain medication while in labour. While experiencing contractions, she prayed that God would release her, but between contractions, she spoke pleasantly. It is traditional in Kenya for women to labour alone: no husband, mother, friend, or nurse support the woman while her body painfully prepares present a new life to the world. You may think these practices are cruel, but we are learning quickly that culture is culture: this is the way that it has always been done here, and for these people, it works. The mothers do, however, express appreciation to us when we stay with them throughout their labouring process. Because we are used to providing labour support, it is difficult for us to leave the room when the other nurses do. I have a lot of mixed up memories about the births that I experienced, and I cannot remember if this mama had a boy or a girl. I do remember, however, that she was happy to have a mzungo present for the birth of her child.
I spent the next few days with Pasqualina. She is a nurse that kind of floats around from unit to unit. Officially, she is a maternity nurse, but when she is not busy, she will help out on surgery, or wherever. So, I think it was Tuesday; I helped her check the vitals of the patients on the surgical unit. I wandered into one room by myself and saw the most horrendous thing that I have ever seen in my entire life- or so I thought. There was a little 10-year-old girl, naked from the waist up, sitting on her bed, with her back to me. Her back was covered in burns. They looked fresh, but then I saw that her arms had also been burnt but looked like they were healing well, so I could only assume that the burns were not fresh. I hardly even responded, because I knew that if I did, I would start crying and would not be able to stop. So I smiled at her, took her roommates blood pressure and left the room, and tried not to think of it again- which proved to be a difficult task. We asked about her and were told that she is had been playing with friends around the fire and her shawl caught fire. She ran, which only made it worse. She had been in the hospital for about 3 or 4 months. Over the next few days, I saw her around the hospital, and each time, I smiled and waved. Sometimes she would smile back shyly, and other times she would look away. A few days later, I saw the most horrendous thing that I have ever seen- for real, this time.
Allison and I had just returned from lunch and were walking through the hall with Josephine. We heard blood curdling screaming coming from the little girl’s room. We went to her see what was happening. She was sitting on a chair, rocking back and forth and screaming like I have never heard anyone scream before. She had just received treatment for her burns. A topical antibiotic was applied, and as Josephine explained, with burns, the nerve endings are exposed, the treatment causes a lot of pain. I asked if she had been given anything for pain- she hadn’t. I asked if someone would please give her something now. I had been accepting and understanding of the cultural differences up until that point, but this was something that I could not watch without doing something. One of the nurses prepared an injection and administered it. Allison and I stayed and held the girl’s hands until she stopped crying. When I left the room, I cried for the first time since starting to work at the hospital.
Since coming to Kenya, we have been trying to think of things to do for people. One of our classmates, Emily, gave us packages to give to new mothers. Each package has a receiving blanket, teddy bear, sleeper and soother. We decided to make a little gift bag for the girl with the burns and her young roommate. We took two of the teddy bears, Canadian flags, and a whole bunch of candy and put them in little bags. We went over to the hospital to give the gifts. They were not in the room. We went looking for the girl and found her sitting outside. We handed her the bag but she would not take it. We asked her to come with us, but she didn’t understand us. So we went back to her room and set the bag on her bed. The older lady that shared the room with them told us that the other girl had been discharged. We decided to give the second bag to very cute young boy who had his appendix out the week before. We handed him the bag. As we walked away, we turned and saw him looking to see what was in the bag- and he had the hugest smile on his face.
The next day, yesterday, I had to stop by the hospital to pick something up to bring to Denis, our good friend that calls us fat. First, I saw the boy. He was still smiling. I asked him how he was feeling and he said: “Well. Very well.” He was beaming. What a sweet little child he is! Then I saw the little girl, sitting on a bench a little ways away. I waved to her and she waved back. I picked up the package and quickly returned home, as the driver was waiting for me. When I got to the vehicle, the other girls saw that the little girl had followed me to the back door of the hospital. We drove away and went to the children’s home. When we returned, about 5 hours later, she was still standing there. She walked up the driveway towards us and stood there, holding her shawl. We approached her smiling, and she kind of smiled back. We tried saying some Swahili words that we know, but she didn’t respond. I reached out my hand to shake hers. She shook hands with all of us- the traditional Kenyan greeting. We continued to say some words in Swahili and managed to get a little smile out of her before we returned home.
A week later, she is still shy, and will only sometimes wave or smile- not usually both. Yesterday, I was with her while a nurse applied the cream to her back. I asked about pain medication and the nurse said that they only administer analgesia when the girl begins to feel pain. I told her that in Canada, we usually provide analgesia before a painful procedure so that the patient does not feel pain in the first place (or at least they feel less pain than they would without analgesia). She disagreed with my method, so I promised myself (because I can’t communicate with the patient to make the promise to her) that I would return to check on her soon. Soon after, Allison, the head nurse and I joined Dr. Kiiura on his rounds. When we got to the girls room, we saw that she was definitely experiencing pain. I asked if I could prepare an injection for her then and the doctor agreed. While the medication they use is an anti-inflammatory used for mild pain, it seemed to help. She did smile at me when I left that time.
Everything is so different here. Sometimes it is difficult to appreciate the cultural differences, but we have to. Pain management is not a top priority here like it is in Canada. I think that is one of the most difficult things to deal with. In Canada, we are very nurturing and compassionate towards our patients, and it is not quite the same here. Of course, staff cares for their patients, but just not in the way that we are used to. The hospital motto, in fact, is “To Love and Serve” which amazing. That, I think, should be the motto of nurses everywhere.
First, I will tell you a bit about the hospital. We live directly behind the hospital. It takes about 45 seconds to walk from our gate to the back door of the hospital. There are several buildings that make up the hospital, and everything is very open. The newest building houses the maternity and surgical units, and the surgical theater. There is a courtyard between the maternity and surgical units and we often see many of the patients sitting outside on plastic lawn chairs, or even laying on the grass. There is a television mounted on the wall in the hall of the maternity unit (which is open to the courtyard) and the men (the ones who can get out of bed) from the surgical unit are usually seated in front of it, watching the news.
The patients roam around freely. I will often see maternity patients walking around the medical unit, and every so often, we see patients standing outside the backdoor of the hospital, facing our home. I really like the openness of the hospital and find it comforting that the patients can sit outside in the sun. There is nothing more depressing than being stuck in a hospital room with a bunch of other sick people, and not having anywhere to go. The patients here have fresh air and sunshine all day. I think that is almost as important a treatment as medications.
For my first day on the job, I was on the maternity unit. The labour room has three beds: there can be three women giving birth at the same time, within feet from each other. I was there for about five minutes when I saw my first Kenyan baby being born, and a few minutes later, mom and babe were ushered off to their room. There was a woman in the next bed. I stayed with her and rubbed her back. Women in Kenya do not receive pain medication while in labour. While experiencing contractions, she prayed that God would release her, but between contractions, she spoke pleasantly. It is traditional in Kenya for women to labour alone: no husband, mother, friend, or nurse support the woman while her body painfully prepares present a new life to the world. You may think these practices are cruel, but we are learning quickly that culture is culture: this is the way that it has always been done here, and for these people, it works. The mothers do, however, express appreciation to us when we stay with them throughout their labouring process. Because we are used to providing labour support, it is difficult for us to leave the room when the other nurses do. I have a lot of mixed up memories about the births that I experienced, and I cannot remember if this mama had a boy or a girl. I do remember, however, that she was happy to have a mzungo present for the birth of her child.
I spent the next few days with Pasqualina. She is a nurse that kind of floats around from unit to unit. Officially, she is a maternity nurse, but when she is not busy, she will help out on surgery, or wherever. So, I think it was Tuesday; I helped her check the vitals of the patients on the surgical unit. I wandered into one room by myself and saw the most horrendous thing that I have ever seen in my entire life- or so I thought. There was a little 10-year-old girl, naked from the waist up, sitting on her bed, with her back to me. Her back was covered in burns. They looked fresh, but then I saw that her arms had also been burnt but looked like they were healing well, so I could only assume that the burns were not fresh. I hardly even responded, because I knew that if I did, I would start crying and would not be able to stop. So I smiled at her, took her roommates blood pressure and left the room, and tried not to think of it again- which proved to be a difficult task. We asked about her and were told that she is had been playing with friends around the fire and her shawl caught fire. She ran, which only made it worse. She had been in the hospital for about 3 or 4 months. Over the next few days, I saw her around the hospital, and each time, I smiled and waved. Sometimes she would smile back shyly, and other times she would look away. A few days later, I saw the most horrendous thing that I have ever seen- for real, this time.
Allison and I had just returned from lunch and were walking through the hall with Josephine. We heard blood curdling screaming coming from the little girl’s room. We went to her see what was happening. She was sitting on a chair, rocking back and forth and screaming like I have never heard anyone scream before. She had just received treatment for her burns. A topical antibiotic was applied, and as Josephine explained, with burns, the nerve endings are exposed, the treatment causes a lot of pain. I asked if she had been given anything for pain- she hadn’t. I asked if someone would please give her something now. I had been accepting and understanding of the cultural differences up until that point, but this was something that I could not watch without doing something. One of the nurses prepared an injection and administered it. Allison and I stayed and held the girl’s hands until she stopped crying. When I left the room, I cried for the first time since starting to work at the hospital.
Since coming to Kenya, we have been trying to think of things to do for people. One of our classmates, Emily, gave us packages to give to new mothers. Each package has a receiving blanket, teddy bear, sleeper and soother. We decided to make a little gift bag for the girl with the burns and her young roommate. We took two of the teddy bears, Canadian flags, and a whole bunch of candy and put them in little bags. We went over to the hospital to give the gifts. They were not in the room. We went looking for the girl and found her sitting outside. We handed her the bag but she would not take it. We asked her to come with us, but she didn’t understand us. So we went back to her room and set the bag on her bed. The older lady that shared the room with them told us that the other girl had been discharged. We decided to give the second bag to very cute young boy who had his appendix out the week before. We handed him the bag. As we walked away, we turned and saw him looking to see what was in the bag- and he had the hugest smile on his face.
The next day, yesterday, I had to stop by the hospital to pick something up to bring to Denis, our good friend that calls us fat. First, I saw the boy. He was still smiling. I asked him how he was feeling and he said: “Well. Very well.” He was beaming. What a sweet little child he is! Then I saw the little girl, sitting on a bench a little ways away. I waved to her and she waved back. I picked up the package and quickly returned home, as the driver was waiting for me. When I got to the vehicle, the other girls saw that the little girl had followed me to the back door of the hospital. We drove away and went to the children’s home. When we returned, about 5 hours later, she was still standing there. She walked up the driveway towards us and stood there, holding her shawl. We approached her smiling, and she kind of smiled back. We tried saying some Swahili words that we know, but she didn’t respond. I reached out my hand to shake hers. She shook hands with all of us- the traditional Kenyan greeting. We continued to say some words in Swahili and managed to get a little smile out of her before we returned home.
A week later, she is still shy, and will only sometimes wave or smile- not usually both. Yesterday, I was with her while a nurse applied the cream to her back. I asked about pain medication and the nurse said that they only administer analgesia when the girl begins to feel pain. I told her that in Canada, we usually provide analgesia before a painful procedure so that the patient does not feel pain in the first place (or at least they feel less pain than they would without analgesia). She disagreed with my method, so I promised myself (because I can’t communicate with the patient to make the promise to her) that I would return to check on her soon. Soon after, Allison, the head nurse and I joined Dr. Kiiura on his rounds. When we got to the girls room, we saw that she was definitely experiencing pain. I asked if I could prepare an injection for her then and the doctor agreed. While the medication they use is an anti-inflammatory used for mild pain, it seemed to help. She did smile at me when I left that time.
Everything is so different here. Sometimes it is difficult to appreciate the cultural differences, but we have to. Pain management is not a top priority here like it is in Canada. I think that is one of the most difficult things to deal with. In Canada, we are very nurturing and compassionate towards our patients, and it is not quite the same here. Of course, staff cares for their patients, but just not in the way that we are used to. The hospital motto, in fact, is “To Love and Serve” which amazing. That, I think, should be the motto of nurses everywhere.
Friday, July 9, 2010
My new friends
We are starting to make friends in Kenya. I’ll tell you about them. I will try to get pictures of them and will update this post as I get them.
Pasqualina
She is a nurse that works at St. Theresa’s. She worked here last year when the other students were here, but has been away for a while and she just returned on Monday. I spent a bit of time with her on Monday, more time with her on Tuesday, and most of my time with her on Wednesday. I told Allison that I was having a great time on the maternity and surgical units with Pasqualina so she joined us and also had a great time! Pasqualina seems to have high standards for her nursing practice and has shown us some very clever tips and tricks- skills, she ensures us, we would never learn in school! She is incredibly sweet and very smart. I have heard her speaking several languages (English, Swahili, Kimeru, Spanish…) and I hear from one of her friends that she knows many more. After work on Wednesday, she led us around the hospital and kept saying: “We will go here and do this, and then we can go.” We did a few things, and when it was finally time to go, she led us between buildings, introducing us to hospital staff and pointing things out. She said that she wanted to take us to her home- her castle- a place called “Number 5.” We saw a row of apartments, and she led us to the door marked “Number 5!” It was a small room with very few things. But she just moved in a few days before. She had two chairs and offered them to Allison and I. She showed us two photo albums: one that Cheryl (one of the UPEI students that was here before) had sent her, and another of her own. She told us stories that went with the pictures, and when she finished showing them, she told us that we are welcome to visit any time. I am sure we will be visiting often. Today, we opened the fridge and realized that we had a ton of left-overs. We heated them up and brought them over. She wasn’t home, so we figured that she was at the hospital. We found her and another nurse, Carole, on the maternity unit and handed them the leftovers. I hope they enjoyed the meal.
Josephine
Josephine was one of the first people that we met. She is also a nurse on the maternity unit at St. Theresa’s. She also does HIV and AIDS outreach on Thursdays. We accompanied her last week and yesterday. In Kenya, most people do not own cars, and they travel by taxi, or matatu. So last Thursday, we (me, Allison, Stephanie, Amy, Kim, and Josephine) walked up to the Kiirua market and stood at the corner waiting for a matatu. We didn’t wait long. We were soon swarmed by men offering to drive us wherever we needed to go. Josephine brushed them all off until she found a car that she thought we could all fit in- which was difficult, because they are all small cars, and we are not the slimmest folks around (which the Kenyan people never fail to remind us about!) So, 6 of us, plus the driver piled into the car and headed up the hill. It was quite uncomfortable, but a lot of fun. The drive home was much the same, as was the drive yesterday when Allison and I went with her to another place called Ntemburi. Josephine asked us, on the first day how old each of us are. She told the other girls that she would be there mother while we stayed in Kenya, but said to me that I was old enough so didn’t need her- I assured her that I do, in fact, need a mother, and she is more than welcome to be my Kenyan mother while I am here! Yesterday, we went to a school to meet some kids. One of the teachers is Josephine’s sister. We talked about siblings. She told me she has 6 sisters and brothers. She asked how many girls are in my family. I misunderstood. I thought she said “How many cows?” I responded: “HOW MANY COWS??” and she laughed her head off. For the rest of the day, she’s spontaneously break into laughter and say “Ha ha ha, how many cows!” Pretty funny. We went to a restaurant that butchered and cooked goat. Yes. I ate goat. While we waited 3 hours for our food, we talked about the differences between Kenya and Canada. I told her that I have 2 dogs. She asked if they are allowed to enter the house. I said yes, of course they are. She asked if they have names. Again, yes. She asked if they are disciplined. I said… well, kind of… She laughed really hard and said that if I lived in Kenya and had dogs that slept in my house (and sometimes my bed) and I named them and talked to them, I would most definitely be sent for psychiatric treatment. She laughed some more.
Denis
Denis is a lab technician that works at St. Theresa’s and at the Machaka dispensary. Machaka, as you may remember, is where the children’s home is that we have been visiting. The dispensary is kind of like a public health office. People come for immunizations, child health clinics, etc. He comes with us and Josephine when we do outreach. The program has just recently been approved for doing HIV testing door-to-door. Previously, the outreach workers would go door-to-door and encourage people to go to the hospital to be tested. This hardly ever happened, because people do not have money for transportation to the hospital. So this new development is great progress. Denis does the testing and it takes about 10 minutes. It is amazing. If people test positive, they are counseled and advised that they can go to the hospital for free treatment. If they test negative, they are encouraged to be tested again in three months. So, Denis… He is very funny. He is not a tall man, and not an incredibly thin man, but he is a man that insists on commenting on how we Canadian nurses are rather large. The first time we met him, he looked at us and didn’t say anything, but made a hand gesture that outlined the roundness of our figures. Awesome. Yesterday, me, Allison, Josephine, Denis and another lady were in a car with Father Joseph, on our way to Ntemburi. At our first stop, he got out of the front seat and told me to get in the front because I was the fattest. Also awesome. Later, he asked Allison how many kilograms she weighs. We told him that we don’t really know- we use pounds. He told her to convert it. I told him that in Canada, it is rude to ask a woman how much she weighs. He didn’t catch on. So at the goat restaurant, Denis walked around the grounds and picked an orange from a tree. He went to the outdoor sink to wash it and got bit by a duck. We ate the orange while we waited for the goat that took 3 hours. We met up with him again today at Machaka. We were going to visit the kids and he wanted to do more outreach because we didn’t really get anything done yesterday. So we, along with two vet students, walked around Machaka handing out de-worming medicine to the folks we met and we tested one person for HIV. By the way, everyone that we have tested so far has been negative. He taught us some works in Kimeru. Kimeru, by the way, is a local language. The official languages in Kenya are English and Swahili, but there are many local languages, and the one most common in the area we are in is Kimeru. So he taught us some words, but I forget most of them now. He took us to meet some older women. We went into one house where there was an open fire and two women who looked to be about 95. It was incredibly smoky in the room (house). I took some pictures of the women but unfortunately can’t post them because I don’t have the software for the camera. Anyway, Denis is a very kind man who obviously cares for the people in the communities he visits. He is hilarious- despite the fact that he keeps telling us that we are fat. He told us that we can’t leave Kenya without eating a chicken that wanders around…. He said that they are much sweeter than chickens that are raised for grocery stores. He’s looking for one for us. I’m excited, as long as I don’t have to slaughter and pluck it.
Well, the power just went out and I am running on battery power, so I better publish this before the battery runs out. I will post pictures of my friends as soon as I get them. And there are many more people that we have met that I will write about soon.
Pasqualina
She is a nurse that works at St. Theresa’s. She worked here last year when the other students were here, but has been away for a while and she just returned on Monday. I spent a bit of time with her on Monday, more time with her on Tuesday, and most of my time with her on Wednesday. I told Allison that I was having a great time on the maternity and surgical units with Pasqualina so she joined us and also had a great time! Pasqualina seems to have high standards for her nursing practice and has shown us some very clever tips and tricks- skills, she ensures us, we would never learn in school! She is incredibly sweet and very smart. I have heard her speaking several languages (English, Swahili, Kimeru, Spanish…) and I hear from one of her friends that she knows many more. After work on Wednesday, she led us around the hospital and kept saying: “We will go here and do this, and then we can go.” We did a few things, and when it was finally time to go, she led us between buildings, introducing us to hospital staff and pointing things out. She said that she wanted to take us to her home- her castle- a place called “Number 5.” We saw a row of apartments, and she led us to the door marked “Number 5!” It was a small room with very few things. But she just moved in a few days before. She had two chairs and offered them to Allison and I. She showed us two photo albums: one that Cheryl (one of the UPEI students that was here before) had sent her, and another of her own. She told us stories that went with the pictures, and when she finished showing them, she told us that we are welcome to visit any time. I am sure we will be visiting often. Today, we opened the fridge and realized that we had a ton of left-overs. We heated them up and brought them over. She wasn’t home, so we figured that she was at the hospital. We found her and another nurse, Carole, on the maternity unit and handed them the leftovers. I hope they enjoyed the meal. Josephine
Josephine was one of the first people that we met. She is also a nurse on the maternity unit at St. Theresa’s. She also does HIV and AIDS outreach on Thursdays. We accompanied her last week and yesterday. In Kenya, most people do not own cars, and they travel by taxi, or matatu. So last Thursday, we (me, Allison, Stephanie, Amy, Kim, and Josephine) walked up to the Kiirua market and stood at the corner waiting for a matatu. We didn’t wait long. We were soon swarmed by men offering to drive us wherever we needed to go. Josephine brushed them all off until she found a car that she thought we could all fit in- which was difficult, because they are all small cars, and we are not the slimmest folks around (which the Kenyan people never fail to remind us about!) So, 6 of us, plus the driver piled into the car and headed up the hill. It was quite uncomfortable, but a lot of fun. The drive home was much the same, as was the drive yesterday when Allison and I went with her to another place called Ntemburi. Josephine asked us, on the first day how old each of us are. She told the other girls that she would be there mother while we stayed in Kenya, but said to me that I was old enough so didn’t need her- I assured her that I do, in fact, need a mother, and she is more than welcome to be my Kenyan mother while I am here! Yesterday, we went to a school to meet some kids. One of the teachers is Josephine’s sister. We talked about siblings. She told me she has 6 sisters and brothers. She asked how many girls are in my family. I misunderstood. I thought she said “How many cows?” I responded: “HOW MANY COWS??” and she laughed her head off. For the rest of the day, she’s spontaneously break into laughter and say “Ha ha ha, how many cows!” Pretty funny. We went to a restaurant that butchered and cooked goat. Yes. I ate goat. While we waited 3 hours for our food, we talked about the differences between Kenya and Canada. I told her that I have 2 dogs. She asked if they are allowed to enter the house. I said yes, of course they are. She asked if they have names. Again, yes. She asked if they are disciplined. I said… well, kind of… She laughed really hard and said that if I lived in Kenya and had dogs that slept in my house (and sometimes my bed) and I named them and talked to them, I would most definitely be sent for psychiatric treatment. She laughed some more.
Denis
Denis is a lab technician that works at St. Theresa’s and at the Machaka dispensary. Machaka, as you may remember, is where the children’s home is that we have been visiting. The dispensary is kind of like a public health office. People come for immunizations, child health clinics, etc. He comes with us and Josephine when we do outreach. The program has just recently been approved for doing HIV testing door-to-door. Previously, the outreach workers would go door-to-door and encourage people to go to the hospital to be tested. This hardly ever happened, because people do not have money for transportation to the hospital. So this new development is great progress. Denis does the testing and it takes about 10 minutes. It is amazing. If people test positive, they are counseled and advised that they can go to the hospital for free treatment. If they test negative, they are encouraged to be tested again in three months. So, Denis… He is very funny. He is not a tall man, and not an incredibly thin man, but he is a man that insists on commenting on how we Canadian nurses are rather large. The first time we met him, he looked at us and didn’t say anything, but made a hand gesture that outlined the roundness of our figures. Awesome. Yesterday, me, Allison, Josephine, Denis and another lady were in a car with Father Joseph, on our way to Ntemburi. At our first stop, he got out of the front seat and told me to get in the front because I was the fattest. Also awesome. Later, he asked Allison how many kilograms she weighs. We told him that we don’t really know- we use pounds. He told her to convert it. I told him that in Canada, it is rude to ask a woman how much she weighs. He didn’t catch on. So at the goat restaurant, Denis walked around the grounds and picked an orange from a tree. He went to the outdoor sink to wash it and got bit by a duck. We ate the orange while we waited for the goat that took 3 hours. We met up with him again today at Machaka. We were going to visit the kids and he wanted to do more outreach because we didn’t really get anything done yesterday. So we, along with two vet students, walked around Machaka handing out de-worming medicine to the folks we met and we tested one person for HIV. By the way, everyone that we have tested so far has been negative. He taught us some works in Kimeru. Kimeru, by the way, is a local language. The official languages in Kenya are English and Swahili, but there are many local languages, and the one most common in the area we are in is Kimeru. So he taught us some words, but I forget most of them now. He took us to meet some older women. We went into one house where there was an open fire and two women who looked to be about 95. It was incredibly smoky in the room (house). I took some pictures of the women but unfortunately can’t post them because I don’t have the software for the camera. Anyway, Denis is a very kind man who obviously cares for the people in the communities he visits. He is hilarious- despite the fact that he keeps telling us that we are fat. He told us that we can’t leave Kenya without eating a chicken that wanders around…. He said that they are much sweeter than chickens that are raised for grocery stores. He’s looking for one for us. I’m excited, as long as I don’t have to slaughter and pluck it.
Well, the power just went out and I am running on battery power, so I better publish this before the battery runs out. I will post pictures of my friends as soon as I get them. And there are many more people that we have met that I will write about soon.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Update from Kenya!
Blogging every day is proving to be a difficult task. We have been very busy since we arrived. I have the rest of the day off today, though, so I should be able to accomplish a blog post.
Thursday, we donned our sturdy sneakers and headed for the slums (the slums are no place for sandals- sturdy or not!). We met Josephine at the hospital and walked up to the Kiirua market to catch a mutatu (taxi) up the hill to Machaka. Josephine is a nurse at the hospital but also works doing HIV/AIDS outreach in various slum areas. We (all for students, Kim, and Josephine) piled into a little car and drove up the hill… an uncomfortable ride. Good thing we like each other! We weren’t sure what we were in for, but expected to see some desperate situations. First, we visited Agatha. She is HIV positive. She had a baby a few months ago, but the baby died of pneumonia in May. Her house was very small. There was a couch, table, and chair with barely enough room between to walk past. There was a curtain separating the sitting room from the sleeping area, and I can’t imagine that the sleeping area was very big. She had a thermos on the table and offered us tea. This was probably the tea that she had prepared for the day. It is difficult accepting things from people who have so little. Kim and Josephine both knew Agatha well, and they said that she looks much healthier now than the last time they saw her.
Next, we visited Doreen. She was born with HIV, and has been on medication her whole life. She is 18, and quite ill. She had a sore arm, and when Kim assessed it, she noticed a large lump. Doreen had been to the doctor who prescribed some antibiotics, but she couldn’t afford them. Because she is HIV positive and very sick, she cannot afford to miss taking medications. We gave her the money to go get the medication and to pay for transportation there and back. We made her promise that she would use the money for medication. I am sure it would be difficult for her to spend the money on medication when she could also use it to buy food.
After visiting Doreen, we headed to the Machaka Children’s Home area to pick up Denis, who is a lab tech that works at the dispensary there. He had a jar of de-worming pills to give out to everyone we saw along the way. They hand out the medication every three months. The outreach program was recently approved to do HIV testing door-to-door. Previously, people had to travel to the hospital to be tested, which they didn’t often do, because of the cost for transportation. So, we walked around the slums for 4 hours and handed out pills and tested people for HIV. It sounds depressing, but every that we tested was negative, which was wonderful. Also, we tested several men, which is wonderful. Often, from what I hear, men will not be tested and if their wives are tested and found to be positive, they will leave them. The outreach program is raising awareness and helping people receive treatment. We met one girl who was very scared to be tested, but did it anyway. She was so brave. Another girl walked by and said that she was too much of a coward to be tested. She said that if she tested positive, she knows that she would just die right away. We told her that treatment is free at the hospital if she is positive, and treatment will help her to live a healthier life. She still didn’t want to be tested. Maybe next time. Each Thursday, we will be joining Josephine and Denis to a different slum to do the same thing. Denis was happy that we are coming back. He said he wants to teach us how to cook Kenyan food. I think that both he and Josephine will be good friends. I think we’ll be making lots of good friends.
On Friday, we spent the morning at the hospital. I was on the maternity unit, Allison was in the CCC, and Amy and Steph were on the medical unit. I saw my first African baby being born. It was a boy. Maternity in Kenya is much different than maternity at the Prince County Hospital! The labour room has three beds- two for births, one for assessments. The two birthing beds were occupied and people mid-labour were walking in and out to be assessed in the third bed. I was in the room for about five or ten minutes and the mother in the first bed indicated that she needed to push. There was no doctor present- only the mother, the nurse (Pamela, pronounced pa-may-la), me, and another lady about to give birth. So… the baby came out and about 20 minutes later, the doctor came along. He asked me if I wanted to deliver the next baby. I am still sure whether or not he was joking. There were no more babies born while I was there, but, being that there are around 5 babies, born there each day, I will probably see lots! I stayed with the other patient until 11:30. Labour support is not a priority in Kenya, so women are often alone while they labour. I rubbed her back and tried to comfort her- a difficult task when you speak a different language. She spoke some English, so we were able to communicate a bit. She asked for an injection for some pain relief and the nurse kind of chuckled and commented that the patient feels sympathetic for herself. Very, very different from Canada. In Canada, it is often considered unacceptable to feel pain, however, here, pain is a part of life and people are expected to just deal with it. Everything is that way, here, I guess.
I felt the most homesick when I arrived at the hospital Friday morning. It was the first time we went anywhere without Kim, and it was the first time I was surrounded by people who were all speaking a different language. I was terrified for a few seconds and thought “What the hell am I doing here?” but then we started doing work and I felt a bit better. Once I get to know the staff a bit and learn a few more words in Kimeru and Swahili, I will be fine.
For the weekend, we went to Sweetwater Game Park. It was pretty amazing. I’m too tired now, though, to write about it, so maybe I will later. Or maybe I will just post pictures. Hope everyone at home is enjoying the nice weather that I hear you are having.
Thursday, we donned our sturdy sneakers and headed for the slums (the slums are no place for sandals- sturdy or not!). We met Josephine at the hospital and walked up to the Kiirua market to catch a mutatu (taxi) up the hill to Machaka. Josephine is a nurse at the hospital but also works doing HIV/AIDS outreach in various slum areas. We (all for students, Kim, and Josephine) piled into a little car and drove up the hill… an uncomfortable ride. Good thing we like each other! We weren’t sure what we were in for, but expected to see some desperate situations. First, we visited Agatha. She is HIV positive. She had a baby a few months ago, but the baby died of pneumonia in May. Her house was very small. There was a couch, table, and chair with barely enough room between to walk past. There was a curtain separating the sitting room from the sleeping area, and I can’t imagine that the sleeping area was very big. She had a thermos on the table and offered us tea. This was probably the tea that she had prepared for the day. It is difficult accepting things from people who have so little. Kim and Josephine both knew Agatha well, and they said that she looks much healthier now than the last time they saw her.
Next, we visited Doreen. She was born with HIV, and has been on medication her whole life. She is 18, and quite ill. She had a sore arm, and when Kim assessed it, she noticed a large lump. Doreen had been to the doctor who prescribed some antibiotics, but she couldn’t afford them. Because she is HIV positive and very sick, she cannot afford to miss taking medications. We gave her the money to go get the medication and to pay for transportation there and back. We made her promise that she would use the money for medication. I am sure it would be difficult for her to spend the money on medication when she could also use it to buy food.
After visiting Doreen, we headed to the Machaka Children’s Home area to pick up Denis, who is a lab tech that works at the dispensary there. He had a jar of de-worming pills to give out to everyone we saw along the way. They hand out the medication every three months. The outreach program was recently approved to do HIV testing door-to-door. Previously, people had to travel to the hospital to be tested, which they didn’t often do, because of the cost for transportation. So, we walked around the slums for 4 hours and handed out pills and tested people for HIV. It sounds depressing, but every that we tested was negative, which was wonderful. Also, we tested several men, which is wonderful. Often, from what I hear, men will not be tested and if their wives are tested and found to be positive, they will leave them. The outreach program is raising awareness and helping people receive treatment. We met one girl who was very scared to be tested, but did it anyway. She was so brave. Another girl walked by and said that she was too much of a coward to be tested. She said that if she tested positive, she knows that she would just die right away. We told her that treatment is free at the hospital if she is positive, and treatment will help her to live a healthier life. She still didn’t want to be tested. Maybe next time. Each Thursday, we will be joining Josephine and Denis to a different slum to do the same thing. Denis was happy that we are coming back. He said he wants to teach us how to cook Kenyan food. I think that both he and Josephine will be good friends. I think we’ll be making lots of good friends.
On Friday, we spent the morning at the hospital. I was on the maternity unit, Allison was in the CCC, and Amy and Steph were on the medical unit. I saw my first African baby being born. It was a boy. Maternity in Kenya is much different than maternity at the Prince County Hospital! The labour room has three beds- two for births, one for assessments. The two birthing beds were occupied and people mid-labour were walking in and out to be assessed in the third bed. I was in the room for about five or ten minutes and the mother in the first bed indicated that she needed to push. There was no doctor present- only the mother, the nurse (Pamela, pronounced pa-may-la), me, and another lady about to give birth. So… the baby came out and about 20 minutes later, the doctor came along. He asked me if I wanted to deliver the next baby. I am still sure whether or not he was joking. There were no more babies born while I was there, but, being that there are around 5 babies, born there each day, I will probably see lots! I stayed with the other patient until 11:30. Labour support is not a priority in Kenya, so women are often alone while they labour. I rubbed her back and tried to comfort her- a difficult task when you speak a different language. She spoke some English, so we were able to communicate a bit. She asked for an injection for some pain relief and the nurse kind of chuckled and commented that the patient feels sympathetic for herself. Very, very different from Canada. In Canada, it is often considered unacceptable to feel pain, however, here, pain is a part of life and people are expected to just deal with it. Everything is that way, here, I guess.
I felt the most homesick when I arrived at the hospital Friday morning. It was the first time we went anywhere without Kim, and it was the first time I was surrounded by people who were all speaking a different language. I was terrified for a few seconds and thought “What the hell am I doing here?” but then we started doing work and I felt a bit better. Once I get to know the staff a bit and learn a few more words in Kimeru and Swahili, I will be fine.
For the weekend, we went to Sweetwater Game Park. It was pretty amazing. I’m too tired now, though, to write about it, so maybe I will later. Or maybe I will just post pictures. Hope everyone at home is enjoying the nice weather that I hear you are having.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Something new.
I am having a hard time writing about the last few days- not because they were sad and depressing, but because I have so many things I want to talk about and I don’t know where to start. One of our drivers, Safari Steve, told me yesterday, after we watched a bunch of baboons cross the highway: “In Kenya, there is something new every day.” I believe him! I’ll start with yesterday morning. The bunch of us- nurses and nutritionists- piled in the combis with Safari Steve and Driver David- and headed up the hill to Machaka to the children’s home. This was the adventure that most of us were looking forward to and dreading the most. We arrived and were greeted by Alice. Alice is a student, studying to be a sister in Nairobi, but is doing a placement at the children’s home. She is 23-years-old and wise beyond her years. She spoke softly, but with so much confidence and wisdom. And beautiful- she was absolutely gorgeous. She took us on a tour of the facility- they have crops and farm animals for food. We saw some chickens, cows, rabbits and some pigs- one of which scared the crap out of us! All of the pigs were tiny little pink guys that were snorting away at us, and then we looked over the last gate and there was this GIANT black pig face staring back at us. I’m proud to say that I wasn’t the one who screamed the lord’s name in vain in front of a soon-to-be nun! The facility is almost completely self-sufficient. They buy things, like sugar, that they don’t produce themselves, and some vegetables and fruits are donated by community members. As the tour was finishing up, we heard some giggling and looked up and saw two little children peeking out of a door and waving: the moment we had been waiting for. I really think that Alice wanted to continue the tour, but our excitement and the children’s excitement won and the tour was over! I don’t think I can accurately describe how I felt during those hours that we spent with the kids. One of the other students and I wondered that if that is what having children feels like. My heart was broken, but at the same time, so full of love. The kids sang for us and we picked them up and high-fived them, and hugged them. As soon as we put one down, there was another pulling at us to pick them up. There are some children that live there, and another 50-some that come everyday for lunch. After lunch, they’d walk home- some of them 2 or 3 kilometers, unsupervised. They are all under 5 years old, by the way. It was an experience that I will never forget.
We left the children’s home and stopped at the Kiirua market to meet Irene who has a reputation of providing the best pedicures on this side of the globe. We will all be seeing her soon. Then Jennifer and I hoped in Safari Steve’s combi to go to another market to find mangoes. Silly white people… mangoes are not in season! We were laughed at. However, we met the cutest little boys and Jenn took their picture. She asked another woman if she could take hers and the lady pulled me in close so I would be in the shot too. We picked out fruits and vegetables and Steve negotiated the price. We bought the biggest avocadoes that I ever did see. Like the size of a cantaloupe! The trip to the market was honestly one of the most joyful moments of my life.
So the road between Kiirua and Meru (which is where the market is) is jungle-y and you have to be on the lookout for crazy animals. The other day, we saw an elephant, and that day, on the way back from the market, we saw baboons. A ton of them!! Steve threw one of the baboons this weird fruit that we bought at the market and we got some great pictures. Steve is supposed to let me know the English name of the fruit is- no one seems to know.
So that brings me to today. We went to the Ruuju school which is close to Micanduri. We had a meeting with the Ruuju Women’s group, and then Allison and I left to do some data collection with Kim and Kevin for a research project that they want to do. They are measuring lung function in women use wood stoves with open flames and without chimneys) for cooking compared to women who use these new, more efficient stoves that contain the flame, produce more heat, and have chimneys. Communication was a challenge. We will be returning to see the group at some point to do a blood pressure clinic. The women spend so much time caring for others that they really appreciate the assessments and attention that we’re giving them.
We went to the Nakumatt for lunch and then headed to see another women’s group (Muchui) and their newest members. We did similar respiratory assessments with 6 of these women, and again, we will be returning to do blood pressure clinics with them. I had to leave the session to take a few pictures. Amazing. Then Martin, who works for the group, took us on a tour of the greenhouses and showed us how they graft different varieties of mangoes, avocados (he says avocando!) He said that they take the bottom of the plant with the best roots and the top of the plant with the best fruit (the fruit is very ju-eecy!) and graft them to produce the best product. Stephanie wondered why we don’t produce humans that way. Martin showed us a tree that they grow that is used in rock quarries. They have strong roots that can penetrate the rock. Millipedes eat the leaves and excrete manure that becomes the soil, and when there is enough soil, other plants are able to thrive. Then we realized that it was getting kind of late and we high-tailed it back to the combi. Martin told us not to worry though- if they left without us, he would drive us back in his gypsy, which I guess is a small car. On the way home (over the bumpiest road that I have ever seen) we picked up a man who works for Mama Jenny. He had a chicken in his hand and was holding it by the feet. Driver David found a Nakumatt bag, he shoved the chicken in and handed it to Kim. And then it started moving!!! So we shared a ride home with a live chicken… incredible! So safari Steve was absolutely right- there is something new in Kenya every day!
Saturday, June 26, 2010
We're here!!
Jambo! (Hello)
I am in Nairobi, Kenya. How crazy is that? I have been having moments all day where I am dumbfounded by my surroundings and am completely amazed that this is happening in my life right now.
So we left Charlottetown on Thursday, June 23rd. After a tearful so-long, we boarded our flight to Montreal. Then we got to Montreal and waited for several long hours. We walked, we talked, we read, we ate, we waited…….. We flew to Brussels, Belgium. Too bad we didn’t have eight hours there instead of Montreal. It was an overnight flight, but because we were travelling through time (Brussels is 5 hours ahead of PEI) we only had about 3 hours of nighttime. That was odd and disorienting. Our descent over France and Belgium was beautiful. Europe (a thorough tour) is next on my travel list. We had a short stop in Brussels then aboard another flight to Nairobi via Entebbe, Uganda. That was long. Before that flight, we were feeling sweaty, dirty, hungry, tired and all-around yucky. Imagine how we felt after… not good. But soon, we met Henry and David. Henry is the travel agent who arranges everything for us and takes care of us. He is pretty much our dad while we’re here, I guess. He told us the same thing that he told the nutrition students last week: “Don’t look at your watch. If there is something wrong, call me- I am available for you at ANY time.” So, Mom, stop worrying- we are being well taken care of! David is our driver. He will be with us for the next week. He is hilarious.
So, we got to our hotel- the beautiful Fairmont Hotel in Nairobi. There are plants and trees, flowers, and birds everywhere. Our room is pretty. Beds hard as a rock! Amy and I started our first night off with a bang… plugged in our power bar and blew a fuse! That was our first of many giggle fits, I am sure. Today, we ate a delicious breakfast and headed to the Nairobi National Park. Pretty amazing. We saw a ton of animals: giraffes, jackals, warthogs, zebras (in the distance), a buffalo (from behind), and these beautiful cranes. They were HUGE. Our talented driver, David, spotted a lion in a patch of lion-colored grass. We saw him flick his tail a few times- the lion, not David. After the park, we went to the Kazuri bead factory. Over 300 women are employed there. They are mostly single mothers who otherwise would not have a job. The women and their families receive free healthcare. An amazing spot. And beautiful work…. We spent a lot of time picking out jewelry to take home. After that, David took us on a long drive through the city, back to the hotel. Lots of traffic, lots of sights, sounds and smells. I am feeling overwhelmed with all of the things to look at. Even while sitting at our table at the outdoor restaurant, I couldn’t stop looking at all of the different plants around me. Beautiful.
So we got back to the hotel and went for lunch at the poolside restaurant. Pizza and beer… how’s that for experiencing the Kenyan culture!! It was great, though. The beer, Tusker, was delicious. We had another beer at supper but I can’t remember the name right now. I have a picture. We had supper with Kim and Kevin in the gazebo. It was starting to cool off so our waiter brought us these charcoal burners that warmed us up and kept the bugs away. Not the cat, though! The hotel cat wandered around the restaurant all evening! I had a delicious chicken dish. It was kind of like a curry, but with less curry and more cilantro, which happens to be one of my most favorite flavors. It was great. We shared some wine and laughed our heads off. Henry joined us and we laughed some more. He told us that he would take good care of us, and that he had some things planned for us for after Kim and Kevin leave- he said that they were things that you just don’t do with your parents around!! Sounds intriguing!
I love it here. I am having a wonderful time so far. I am excited to get to Kiirua and get settled, meet the sisters at the hospital, and get to work. Tomorrow, we will be up early for a quick swim, some breakfast, and then a long drive to Kiirua with a stop at the equator. Wow.
This is probably the best internet connection that we will have for a while, so we’ll see when the next update happens. I’ll try to keep you updated!
I am in Nairobi, Kenya. How crazy is that? I have been having moments all day where I am dumbfounded by my surroundings and am completely amazed that this is happening in my life right now.
So we left Charlottetown on Thursday, June 23rd. After a tearful so-long, we boarded our flight to Montreal. Then we got to Montreal and waited for several long hours. We walked, we talked, we read, we ate, we waited…….. We flew to Brussels, Belgium. Too bad we didn’t have eight hours there instead of Montreal. It was an overnight flight, but because we were travelling through time (Brussels is 5 hours ahead of PEI) we only had about 3 hours of nighttime. That was odd and disorienting. Our descent over France and Belgium was beautiful. Europe (a thorough tour) is next on my travel list. We had a short stop in Brussels then aboard another flight to Nairobi via Entebbe, Uganda. That was long. Before that flight, we were feeling sweaty, dirty, hungry, tired and all-around yucky. Imagine how we felt after… not good. But soon, we met Henry and David. Henry is the travel agent who arranges everything for us and takes care of us. He is pretty much our dad while we’re here, I guess. He told us the same thing that he told the nutrition students last week: “Don’t look at your watch. If there is something wrong, call me- I am available for you at ANY time.” So, Mom, stop worrying- we are being well taken care of! David is our driver. He will be with us for the next week. He is hilarious.
So, we got to our hotel- the beautiful Fairmont Hotel in Nairobi. There are plants and trees, flowers, and birds everywhere. Our room is pretty. Beds hard as a rock! Amy and I started our first night off with a bang… plugged in our power bar and blew a fuse! That was our first of many giggle fits, I am sure. Today, we ate a delicious breakfast and headed to the Nairobi National Park. Pretty amazing. We saw a ton of animals: giraffes, jackals, warthogs, zebras (in the distance), a buffalo (from behind), and these beautiful cranes. They were HUGE. Our talented driver, David, spotted a lion in a patch of lion-colored grass. We saw him flick his tail a few times- the lion, not David. After the park, we went to the Kazuri bead factory. Over 300 women are employed there. They are mostly single mothers who otherwise would not have a job. The women and their families receive free healthcare. An amazing spot. And beautiful work…. We spent a lot of time picking out jewelry to take home. After that, David took us on a long drive through the city, back to the hotel. Lots of traffic, lots of sights, sounds and smells. I am feeling overwhelmed with all of the things to look at. Even while sitting at our table at the outdoor restaurant, I couldn’t stop looking at all of the different plants around me. Beautiful.
So we got back to the hotel and went for lunch at the poolside restaurant. Pizza and beer… how’s that for experiencing the Kenyan culture!! It was great, though. The beer, Tusker, was delicious. We had another beer at supper but I can’t remember the name right now. I have a picture. We had supper with Kim and Kevin in the gazebo. It was starting to cool off so our waiter brought us these charcoal burners that warmed us up and kept the bugs away. Not the cat, though! The hotel cat wandered around the restaurant all evening! I had a delicious chicken dish. It was kind of like a curry, but with less curry and more cilantro, which happens to be one of my most favorite flavors. It was great. We shared some wine and laughed our heads off. Henry joined us and we laughed some more. He told us that he would take good care of us, and that he had some things planned for us for after Kim and Kevin leave- he said that they were things that you just don’t do with your parents around!! Sounds intriguing!
I love it here. I am having a wonderful time so far. I am excited to get to Kiirua and get settled, meet the sisters at the hospital, and get to work. Tomorrow, we will be up early for a quick swim, some breakfast, and then a long drive to Kiirua with a stop at the equator. Wow.
This is probably the best internet connection that we will have for a while, so we’ll see when the next update happens. I’ll try to keep you updated!
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