Last day in Kiirua...

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.

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.