01 March 2014

My driver!!!

     I have just returned from another trip to Giriama/Bamba.  It was a doozy!  On Feb 25th I did my first clinic at Giriama and saw 11 patients. It went well.  On Feb 26th Sr. Veronicah (a pharmacist) and I left at 8am with her in the driver's seat.  It took two hours to get there and there were many patients waiting for us.  This small clinic was begun to assist people with disabilities who needed physical therapy.  There is no resident nurse and Sr. Veronicah goes there every Wednesday to do what she can do.  I am now trying to go with her once a month.  I saw 22 patients and she saw 16 patients.  Most of the people I saw were quite sick...a woman with a blood pressure of 232/120 (normal is less than 140/90), several people with epilepsy and a child who may have Tourette's syndrome.  We managed to leave by 5pm for which I was grateful.  I wanted to get back to Giriama before dark and that would be in two hours.  When we neared the mission Veronicah complained that the clutch was really hard to push in.  I didn't know what to say except 'pole = sorry'!  A few minutes later the clutch went out.  She figured out she was in fourth gear and we had a distance to go yet.  She kept her cool and I kept encouraging her.  We were on a dirt road with a lot of pot holes and all we could do was hold on and fly over them.  Fourth gear wouldn't let her slow down very much.  When we neared the church she asked if she should stop and I said 'not at all...just keep going as far as you can!'  We made it all the way to the gate of the school at the base of a hill which led to her home.  She had to slow down and the engine stopped.  She tried to start it again in first gear as it was a stick shift.  No luck.  I looked out at the horizon to see a bright red sun quickly setting over the valley below.  A man walking by was the driver for the school and came over to see what was the matter.  Then the small car of some builders pulled up and they got out to help too. The men decided to take the rope off the gate to pull the car up the hill.  However, the driver jumped in the driver's seat to try to start it one more time and when it engaged he roared up the hill in first gear while we got a lift in the builders' car!  We were home by 7pm...just as the sun slipped below the horizon and night gently fell.  Both of us were grateful the clutch didn't break in Bamba and marveled at how well we arrived after a long day of challenges!

Sr. Pauline Nthenya and Susan

     I have moved this picture of Sr. Pauline and myself from the side bar.  She is moving on from her position as HIV/Health Coordinator in the Catholic Archdiocese of Mombasa.  She has been here for 15 years and is now going with two other Sisters of St. Joseph from her community to Malawi.  They will take over a hospital from the Medical Missionaries of Mary.  It has been my great privilege to work with her for the last four years and I truly cherish every moment.  I learned so much from her and she was very understanding of my limitations due to health problems.  The 8th of March is International Women's Day and we will have a celebration at our house to honor the great woman she is and say farewell. We will also welcome Sr. Salome Kamene who is taking over from her.

Blessings of all the wonderful women in your lives to you!!!

01 February 2014

 

Bamba Catholic Dispensary

This past week I was able to visit one of the remotest parishes in the Catholic Archdiocese of Mombasa.  It took me four years to get there!  We left Mombasa at 7am and reached Giriama dispensary at 9am.  I had driven this far and Sr. Veronicah drove another 2 hours to reach Bamba at 11am.  It is a dry, sandy place where the soil is black and not much good for farming.  There are a lot of bone deformities among the population and research on the soil suggests that some of the minerals it contains could be the culprit.  In addition, attempts to drill boreholes for water have been disappointing.  The water is so salty it can't be put on plants or given to animals, let alone be be used for human consumption.  There are many people with chronic illnesses.  The first two patients I saw had epilepsy.  They are lucky because they realize it is a disease and not a curse so they get relief with medicine.  A woman with very high blood pressure also had a big heart and irregular rhythm caused by damage to her heart from the high blood pressure.
     In the picture you can see a woman seated at the right under a tree.  Several women could not speak to me in swahili.  The older ones never learned and the younger ones didn't go to school long enough.  Lack of a national language really marginalizes people.  None of the three Kenyan Sisters I traveled with spoke Giriama, their local language, either.

Susan at Mrima Dispensary

     The week before last I went to Mrima dispensary and left depressed.  We have been trying to improve this unit.  The facility structure, medicines and supplies were all available.  Sadly, the staff were incompetent, dishonest and sometimes outright cruel to the patients.  I apologized to a man who had come to see me and he gave me details on how some of the staff were treating the patients.  He did say that the unit was a good place in the past.  This facility is a two hour drive away and the Health Coordinator is trying to manage it from Mombasa.  Her attempts to find a Sister to be the administrator have been fruitless.  While crossing the ferry on returning to Mombasa the pharmacist from the county where Mrima is located came up to talk to us.  Later he spoke with the Health Coordinator offering to support the five diocesan dispensaries in this county by paying for staff salaries, electricity, water, medicines, supplies, etc.  With that support health services could be provided free of charge!!!
     To be truthful, I'm still cautious and uncertain.  Things go up and down here so often it's hard to believe others.  But I would like to hope that some people care enough for others, especially those most in need, that they will help us provide the quality health care that everyone deserves.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Peace of the loving hearts to you!