01 April 2014

Mtumwa Dispensary

Exam Room

     I had heard about Mtumwa but didn't know there used to be a dispensary there.  Sr. Pauline had been looking for the dispensary but hadn't found it during her 7 year tenure as health coordinator.  One of her last trips was to take us there last month.  We found a building that had three small rooms at one end which had been used as a dispensary off and on for some years.  The man who last worked there left to start his own private clinic a short distance away.  His qualifications remain dubious; his motives clearly profit oriented.  People living in rural areas are often targets for unscrupulous health care providers.  We met some representatives of the village and tried to figure out what was going on  and what they needed.  The pregnant women and children must walk 15km or nine miles to go to a vaccination and antenatal clinic. Often it is late when they arrive and they are told to go back home.  The parish priest suggested we should try to begin these services.  We will see what we can do.
   

Meeting with Community

 













   
     The results for the nurses who sat for their exams came in this past week.  Both of the nurses who had gone for training on money used from my ministry account passed their exams and were literally ecstatic. They agreed to work in Kiminini Cottage hospital  for three years in return for their scholarships.  (This is the hospital that I worked at from 2003-2009.  We were trying to improve nursing staff by sending young people to school).  The woman, a single mother, was bright and needed a way to support her daughter and herself.  The young man was a former street child who had been brought to Bosco Rehabilitation program which is run by Russ Brine, a Maryknoll Lay Missioner.  It took 7 years to accomplish these goals.  It didn't fit neatly into the typical 5 year plan with targets goals and objectives.  But I think we succeeded to improve the lives, and therefore the families, of two young people as well as the health care provided in Kiminini.
     There have been more violent attacks on churches in the Mombasa area recently.  Last week three armed men attacked a Protestant church in Likoni on Sunday morning and killed six and injured 15.  No one has taken responsibility publicly and no one has been arrested.  Al Shabaab has been a continual threat to security here.  With Holy Week and Easter holidays approaching, all of the churches are taking added measures protect their faithful.

                                          Peace of the One who gave his life for us to you!