01 July 2016

St. Francis Primary School

GREETINGS FROM MOMBASA

     I'm back to work after a wonderful break at home with my family and friends.  Yesterday I went to visit the school where my housemate, Teresa, teaches fifth and sixth graders.  (Notice the light around her head...similar to a halo!) She has also started up a library.  This photo shows pictures from calendars in the library that one of my donors sent to us.

     I look at these young girls and feel a bit concerned.  They come from one of the most needy informal settlements built on the side of a hill which turns to slippery, sloshy mud when it rains.  I'm almost afraid to imagine what constitutes 'home' and a 'family' for each one of them.

     The newspaper today reports about a girl in sixth grade who became pregnant.  No doubt she was terrified and her 'boyfriend' gave her some pills to get rid of the baby.  The pills only caused her terrible abdominal pains.  She confessed to the headteacher her attempt to abort the baby.  So, they made her go to the police station to record a statement.  Next, the police detained her in a cell for four days announcing she was under arrest!  Finally when she became very ill they took her to the hospital and admitted her under police guard.  It took the doctors another day to do the surgical procedure she needed because the operating room schedule was 'full'.  I wonder where the boy is???  Fortunately she survived.

     Teresa asked me if I would share some of my experiences in South Sudan as part of their geography class.  We had a book written about The Lost Boys of Sudan, some of whom I had met and cared for during their perilous journeys from Sudan to Ethiopia, back into Sudan and down to Kenya.  As we read the book together I realized that no matter how hard the lives of these children are in this place, it doesn't compare to what happens to children during war.  Children had to drink their own urine when there was no water, scavenge for leaves and roots in the forest for food, swim across a river filled with crocodiles and walk at night to avoid the burning sun, the airplanes with bombs and wild animals that roam around looking for food.  Unfortunately, South Sudan is still filled with violence, hatred and terrible suffering.  The same must be true for Syria and for all of the millions of migrants desperate to risk their lives to reach Europe.

     The line from the book that I choose to remember is a quote from one of the older boys caring for the younger ones.  He said, "We were never lost.  God always knew where we were."

     The young boy I wrote about last month is back in the hospital to have surgery to repair his colostomy and allow him to pass stool normally.  He is doing well and we hope he will be discharged soon.  I doubt he remembered me.  But he wasn't terrified to see me and was happy to get a warm hug. Love really is the best medicine.

    As I write this the Imam is singing his evening prayers.  This is the Holy Month of Ramadhan with fasting, prayers and works of charity for Muslims.  When they see the new moon next week they will celebrate coming closer to God through these practices.  It is a great reminder to me that we are all searching for a way to come closer to God, each in our own way.

PEACE OF THE GOD WHO ALWAYS KNOWS WHERE WE ARE AND IS ALWAYS WITH US.

01 June 2016

FIST BUMP WITH MY NEWEST PATIENT

FALLING IN LOVE

     I write from Minnesota but I start with my newest patient in Kenya, Bob (not his real name).  I left Mombasa on the 16th of May having planned my schedule to help me finish everything piled up on my desk.  That got blown to smithereens on May 6th when I got a phone call from Triza, the lawyer working in St. Patrick Parish where I do a clinic each month.  She has been working with womens' groups to create awareness about children's rights.  They informed her about two children who were in trouble.  When she found Bob she called me. 

     Bob was in a small village two hours away and he needed specialized surgery.  So I advised her to bring him to Mombasa and met them at the hospital on Friday night along with the only pediatric surgeon on the coast of Kenya.  His catchment population is 3.8 million people but only 30% are children.

                      The surgeon was excellent.  On Saturday he did the first necessary procedure and on Sunday he did the major surgery.  On Monday morning we found such horrible nursing care we started to organize volunteers to stay with Bob around the clock. Norah, the social worker at St. Patrick's, was put in charge of organizing youth, church women and a Muslim man who knew his local language to help. Bob comes from a very dysfunctional family, the third of eight children.  His two older brothers have already died.  He does not speak but within the first day of being surrounded by loving kindness I could already see a big change in  his behavior.

SUSAN, NORAH, TRIZA, BOB

      Unfortunately the breach in nursing care caused a big infection and Bob had to go back to surgery on Thursday. The surgeon wanted to transfer him to another hospital which had much better nursing care but I couldn't afford it. We redoubled our efforts and I found myself teaching nursing duties to every person in the room helping to care for him.  We couldn't afford to mess up again.  And we didn't.  Before I left I paid $3000 on his hospital bill. Thanks to all my donors who give me money just for things like this. He wasn't discharged until a few days later and he will need another surgical procedure in June.  We've found other donors to help with those bills.  He has been accepted to a children's home that has offered to care for him until he is 18 years old.  He has found an older boy at the home with his same name who speaks his local language and also has special challenges mentally.  They have become the best of friends.

     As I said goodbye to him the day before I left I found a tear welling up in my eye...no small feat for someone with Sjogren's syndrome! (We have dry eyes.)   I usually do well keeping a good distance emotionally from my patients but this time I failed.  All the women in this picture failed.  We all fell in love with him. They send me pictures of him and I will see him myself when I return to Kenya on June 25th.  Without such a committed team of people who worked very hard to take care of Bob we could never have helped him recover.

MOM, JEAN, SUSAN, EMILY

     I have just attended the wedding of my niece and goddaughter.  There were more tears as two young people committed their lives to one another and thereby brought more love into our world.  Now I am on my way to Illinois and looking forward to reconnecting with many loving people there as well!

PEACE OF THE ONE WHO IS UNCONDITIONAL LOVE FOR OUR WORLD AND EACH ONE OF US!