01 June 2017

SUSAN GIVING PRESENTATION AT ST. JOSEPH
SHELTER OF HOPE

HAPPY MADARAKA (SELF RULE) DAY!!!!

     Today is the celebration of internal rule in Kenya from the British Colonial government. Complete rule didn't come until December.  It took the British a while to let go.

     This week I went to St. Joseph Shelter of Hope, the only hospital in the Archdiocese.  One of the most important services I offer is teaching. The staffs can earn Continuing Professional Development credits and improve their skills.  

     It took 6 hours to travel 160km = 100miles.  There was a big jam getting out of Mombasa, many slow moving trucks, heavy rains, road construction and lots of police officers. The President was opening the new railway which runs right along this two lane road.

    The young Congolese doctor at the hospital asked me to talk about Antibiotic Stewardship as he saw a lot of misuse.  I was thrilled that he has seen the light!

     After the presentation two of the clinical officers = physician assistants came to me concerned about a 13 year old boy with jaundice.  He had been to the government hospital where nothing much was done.  The parents didn't have enough money to do all the tests needed and I was very impressed by the care and concern of these two women.  I told them I would help to pay for the tests the family couldn't afford.

     Later that evening one of the Sisters was explaining how the people in this area are really struggling.  The rains that have come to Mombasa and the middle section of the road haven't reached this town.  Their fields are dry as a bone.  The politicians are publicizing the train while people are hungry and don't have enough food.  The number of patients was down due to lack of money to come to the hospital.  She gave me a list of 107 people who have been treated for KES 353,222 = USD3497 but are unable to pay their bills.  She said they just couldn't send these people home, some of whom would die.  I plan to use donations to our ministry to help with this. 

     Lest you think all we do is work, such is not the case.  There is a large population of Catholics who came from Goa, India many years back.  Some of the parishioners have told me that their grandfather began the oldest bar in Mombasa in 1908 and Coralis and I finally made time to go see it.  It is a quaint little place that at one time was frequented by the British elite every day after they finished their work at the old railway station nearby.  Goans were not allowed to enter, even though they owned and ran the bar!  In the church the first six rows were saved for the British.  The Goans had to sit behind them.  One Goan woman told me that in the butchers' there were two lines with signs over them.  One sign read 'Asians and Dogs'.  The other sign read 'British'.  She was so incensed she went to the British line and caused an uproar. That night her husband came home asking what happened. She told him she was not a dog and that in the future he would have to go to the butchers'.  She is 93 years and the oldest member of the Cathedral parish!  

    Despite these tales of discrimination they said the British were fair to them as workers.  The Goans made up most of the civil service.  They felt the British recognized them and paid them fair salaries and pensions...which they still receive.  They also compared the British management to the   corruption and tribalism that is destroying Kenya today and shook their heads in dismay.
     Of course, the many different ethnic groups in Kenya have their own history with the British.  It makes me think carefully of how I act and what I do in a country and culture that is not my own.  I am privileged by my race and education. I can only hope that being faithful to following Jesus' life and teachings will help me to make fewer mistakes.

MAY THE PEACE OF THOSE 

WHO ARE TRULY FREE 

BE WITH YOU

                                                                                       

      I have just read in the paper about Kathy Griffin's photo of President Trump's 'bloody severed head'.  I have a strong need to say something publicly.  This makes me feel physically sick.  In the Gospel today (1st June) Jesus asks, 'May they all be One as the Father and I are One".   We talk about being one family in Christ and that, then, makes President Trump my spiritual brother.  I may not agree with him and he may even commit crimes for which he is legally liable.  That is what we have the judiciary for.   There is far too much violence in our world.  I was also sick to hear the man who killed himself in Manchester called a 'loser' and a 'monster'.  He is also my 'brother'.  He was a human being who committed a terrible crime and lost his own life.  Maybe when we learn why he did it we can understand how to prevent it from happening again. I hope we will stop all forms of violent talk and actions and let 'love be the measure' of how close we come to being one in Christ.