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| GIFT OF A WOVEN MAT (MKEKA) |
Friday 13th April
People often ask me to describe a typical day. I can't. I never know what will come up despite what I have planned.
I am not a superstitious person. But this Friday I did ask myself as I was getting ready to begin the day what might lie ahead.
I was unusually organized and left the house on time to fuel the car and meet the driver at the usual place. We headed to the ferry and met a jam stretching a couple of blocks down the road...very unusual at 8am in the morning. I thanked God I had a driver to deal with the chaos and sent a message to the clinic that we would be late. We had to cross the ferry and then drive 50 miles (80km) to get to Mrima dispensary near the Tanzanian border. Along the way we hit a driving thunderstorm and couldn't see three feet in front of the car. I again thanked God for the driver. The trip usually takes two hours but this took three hours...actually not too bad I thought.
I walked into the clinic at 11am and found patients laying all over the benches and no staff in sight. They were in the newly opened maternity unit next door delivering a baby and following a second woman in labor. The clinical officer (physician assistant) came and told me that he had been up three nights in a row delivering babies. He has no nurse/midwife. Then he works the clinic during the day. I told him to go home and take a break. The only other staff was a lab technician and the receptionist who has no medical training.
I slugged my way through the line of people waiting, one of whom was the mother of a young girl with epilepsy. We have been ordering special medicine for her but I came to find out that she hasn't received it because it is still sitting on the shelf right next to the receptionist. The receptionist is dispensing medicine and tries her best but when she can't find what I have written she tells the patient it isn't available. The mother heard I was leaving and she made this beautiful woven mat to show her appreciation.
By 2pm I was pretty hungry and asked the patients if I could take a ten minute break to eat a sandwich. They were fine with that but after five minutes the receptionist was knocking on the door with an emergency...a 19 year old woman who had drunk kerosene in a fit of desperation. She is the fifth wife of a wealthy old man and I'm sure she's not happy to be serving him and the other four wives. Fortunately she was stable and although she smelled of kerosene I'm not sure how much actually went down her throat. We sent her to the district hospital.
Next was a 10 month old child who looked like a waif from a war zone and had severe pneumonia. She was very malnourished and hadn't gained any weight in four months despite being on seven antibiotics. I called the clinical officer to ask if anyone had thought about TB. She was referred for a chest x-ray.
The icing on the cake was a text message from my driver saying he had abdominal pain. He came in looking very sick and promptly vomited up old blood. Now I knew that I would be driving home!!! I got him the meds that were available and finished up a few more details before leaving at 4:30pm. I was behind the wheel and the driver slept most of the way home. We got stuck in a big traffic jam due to demolitions of numerous buildings in the town with the ferry. They plan to widen the road but at the moment it is filled with chaos and I was wishing I wasn't the driver! Add to that another jam at the ferry and I didn't get home till 7:15pm when it was dark. A 12 hour day most of which had nothing to do with my plan.
I hauled the mat up to my bedroom and laid it out on the floor. I will have two months to smile and remember the simple woman who was grateful for the treatment we were giving her daughter. I couldn't have planned this so well!
30 April 2018 - Today I finished my last clinic at St. Patrick Dispensary in the informal settlement of Bangladesh. The staff had a cake made to say goodbye to me and it was a lot of fun sharing it at the end of a long clinic day. But the best part of the day was my encounter with Mary. She is in her twenties and was orphaned when her parents died of HIV/AIDS many years ago. She is skinny as a rail and we have been trying for years to get her tested to know if she is infected. She's a bright girl who scored well and went to a prestigious high school but she can't get a job. (Unemployment among young people is about 50%). She has been volunteering at the clinic so she can get a small stipend for transport and lunch. Now she has Chikingunya virus and came to work with a fever, tired and lots of joints pains. She's so poor that she can't afford to miss this little bit of money for food. So I took my last chance and asked her why she was so afraid to be tested to know if she is infected with HIV. She said that she would feel terrible because it would mean that she was infected by her mother. I talked about bad luck, a loving God who doesn't judge and about the problem being people who do judge. She shouldn't let them make her feel bad. I told her that if she is positive that we have medicines to make her stronger and healthier. In my desparation I told her I am sick too and have to take medicine four times a day. I thank God that there is medicine to help me live and help others. All the sudden she said OK. I went quiet. I asked her who she wanted to test her and when she told me she said she didn't want anyone else to know the result. But the test came out negative and she was flying high. I think everyone knew as we gave her the first piece of cake with the most icing and calories. What a way to say goodbye to one of the best clinics we have in the Archdiocese of Mombasa!!!
30 April 2018 - Today I finished my last clinic at St. Patrick Dispensary in the informal settlement of Bangladesh. The staff had a cake made to say goodbye to me and it was a lot of fun sharing it at the end of a long clinic day. But the best part of the day was my encounter with Mary. She is in her twenties and was orphaned when her parents died of HIV/AIDS many years ago. She is skinny as a rail and we have been trying for years to get her tested to know if she is infected. She's a bright girl who scored well and went to a prestigious high school but she can't get a job. (Unemployment among young people is about 50%). She has been volunteering at the clinic so she can get a small stipend for transport and lunch. Now she has Chikingunya virus and came to work with a fever, tired and lots of joints pains. She's so poor that she can't afford to miss this little bit of money for food. So I took my last chance and asked her why she was so afraid to be tested to know if she is infected with HIV. She said that she would feel terrible because it would mean that she was infected by her mother. I talked about bad luck, a loving God who doesn't judge and about the problem being people who do judge. She shouldn't let them make her feel bad. I told her that if she is positive that we have medicines to make her stronger and healthier. In my desparation I told her I am sick too and have to take medicine four times a day. I thank God that there is medicine to help me live and help others. All the sudden she said OK. I went quiet. I asked her who she wanted to test her and when she told me she said she didn't want anyone else to know the result. But the test came out negative and she was flying high. I think everyone knew as we gave her the first piece of cake with the most icing and calories. What a way to say goodbye to one of the best clinics we have in the Archdiocese of Mombasa!!!
HAPPY FEAST OF ST. JOSEPH THE WORKER
HAPPY MONTH OF MARY MOTHER OF JESUS
PEACE OF THE KNOWLEDGE THAT GOD LOVES US NO MATTER WHAT
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