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!                                                                           

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!

01 January 2014

Susan, Judy and Fr. John Garry

Greetings to all on this the last day of 2013.
     I was very fortunate to spend two days with two very good friends at the Sunbird lodge.  For those who know me, you know I love birds and a fire in the fireplace when it is cold.  This year I am missing the cold of Illinois where I was with my birth family last year. But this year I am still with family in front of a fire place because Naivasha is much colder than Mombasa!
     As I spend these last few moments of 2013 in reflection I am thinking of family. I know how blessed I am to have you as part of my extended and world wide family.  I have all my basic needs met and far more than I need.  My calender from the Sisters of St. Joseph of LaGrange has a quote for today, "I am restored in beauty", from a Navaho prayer.  Our sharing of a meal around a table in front of a fire place was full of beauty, laughter, good food and we restored one another for another day on the journey.  I hope that each of you can be restored by beauty as we move into a new year.
     But our world is often full of pain, suffering and the farthest thing from beauty.  Such is the case with S Sudan, the newest nation on our planet, born on 9th July 2011.  On 15th December fighting began and continues until now.  It looks to me like civil war and genocide but I don't hear others using those words.  Maybe I am wrong.  I hope so.  I worked in the Catholic Diocese of Torit, in what is now S Sudan, from 1991 to 2003.  I still have many friends there and we all had such hope for the future...until two weeks ago. So, if it is possible, I ask that you help to show solidarity with our family in this new nation by signing on to the petition below:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Leaders_of_Civil_War_in_South_Sudan_stop_random_killings_of_civilians_in_South_Sudan/sign/?aSplydb

I clicked on the link and was the 308th person to sign up.  It was easy even for me who finds these things challenging.  Tomorrow is the International World Day for Peace and it would be a small thing each of us could do to work for peace.  It is also the feast of Mary, Queen of Peace.  Let's join our prayer with her, and all mothers everywhere, who know that when we forget that we belong to one another... that we are part of one family...it is very hard to find peace.

Peace of the glow and beauty of the flickering flames to you!  

22 December 2013

This is a special posting.  For those of you who don't know, fighting has begun again in S Sudan and the fragile peace has been broken.  Below is a message my friend, who is a doctor in the south, just wrote to me:

My guys are so bummed - so depressed, so dispirited.  We were finally starting to make progress and now - even if there is peace tomorrow, it will never be as good as it was last week.  No one can forget.  The targeted killings…  I've a post paid thuraya (phone) - and every day there are people who come with a tiny piece of waste paper with a telephone number scribbled on it - just a quick call to hear the voice…  Most are still alive.

But so many hopes are shattered.
They said, we will not have Christmas this year….

On the home front, yesterday I sat down with Martha (not the real name of the woman who helps us clean in  our home).  I wanted to pit some dates to make cookies and asked her to help me.  For the hour we were together she started talking about her children.  Her oldest daughter who is in University got pregnant and isn't coming home for Christmas.  Martha is afraid the girl won't finish school and will bring the child to her to raise.  Martha is trying to support two other children and a grandson who has HIV/AIDS.  (His mother, her daughter,  died of AIDS many years ago).  Her husband long since left the family.  Martha is the sole bread winner and can hardly make ends meet. 
     Next, two weeks ago her younger daughter age 14 was moving with a bad crowd of people. Martha told the daughter to stop associating with those people and the daughter started yelling and wailing.  This upset Joseph, her son who is about 20 and has brain damage from a motor vehicle accident.  He picked up a kitchen knife and went after Martha and stabbed her in the chest and back four times.  All were superficial but she had to go to the hospital for treatment.  The government health workers are striking so she had to go to a private clinic and had to borrow money for the bill.  Because of all these problems Martha was unable to sleep and started drinking alcohol.  Last week she found herself awakening from a drunken stupor at 4am outside her house.  She said she has no one to talk to about her problems.  When she talks to her neighbors they laugh at her.
     I thanked God that I had asked her to sit down and help me pit the dates.  I prescribed some medicine for her pain which will help her sleep at night.  I told her if she felt like drinking again to call me and we would talk.  I gave her her pay, her Christmas presents and told her we would increase her pay starting next week.I called her this morning and asked her how she slept last night.  She said she slept better and her voice sounded less strained.  

This morning I wanted to make more Christmas cookies but asked myself how I could do such a superficial thing with S Sudan at war and Martha struggling with such problems.  Then the thought occurred to me that I could pray for them while making the cookies.  So I started cooking.  I wonder why some people must suffer so much and what my role should be in addressing their suffering.  At the very least, and perhaps most importantly, I can listen to them.  It was the Christmas cookies that led me to sit down with Martha and listen to her.  And they gave me the opportunity to pray for those in need.  I guess baking Christmas cookies is not such a superficial thing.  Thanks to you for listening to me.  Merrcy Christmas.   

01 December 2013

Bethany, Rehema, Coralis, Judy, Susan, Anita, Curt
Maryknoll Lay Missioners Mombasa

Dear Family and Friends,

     This has been quite a year of ups and downs. The Kenyan presidential elections were held on March 4th and because of concerns for safety our travel to the different health units was restricted in February and March.  Fortunately the process was peaceful, despite long lines that caused people to wait up to 11 hours in the hot sun.  Kenyans are to be admired for their patient determination to perform their right to vote.  The men chosen to be President and Vice President are both charged with crimes against humanity for violence that occurred in the elections in 2007.  Currently the Vice President is on trial in the Hague and the President will be tried next February 2014.

     In July my 20 year old nephew, Alex Vitalis, drowned of cold shock syndrome in a tragic river accident.  I was able to arrive in Minnesota for the wake which gathered over 1000 people.  He was a wonderful young man and we are grateful for the time we had with him.  Still, we are trying to adjust to the reality that he is no longer with us here on earth.  The family asked that donations be made to my mission account in lieu of flowers.  People have been extremely generous.  With those gifts we have already completed renovations to the pharmacy at Giriama dispensary and have begun to renovate the lab.  I will give a full report early next year.

     While I was in Minnesota I also had an unfortunate accident and fractured my sacrum (tailbone).  In order to recuperate I had to extend my stay in the US but I have healed completely.  I returned to Mombasa in October.  This allowed me to spend more time with family, especially my parents.  I am very grateful for all the support I received from Maryknoll and the Archdiocese during these difficult months.

     Kenya has been beset by numerous problems.  In August the arrivals hall at the International Airport in Nairobi burned to the ground.  In September a large shopping mall in Nairobi, Westgate, was attacked by terrorists and closed down for four days.  At least 70 people were killed and over 200 were injured.  In October a Muslim Sheikh was killed in Mombasa along with three people in his car and four bystanders. Each incident increases fear and it becomes more difficult to know who to trust or how to make plans for every day activities.  As Sr. Pauline, our health coordinator said, "We are all traumatized".

     Lastly, our beloved Archbishop, Boniface Lele, retired on November 1st for health reasons.  He is a caring, pastoral man who has been at the forefront of ministry to people living with AIDS.  The door to his office was always open and we rarely needed an appointment to meet him.  He welcomed all with a gracious smile and genuine humility.  We were blessed to have him as our shepherd these past eight years.

     As we wait for the birth of Jesus I have my own mother and child story to share.  In April Asha brought her one year old son, Seif, to the clinic for vomiting and diarrhea.  He had stopped growing six months earlier and could hardly sit up, let alone stand.  I was afraid he had some type of muscular dystrophy but wanted to check his thyroid function too.  I sent him to the provincial hospital and told them what I suspected and what tests needed to be done.  Ashsa tried her best but the first time she went to the hospital the doctor wasn't there.  The second time the doctor didn't have time to see him.  Someone wrote for lab tests to be done at a private hospital which would have cost two weeks of the father's salary.  The third time she went they were angry that she hadn't had the tests done and refused to examine the child.  So, when she brought him back to me I just took the mother and child to a lab that I know well and paid for one test to check his thyroid.  It was abnormal and we started him on treatment for low thyroid.  In just two weeks he was starting to get stronger.  The Sister at the clinic continued to treat him with my advice by email while I was in the US and he continued to improve.  The Sister also encouraged the mother to keep breast feeding, only to find out the mother was pregnant.  She delivered another child in September!  As you can see from the names, the family is Muslim and the mother wore the traditional long black robes.  We had no idea she was pregnant.  Seif continues to improve and now he has a little sister. 

     So, let this season of hope for new life encourage each of us.  God came into our world to live among us.  No matter what our challenges, struggles or sorrows we are never alone and God is with us...Emmanuel.

PEACE OF THE NEW BORN CHRIST
CHILD TO YOU!!!

A tree that blooms in December
 Called a Christmas tree here!
MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR

SUSAN 

01 November 13

Giriama Pharmacy Completed

Happy Feast of All Saints  

Greetings from Mombasa!!!  

     I arrived on the 18th of October after a long but basically uneventful trip.  I met with Sr. Veronicah of Giriama dispensary and she has completed renovation of the pharmacy and all the medicines are off the floor!  I gave her more money from the memorial fund for Alex to begin renovation of the laboratory.  Again, she asked me to convey her gratitude on behalf of the staff and all the patients for this assistance.

     On my trip back security was tighter. During my absence from Kenya the arrivals hall at the airport in Nairobi burned down.  The Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi (very large and often frequented by expatriates) was attacked by terrorists and 67 people were killed.  A Sheikh in Mombasa was killed along with 3 people in his car and 4 bystanders. There have also  been reoccurring incidents of violence in Mombasa, sometimes thought to be hooliganism, taking advantage of terrorism and unrest in the country.  The Vice President is in the Hague attending his trial for crimes against humanity.  The President was to due go to the Hague for his trial on Nov 12th.  His trial is postponed until Febrruary at his request.  Prices for everything have gone up, especially since the value added tax was raised from 14 to 16%.  Our salaries stay the same and those who live on the edges are falling off more frequently.

New Orbis Book about Mombasa

                      But there's hope!  Pope Francis has been talking about wanting a poor church for the poor.  Here's a new book written by one of our lay missioner's, Coralis Salvador and a Franscican lay missioner, Susan Slavin.  I highly recommend it as it will give a good picture of our ministries in Mombasa.  Coralis currently administrates Kikambala Primary Health Care facility where I do a clinic once each month.      
                      I've also just finished reading a new book Pope Francis Untying the Knots by Paul Vallely.  Towards the end it quotes a speech by Cardinal Bergoglio given at the conclave before the elections began.  He said, "The Church is supposed to be the mysterium lunae - the mystery of the moon is that it has no light but simply reflects the light of the sun.  The church must not fool itself that it has light of its own; if it does that it falls in to what Henri De Lubac in The Splendour of the Church called the greatest of evils - spiritual worldliness.  That is what happens with a self-referential Church, which refuses to go behond itself.  Put simply, there are two images of Church; a Church which evangelises and comes out of herself or a worldly Church, living within herself, of herself, for herself.  The next Pope should be someone who helps the Church surge forth to the peripheries like a sweet and comforting mother who offers the joy of Jesus to the world.               
                                                                             After that speech Cardinal Bergoglio was the person chosen to be our next leader.  The moon is waning at the moment but it will be full on 18th Nov.  Keep an eye out and let's head for the people on the edges and be mysterium lunae.

                         Peace of the Harvest Moon to you and Happy Thanksgiving!