01 June 2014

Hansen's disease (Leprosy)

     Another very interesting clinic at Bamba this past week.  I can hardly believe I saw what I saw myself.  There were twenty patients waiting when we arrived after our two hour drive.  I saw 23 and, as is usual, the last were the sickest.  This man was #22.  He'd been sick for five years and had been seen at the government hospital to no avail.  He was losing the toes on his left foot and couldn't close his left eye.  His right hand had contractures of two fingers and his limbs had no feeling...the numbness of Hansen's disease that attacks the nerves.  Other patients had cancer of the prostate and cervix, elephantiasis caused by filariasis, a 10 year old boy with such bad heart disease his chest was thumping, a 60 year old woman who also had a thumping chest because her high blood pressure had ruined her heart and two men who had had strokes because of high blood pressure.  We are trying to hire a clinical officer to see patients on a daily basis.  Currently Sr. Veronicah goes once a week and I go once a month.

     Now, notice the small woman standing next to the man.  Her name is Tecla and she is my new translator and assistant.  Sr. Veronicah has a passion for helping people in need and I told her that I needed someone who speaks Giriama because so many of these people don't speak Swahili. Both Tecla and I were in need. Sr. Veronicah knew Tecla had been working in a little store seven days a week from sunrise to sunset.  She is 24 years old but is a dwarf.  Veronicah decided to give her a chance and see how she would work out.  She is one of the best assistants I have ever had...bright, kind, sensible and eager to learn. We are paying her a better salary than the store and she doesn't have to work 84 hours a week!   

     I have also accepted elder status this week as I drove through a busy market trying to find my way out.  The road was blocked at several corners and the young men all called me grandma and encouraged me to drive around the obstacles!

     The local economy on the coast is destroyed because all the tourists have left due to insecurity.  7000 people have lost their jobs in the tourist industry and one shop owner downtown said she can go for a whole week without selling anything.  While I was waiting in the long line to cross the ferry one of the young men who sells trinkets to the people waiting in their cars greeted me.  I rarely buy anything but he likes to say hi.  He noticed that my shoes were getting worn and asked if he could have them for his wife when I was through with them...he called it 'booking' and asked me to put him first on the list!  I told him there were no other names on the list and bought two rosaries from him...my small contribution to assisting the local economy.

     The insecurity is real.  Two young men arrested with huge bombs hidden in their cars are in the local prison.  The bombs were exploded by police in Shanzu, about 12 miles away, and the tremors were felt here in the city.  Those were big bombs and would have killed many people if they'd succeeded.  The two men almost escaped from the prison with the help of a police officer who had been paid billions of shillings to get them out.  Now the judges go to the prison for their trial as they are too dangerous to take to court...or the system is too corrupt to manage them properly. And corruption is the key word.  Last week a young man who is a volunteer at the Cathedral walked a block down the street to buy some bread.  The police picked him up and threw him in jail because he didn't have his ID on him.  So the priest had to go down and pay money to get him out. The police make a lot of money picking on little people who are just going about their daily business while the big people buy their way to cause real trouble. 

     Today is Madaraka (Responsibility) Day...the day that Kenya received freedom for internal governance from the British.  Since it falls on a Sunday we will have a holiday on Monday making it a three day weekend.  The skies are overcast and hopefully some rain will fall for the farmers.

PEACE OF THOSE HARDWORKING RESPONSIBLE PEOPLE TO YOU!!! 

24 May 2014

     Two nights ago, around 9:30pm, another incident occurred downtown when the police were arresting a man to be questioned for criminal activities.  Three men emerged from behind them and hurled a grenade which injured one officer and a passer-by.  Panic ensued and the suspect and three attackers disappeared into a narrow alley.  I had heard this story Friday morning but waited until I saw something in the paper today, Saturday, to confirm that it happened.  The Mombasa County Commissioner has "assured Coast residents and visitors that Mombasa is safe and that 'isolated cases' of insecurity should not scare them".  I am smiling.  We do not go out at night and tomorrow our Maryknoll community has rescheduled our monthly meeting to be held at my house in the afternoon.  I have just returned from Saturday evening Mass and the streets are deserted.  Very unusual.
     On a good note, I did go to my clinic near the Tanzanian border yesterday and it went well.  This is the clinic that had fallen apart at the beginning of the year and I was so disappointed.  However things have turned around and it is busy once again.  The last two patients were very sick and I was sorry that they hadn't come earlier as we had to refer them elsewhere.  There was no difficulty making the trip and again the traffic was unusually light so it didn't take us hours to get across the ferry.  We were home before dark.  Peace of the twinkling stars to you!

21 May 2014

      Greetings to all.  I know that there are many people praying for us.  It is a great comfort.  I have just returned from a clinic in Voi, three hours away, that went very well.  When I arrived home I found that the lock on the outer gate of the door had been opened but the inner door was still locked and no one entered our flat.  It is very obvious when my car is gone for two days that I am not around.  So my friend came over this evening to chat.  It's nice to have someone else around when there is trouble.  Yesterday we got news of student demonstrations in Nairobi against the increase in school fees.  The gathering turned chaotic and police used tear gas causing disruption in the town center.
      Today the newspaper reports that hotels on the coast are closing and 4000 people have been laid off of work.  I have asked around about security in Mombasa and it is still tense.  The concern is that someone is planning a major attack that will involve shooting people indiscriminately in areas of heavy traffic...either Nairobi or Mombasa...similar to the attack on the Westgate shopping mall last September in Nairobi.
      I will be going to a clinic in Mrima by the Tanzanian border on Friday and the rains have cooled everything off so that I'm a bit chilly!!!  We continue to pray for one another.  Peace of the gentle rains to you, especially those who are starting to sweat in the northern hemisphere!

18 May 2014

     Due to the threat of terrorism Britain evacuated 500 nationals from their holidays here south of Mombasa last week.  The US Embassy pulled all their people from Mombasa and closed this weekend.  Since it seemed prudent to avoid trouble we cancelled our Maryknoll meeting here in my house today and all stayed home.  It was cold and rainy...if you can believe it after all the sweating we've been doing...but otherwise the day was calm and quiet.  Thanks be to God.

16 May 2014

Greetings to all,
     I don't usually write at this time of the month but there have been several bombings in Kenya and this is the easiest way to communicate to many.
     I am in Mombasa and all is fine here at the moment.  I had gone to Nairobi by bus on 3rd May and that night when I was beginning my retreat I heard of bombing in Mombasa.  This morning I was able to talk with one of the Brothers who works with youth in the Archdiocese.  On that evening he had just finished a meeting with the young people in Mwembe Tayari, a busy, bustling center for public transport downtown. We have all been there many times; Judy passes through there every day on her way to and from work.  His right ear drum was ruptured and he fell causing abrasions to his right side but he was able to run away and call for someone to come get him.  He saw four dead bodies, two men and two women...one of whom was pregnant.  At the same time there were explosions on the beach near the Reef Hotel, the place where members of Friends Across Borders trips have always stayed while visiting Mombasa.
     Since then there have been two more incidents of explosions in Nairobi, one on a major highway and this afternoon in a busy market.  The British have evacuated tourists and stopped others from coming to Kenya.
     I am glad that I had a good retreat and feel much more rested after having a break.  We will need to be more careful in Mombasa about where we go and what we do.  We are grateful for your prayers and pray especially for the families of all the innocent people who have been injured or killed in these attacks.
     Blessings of the waning moon to you!  susan

01 May 2014

Box 84425-80100                            

Mombasa, Kenya

nagelesusan@gmail.com   

http://healthministryinkenya.blogspot.com/

     May 2014

Dear Family and Friends,

     Recently, we visited an old Arab city nearby  where we found this huge Baobab tree. It is over 500 years old!!!  Baobabs are 90% water and they can live for 10 years without rain!  I look kind of insignificant standing in front of it.  Sometimes I feel insignificant in light of all the problems and troubles there are in the world.  The last couple of weeks have brought several violent incidents to Kenya and three out of four were here in Mombasa.  People keep forgetting that we are one family and we only hurt ourselves when we hurt one another.

    Then last Wednesday I saw the little boy that I mentioned in my December newsletter.  When I called the mother she didn't come into the office.  She put the little fellow on the doorstep and he walked in himself!!!  I first saw him in April last year.  He was one year old and couldn't sit up.  His muscles were all very floppy.  Now, at two years, he is standing by himself and flapping his arms like the little angel that he is.  It was very hard to get this picture because he was not at all interested in posing for the camera.  A small dose of thyroid medicine has given him the strength to grow more normally and behave very mischievously.  For me Easter has come early because he has more energy and his life is renewed.

HAPPY EASTER!!!

     So when we feel insignificant let us remember that we are part of a much greater whole.  And when we feel like there isn't much we can do, let us do what we can and then wait and see what God will do with us.  You are a great part of what we do and we are very grateful.

                  Blessings,

                  Susan Nagele

We are grateful for your prayers and financial support.  If you would like to know more about Maryknoll Lay Missioners log onto our website: www.mklm.org or call toll free 1-800-867-2980.

Sorry I haven't quite got this blog format down having done my newsletter on another document.  My blog expert, Mary, is coming for a visit in June.  We are all super excited and maybe she can get me straightened out!!!  

PEACE OF GENTLE ST. JOSEPH THE WORKER TO YOU!!!

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!