01 April 2017

Fr. Jim Conard and Susan

THE BEGINNING

     I began 1985 in Tanzania, the first place I served as a Maryknoll Lay Missioner.  This past month I made a trip back to Kowak Hospital which didn't exist when I arrived.  I came with Sandy Cavendish and we found a small bedded dispensary and the old Maryknoll Sisters Convent which was empty.  I used $10,000 that my grandfather had given in memory of my grandmother, Alice Loess, to begin renovating the convent.  When I moved to what is now South Sudan in 1991 we left behind a 32 bed health center.  Fr. Jim Conard continued on with other Maryknoll Lay Missioners to make improvements and it is now a full fledged hospital with 170 beds.

Susan with replica of the Maternity Hut

     

     During the construction Fr. Jim found a concrete slab that was the foundation of the original hut the Maryknoll Sisters built in 1951 to deliver babies.  He reconstructed the hut and it is now used for a tea room for the staff.  Maternity services were always a priority and during my six years we delivered over 3000 babies.  Because the Maryknoll Sisters had done such a good job of educating women about the need for prenatal care for pregnant women they were happy to use our new facilities.  I met Maria Teresa, one of the traditional birth attendants who worked with us. She is now retired.  Her little girl, Letitia, is all grown up and the mother of four children. She works at the hospital as a nurse aid.  It was encouraging to see that the first health care services begun at Kowak in 1948 by the Maryknoll Sisters continue to this day.  I feel privileged to have been a part of it.

Susan Joanne Judy Coralis

     Another reason for this trip was to visit Judy Walter.  We lived together for five years and last year she moved to Mwanza Tanzania to help begin a House of Prayer on Lake Victoria with Maryknoll Father Jim Eble.  Coralis and I were supposed to be on retreat but of course we had to meet up with other lay missioners in Mwanza too!  This picture shows four women with 107 years of ministry in East Africa and Bangladesh!!!     Judy is the person overseeing the house for women and Jim oversees the house for men.  They begin the day with a 'bell' that Judy rings at 6:20am calling all to prayer in their cave like chapel.  (The 'bell' is actually the metal hub from the tire of a big truck!)  15-20 local neighbors of simple means join them for meditation from 6:30-7am 

Coralis and Susan with the 'bell'

followed by Mass.  They have another meditation period from 4:30-5pm in the evening.  Judy says that their neighbors are naturally inclined to contemplative prayer.  The desire to create a prayer space open to people with less means was what attracted her to this ministry in a special way.

CORALIS GABRIEL SUSAN

     On March 28th we celebrated Coralis' birthday.  She is our Regional Director for Kenya and a wonderful source of inspiration and support for all we do.  Kenya is in the midst of some perilous times politically but we come together to suffer through the challenges, support one another and bring hope for the future.  Even though we are still in the midst of Lent we know that our vocation is to move towards the light of Christ in the resurrection at Easter.

MAY THE ACTIVE NONVIOLENCE OF JESUS
 BRING YOU EASTER JOY AND PEACE!!!

01 March 2017

LOVE AND LENT 

ST. VALENTINE'S DAY WITH SISTERS OF ST. JOSEPH

     You'd thought I had brought them a pot of gold.  I picked up a cake at the local grocery store before traveling five hours to St. Joseph Shelter of Hope in Voi.  My clinic in February fell on Valentine's day which is a big celebration in Kenya.  These Sisters of St. Joseph run the only functioning hospital in this town of 50,000 people.  The doctors' strike continues on and is now in its 86th day as of 1st March.  The Sisters have been working night and day with patients overflowing into the hallways and the operating room running around the clock.  It is the only functioning surgical theatre in the entire area since the government hospital is completely shut down.  I had no idea such a simple gift could bring so much joy and such big smiles.  That evening was filled with healing laughter.
     For the first time in six years famine has been declared in four countries...Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen.  All of this is man made and due to wars.  I was talking to Omar, a 12 year old lad who has come from Yemen and lives downstairs.  I asked him what he missed most about Yemen.  He simply answered "Everything" and walked away very sad.  His older brother, Hassan who is 14, is coping a bit better.  When I mentioned the famine in Yemen he told me that if we all made space everyone could live on one continent and there would be enough food for everyone if we didn't waste so much.  I asked him where he heard this and he said it's just his idea. He thinks we just need to make more space in our hearts!!!  I left that conversation knowing clearly who the missioner was...and it wasn't me.  Leaving his home has brought him wisdom well beyond his 14 years.

     A recent article in the Kenya Daily Nation caught my eye entitled "Why Trump's questions on US-Africa policy are not to be taken lightly." 

 http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/why-trump-questions-us-africa-policy-not-taken-lightly/440808-3826762-5brwwsz/index.html

It's a long article so I'll pick out the salient points.  Kenya is about to pay USD$418 million for 12 fighter jets which he calls "souped up crop dusters".  This deal is being challenged by a US congressman from North Carolina who is trying to stop the sale.  A firm in his state manufactures the planes and will sell them for half the price. His allegations of inflated pricing are supported by an article in The Economist. The author goes on to explain why all this military equipment is useless against Al Shabaab in Somalia, which is the alleged reason for their purchase.  Terrorists cannot be fought with conventional military weapons. They are like fishes in the sea.

When I first saw this in the paper I asked how they could spend that kind of money on the military when the health care system has been shut down for over three months and the nurses and doctors deserve better pay.  Then the author asks the most important question of the entire article..."What if we were to wage peace instead...build schools, health facilities, boreholes, markets, small shops?"

We are beginning Lent today and this will be my question for reflection over the next 40 days.  The Maryknoll Office of Global Concerns has also prepared a Lenten reflection guide with the theme

A Journey with Gospel Nonviolence 

http://maryknollogc.org/sites/default/files/Maryknoll%20OGC%20Lenten%20Reflection%20Guide%202017.pdf

I scrolled down to the end and found a reflection from a woman in South Sudan that showed the wisdom and love that comes from living in the midst of war for her entire life.  Even if you don't use the guide or read the whole thing this last little bit is worth a moment of your time.

WOMEN  WAGING PEACE

     I have recently met up with some of my friends from South Sudan. I was in Nairobi for a medical emergency that required my attention.  I stayed at Regina Pacis, the hostel owned by the Diocese of Torit in South Sudan where I used to work.  March 8th is International Women's Day and I want to pay tribute to this friend of mine who is a member of Parliament in South Sudan.  We worked together when I was in South Sudan and  she is one of many women who have consistently striven to "wage peace". Once we each make more space in our hearts I'm sure we will succeed.

MAY THE PEACE OF OUR SPACIOUS HEARTS

MAKE ROOM FOR EVERYONE

01 February 2017

SUSAN AND MARY

FUTURE COLLEAGUE

      I was walking back to my room in the dark after a clinic located five hours from Mombasa.  From the left, a streak of  movement rushed towards me out of the trees, grabbed me by the waist and wouldn't let me go. It was Mary whom I hadn't seen in almost two years.

      Her mother was only 16 when she got pregnant and was thinking of getting an abortion.  The Sisters begged her to have the child and they promised to help her with funds to raise her and send her to school.  When I first met Mary (not her real name) she was seven years old and starting to learn English.  Now she is almost fluent in English and she wants to be a doctor.  She didn't have much time to visit with me. She had to go polish her shoes and put out her school uniform. 

She would awaken at 4am and get on the bus at 5am; about an hour before dawn.  When I commented this was very early she said she was lucky.  Other children had to get on the bus at 4am!!!   

     The clinic I did that day was packed to overflowing. The Kenyan doctors are still on strike...day 58 on February 1st and counting.  There is no end in site.  The nurses are also threatening to strike on February 1st.  Both groups have legitimate grievances with past agreements that the government hasn't honored.

     It takes six years to train a doctor in Kenya and the cost of education from primary school to university is KES5.7 milllion = US$56,000.00.  (The Sisters are facing a big education bill with this little girl!!) The World Health Organization recommends 36 doctors per 100,000 people.  Kenya has an average of 19.  51% of the doctors they train emigrate to other countries and most doctors work in the cities. All of the clinics I supervise are run by nurses or clinical officers (physician assistants). Some are at the end of a very long road with only a telephone to connect them to me or some other source of assistance in an emergency.

     Mary is such a bright little girl and I will have to live to 77 to see her graduate from medical school.  But she gives us all hope with her enthusiasm and love of life.  On a sad note, the man, Julius, whom I mentioned in my blog last month was taken back home and not admitted to the government hospital due to the strike.  The family took him to an excellent mission hospital but they were so packed with patients they couldn't admit him and told the family to take him home and continue with the medicines we gave him.  He never improved and on January 24th he passed on.  I think he probably had a brain abscess which would have required surgery.  At least he had the best care we could give him and the love of his family to surround him.

     The other big concern here in Kenya is the possibility of post election violence in August when the presidential elections will be held.  The clinic I went to last Friday has been seeing over 100 patients every day and they also work on Saturday.  All the staff were visibly tired and frustrated. They are in an area where violence has occurred during elections in the past.  They are planning to close the clinic for 10 days around election time and allow the staff to take their families to their villages for safety.  

RIIMENZE SOUTH SUDAN JANUARY 2017

     Lastly, many people are asking me what I think of President Trump.  I tell them I didn't vote for him but he was duly elected.  However, I cannot agree with his executive order banning immigration. When I worked in what is now South Sudan I had to move many times due to the war.  At one point I had to cross the border into Uganda for a month for safety.  I never had to leave my country of birth but I know what it is like to keep moving from one place to another and fearing for your life. These people need compassion and care but more than anything they need hope.  Without that many will die needlessly.  Innocent suffering is what Bishop Taban used to say was South Sudan's gift to the world.  How sad that such a gift continues to increase in our world.  Let us not forget the huddled, silent masses in addition to the people detained or deported in US airports.

IT IS BETTER TO LIGHT A CANDLE 

THAN TO CURSE THE DARKNESS

• Lord, give me courage to keep lighting candles, even though I know some will burn out and some will blow out.
• Heal me, Lord, when I get burned in trying to keep the light going.
• Teach me to give generously and wisely, Lord, even when I don't have enough candles for everyone.
• Give me strength, Lord, when despair and discouragement tempt me to accept the darkness.
• Lord, forgive me when I preach candles to those who can't even afford matches.
• Grant me humility, Lord, when everyone else seems to have spotlights and floodlights and all I have is a lousy candle.
• Teach me patience, Lord, when it is a long time between candles.
• Help me to forgive, Lord, when someone I try to help deceives me, cheats me, or steals my candle.
• But most of all, forgive me Lord and grant me faith and hope when I start to believe the world is too dark, too cold, and too windy for simple candles.                                                                         Dan Griffin,  Former Maryknoll Lay Missioner 

14 January 2017

THE NEW ROAD TO TAVETA!!!

     As I mentioned in my 1st January blog I made a trip to Taveta this past week.  Here are pictures of the beautiful road which took only two hours rather than 5-6 hours.  In addition, the Health Commission was given a new vehicle by MIVA which is far more comfortable than my 1994 Rocky Dhaiastu!!!

     The trip went very well.  We visited one hospital and three dispensaries.

ROAD THROUGH THE TAITA HILLS

     The doctors' strike continues continuously since 5th December.  The government is telling people to go to mission health units but they have yet to give any of our facilities medicines or supplies.  The hospital at St. Joseph Shelter of Hope in Voi was full to overflowing with very sick patients and a young newly qualified doctor who is doing her best. At 8am I did a short teaching on Disaster Management as they have had multiple motor vehicle accidents from the nearby highway.  After that I saw patients from 8:45am until 7pm.  

     Three dispensaries were all busy as well with the clinical officer and three nurses all needing to work like doctors.  The dispensary in Chumvini normally delivers 8-10 women in

Coralis and I celebrating the New Year 2017

a month.  In December they delivered 39 and referred 5 women to a mission hospital across the border in Tanzania.  No mother died but one infant was lost due to mismanagement in the village and late arrival at the dispensary.  They worked every day during Christmas when the government nurses were taking holidays on the 25th, 26th and 27th.  I am truly impressed and inspired by the commitment and capacity of our staffs in these places.  Because of them, fewer poor people are dying as a result of this strike.  The doctors have a legitimate grievance with the agreement made in 2013 that has never been implemented regarding working conditions and salaries.  However, it would behoove the doctors to use methods of resistance that attend to the needs of seriously ill poor people who are now dying in their homes.  People can see that this strike will not end soon and both sides are losing credibility due to lack of compassion for the sick and integrity in negotiations.  Meanwhile, we in the mission health units will continue to do our best to fill in the gaps as best we can.

01 January 2017

Taveta Road - Trucks Stuck

REFLECTIONS ON 2016

     The BBC announced four major good things that happened in 2016.  I didn't think they were anywhere near as good as what I could think up.  So here are some hopeful signs from my point of view!

1. This Taveta Road has been finished and I will drive over it in January to get to two of our clinics.  I'll take pictures to show the improvement.  What used to take us 5-6 hours now takes only two hours to go 60 miles.

Taveta Road to Tanzania 2013

2. A new Ebola vaccine will be ready for production in 2018.  It was given to 6000 people and no one developed Ebola!

3. For the first time in my 13 years in Kenya I saw local priests wash the feet of women and children on Holy Thursday.

4. Guinea Worm is almost eradicated from the world!

5. Mr. Salah Sabdow Farah, the deputy headmaster at the primary school in Mandera was on a bus attacked by Al-

St. Patrick Dispensary over Bangaladesh

 Shabaab terrorists in northern Kenya.  They wanted to kill the Christians and he died protecting them.

6. The presidential elections in the US were free, fair and peaceful.  Currently the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and the Gambia have people dying every day for the sake of the democratic process.

     But I save my most precious memories for the work that was done with the health care workers, Justice and Peace workers and priests of St. Patrick Parish in Bangaladesh Informal Settlement.

Some of the staff at St. Patrick Dispensary Dalmas is the only man in the picture! 7. Mary was protected from incestuous uncles and is back in school and home with her 80 year old grandmother. 8. Salome (Mary's aunt) had ulcers on her legs for 20 years.  They are now almost completely healed! 9. Asha, a 17 year old emaciated girl with childhood diabetes who comes from a completely destitute family has gained 12 pounds and is well controlled on insulin. 10. Bob, age 9, was rescued from despicable abuse and had four surgical procedures to correct the damage done to his body.  He is now in an orphanage and happy and healthy. 11.  The Kenyan government doctors have been on strike since the 5th of December. When I returned on 8th Dec  I contacted my driver, Julius, to be sure he could take me to a clinic the following week.  But a day before the clinic I couldn't reach him on the phone.  After searching the contacts I knew, I found him in a small private clinic lying on the floor in deep coma and unresponsive.  I told the family he needed to be moved to a hospital. We had examined him in October and he was well but this clinic found that one test was positive for HIV and they couldn't confirm it.  Because the family could not afford private hospitals he ended up in the government hospital where I saw him four days later.  The nurse told me I couldn't act as a doctor but in a 'social' visit I could see that with the antibiotics he was being given he was beginning to open his eyes and could move his arms and legs. The nurse told me to take him away as there were no doctors on duty.  I thanked her for being on the job and told her that he needed to have a test to confirm HIV.  She said they would do it.  When I got to St. Patrick dispensary shortly thereafter the clinic officer, Dalmas, suggested that we should send our lab technician to do the test.  So I did.  I had my driver take her over to the hospital and they refused for her to do the test.  We also found out that he hadn't had his dose of antibiotic for the day, even though the family had bought and brought it to the hospital and given it to the nurses.        I asked Dalmas if we could use the vacant room downstairs to bring him for nursing and treatment.  He was agreeable.  I asked the parish priest, Fr. Gabriel.  He was agreeable.  So we had the family bring him to this small room in a slum where a nurse and clinical officer looked after him very professionally for the next six days with my help.  We found he was fluid overloaded and needed an injection to get rid of the fluid.  He woke up and started to eat pilau within a couple of hours! We found he had a bedsore.  We found he had HIV and the team from Mombasa CBHC, another diocesan health center, came to bring medicines that he would need to treat several possible infections...TB menningitis, encephalitis, cryptococcal menningitis.  I saw him on Christmas day and he was still struggling for his life.  He needed a brain scan.  The President had announced that not only the 26th but also the 27th would be public holidays, so the earliest this could be done was on the 28th.  The family wanted to take him back to their rural home.  Fr. Gabriel anointed him and he left on the 27th.      It took two days to get home because the car broke down on the way.  When they arrived, the big referral hospital was closed due to the continuing doctors' strike.  So, as of this moment, Julius is still alive, being cared for by his family at home with the training they received from our staff and the medicines that we sent with them. He is a very strong man and I pray everyday that he will recover.      I am so proud of the staff at this facility and how professionally they worked together.  Despite bad management early in the illness, the hard work over the Christmas holiday and our limited resources, we used what we had to make accurate diagnoses and  give proper treatment.  Julius is still alive and that is no small feat.  This dispensary in an informal settlement did better than the district and referral hospitals.  Whether Julius lives or dies, he has finally had loving, professional health care which is what every person deserves.

Today we celebrate the feast of Mary, Mother of Jesus, and World Day of Peace.  Pope Francis has chosen the theme

NONVIOLENCE: A STYLE OF POLITICS

FOR PEACE

May the peace of a child born over 2000 years ago lead us this coming year to follow him with the love he brought for each of us!

08 December 2016

     Greetings from Mombasa where I arrived today.       

The travel through to Mombasa went well until I had to get my luggage off the KLM flight in NBI.  I had two hours to get through immigration (which was easy!!!) and get from the international to the domestic terminal.  My bag took over an hour to come off and I literally ran across the parking lot to get to the domestic terminal.  In typical Kenyan fashion a Kenyan man offered to help push the cart and get me there.  He was kind, honest and very helpful over all the curbs and bumps.  This is ridiculous and I can't imagine tourists liking it very much.  I had a Kenyan friend on the same flight and she got her luggage and went ahead to hold the plane for me.  So when I got there my boarding pass was ready and I just flew through security and squeezed myelf onto the bus going to the plane.  We had to climb (and carry my heavy hand luggage) up the stairs to the plane.  Half way up the stairs the flight attendants told us the plane was faulty and we had to go back to the gate.  Now I was with my friend and she watched my bag while I changed into lighter clothes.  Wool doesn't work well in Mombasa.  We finally flew and I got home at 3am.  I couldn't go to sleep until 5am.  All day I have slept off and on and feel like I'm in a fog.  I forced myself to go out for 5:30pm Mass as this is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.  They had the Mass down in the grotto outside where the Archbishop is buried and that is always nice.      So such is another exciting and eventful story from Mombasa that has a happy ending!!!  

01 December 2016

Coralis and Susan

                                                                                                                                   

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Dear Family and Friends,   

     Greetings to you as I write this letter from Urbana, Illinois.  This has been a year of saying goodbye.  My father passed on to be with God on November 6^th and I have been with my family to celebrate his life and place his remains in the cemetery near the farm where he grew up.

 

     There were other goodbyes this year as well. Judy Walter, who was my house mate for five years, moved on to Tanzania in April to help begin a House of Prayer in Mwanza with Maryknoll.  In August Russ Brine, a Maryknoll Lay Missioner who lived and worked in Kitale Kenya for the past 15 years moved to Cambodia to continue serving as a Maryknoll Lay Missioner.  In September, Teresa Villaruz, my last house mate moved to Bolivia to continue serving as a Maryknoll lay missioner and teacher.  So Coralis Salvador and I continue to serve in Mombasa...the remnant!

     It has been difficult to recruit new missioners to come to Kenya due to insecurity.  Recently there was an attack at the Central Police Station in our neighborhood where three women attacked police officers with knives and one blew herself up.  Some say that the so-called Islamic State was behind this but others are uncertain.  We are routinely checked by security guards when we enter the Cathedral, post office or grocery store.  They look in our purses and pass a wand around our bodies.  The Sunday before I left for the US for my father's funeral they found a man trying to enter the Mass I was attending who was carrying a knife.  He refused to hand it over and didn’t enter.  I don’t go out at night and don’t frequent big shopping malls or fancy restaurants.  I’m quite content to live a simple life with our local neighbors.  My work takes me to the villages and the only concern on those trips is dangerous drivers.  They go too fast and don’t follow the rules of the road!

     Our Maryknoll Association has been commended by Archbishop Dolan of New York.  He is the authority who oversees our ministry and I have a letter from him if anyone is interested.  We are always looking for new members and I’d be very happy to be in contact with anyone who is interested and has questions.

     Happily I continue on with our health care ministry in Mombasa and will return to Mombasa on Dec 6th.  I am very disturbed by the increasing violence and hateful actions here in the US since the elections.  It is obvious that many people are afraid and hurting deeply on all sides.  I hope and pray that our Advent reflections on the coming of the Christ child will help us to see ourselves as members of one family who need to listen to each other, love and care for one another.                                                                  

                                                                           

 WORLD AIDS DAY

01 DECEMBER 2016

ACCESS EQUITY RIGHTS NOW

PEACE OF THESE JOYFUL 
SMILES BE WITH YOU
MAY THEY BRING YOU THE 
LOVE OF THE CHRIST CHILD
THIS ADVENT SEASON