16 August 2017

It seems that now the opposition WILL go to court to challenge the presidential election.  (They had said they wouldn't)  So far the country is at peace for the most part.  The doctors and nurses are still striking!!!!  I will return on Sept 6th.  Hope I don't find the same mess that was there when I left during the previous strikes.  Our clinics are way overloaded with work and no support from the government.

15 August 2017

FEAST OF THE ASSUMPTION

FOUNDING OF 

MARYKNOLL MISSION ASSOCIATION OF THE FAITHFUL

1994

    I was privileged to attend our founding assembly in August 1994.  I'm in the middle of this group up near the top in front of the man with the red shirt.  It was a great gathering of so many faithful committed people trying to be faithful to a call to follow Jesus by going oversees to other countries and cultures to serve those in need.  Happy Feast Day to all of us!!!

     The elections for the president declared the current President, Uhuru Kenyatta the winner by 10%.  The opposition does not accept the results and four days after declaring the winner the electoral commission still hasn't finished tallying the votes.  It seems there are discrepancies between the polling station report forms and the constituency report forms.  Still hoping no one will start fighting over the whole thing.

PEACE OF OUR STRONG GENTLE MOTHER TO YOU

09 August 2017

Greetings to all.
      Just to make sure that everyone knows that I am in Urbana Illinois USA.  The election process in Kenya took place peacefully on the 8th August and the returns are coming in.  The opposition claims that the incumbent party has rigged the election and claims the returns are fraudulent.  Demonstrations and 'calls to action' have begun in the bigger cities like Nairobi and Kisumu.  So far I hear that Mombasa is calm.  No need for anyone to worry about me. I am safely residing at our family home and following these developments from afar while praying for peace and safety for all...susan

01 August 2017

SUSAN AND FRIEND ON PEACE WALK

KENYA ELECTIONS 8 AUGUST 2017

PEACE IS THE WAY OF LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING

    

Greetings from Urbana Illinois where I am enjoying sweet corn and beautiful summer weather with my family and friends.  I've had some challenges with cross cultural issues.  The air conditioning in the grocery stores, churches and restaurants almost gives me frost bite. I go everywhere with my light Mombasa wrap to cover my neck and shoulders.  Everything here is BIG!!!  I couldn't find a green pepper smaller than the size of my foot. But the up side is that people are so friendly and courteous.  It is a joy to drive on roads where people follow the rules and vehicles stop for pedestrians.

     At the moment, my thoughts and prayers are with my friends back in Kenya, especially Mombasa.  The elections for the President, as well as governors, senators, Councillors and others will be held on 8th August.  The news my friends send me by email is not good.  In 2007/8 there was terrible post election violence while I was in Kiminini/Kitale.  Issues of land rights, negative ethnicity and corruption caused many problems.  Those issues have not been resolved and seem to have increased.  Kenya has a democracy but it is fraught with dangerous politics.

     The Kenya Council of Catholic Bishops printed a prayer card which we have been praying regularly for peaceful elections.  In June I participated in a peace walk from our Cathedral sponsored by the Association of Sisterhoods of Kenya and wore my Maryknoll T-shirt.  It uses a swahili proverb for peace and has the word PEACE written in English, swahili (AMANI) and Arabic (SALAAM). The first of every month we lay missioners in Kenya always pray especially for peace.  This month we are most concerned with Kenya.

PAUL MARY SUSAN MARTY

     While visiting my family in Minnesota I was able to meet up with former lay missioners Mary Oldham and Marty Roers.  Mary's husband Paul is also with us and we had a lovely evening together remembering our times together in mission.  Many people in Kenya and Sudan still ask about them and a picture is worth much more than poorly descriptive words.  In short, they are all very happy and healthy.

     I will be in Illinois until 6th September when I will return to Kenya.  By then I hope the country has a president and functioning government so we can get on with the important tasks of caring for each other with love.

MAY THE PEACE OF SUMMER BIRD SONG

AND

MOONLIT NIGHTS BE WITH YOU

01 July 2017

DYSFUNCTIONAL HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

     I'm tired and not quite sure where to begin!  The government nurses began to strike on June 7th.  As this article shows so starkly, there is a big difference in public and private health care in Kenya.  The 8 month old son of a doctor died of malaria while the President's wife was opening a new heart laboratory here in Mombasa.  I suppose such discrepancies are the status quo everywhere but it hit me like a brick that if a doctor can't save the life of his son it is impossible for those who live on the margins to get the health care they need.

I've just come back from a 5 day trip to 1 hospital and 4 dispensaries.  This picture shows me teaching the staff at Chumvini Dispensary about Diabetes.  The day started at 5:30am and ended at 7pm.  We squeezed in this teaching session as they are overloaded with patients because of the nurses' strike. The woman in the white coat to my right is Monica, the clinical officer (physician assistant). She is a gem...so interested to learn and sharp as a tack. They normally do 5 deliveries a month but they've done 31 this June.  In 1 day they had 5 deliveries!!!

      Since we're talking about newborn babies, here's some good news.  The percentage of children born with HIV has dropped from a high of 17% in 2014 to 6% in 2016. We have worked very hard to make this happen and our goal is to completely eliminate transmission of the virus from the mother to the newborn child by 2021.

       I love avocados and I sprout the stones in every one I eat. Then I give the young seedlings to children and people whom I hope will keep them alive. This avocado seedling was given to the Sisters at St. Joseph Shelter of Hope in Voi.  I was so excited to see it as tall as this young man at my visit this week.  The hospital was full to overflowing and everyone was exhausted at the end of a day that kept going on and on.  Before I left the following day, I checked on my seedling and it brought me great joy.  It is one small contribution I, and we, can make to care for our home, planet earth, while providing nutritious food.
     I will  be traveling to the US on July 9th for a two month break.  I am more than ready for it.  To all my friends in Kenya, know that you will be in my prayer that the nurses go back to work soon.  To all my friends in the US...here I come!

PEACE OF THE FLUTTERING LEAVES TO YOU

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.                                                        

13 May 2017

     I don't usually write in the middle of the month but this has been an unusual week.  On Monday we had 195mm of rain in 14 hours.  That's almost 8 inches.  We've had 405mm in the first 8 days of May compared to 114mm in the whole month of May 2016.  Last week I missed the clinic in Bamba and this week the clinic in Kanamai on Tuesday because of the rains.  There were flood warnings and it was too dangerous to drive there.  The saddest picture was on the front page of the newspaper.  A herder from Marsabit stood looking at all his sheep dead on the ground in front of him.  They had survived the drought and the rain came so quickly they couldn't adjust and they died from the cold.
     The cost of food is sky rocketing and people are not putting milk and sugar in their tea. They are starting to eat chapatis (which used to be for special occasions) because wheat is cheaper than maize!  Josephine, who helps me in the house, had two rooms of her house fall down.  I had helped her fix her house last year and those four rooms are still standing.  She had planted cow peas, kale and spinach.  It all got washed away in the rains.  Remember, this is the woman who had her watermelons stolen last month.
     Even in my neighborhood where the houses are better things are crumbling.  A perimeter wall at the hospital fell on the small houses next to a nearby school and killed 6 people, three of them children.  God only knows how many people in the slums have slid down the hillsides and disappeared.
     Today is the 100th anniversary of the apparitions at Fatima.  I do think that the poor here are doing enough penance.  Those of us who have more than we need should do more penance and get involved with helping out those is such need...wherever we find ourselves in the world.