Category: Life

We said our goodbyes and left Kisii about 9:30 am, driving as far as Norok, where we met our safari guides/drivers. They then took us to the safari camp, about a two hour drive, mostly off road.

It was much different than what we expected. We are sleeping in permanent tents on concrete slabs, each with a regular bathroom attached. These are the upgraded accommodations. There are other tents on the ground with out door bathrooms, and still other tent sites. Not fancy, but softer beds, better showers, and better food than the hotel in Kisii.

We've already seen some animals on the way here: gazelle, zebras, giraffes, wildebeests, and cebus. This part of Africa looks like what you would expect. Dry, expansive plains, Masai huts here and there, acacia trees and mountains off in the distance.

Supper was beef stew, mashed potatoes, green beans and carrots, pasta, cabbage and fruit. The fruit wasn't as good as Kisii, but there's hardly any agriculture where we are. Oh, and most importantly, half liter bottles of Tusker beer, which tasted great.

Rule number one here: zip up your tent. We already saw monkeys stealing stuff from a tent that someone hadn't zipped up all the way.

We are out of here bright and early tomorrow morning for an all day outing. Others we talked to today said they saw a herd of over 80 elephants and countless wildebeest, which are running right now.

 

The day started in an unusual way, to the sound of someone power washing the outside walls and the noisy talk and clattering tubs of the laundry people, all about 5:30 am. When we went down to the dining room, it was dark, and no one was around. I guess the staff was pretty tired this morning, too. Our team was dragging.

It was a pleasant ride to the church because the road had been graded. The people waiting with numbers from last night were orderly, at least to start. I could tell we were in trouble, though. Even though we worked hard to cap today's number, there were just too many there already. And people started calling in favors. The bishop's friends from Tanzania. Students from the boarding school next door. A mother with a sick child. And of course, all of them are “not well.”

Forgive my cynicism, but most of the people were perfectly fine, suffering a few aches and pains that I would consider normal. But because white American “doctors” had come, everyone was ill and needed to see them. So much so that they started arriving at 5 am to get in line.

The people in line quickly devised ways to hack the system. Single adults from the day before suddenly had four children in tow. Others forged numbers to try and get a place in line. A promise of only ten students grew to sixteen. Yes, my compassion lagged and my annoyance grew.

Members of the team had brought toothbrushes and toothpaste, with the hopes of doing a little dental education. Didn't happen. As the day drew to a close, I decided to just give them away to those watching. The first batch I gave out went fine. The second bag of toothbrushes was torn from my hand as a mob literally fought to get their hands on them. I doubt if some even knew what they were grabbing. The dental clinic was over. No way I was going back in there.

We got to see some ver interesting conditions again today. I prayed with several moms whose children were very, very sick. I wish we could have filtered out the ” not feeling well” people to spend time with those who really needed some extraordinary care. But how do you do that?

At the end of the day, we saw those from the church who had helped us during the week, so we didn't get done and packed up till nearly 7 pm. After supper, we saw the hotel staff before we finally called the clinic “closed.”

Tomorrow we head to Nairobi, and some of us will split off for a safari, while a few head home. Time to relax a little now and decompress.

 

Yet another clinic day. We saw another 200 people. As we arrived, a huge mob of people was pressing against the front gates of the church. More than a few Kenyans had to do some yelling restore order and get people in line.

Once that was over, the day went smoothly. We saw a person with a traumatic amputation of a finger, a man with elephantiasis, a four year old who only weighed 14 pounds and had to be taken to the hospital, and a whole boatload of people with joint pain, stomach aches and headaches. The usually menu of complaints for a third world community.

For me it was a day of compassion fatigue, that is, when you feel more annoys than caring. It comes mostly from seeing an increase in people taking advantage of us and our resources. It's hard to say no to so many who feel like they and they family and friends must be seen without waiting in line, from the cook to the bishop. But it's necessary.

Lunch was just some banana potato soup and avocado. Supper included some really good fish along with the usual ungala, greens and rice.

We tried to limit our visits for tomorrow, but must now also see our support staff and the hotel staff. Tomorrow could be a long day.

 

Day three of the clinic was a lot like day two, except for the mob scene at registration. Pushing, shoving, yelling and complete chaos made it impossible to sign people in, delaying the start of the clinical day about 45 minutes. The local leaders had to kick everyone out of the church and start all over again. Hopefully we can avoid this scene tomorrow.

Kim got all of her testing done and started some needed medications, back at her triage desk by noon. We finally got our missing bag of supplies, but we suspect that someone took the batteries out of it. I helped a little in the pharmacy, didn't have a chance to play with the kids, and preached to a group of people outside the church who wouldn't be seen today.

Many church leaders come to me asking for favors. I have to consistently say no, and offer instead to just pray with them. Each has come a long way, is very ill, and needs to be seen immediately (just like everyone else). That's a tough thing to do.

Meals today included the usual eggs for breakfast, rice, eggs, ugala and peas for lunch, and chicken, greens and rice for supper. It's getting predictable. But it's good and very filling.

So today was our frustrating day – even though we saw 245, more than Tuesday. Tomorrow will be different yet, I am sure.

 

 

 

Day two of the clinic began much like day one, with an early bus ride out to the church and a quick clinic setup. Rev. Shaun Trump gave a morning devotion for us, and we started in. The crowds were much bigger today, with many more children.

One mother brought in her son along with doctor’s reports and a cat scan. Dr. Jon had to let her know that there’s was nothing they could do. In fact, the boy was dying and wouldn’t last long. They found me and I prayed with them and committed them to God’s care. I was very glad to hear that the child had been baptized.

We had to send many of the waiters home after lunch because we gave priority to the mothers with children. Steven, the local project coordinator, found me when the group was getting restless and had me preach a little on waiting.

As the clinic day was coming to a close, a number of local children gathered to watch. I wasn’t too busy, so I hopped the fence and ran around an adjacent field with them. It was so much fun. I’m going to get more of the team involved tomorrow.

At one point in the day, I was talking with the bishop about moms who were insisting their children were very sick to get to the front of the line. He said, “You’re right. This isn’t good. Let’s go have some sugar cane!” His brother had brought some over and he grabbed a machete and chopped off a piece for me.

Alice, the head teacher for the K-8 school adjacent to the church took me on a walking tour of her campus. She was so proud, especially of their much improved test scores last year. Each class is around 45 student, crammed into a 20×14 foot space. The school day goes from 6:30 am to 5:00 pm. Some students come early and stay late to do more reading.