Welcome to Homunoywa clinic. Yes, I had to write that name approximately 500 times. I’m finally starting to get used to writing consonants and vowels together in unusual combinations. I made a lot of mistakes in the beginning because my brain just wouldn’t process it and sent weird signals to my writing hand!
Today we saw the composting toilets that CNFA financed and then partnered with TEMBO Kenya, the builders. They are quite impressive. In order to get the full experience we, of course, had to use them! They are still a squatting toilet, but there is absolutely no odour! Imagine that! Believe me, they smelled better than some of our gas station bathrooms back home, in Canada! You know, the ones you quickly take your kids out of and then find them a bush instead!
We also saw a protected spring. It is an underground spring at the bottom of a hill and pipes protrude to provide water. The kids walk a long way to get that water! Several times a day. I know this because I watched them as I worked at the registration desk. Out the driveway, down the road, down a VERY LONG path, down a steep hill. Of course, what goes down must come back up, and with a full load of water. We passed a young man resting with his full jug and Trish picked it up and said it was VERY heavy!
We saw 642 people in clinic today and dealt with approximately 11 wounds. I went to the school with Jerry and saw 280 kids with ringworm. There were 2 classes we were unable to see so I believe he went back later on, after they had completed their exams.
Some people did go to hospital today. One was a boy who had been bit by an unknown something on the arm. Another, was the 16 year old grandson of Evans, our driver. He was in a hospital earlier, with malaria and possibly meningitis. He collapsed at home, after release and had to be re-admitted.
Some excitement at mid-day came in the form of a funeral procession. One of the men leaned over to me and asked if we also brought our loved one’s bodies home from the mortuary. I said no, in Canada they don’t let us bring the deceased into our homes. The procession took the form of approximately 25 motorbikes, and several cars, vans, and large buses full of people, all honking and crying, as well as a hearse from “Sudden Dreams”, carrying the body. The school quickly emptied of children as they all ran out to the road to watch. Um…so did all my helpers!
It seems I have met a lot of children and babies named Elvis today! Some other names I came across during the last two weeks include: Precious, Princess, Queen, Prince, more than one Sinderella and a couple of Anastasias! Most of the names have very creative spellings. Then again, I’m sure they would say the same about ours!
We are off to Hamadira tomorrow, then lots of sorting and packing (which begins tonight) and then we hit the road at 5:00am Saturday to head back to Nairobi!
I can’t believe there is only one clinic left!
