Well Friday was a busy day like expected, with many triaged,  numerous wounds dressed  and medications were handed out.  We also made a couple hospital trips, one van load again with two nurses for some more tests like X-ray and ultrasounds.  Sadly we encountered out first very ill patient who had to be physically carried in by family and friends, she was brought by on the experienced nurses to hospital in hopes to be admitted for care and treatment.  There was a lot of issues with test results, treatment and transfers amongst hospitals, but our nurse left this young 21 year old girl in the hospital with an emergency contact number so that we could help her recieve the care she needed to get better.  Saturday we had a half day with a party- Well we were told it was a half day but if you do the hours it was more of a 75% day. The day flew by as us Canadian nurses, Kenya nurses, chief medical officer were all looking forward to some relaxing fun time together that afternoon.  Despite a light rain fall, we still managed to enjoy some pizza, candy, and drinks together after the rain stopped..the rain made the dance…

Hi everyone ! I am Cassidy , and I will be the blogger for the 2024 nursing trip , along with my friend Amberly … we are new to this team this year and we’ve quickly developed the nickname of the “dream team” so I think everyone had some high hopes for this blog when we were picked for this… but I mean it’s better late then never , and I’ll explain why it’s late later on…we are newbies at this mission and the blogging scene so bare with us please .  So here we finally go… On May 2nd 2024 , 15 nurses from across Canada began the 2024 nursing mission .  After a couple long , and even cold( freezing some might say ) plane rides , we finally arrived late in the evening in Nairobi, Kenya on May 3rd .  We spent the day of May 4th doing some team bonding , and attempted to beat the jet lag by visiting the Giraffe Centre , Karen Blixen museum , and the African heritage house .  While our luggage ( personal and donations ) went on a road trip to kakamega as the suitcases were deemed to be too big for the plane in the…

Our last day! This morning the tables turned and we sang and danced for the people of Kenya before clinic - with our lead singer Harriet. It was a very busy and steady clinic with the line being all the way out the door all day long. Today Johnstone, Karen, Laura and I treated this family for jiggers and supplied them with clothing and shoes. The mother of these children is only 30 years old and has a total of 14 children. Every day she goes out in the community looking for any work she can find so that she can provide for her family. Our clinic was so dark inside with no power that Harriet and Kristen had to do wound care outside. We finished off our last night in Kenya with a big buffet dinner from the owners of the Sheywe Guest House. It was so good that Marie went back for thirds. And maybe fourths, I lost count. Of course we had to end our dinner with Jerry singing the Hakuna Matata song that we all love. Oh Jer Bear!!

Today we transferred a 60 year old lady with an injured ankle to the hospital.  Marie and Karen dewormed over 300 students at the primary school.  Kenyan nurses Roselyne and Sarah and volunteer worker Joyce taught us how to reggae dance...it was quite the show, highly entertaining but we clearly have zero rhythm.  With one clinic day remaining, we had a blast today singing and dancing with all of the patients who came through triage!

Our clinic today was in the same yard as an elementary school so we had a lot of children running around, we even tried to teach them how to do the “floss” dance. Victor and I went on two home visits - one to see an elderly man who had fractured his femur and had two surgeries back in December and needed pain control, and the other to see a young 6 year old boy who is a known epileptic and has had a decreased appetite for the last few days. He also has weekly follow up appointments at the Mbale Hospital.  We finally found the perfect lucky lady for the St. Paddy’s Day hat, scarf and socks. This lady was so happy about her new pants that she had tears in her eyes!

Today Laura, Harriet and I went to the school next door to deworm many children from kindergarten to grade 8. We had three of the cutest albino children at the clinic today - gave them all new donated sun hats and bought them sunglasses as their biggest complaint was the sun being too hard on their eyes.  Here is Jerry modeling some sunglasses. Laura and I brought a brand new soccer ball to the school but decided we didn’t feel like getting a soccer ball to the face today so we played duck duck goose instead. This lady loved her new dress! More wound care! Nancy had a very busy day with hospital transfers - one of them being a lady who had elevated LFTs and needed an ultrasound. She also played a game of “touch the mzungu” meaning white person, with a little boy. 

Happy Nurses Week! Here we are doing what we do best - playing cards. After a well deserved day off, it was hard to get up this morning - I was definitely the walking dead for a few minutes. We started the morning off with our daily seagull selfie. At triage, Meaghan had half her hair ripped out by a 7 month old.  Laura, Gail and I fixed this lovely lady with a new hat and matching scarf - she was so happy. Kristen, Karen and Meaghan dewormed many children at a nearby school. Throughout the mission we’ve tried to master the African way of carrying large objects on your head. Update on the bug zoo in Laura and I’s room - there’s no update, we’re too afraid to check.

Since it was our day off, we split up into two groups - half of us went to the Kakamega rainforest and the other half to the crying stone and Lake Victoria to see the hippos. In the rainforest we saw lots of monkeys, Isiukhu falls and a beautiful high point overlooking 270 square kilometres of untouched forest. Thankfully we were too blessed to be stressed and I didn’t get swallowed by a giant snake. 

We were dropping like flies today - three members of our dream team had to stay back from clinic because they were sick but at least they had the toilet to keep them company.  Jerry started off morning prayer by reading the bible for us today.  Being Saturday, it was a shorter clinic day. We treated about 360 people. We had a lot of children at the clinic today so we gave out lots of clothing and toys, as well as colouring pictures.  We treated a lot of wounds again today - many of which were returns from previous clinics throughout the week.  Marie and I treated a wound of a young woman who got into an argument with her husband who had cut her with a knife. It was a pretty deep cut that originally needed stitches but being that it happened a few days ago, an infection had started. We cleansed and dressed it with silver cell and told her to come back to our clinic on Monday. 

Today’s clinic started off a little slow but by the afternoon we had a huge wave of people come through, as well as another torrential downpour. At one point Jeff tried to put the wound care bucket on Marie’s head to shield her from the rain. Here is our Mama Gail hiding from the rain in her Maasai blanket. Hilary fixed two little girls with all new outfits. It was a day filled with wound care that was tackled by Harriet, Hilary, Victor, Marie and Kristen - we had 9 wounds cleansed and dressed. Two of which were returns - one was the same little girl, Faith, who we’ve been seeing all week for a bad burn to her arm and the other was a young man who came to our clinic last year after he’d fallen off his motorcycle. His arm has much improved since we first saw him one year ago.  Faith drew some pictures and wrote a letter thanking everyone for helping treat her - she is the sweetest little girl and so grateful. Laura and I spent the entire day at triage singing “you, over here, you, over here!” - it was a 50/50 shot on who we made laugh and…

Nancy and Kristen went on a home visit to treat an elderly lady who had a severe case of jiggers. On the way back they got their monthly workout in pushing the matatu that was stuck teeter tottering on a hill.  Harriet went to the hospital to admit a 7 year old boy with malaria who was febrile and had a seizure at home.  Lynn, Hilary and Kenyan nurse Sarah taught 40 girls about sexual health and gave them all reusable sanitary pads.  Kristen didn’t think the outhouses were bad enough so she decided to break the door off the hinges.  This is Gail with a family who gave her a live chicken as a gift to say thank you. Update 4.0: the cockroach is still under the garbage can but a moth that’s the size of a dragon joined him so it’s not so lonely. 

Today Meaghan, Hilary and Johnstone went to three homes for jiggers treatments where they sprayed down the homes and clothing of the families and soaked their hands and feet in potassium permanganate to rid the jiggers. They also fitted the family with all new clothing.  Meaghan and Patti also went on another home visit to treat an elderly lady with cellulitis. As they were heading there, Laura asked “where are you going?” And Kenyan nurse Jane responded with “on safari!!” Marie, Harriet and I played soccer for at least two hours with 150 kids who were just booting the ball wherever and whenever they could - it was less of a game of soccer and more of a game of dodge the ball that’s coming straight for your face. At one point I subbed out with Meaghan who said “I don’t want to get hit in the face again this year” but then continued to join the game anyways. Today was Karen and Kristen’s birthdays and Hilary found out she got a new job so we celebrated with some tuskers (shocker) and cake.  We ended our clinic day with a 6km walk through the village with the locals where Victor pushed Laura and I in…

Laura and I slept in Kenya’s finest waterbeds last night after we left the windows open during dinner and a torrential downpour flooded our room. Today Harriet and Johnstone went on two home visits to do jiggers treatments.  Laura and Victor went on a home visit to see an older man with a leg wound who couldn’t make it to the clinic. They cleansed and dressed it and gave him supplies to do the dressing himself. They’ll follow up with him on Thursday. Heading to and from clinic in the matatu can get pretty bumpy so Nancy decided to use a soccer ball as a helmet.  Hilary and Kristen were in charge of wound care at the clinic today.  Meaghan handed out a pair of shoes to the cutest little girl who loved showing them off.  Update 2.0: Kristen’s bag finally arrived so no more borrowing donated underwear and Laura can have all of her razors back.  Update 3.0: the cockroach is still under the garbage can under Laura’s bed. 

We started our day one of clinics in the village of where Solomon greeted us with song and prayer as he does every morning. Marie and Nancy had their first experience with the outdoor toilets aka holes in the ground - “they were better in the morning, you need to breath through your mouth” - Marie  and I and Kenyan nurse Rosaline assessed and handed out reading glasses to 34 people. Lynn and Kristen and Kenyan nurse Sarah taught sexual health to a classroom full of school girls.  Hilary and Marie went on a hospital transfer with 4 patients to a hospital that was about 2km away from our clinic. Two of the patients were very young with bad burns, one that was a burn that happened two years ago that we dressed and the other was a young boy who was admitted and will receive IV antibiotics. Another patient was a teenager with a swollen knee joint that was dislocated and eventually casted and the fourth patient was a young pregnant woman who was having abdominal pain.  While at the hospital, Hilary and Marie also got to “scrub in” and see a pericardial thoracentesis.  Update on Kristen’s luggage: it still hasn’t arrived but thankfully we…

Today Karen was off to a good start when she locked herself in her room, unable to find her key and then had no running water to shower or even use the toilet.  Laura and I had a nice night with our bunk mate the cockroach that slept under Laura’s bed who we trapped under the garbage can. Today we made the short trek to Kisumu to pick up our medications at the local chemist and visit the Maasai Market for souvenirs. The bug bites and heat had Laura and I yelling “What do we want?”   “Ankles!” “When do we want them?” “NOW!”  Once we got back to the Sheywe, we sorted through all of our supplies and made piles for our 11 days of clinics. It was a long process so of course we did it with tuskers in hand.

Jambo! Well, after 22+ hours of planes, trains and automobiles (thank you gravol courtesy of Nancy and wine courtesy of Lufthansa airlines for making me feel like Annie from bridesmaids seeing colonial women on the wing of the plane), we’ve finally made it to Kenya. Although we’re 13 women with 439 suitcases, unfortunately Kristen’s bag got delayed in Frankfurt and won’t be arriving until at least Monday - but thankfully Laura packed enough razors for all of Kenya. After a stop on the way to check out the views of the Great Rift Valley and to grab some KFC and iced coffee in Nakuru (which had Marie and Patti asking the all important questions of “is this okay to drink?” and “will this give us diarrhea?”, our bus broke down and we had to do a quick swap for a matatu in Kisumu. Just picture stuffing 16 people into a van.  It’s safe to say that we were all ready for some tuskers when we finally got to the Sheywe.

Hey everyone! As promised, here is the final count for the total number of people seen and treated through the 11 days of clinics of the 2018 mission. We saw a total of 5,823 people in 11 clinic days. This number does not include the 315 people we treated for jiggers, the 181 people who were tested positive for malaria and treated for, the 90 wounds treated, the 405 young girls taught sexual education and given reusable sanitary pads, the 1,559 kids dewormed, and the 411 people given reading glasses. We also did 12 home visits and sent 19 people to the hospital for further treatment. We could not have made this mission possible without the help from our sponsors as well as all of the generous donations from all of you. On behalf of the 2018 CNFA team, we are so thankful and grateful for the support from your donations - you were all just as much a part of this mission!

When the water works hit you like a tonne of bricks. I’m happy to report that I wasn’t the only one crying on the last day of clinics this year. Throughout the day we had a giant game of soccer and frisbee going simultaneously with all of the kids from the school - basically you had to run around dodging a soccer ball and frisbee from hitting you in the head.             Ingrid, Barb, Karen and I dewormed over 100 kids.                     We finished off our mission with a buffet dinner at the Sheywe - with all of our favourite foods from our two weeks stay - the staff knew us well. The night wasn’t complete until Jer Bear sang Hakuna Matata for us. I think it’s safe to say we all left part of our hearts with the people of Kenya - I definitely found mine right where I left it last year. Stay tuned for an update on the total number of people seen and treated in all 11 days of clinics.  

When I say north you say pole! Solomon started off our morning with a prayer where he thanked his friends from “the North Pole.” We had a good laugh to start off our second last day of clinics.               Priscilla went on a hospital transfer with a 7 year old girl who had a broken and dislocated elbow. She had X-rays done, her elbow reduced and placed in a cast.                 Laura, Meaghan, and Becca went with Johnstone to a school and treated 20 kids for jiggers.             Pictured below is the girls latrines that CNFA built for this school in 2014.           Today we saw a total of 559 people, along with a total of 82 jiggers treatments, 2 jiggers home visits, 300 children dewormed, gave 39 pairs of reading glasses, taught 40 young girls about sexual education and gave reusable sanitary pads, sent 2 people to the hospital for further treatment, treated 4 wounds, and out of 36 RDTs for malaria, 15 were positive and treated for.  

Today school was back in session and Laura and Krista dewormed 200 kids and went from classroom to classroom at a school and gave Whitfield’s anti-fungal cream to each child.             Patti went on a hospital transfer with an elderly woman who had fallen and broken her wrist yesterday and needed an X-ray and to be casted. She also transported a baby who needed to be admitted for fluids and rehydration who had a fever and was vomiting. Ingrid went on a hospital transfer with a young 11 year old girl who had arthritis in her hands and a wound that needed I&D (incision and drainage).             We saw a total of 587 people, taught 30 young girls sexual education, sent 3 to the hospital for further treatment, gave out 30 pairs of reading glasses, treated 20 positive out of 51 RDTs for malaria, did 2 home visits and treated 9 wounds.  

Today Gail went on a home visit to follow up with a lady who had thyroid surgery done last week - she is recovering and doing very well thanks to all of our CNFA donors. Priscilla went on a hospital transfer with a 10 month old girl with stridor who was admitted with pneumonia and received nebulizer treatments. Today we saw 613 people, gave 35 pairs of reading glasses, treated 11 wounds, dewormed 82 children, had 11 out of 42 positive RDTs for malaria that were treated, taught 40 young girls about sexual education and gave reusable sanitary pads, treated 26 for jiggers and did a home visit and jiggers treatment. We also sent a total of 3 people to the hospital for further treatment.            

Ingrid, Johnstone, Victor and Sara went on a home visit to assess an elderly woman named Gladys. She had a stroke 5 years ago and has since become very weak and has a lot of pain when trying to ambulate. We provided her with some pain medications as well as taught her some exercises to build some strength. She is a very strong willed lady who is determined to be mobile again.                 Karen and Krista went on a hospital transfer with 3 patients - a baby with bilateral pneumonia and two young men who were in motor cycle accidents. One had a fractured elbow and wrist with a severe wound and swelling across his arm and hand and the other had a broken leg that was originally repaired by external fixation 3 months ago but hadn’t been set properly. He had also developed a wound on his leg. All three patients were admitted and their treatments paid for by CNFA. Pictured below is the one man’s X-ray of his arm where you can see how much swelling there was.

As today was Saturday, it was a shorter day for our clinic. We treated a total of 407 people in about 5 hours.               Lynn and Jane fitting a young barefoot boy with some shoes that grow. Today, 25 young girls were taught sexual education and given reusable sanitary pads, 38 children were dewormed, 4 wounds were treated, one patient was taken to the hospital, out of 45 RDTs, 23 were positive for malaria and were treated for, and 31 people were treated for jiggers.

Our fifth day of clinics at Kigama has been the busiest one so far with a total of 657 people seen. 35 pairs of reading glasses were given, 40 young girls were taught sexual education, 30 people were treated for jiggers, 69 children were dewormed, 13 wounds were treated and out of 44 RDTs, 20 were positive for malaria.                 This is Ernest from one of our clinics last year who had a fractured humerus and CNFA funded his surgery to repair it. He came by to show us that he’s doing very well and going to physiotherapy. Meaghan went on a hospital transfer with a man who was diagnosed with a UTI. She also was able to transfer back home the man who had suspected TB which turned out to be pneumonia and was treated with antibiotics. He was very grateful for CNFA for helping him.                 Meet Elinah. She is a lovely 59 year old woman who has needed numerous amputations for an unknown disease that effects her limbs. She came to us with a wound on her hand that was open right to the bone and tendons. We…

                If you’re asking what this picture is about I’ll tell you. Normally we leave at 7am for clinic but this morning Lynn came running out of her room at 7:05am in her pyjamas in full blown panic mode yelling “I JUST WOKE UP!! I JUST WOKE UP!!” Not pictured is her tripping over barbed wire and falling onto the grass right after this. After playing a solid game of soccer with some kids, my pants decided to split right down the middle but thankfully an African lady named Mary came to my rescue to sew them up. It’s safe to say that Lynn and I were not off to a good start today.                 Karen watched some RDTs (rapid diagnostic tests) for malaria being done by our Kenyan nurses. A small amount of blood is collected like a glucometer and it only takes about 5 minutes for the result to come back. Out of the 36 tested today, 15 were positive.               Our fearless leader Gail with our Kenyan nurses, Brenda, Winnie, Jane, Sarah, Rosaline and Victor. We had a total of 506 people…

Barb and Patti did a home visit with Johnson and treated a family of 5 for jiggers. Jiggers is a type of sand flea here in certain parts of Kenya that gets under the toenails and fingernails and can cause severe deformity and infection if left untreated. They sprayed the entire home and had each member of the family soak their hands and feet in a potassium permanganate solution for anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes, depending on the severity of the infestation.                 Ingrid went on a hospital transfer with a very sick 46 year old man who presented with shortness of breath and a cough and ended up having TB and malaria. When she arrived at the hospital she was shocked at how the man wasn’t placed under airborne precautions. He ended up being admitted and we had to purchase his own personal utensils and medications for him while in hospital.                 At today’s clinic we treated a total of 523 people, taught sexual health to 45 young girls, had 11 out of 49 positive malaria cases that were treated, gave out 46 pairs of reading glasses, dewormed 46…

Lynn, Krista and our Kenyan nurse Sarah gave quite the laugh to 30 young girls while teaching sexual health and handing out reusable sanitary pads.                 Becca had the opportunity to go to the hospital with a young 13 year old boy who fell out of a tree and broke both of his arms three weeks ago. He came to us to be treated and we sent him to the hospital to have both arms x-rayed, manipulated and placed in casts.                             Ingrid learned how to deworm children by providing them with albendazole medication and making sure they took each pill right away.                 We finished the day off with a long walk from the clinic down a dirt road, walking with the locals while kids were yelling “mzungus!” (White people). We treated a total of 542 people, gave out 39 reading glasses, did 16 jiggers treatments and gave out 4 jiggers shoes, taught sexual health to 35 young girls, sent one young boy to the hospital and paid for his treatments, treated 5 wounds, and dewormed 152…

Day one of clinics started off in true Kenyan time - pole pole (slowly slowly) as they say in Swahili. Because of the upcoming election, it was around 930am by the time we opened the clinic. We packed 18 of us plus medications into the 12 passenger matatu and made our way to a small village. Of course Solomon was there bright and early, riding in on his motorcycle eager to greet us.           Our clinical officers in their CNFA white coats. Becca had her first experience with going to the bathroom in a hole in the ground in a tiny shed that locked from the outside - interesting to say the least. But if the cows mooing in behind didn’t get her bowels fired up, I don’t know what would. Laura, Krista and Karen learned how to deworm children and had a good game of ring around the rosie going.               Although a slower than usual start to the day, we treated a total of 425 people, taught 30 young girls about sexual health, treated 9 wounds, dewormed 161 children, sent 1 baby with stridor to the hospital and out of 22 Rapid Diagnostic…

            The roadie to Kisumu started off in luxury - Jeff and Jerry picked us up at the Sheywe in the shiniest matatu we’d ever seen, complete with a flat screen tv and surround sound. However that quickly turned into something out of a nightmare for the car sick girls not being able to see anything out the front window because their vision was obscured by some African ladies dancing in a music video on the big screen. With Patti basically needing to stick her head out the window for the ride, Krista’s low key voice of panic said what we were all thinking “is this tv going to be on the entire time? I feel like we’ve been kidnapped.” Meaghan, Laura and I were mildly concussed in the back seat from banging our heads on the roof with every bump we hit. Both of them discreetly saying “I’m now realizing I’m not wearing enough support for this.”             After picking up the boxes and boxes of medications at the local chemist, we made a quick stop at the Maasai Market to try and bargain for some souvenirs. Back at the Sheywe we sorted out…