We are on our way home from beautiful Kenya and the people of whom we have grown so fond, after another successful mission. What a great team! Thank you so much to our Kenyan nurses and Clinical Officers who worked so hard to make every clinic run like clockwork. You are awesome and I look forward to working with you again next year! To the Canadian team, Lynn, Jean, Priscilla, Becca and Monica, thank you for your positive can-do attitudes and hard work as well! It has been a true spirit of ‘Harambe’, working together. I cannot give enough praise to our Kenyan support team who stepped up and took on greater responsibilities and did it well. Jeff with distributing reading glasses as well as manouvering our rickety matatu through crazy roads. Thank you to Evans, Jeff, Jerry and Johnstone for generally helping with patient flow in the clinics and for escorting patients to hospital. Jerry, our special assistant for the sixth mission, who stepped into the role of registration and excelled! Big shoes to fill Dawn but he did it! Johnstone, thank you for your commitment to these communities and for collaborating with me on follow up care for the many patients we met…

Well, we almost made a record of having no transportation issues through this whole mission until this morning! We had our annual flat tire on the way to clinic but thanks to our fabulous driver, it didn’t stall us for long. A busy clinic at Hamadira where we saw over 700 people, dewormed the school, and did two sexual health groups. It was notably a poorer community and we saw a lot of infants at clinic. This community was very appreciative and we had two testimonies and thanks for services provided the previous years. You will see in the pictures, one man with no legs who came to the clinic by supporting himself with two logs which he hopped along with. We had donated a wheelchair two years prior which was well used but now broken (not to be surprised considering the road conditions). We sent one patient to Itando hospital which is run by Sister Carmen who is an energetic and vibrant woman who cares for all patients who enter her facility. This was our last clinic and last time with our Kenyan colleagues so it was a sad good-bye until we meet again next year. Although CNFA has organized this mission for six…

Today clinic was at Hamunoywa (don’t ask us to pronounce this!). We felt fortunate to arrive on time as we passed two large trucks overturned in ditches due to the heavy rainfalls Kenya has been having. I don’t know how the people live with this daily with using bikes, motorcycles or walking along these muddy slippery roads. We arrived to a lineup which we weren’t surprised as this is one of our busier clinics. We were looking forward to today as this is the community which Tembo Kenya built composting latrines for boys and girls at the school with funding from your donations to CNFA. You will see by the pictures the comparison of old and new. Composting toilets require upkeep which is why it is essential to choose a community such as Hamonoywa which has the capacity to provide the manpower to sustain them. We also walked down to the protected springs with the stairs that were built to assist those carrying water from the stream. Even with these stairs, I can’t imagine how students to carry heavy pails up the muddy slope back to the school. However, this community is strong and supportive and wonderful to work with. You will see the picture…

I really don’t know where to begin for this clinic! It started with arriving to a long lineup and ended with seeing 814 patients. Kedohi is a very impoverished community evident by the pictures of the latrines at the schools. We had a lot of sick children come in. As I was triaging I was brought a six year old who had extensive facial swelling (see pic) to the point he could barely open his eyes. I initially thought he was an allergic reaction but his abdomen was swollen. Although it is difficult to obtain a history even with translation, the mother indicted he had swelling in the lower extremities a few years before. The clinical officer felt he had kidney failure which of course would need to be diagnosed through bloodwork and an ultrasound which the mother could not afford. As parents, we can all relate to how this would be – the inability to provide healthcare for your seriously ill child is unthinkable. We sent the child to the hospital where he has had bloodwork and will have an ultrasound tomorrow. In the meantime, another child was brought in that had fainted in the playground. We thought it was just because of poor…

We had a great clinic at Viyalo today. We started off by meeting with our Kenyan advisory board which consists of the Kisumu and Kakamega team leaders, a clinical officer and our community health worker. One of the nurses and a clinical officer had a great suggestion of providing some health teaching to the patients around hygiene to prevent infections. Considering that we are always aware about being culturally respectful, we had never thought this was an option for preventative health education. However, our Kenyan colleagues felt it was essential to teach patients about handwashing before meals, after bathroom etc. Our Kenyan nurses will now implement this education when triaging patients and/or when they discuss their medications with them. This demonstrates how valuable it is to work collaboratively with our Kenyan partners. Another first time (we seem to be having a lot of these this year!) – a three year old girl had a febrile seizure in clinic due to acute malaria. She was one of three patients we sent to hospital. We did a school deworming and dressed 13 wounds. 40 girls attended a sexual health class and just to let you know, the bright coloured bags, especially the orange ones, were a hit…

Sexul

It’s the second week of the mission and we started at Chavakali where we have been in previous years due to the high needs there. The children are back in school this week so we are able to run programs in the school. You will see Monica deworming the students which was approximately 500 children. We also ran a sexual health group which always focuses on HIV prevention. However the most exciting part is delivering the cloth pads and bags to the girls. These are sewn by women in Saskatchewan and Ontario throughout the year to donate for this mission. Thank you Marnie and all the women who have taken the time to do this– as you’ll see by the pics, the girls are delighted with both! Gail also brought beautiful photo books donated by Mark Zelinsky which the children enjoyed. We were happy to have Priscilla back working with us as she took over Becca’s wound care station and dressed 25 wounds today. She was able to follow up on the patient we were concerned about last week which we had sent to the hospital. We had a surprise visit from Mary from our October mission providing the cost for her goiter surgery. She…

Well I woke out of a deep sleep by a scream and the first thing I thought was "Oh those Ugandan soccer players are partying again" then I realized it came from Monica and Becca's room. I rushed in to find Gail standing on a table trying to capture a bird that had flown into their room. Thankfully Gail was able to capture and free the bird while Monica and Becca stood outside in fear! Today's clinic was at Itegero which is our first time at this location. It was a nice big church with lots of space and even a breeze blowing in which was a nice change. The community were welcoming and had set up the clinic before our arrival. Of course our dedicated Solomon was there to greet us. He is a 73 year old man who has been at every clinic opening for three years. He always starts our day with prayer and song. Although today he mentioned we were from the North Pole he made up for it by planning the drums in celebration of our arrival! He proudly introduced us to his wife stating she has blessed him with 8 sons and 2 daughters. We saw 663 patients, 19…