Nov 16, 2008

Well, here it is, Sunday, day 4 already, and after a very comfortable sleep, we have had a delicious breakfast of homemade granola, fresh pineapple, bananas, and passion fruit. Again, it was most interesting to absorb the after-meal discussion of the goings-on, the plans, the visions, and the dreams. Each day I am left with little doubt about the sincerity, compassion, determination, and cooperative spirit of the many players from around the world, seemingly so casually gathered around a homely breakfast table and discussing real needs of a desperate population for whom they are already making a huge difference.
After breakfast we were invited to an outdoor church service wherein seven young teenagers were baptized. Though I don’t always seem to have a strong religious faith, this was truly a moving ceremony. The attendees were from the Rift Valley Academy which is comprised of students of the various missionaries and others in this area. Apparently there are few native Kenyans enrolled as the fees are prohibitive. This was followed by an amazing meal at the newly opened cafeteria. I asked for a tour to get some photos for Genevieve and we all were shown around this impressive facility.
Following this, we were invited to Dr. Dan Poenaru’s home where we met his wife and 2 teenage sons. They chose to move here about 5 years ago, Dan returning about once a year to work at Kingston General Hospital, ostensibly to allow him to be able to continue to live her in Kijabe. At Dan’s place his wife (Dita) told me of a baboon fight which happened in the lower part of her backyard an hour or so before we arrived. Though this is apparently not usual, it certainly made a great story! From this place we were able to connect to the internet and keep in touch a little today. Their home is located on a hillside overlooking the Rift Valley which, at his time of the year (rainy season just finished), is very green and lush, surrounded by volcanoes, the highest of which is a two-headed volcano known as Mount Longonot. In the valley we spotted to large areas occupied by white tents, the new home of many Internationally Displaced Persons (IDPs). Story is that they were displaced by the recent violence in Kenya, were offered a small sum of money per person (approximately $150.00) to return to their native territories, but instead pooled the money and bought the land on which they now live in tents! Large covered trucks could be seen heading in their direction, presumably local or international humanitarian efforts to help them survive.
When we left Dan’s at around 530PM, Ivan offered to take Brenden and I to the Kijabe Hospital. I have seen pictures before, just like most, but to walk through this hospital was a very emotional and unforgettable experience. Bethany Kids Hospital is a portion of the Kijabe (General) Hospital. Presently, the crowded pediatric ward has 65 beds, and presently there are more than 75 patients literally crammed into whatever floor space could be found; no such thing as private rooms, or for that matter, privacy at all. Each child is accompanied by a parent who stays continuously to comfort and provide much of the basic care. There was, really, barely space to walk between the cribs and surrounding parents. And, we were reminded, these were the lucky ones! Two of the most common pediatric conditions treated here are spina bifida ( a condition present at birth wherein the spinal column does not fully surround the spinal cord, sometimes leaving it fully exposed) and hydrocephalus ( a condition wherein the normal circulation of fluid from the brain down and around the spinal cord is variably blocked, again at birth, causing a dramatic collection of spinal fluid within the brain, compressing it against the bony skull; in infants this results in a very large head, but as the skull bones fuse and the head enlargement can’t continue, the increasing pressure pushes the brain against the inside of the skull with devastating effect and inevitable demise). The sites around the wards were pitiful, to say the least, but the parents eyes beamed with hope. My emotion as we left was overwhelming and I felt angry to think of the nature of encounters I have become accustomed to in my day-to-day practice of medicine in Canada; and we bitch about the inadequacies of our system but, by comparison, it is like riding a Cadillac while the system here is like a donkey ride.
Tomorrow we will leave bright and early for Joytown, an orphanage for physically and mentally disabled children, as well as a guided tour of Feed The Children in Nairobi….