Medical Camp

My time in Africa started out slow.. Some days I found myself just hanging out and talking with the people, like many typical Kenyans do. It’s normal as you go through town or down the road to see people just hanging around chatting—it’s one of my favorite things about Africa.

But, the past few weeks have been crazy! A team of 23 people came from the US and the UK. It was fun to have more Mazungus around. We set up a medical camp at a slum in Eldoret called Kambi Teso. White tents and ropes to direct traffic and an open field was our medical clinic. The medical camp was five days long and we treated nearly 2,000 people.

I was mainly stationed in the pharmacy distributing drugs to patients. I learned a lot about the drugs and common diseases in Kenya. One of the highlights for me was getting a chance to give injections. OK.. Knowing me and how much I hate getting injections this might sound a little funny. But- it was a good experience because I’m trying to figure out what I want to do in the medical field and this definitely opened my eyes.

Rachel came over and said, “Have you ever given an injection before?” I told her I hadn’t and she said, “Wanna learn?” So of course I said yes! I’m thinking this is crazy, she’s just going to let me give someone an injection when I’ve never done it before?? Now, at home no one would allow this until medical school and what not.. mainly for liability purposes and everyone in America loves suing someone for their troubles.. but, T.I.A (this is Africa)! I turned the corner out of the pharmacy into the next room (not exactly a room, but a curtained off area of the tent) and met my first patient. He was a middle aged man and he had a deep wound from what I think he said was barbed wire and needed a tetanus shot. So, here I am! Haha! Rachel introduced me to him and told him that I’m a student and I’m learning how to give injections.

Now I’m thinking— great, thanks Rachel now I can’t pretend like I know what I’m doing.. but he didn’t even blink and said ok. She showed me how to prepare the injection and to “aspirate back” after I put the needle in before administering the tetanus.. (all very official terminology). Then she showed me where to give the injection and said, “ok, whenever you’re ready.” I’m thinking uhhh.. ok? Am I ready? Wait a second… am I ready?! How selfish of me.. is HE ready??! I looked at him and said, “Ok on the count of three…one.. two.. three…AHHH (and I literally gave a little scream before giving him the injection) hahaha! How pathetic of me! He didn’t even flinch and after thanked me. Ok.. first injection! And I was more nervous than my patient! Haha!

The rest of the medical camp I spent running around the tent giving a few injections here and there and in the pharmacy. It was so hectic, and there was no time to rest. I literally don’t think I sat down once the entire medical clinic. I rarely ate my lunch each day because it was so busy and I didn’t want to miss out. But, by the end of the day the heat and craziness started to get to me and I was happy to pack up by the end of each day.

The next story I have is about an older woman, about 80 years old (I think) who came complaining of joint pain. One of the doctors noticed her eyes were completely clouded with cataracts. The doctor asked her if she could see and she said everything was dark but she could make out shapes. Now, one thing that commonly happens in Africa, unlike the US, is that doctors will treat a patient with medicine, but they will also sometimes pray for the patient. So, this doctor pointed out her cataracts to me and said he was going to treat her for her joint pain, but that there wasn’t much they could do about her vision, but he would pray for her. I just nodded, unsure what he really wanted me to do.

He prayed for her and gave her the prescription for pain relief and sent her on her way. One of the other team members had also been in the room with us. Later, I was back in the pharmacy filling prescriptions and I recognized her name while I was filling her meds. Then the other team member Tara came over and said, “Anna, look at her eyes.” I looked at them and they were clear. Okkkk… what?? I honestly didn’t believe it and I thought it was some kind of joke so I kept looking away and then looking back and then trying to remember what the woman was wearing to make sure it wasn’t someone else.. but no, it was the same woman. I can’t tell you how her cataracts disappeared or if I went a bit delusional from the heat but this was definitely a first for me. It kinda weirded me out…

Babu

When the team of 23 people arrived from the US and UK they brought with them a trombone my family (mainly my mom) had sent for Babu Meshak. “Babu” means grandfather in Kiswahili. Which is very fitting for this man. He is our chief welfare officer at the village. He is the man at the gate and after several of my morning runs and talking with him as I came and went through the gate, it became clear to me that I could learn a lot from him and I slowly began to learn about his life.

Babu spent about 30 years working at a prison in Kenya as a guard. He also told me one day that he had a great love for music. And after that, I realized his was constantly humming to himself or singing to me or whatever other visitor was there. So, it wasn’t long before I looked forward to my morning runs (even though they aren’t close to enjoyable because the altitude makes it impossible to breathe).

He told me about his days as a musician and the various bands he was in and how he used to play his trombone in the prison on occasion. Then one day as I approached the gate he told me he had found something very special that he needed to share with me. He pulled out an old program and he was so excited to tell me that he had found this is town the other day and the reason it was so special was because it dated back to the 1950s and it was a book of several Oregon bands.

After asking him if he still played he told me that he didn’t have the money for an instrument and the instruments he had used in the past were loaned to him by either the band he was in or the prison.

Long story short, I thought it was necessary to find a way to get Babu his trombone. So, I talked with my family about it and my mom somehow found him a trombone. (after what was a LONG -and if you know my mom, RIDICULOUS escapade to find Babu a suitable trombone—because my mom wouldn’t just give any trombone. That would be too simple) So—after several years with no instrument, Babu finally received his trombone.

When he opened the box his hands were shaking and he couldn’t seem to get it put together fast enough to play it. And the first song he played was Amazing Grace and if you looked closely you could see he was crying. Which, had lots of people crying- and I was crying too (obviously—because if you know me you know I can cry during nearly any sad movie or whatever). But, it has been so fun to see him with something he loves so much! He has played it for us on several occasions and when the team left we had a camp fire on their last night and he played almost the whole night. Thanks mom for all your hard work! I wish you had been there to see him and hear him play Amazing Grace for the first time.

A Night On The Streets

This is Morris>>>
After hearing from Morris that the street kids had asked him to bring me with him to see them at night, I didn’t know whether that was the best idea. I’m thinking hmmm.. they want me to come to the street?? For those of you who don’t know, street kids in Eldoret live a terrible life. Not just because they live on the street, but because of how the police treat them. Many of the kids are orphans, kids who lost their families in the post election violence in 2007, kids who have run away from abusive homes, and kids who are simply thrown out by their families… and they have nowhere to go.

So, thousands of kids walk around the streets begging for money or whatever people are willing to give them. They have no shelter. Many of them sleep and live in the dump on the edge of town. They sleep in the piles of garbage for warmth. To many, street kids are seen as a nuisance. Authorities have been ordered to find a solution to the problem. So, they were given an old warehouse in the center of town where the kids could go for shelter at night and sleep. But that didn’t last long. The police here are miserable men. They are so corrupt. Many of them are drunks with terrible tempers. So- instead of protecting street kids and the people in Eldoret, they make their lives a living hell and everyone fears them.

At night, many of the policemen are drunk so they torment the street children. Now, all the policemen carry guns. Not guns that they have holstered- massive guns that they carry loaded and ready at all times. They chase the kids away from the shelter and beat them. The other day, a young boy was shot on Sunday at around 10am- in broad daylight. Apparently, he was selling phones and the police accused him on selling fake ones and so they started beating him. As he tried to run away, one of the police shot him in the back of the head. I’ve met the young guy and he had left the streets and had newly married and a newborn baby. Hearing about this was really difficult. How can a police officer shoot a young man in the back of the head and get away with it??!—That’s just a glimpse of what the street kids have to deal with.

I was a bit nervous, but I decided that I should go. So, Morris and I went to town last night and I was blown away by what I saw. I had heard about the terrible things that happened and I thought I was prepared. But, seeing it made me sick to my stomach. As we pulled into town, kids immediately spotted us and ran up to his car before he could park it. It was as if they wanted to climb through the windows. Morris told me that they were afraid of the police who were chasing them and they didn’t know where to go. At first, I tried to shrug it off and blame it on the glue –I thought to myself, they’re not thinking clearly and they’re just paranoid. But, as soon as I looked behind me, I realized I was wrong. Here came a group of kids running through the street with four police chasing after them with their guns pointed. I froze.

Morris and I got in the car and drove to another street and talked with kids and tried to help them find places to hide from the police. As we were walking Morris pointed to a place in the alley and said, “I used to sleep there to hide from the police when I was a young boy”. I looked over and realized that what he was pointing to was a bathroom stall. Can you imagine? He laughed because I had no idea what to say and said, “it’s ok because it kept me safe”.

We found a few more kids. Several knew me and told me how happy they were to see me and asked me why I hadn’t been to see them in a while. They’re fun, sweet kids and they can make you laugh so easily. But Morris told me that he couldn’t figure out where everyone was.. he said there was usually hundreds more. So, he asked two little boys where everyone was. That’s when the whole night changed. They told him the police had arrested them all. After we gave the kids some bread and milk Morris asked me if it was ok with me if we went to the police station.

I said yes without hesitation. I wanted to see the awful people who had arrested the kids and tell them a few things. We got there and most of the police knew Morris and so we were told we could feed the kids. Now, this is because the police don’t feed them and they can hold them for however long they want and there’s no real reason for arresting them in the first place—Absolutely ridiculous!! I’m like- YOU CANT DO THAT!! But they don’t care..

Morris requested to go in the cell to see the kids and surprisingly they let him. At first I didn’t want to go in, but for some reason I just followed him in. As you turn the corner, I expected to find a hallway and cells on either side. Not exactly what I found. A long, thin hallway and one main room at the end and it was packed and I mean packed of kids. I literally could hardly squeeze my way through. I stood there and the smell of urine and the state these kids were in was overwhelming. There’s no bathroom so they just go on the floor. Morris quickly pulled me out but as we walked out the young deaf boy, Brian grabbed my pant leg and gave me the thumbs up. Morris told me that he always asks about me. But I asked him how he knew because the boy is deaf and cant speak.. he said that he moves his hand along his face indicating long hair and then a thumbs up and that his motion for me. I turned to the guard and asked him why this boy had been arrested. The guard gave me an empty look and I knew there was no reason.

The truth of what was happening is a policemen recently shot a street boy in the back of the head. They know the street kids have the ability to cause a problem and kill a policemen in return… so they are locking them all up. I feel completely hopeless in how to help these kids..