A Wheelchair for Evans & Pizza Night

Such a full day at Tenwek and beyond yesterday, which is why the blog post for yesterday is a bit late!  The morning started off with a special needs PT clinic that they have every Friday morning for children with Cerebral Palsy, Spina Bifida, ALS, etc.  This allows the clinic to get out all the necessary equipment and hopefully provide a more welcoming atmosphere with other children there.  

Dean saw patients and Truman, McKinley and Zander helped assemble wheelchairs.  Melissa and some others on the team were on hand to bring toys, bubbles and balloons to help distract the children and make PT as fun as possible for them.  It was a very special and emotional moment for Melissa to see a little girl at the clinic who received Arya’s AFOs, almost immediately after Melissa had donated them the day before.    

Truman, Zander and McKinley help Solomon and Mercy assemble wheelchairs at the clinic for children with special needs.

Dean works with a patient from the special needs clinic who has acquired one of our very special balloon hats!

These are the feet of the little girl who received Arya Davenport's AFO (ankle foot orthosis), practicing walking with a walker and kicking a ball.

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While this was going on, Angela, Lesli and all the younger kids made a trip into Bomet (the nearest town, about 10 minutes drive) for an ATM, a few groceries and to get SIM cards for Lesli’s and Josh’s phones.  To do the SIM cards, you must present a passport.  After initially being told we could not purchase SIM cards with a foreign passport, we were redirected to the Safaricom Customer Care center where we waited for them to process our transactions.  

While this endeavor was not quick by any means, we did finally get SIM cards and loaded some cheap data packages onto our phones which should make things much easier!  Victory!  Word to the wise:  if you are coming to Kenya and don’t have an unlimited data plan, or service with Sprint, you should strongly consider just purchasing a SIM card as soon as you get in the country.  Sprint seems to have the best coverage over here, with Verizon coming in second and AT&T dead last (like terrible).  Check with your service provider first to make sure your phone is unlocked and can accept a different SIM card.  

Walker with our box of groceries (not diapers) from the store in Bomet.  Most groceries the Manys have to get whenever they are heading into Nairobi at their big supermarket, around three hours away.  The local "grocery stores" really do not have much of what is needed.  But we got some chips and cookies--and the girls got ice cream!

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A Wheelchair for Evans

During the afternoon, Dean, Lesli, Walker and Truman accompanied Solomon (head of PT) on an outing to deliver a wheelchair to a child about an hour’s drive from Tenwek.  The wheelchair was one Truman had assembled the day prior, so he was glad to get to see it delivered.  The child’s name is Evans and he is 13 years old with Cerebral Palsy.  He contracted meningitis when he was three years old, which developed into CP, but before that he was completely normal.  

Walking into this family’s home, seeing Evans on the sofa of their mud hut living space, watching as his father lifted his small, limp frame off the sofa and carefully placed him into the new wheelchair, adjusting his little body, I couldn’t help but notice how tiny his legs were compared to Walker’s, who is only a year older.  He had no muscle control, no eye control, no speech.  It took a while for Dean and Solomon to get Evans upright, fastened in and comfortable in the wheelchair.  It made me ache.  Not crying as I absorbed that sight took everything I had.  

This family invited us into their home with dirt floors and newspaper for wallpaper.  It was neat and tidy as could be.  Irene, the mother, was very sweet but quiet and made us all chai tea in two different thermoses—sugarless and with sugar.  She gave us her ceramic mugs and served her own family with tin mugs.  

We went around the room and introduced ourselves to the family and told them how honored we were to be there.  Solomon thanked the mother and father for caring for Evans.  They’ve parented and cared for him for the last ten years as a child with Cerebral Palsy, which is not easy for any family, but in this culture, so many of these children are hidden away and it is assumed the family has done “something” to bring hardship upon themselves.  And they have chosen to bring Evans for care at Tenwek.  They’ve done everything they can do for him.

Solomon prayed over the family and asked God to strengthen Evans, to bless this family, asking Jehovah to provide for them.  The father made faint grumblings of affirmation after every statement in the prayer.  My eyes were wet by the end of it.  

The family asked us if we liked bananas and avocados and then proceeded to bring us a bag full of avocados from their tree and a giant stalk of bananas from their banana tree.  We could not believe they were giving us these wonderful gifts!  We brought the children toys, lollipops and a soccer ball, which thrilled them.  They gave us a short tour of their farm where they mainly grow tea and potatoes.  When it was time for us to leave, they walked us out to the road, stopping to take several photos with us.  They could not have been more gracious.  Please pray for sweet Evans and his family.   

Our family with Evans and his family.  Pictured from the left is a man who is the village elder (an official position in the local government), Evans's siblings, Irene (Evans's mother) and Alex (Evans's grandfather).  

Evans's siblings holding their gifts from us.  We also gave Evans a teddy bear and they used it for a pillow behind his head while he was in the wheelchair.

Solomon and Evans, showing the difference between Evans's old wheelchair which only allowed for him to slump down in and his new wheelchair which holds him upright, is adjustable and allows Evans's body to relax more.  

They brought in a bag of avocados THIS BIG.  We thought they were just showing us the avocados and it wasn't until we started to leave that we realized they were giving us the entire bag.  

Soccer--the universal language!

Evans's cute brothers.  The tree in the center is the avocado tree.  Huge!

Evans's parents and brothers with Dean, Lesli and the bag of avocados!  The sweetest family.

Evans's family also gave us this huge cut bunch of bananas from their tree.  

To compare, the large avocados with the regular sized ones we usually find at our grocery.  Also to the right, those are "lemons" which look very much like limes to me.  Heath says some people call them lemons and some call them limes.  Either way, they serve as a tart citrus and will be handy for guacamole making.

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Other activities back at Tenwek during the afternoon included making balloon animals for those in the pediatric ward.  The team noticed how much this meant, not just to the children, but seemed to truly delight all their parents as well.  The power of balloon animals!

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We ended the evening with a much-anticipated homemade pizza night dinner at the Manys’!  Angela had pizza dough out, ready for homemade sauce and toppings, which was fun.  She even had salad--a rarity during our time here!!  

Pizza and brownies were followed by the balloon animal-making contest and the winners were McKinley and Kate, who won themselves a massage at the Fairmont when we go on safari!  It was very close between the winners and runners up, Brooke and Caroline.  The boys did their best but they seemed to lack the elite balloon animal-making skills the girls have acquired this past week as they’ve been practicing.  Sorry, boys.

Surgeries and #18

It was another beautiful, no-rain, mild day at Tenwek yesterday!  One of the things about being in Kenya which has been surprising is how lush and verdant it is.  The roads=yikes, the land=lush.  Most of the missionary homes around Tenwek have thriving kitchen gardens where vegetables and herbs are growing--and the Manys even have a passionfruit vine!  I have seen dahlias, roses, agapanthus and other blooming plants/vines in yards and I even have a pretty pink rose right outside our own front door of the apartment we are staying in.

Kenya is more than just dusty wildlife parks!

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Thursday was another full day for the team at the hospital and thanks to Melissa, we have some pictures to share!  Truman and Brooke were with Dean in PT, Zander was with Josh in dental and some in surgery, and Kate, Caroline, McKinley & Melissa were in surgery or elsewhere at the hospital.  There are no photos, but Truman assembled wheelchairs in PT for much of the day as a small group will help deliver them to patients in the community on Friday afternoon.

McKinley and Melissa look on in an open heart surgery.

Kate watching the heart surgery.

Melissa with Mercy, one of the PT techs, as she donates Arya's AFOs

Heath, Zander and McKinley checking the ultrasound of the heart as they take the patient off bypass after open heart surgery.

Josh operating in the dental clinic; Zander, Kate and Caroline look on.

Caroline and Kate observe a hysterectomy.

Other notes for the day:

Truman really enjoyed putting together wheelchairs because he said he felt really needed as he was actually working instead of just watching things happen and that was a good feeling.

Caroline had a lady approach her with her baby and asked me to "pray pray pray for my baby."  So I prayed and then she oddly bent down and kissed my knees.  She asked me to pray again tomorrow for her baby.  It dawned on me that she possibly thought I was closer to Jesus and therefore He was more likely to hear my prayers.  I encouraged her that I am happy to pray for her but she is just as able to pray herself.  I wanted her to understand she could talk to God.

Kate was in the pediatric ward and there were two children there she was able to pray over.  One had severe burns and couldn't get comfortable in bed and was crying.  

Dean was able to perform dry needling on a patient's shoulder and it went very well.  The man immediately felt relief and his face lit up as he rotated his shoulder back on his own.  Mercy was able to take some pictures so they can show other patients who might need this treatment but would have fears or reservations about the process.  

Several of the team members got to witness a live birth and they all came in raving about the entire experience.  "The most amazing thing I've ever seen," incredible," and "just awesome" were some of the descriptors!  

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Thursday was a pretty special day for Truman as he turned 18 years old!  Lesli baked chocolate chip cookies and he got the birthday song, some cards, a traditional Kenya blanket, and a Kenya bracelet and scrub cap.  In the afternoon, he and Zander crossed the Mara River near the waterfall and hiked around to climb up behind the waterfall.  This drew a small crowd of Kenyan children who were probably thinking "crazy white guys in the freezing cold water!!"  It was a great day (and from a mother, please pray no weird things were inadvertently ingested by the boys during their time in the water)!  

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Other afternoon/evening activities included coloring on the waterfall bridge; Kate as sous chef to Richard, our cook, making something akin to flan; pumping up soccer balls; perfecting the art of balloon animal (?) art; choosing devotionals to give as gifts to doctors, nurses, ministry people; and writing thank-you notes to go with our gifts. 

  

Waterfall, Wifi & Scrub Life

I bring you greetings from Tenwek and I am very happy to say, without further ado, the land of working WiFi.  Since our arrival at Tenwek Saturday evening, connectivity has been a struggle.  Many thanks to dear Angela who has stayed in the ears of the Tenwek IT office to get this resolved.  If any of you prayed for our Wifi situation, thank you!  

They think there was a bad router that was throwing all the other routers off and causing the wrong router addresses to pop up in our devices.  If you are reading this and have a loved one at Tenwek on this trip, this has most likely affected your loved one's reachability.  Caroline on our team is also taking an online class so this has presented unique challenges for her as well as for me with uploading photos/videos to the Google album and the blog itself.  Praying it's smooth sailing from here on out!

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It was back in action today with our team at the hospital.  Zander shadowed Dean in the PT clinic, McKinley shadowed Josh in the dental clinic, Brooke and Caroline went up to the hospital to observe a heart surgery and Truman and Kate went on hospice visits in the community.  

The scoop from lunchtime reports:

McKinley:

I shadowed with Josh in the HDU (high deficiency ICU).  I watched a tooth extraction.  I had no idea a tooth could be that long (holds thumb and forefinger two inches apart)!  Josh also tried to help a six-year old patient who needed surgery but had really low platelets for clotting and therefore couldn't have the surgery he needed.  It was hard for me to see that.   

Josh:  

I treated a lady who had a tooth all the way up in her sinuses.  No one had ever recommended she get it out.  Also: they gave me a PAGER!

Brooke:

I got to watch a heart surgery--really incredible!  They put a mechanical valve in and I watched them take the patient off the bypass machine.

Caroline:

I was with Brooke but as Dr. Many was explaining things about the heart  surgery, I started to get a ringing in my ears and felt like I might faint so I excused myself!  I did rounds with Melissa and we visited the NICU to see all the babies.

Melissa:

(comes in for lunch, flushed, immediately sheds extra clothing)  We just came from the NICU.  So hot.  Also, I actually saw baby turtles being MADE today in the Manys' yard.  Two tortoises mating.  I never knew turtles could make sounds.  I can't even recreate the sounds that I heard.

Zander:

I shadowed with Dean.  It helped me understand more of what was going on, so that was good.

Dean:

The head of PT and all the techs are so eager to learn any techniques.  Any manipulations I could show them were so exciting to them.  I learned they had a dry needling kit that a visiting doctor had brought the clinic and I showed them how to use it without throwing away the needles every time.  Then I told them they could use those to do electrical stimulation and the head of PT said, "Show me!!"  I showed him a video and he was fascinated.  I told him I could bring him an E-Stim machine the next time I come.  He asked, "When?!"  Mercy, one of the techs said to me, "I wish you could stay here for three months." 

Kate & Truman:
We both went out on hospice calls in the community today with two nurses.  This is considered a "ministry of presence" for us because it was explained to us that for these people, having white people come into their homes to visit with them after traveling such a long way is an honor and boosts their spirits.  Even though we don’t speak the same language, it means a lot that we are there.  We really enjoyed visiting with the patients and their families.

One house we went to, we were offered sugar cane for a snack.  A boy in the house went and cut some down out of their yard and we gnawed on it for a snack.  It was sweet!  And then while we were out we stopped at a remote village to use the restroom and get a bite to eat.  The restroom part of the equation left much to be desired, but the owner of the restaurant wanted her 
picture made with us and offered us complimentary food and chai tea.  The food was a little suspect but we tried to eat some of it to please her!  We drew quite a crowd in the village and several people took pictures of us.  We were told it was only the second time ever that white people had come to their village.

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Once the afternoon shifts were over, we had chai tea at the Greenhouse and then most everyone headed over to the soccer game.  There is a section of lawn where several of the missionary homes' backyards connect and the local Kenyan schoolchildren gather there in the afternoons to play soccer.  Brooke, Zander, Walker, Dean and Josh got in on the action yesterday while Melissa brought coloring books and bubbles up for some of the missionary families' younger girls who were hanging out.  McKinley, Ava and Melissa spent some time with those girls while the others played soccer.

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And with the younger set on Wednesday, Lesli chaperoned a visit to the Tenwek waterfall.  Mary Taylor, Rees, Mamie, Walker, Ava, and two other missionary friends of the Manys came along.  And of course, Lizzy the poodle!  I'm sure there is a more official name for the waterfall and if I find that out, I will report in later.  It is on the backside of the Tenwek campus and a short walk.  What a powerful and beautiful sight!  The bravery of the kids jumping into the water was impressive!  

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More shadowing in store for Thursday and someone has a birthday!  Stay tuned!