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!