Stephan from the Rhein-Valley Hospital regularly takes photos for this News Blog from Nakuru. Unfortunately not all can be used and they are only seen in reduced format. Perhaps you are inspired to visit our new photo blog that will bring you one new picture every day in large size. And there will be a variety of subjects, also outside the duties of the hospital... here is the link:
sh. With the current high temperatures water is the gold for Kenya's population. Thanks to our two fountains that we built in and above the Rhein-Valley Hospital thousands of people luckily still have enough fresh drinking water. Today we were in the town (Nakuru) and saw some used shoes on the street. We just wondered if these were the clothing collections from the help
organizations that are being sold instead of being given to the poor...? On the market there are enough fresh fruits (see picture) but the people don't have the money to buy them.
Mama Matata did the planning for the coming week, so that the food distributions on Tuesday and Saturday can be done without problems. And on Monday we will start installing the tents. There will be a whole tent camp and all the sanitary facilities have to be organized. So a busy week is in sight.
sh. Around 350 mothers with their children came today for vaccinations. We accept them batch by batch, otherways 1000 people would come at once. Our medical staff had a hard day: treatments in the hospital, taking care of the accouche- ments and the vaccinations. Before return- ing home we quickly had a look at the refugee camp (see picture below).
sh. This morning we had to get up early to greet the two representatives of the Austrian "Schilling für Schilling" organization at the Airstrip in Nakuru. They sponsored a food container that arrived today at the hospital. Oliver, Michaela and the Manager of the African Safari Club hotel in Mombasa came for the arrival but could only stay for two hours, before they had to continue their journey.
Today we gave out food for 3500 refugees at the Rhein-Valley Hospital and there was a vaccination day for the mothers. We also had an important visit: Mr. Meina (left in above picture together with Stephan Holderegger in the middle) from the UN World Food Program was here and appreciated our work. He plans to hold a press conference tomorrow where he will inform about our activities at the hospital. While here he also called up the secretary of the Swiss Ambassador in Nairobi and told him about our constructive work for the poor. Mr. Meina said that he hasn't seen so much inspiring activities for a long time and that he tries to get foods from his organization.
sh. This morning we prepared everything for the arrival of the 50 tents that the Swiss Red Cross donated for the refugees of Nakuru. Each tent has a weight of nearly 60 kg. Immediately after receiving the tents we started to assemble the first one. The family tents will carry 6-8 people and all tents have a special waterproof roof. After 3 hours the first tent was ready! Now we can prepare all tents so that the refugees get some shelter which is especially important in regard to the rain period that is starting soon. We also got a call that the expected food container is only 25 k away from the hospital.
sh. Today we visited the refugee camp in Nakuru, where 8,000 to 13,000 people are stationed. We learned about their sorrows and their lack of perspectives for the future. They have always the same question in their minds: where should they go, because there seem to be no possibilities of returning home. At the same time they are happy that some white people take care of them. Some refugees not only let us watch the situation but also had a long conversation with us, in which they explained their situation. We promised them to come back and we definitely learned that things are not going well but we do not know who is responsable.
preparation of a 20 ' Container that is on the way from the Austrian partner organization "Schilling für Schil- ling". It should be here by March 13th. Two representatives of the organization will be also present for the official do- nation of the foods.
sh. Tonight Stephan Holdereger arrived in Nakuru as mentioned in yesterday's post. On the way to the hospital we saw 3 large fires, but couldn't find out any deatails. Today we discussed the program of the coming week and the street boys that always helped Mama Matata (Ruth Schäfer) came to see her. They haven't been around for quite some time. The boys were happy and greeted Ruth cordially. They all got 1 Liter of milk, 1 kilo of bread and a portion of French Fries. We also met a boy who has a mutilated leg. He recognized us because we previously checked the possibility of an operation, but it unfortunately was not possible. Mama Matata is the last resort for these boys.
