Tonight Stephan comes back to Nakuru

rs. Today it's again busy in the hospital. Aska recovered a bit from her injury but her face is still swollen. I could stay in the hospital only for a short time because a lot of office work is waited for me at home. There was again a power brake down and only thanks to my generator I could write today's report. Kamau who wanted to repair the broken water tube, couldn't come but sent someone else: his fried Paul who did the reparation in a twinkling of an eye. Then I had to prepare to drive to Nairobi because tonight my partner and co-founder of the hospital Stephan Holderegger cames again from Switzerland to assist us here - what we badly need!

Today's picture shows a young women of our neighborhood
carrying dried grass for her animals (Photo: Ruth Schäfer)

WFP Containers arrived this morning!

rs. After a half-ruined night (I had a broken water tube in my house), things became better in the morning. I got a call that the containers of the UN/WFP (World Food Program) were on their way to the Rhein-Valley Hospital. I just rushed together my things for the day and drove to the hospital - just in time. The truck was arriving the same minute at our grounds and I could help him find the correct place to unload the goods. People from our crew and from the refugee camp helped to unload the 50 k bags and even an elderly man wanted to help. He said that he regularly gets food here and that he also wanted to help a little bit. We counted the bags and there was only one bag of corn missing. They even promised to bring the last one on Monday when they will have a chance to witness our food distribution to the needy.

"Little" Ruth Schäfer amongst piles of food bags

Returning home in the evening I had another call, this time bad news: The mother of the little girl that we are currently treating because of her heavy burns, wanted to go back to her burnt home, perhaps to find something left there. Arriving in Eldoret people started to throw stones on her and she had to be hospitalized. This episode again reminded me that the situation is still very tense between the different tribes, but we will continue our help for the displaced persons.

Massai and Kikuju girls do our laundry

rs. This morning I went to the office of the Health Ministery in Nakuru. I learned that our hospital now belongs to the Naivasha district, that means from now on we have to get our vaccines from Naivasha which is two times as far as Nakuru. I was not happy but couldn't change his mind. So this meeting was not very fruitful and constructive for me. In the hospital there is a lot to do: Many patients came with stomach upsets, fever and open wounds. Some even come without any illness; they just need someone to tell their sorrow. Many only realize with the time what they had lost. Our cleaning ladies (see picture) show us that different tribes easily can live and work together: on the left side is Serea, a Massai; on the right side Ann, a Kikuju. They took the opportunity of a dry day to do our laundry. One young patient was in observation because of a possible malaria infection. Her blood is now being checked by our medical crew. At 5 pm I wanted to go to Nakuru to buy some food but it was so chaotic on the streets that I quickly returned - I will have to accept what I have at home...

Editorial note: One of today's pictures was too nice to be published in small size, you fill find it on our special photo blog on Kenya. It shows a mother and her child in our waiting room.

Building our own toilets

While driving to the hospital this morning, I came accross many security posts and people still are on the road with all they have. In the hospital I met a new patient: a young student was there with a burnt foot. Our doctor John and nurse Wilder treated him. He needed an infusion with antibiotics, because the wound was already inflamed. Outside on our ground works progressed to build a simple toilet. As the church's public toilets have been closed we have to make something on our own. Here on the countryside no machines are used, everything is done with hard manpower. The day's activities lasted until 7 pm and suddenly I realized that I have forgetten to take a proper meal, so I was preparing my combined dinner/lunch. Today Spagetthi are on the menu plan...

2-hour interview with Citizen newspaper

Some glimpses of today's activities: Our doctor John had a lot to do because his nurse Aska hasn't come for work yet; she is still recovering from her injuries due to the attacks some days ago. Our crew did some sports in the break time and Ann was responsible for our Lunch. She prepared Ugali, some white sort of corn. In the afternoon I went to Nakuru to visit Aska and I met James Mwembi of the Citizen newspaper. They already published an article on our work at the hospital but he wanted more informations. So we spent almost two hours together. The situation in the town is still tense, military trucks are present and security posts have been established. The citizens are still inpatient and long for returning to their home towns. Often you see trucks full of household articles and furniture, leading to Nakuru, or further down to Kikuyu land. People already speak of Cholera, Typhus and Yellow Fever cases and it is our daily duty to emphasize on proper hygiene.

The church closed the toilets - unbelievable!

rs. When I arrived at the hospital ground, people were already waiting in line to get their daily food ration. After I parked my car a woman came to me and asked where she can use a toilet, because two days ago the church closed the public toilets! This is "love your next like yourself" practiced by the Catholic Church... Then I went to the hospital and Niaga from our crew came and said they fear further aggression by some groups of people and he questioned if we should give out food today. So we carefully served group by group, first those who are registered, then the Kasambara group, those from Thugunui and then the rest. The distribution was finally more or less quiet. Only 3 men wanted to push forward in line but our guard brought back the order. And some people even thanked us for our help and were happy to be taken care of. After work, we discussed plans how we could build new simple toilets as son as possible.

Then later in the afternoon the rain blessed us again ...

Power interruption and heavy rain

rs. This Sunday morning I got a call from John, that the power supply was interrupted in the hospital. I found out that it has been announced in the paper but who reads the paper every day... I then called Aska who was attacked yesterday. She doesn't feel well and still has a lot of pain and she barely can see with the swollen eye. She asked to stay home for another two days. Sure, no problem. Today I also made my control visit to the hospital. I visited a pregnant woman and saw a young girl, that have been beaten up by her mother and luckily the eye had not been damaged. When I returned home, I had to prepare everything for tomorrow, we will have our food distribution day. In the meantime we had heavy thunderstorms, temperatures are now around 19°C.

Husband visits his wife in the Rhein-Valley Hospital this morning