Visit from President Kibaki

ak. Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki visited Nakuru today. Early in the morning, two helicopters touched down in the field adjacent to State House, the President's Nakuru office/residence. Many of the locals watched in awe as the large helicopters engulfed them in body-shaking upcurrents and ear-piercing chopping. Since the President only seldom visits Nakuru, by late afternoon a large crowd of people had gathered around the periphery of the field, all hoping to catch a momentary view of their leader. President Kibaki spent the entire day in Nakuru and then departed as the sun was setting.

Moi Day in Kenya

ak. As it was a national holiday today, the hospital was relatively quiet. Although the staff appreciated a slight break after a busy week, the children in the hospital's IDP camp were even more appreciative of the fact that they didn't have to go to school. Moi Day is celebrated in honour of former President Daniel Arap Moi who was Kenya's commander-in-chief for over 27 years, from 1975-2002.

A busy day at the Rhein-Valley Hospital

ak. It was an exceptionally busy day at the Rhein-Valley Hospital today. On top of the usual 35-40 mother-infant pairs that arrived for Thursday's Neonatal Day, there was a constant flow of regular patients as well. By day's end, well over 100 patients had been attended to. Amongst the many interesting cases, there was one young girl who was terrified of a thermometer thinking it was a large needle. She protested so vehemently that Dr. Wanjara not touch her with it, Nurse Kennedy was forced to let her out of the room so she could run outside to "safety". Poor Wanjara was left in shock, not quite sure what he had done wrong.

Meeting Kamau the Street Boy

ak. On the way home from the hospital this afternoon, we ran into Kamau, an orphaned boy who lives on the streets. There are hundreds, if not thousands such children in Nakuru alone. They have no official support network and for most, the only family they will ever know are the fellow children with whom they wander the streets. Although these children normally congregate in small or large groups, Kamau seems to be alone, often spotted walking along the Nakuru highway in his over-sized suit, searching for food.

(Click on the picture to see it in large size as it appears on our photoblog "Kenya-Photos")

Maintenance Day

ak. Following yesterday's rearranging day, today was spent repairing and repainting furniture and equipment. The well-used maternity ward required some of Mama Matata's attention when it was discovered a lever on the delivery bed wasn't working properly. Wakomo, one of the hospital's maintenance crew, observed attentively as the resident hospital handy-woman took care of the job. In the meantime, I showed the kids from the IDP camp how to walk on your hands, a most useful skill when working at a hospital.

House Cleaning

ak. After a busy morning at the hospital, we took advantage of a quiet afternoon to reorganize one of the containers and a large storage room. What started as a small task quickly escalated and eventually required over three hours of work from most of the hospital staff and members of the IDP camp. When we were done, one storage room had been cleared, a different one had been filled, and an entire shipping container used to store food had been rearranged.

Rainy Sunday

ak. It was an unusually rainy day in Nakuru, which meant we were unable to traverse the muddy road to the hospital. As Sundays are normally a quiet day at the RVH anyway, there is little news to report other than that we hope the sun will come back tomorrow. In the mean time, please enjoy this beautiful rainbow that was captured in Lake Nakuru National Park last week.