Celebrating President-Elect Obama!

rs. Today it was a great day for Kenyans. Already yesterday the Luo assembled in Kisumu and awaited the result of the American election. Some people placed some boxes with the names of the canditates and did some kind of fun voting. Feast tents were established and as the result was announced the Kenyans celebrated Obama as if he was their president. All over the country everybody was delighted and even President Kibaki announced that Thursday will be a nationaal holiday to celebrate President-elect Obama. Some Kenyans even said that slavery is now past and they started to feel as normal people. Also in and around our hospital there was a little celebration.

kidstokids Container opened

rs. Today we opened the container that we recently got thanks to the help of the Swiss kidstokids organization, a department of the International humanitarian organization "The Oneness-Heart Tears and Smiles". The container is full of school supplies and packages that were collected by children from Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Finland, for their little Kenyan brothers and sisters. Tomorrow we will start unloading the school banks and chairs that will be given to Tegla Loroupe for her Peace School in Kapenguria. All my crew is eager to help tomorrow because it is a special day for them to help unload the container and discover all the things she normally only dream of.


Mama Matata (Ruth Schäfer), director of the Rhein-Valley Hospital climbs as the first onto the gymnasium mattress in the container.

A central laundry place should come soon

rs. Early in the morning I met this woman washing her clothes in front of her tent. It came to my mind that it is high time to organize a central laundry place. I am happy that the people in the tents become orderly more and more. The toilets are clean and also the general ground. Now we will put some big flood light to bring more security for everybody. Cooking also gets organized. The IDP's slowly start to use big pans to cook collectively which makes more sense anyway. Some ideas take a long time to be accepted but finally they see themselves what is good for them. In one point Mr. Maina Muhia is right: the women are easier to handle in the tent camp than men. But I don't fear them and also try bring them to some kind of discipline and order. Tomorrow we will have 10 more women and their children joining our camp. We already made the plan to organize it properly. Some camps are getting closed by the Government so there is a concentration to those still in function.

Yesterday I saw in a TV report how deplorable the situation still is in various parts of the country. There was a story of a young mother and her children that was escorted by the military to her original home place and all she found was one clay wall and nothing behind. She started to weep and was helped to set up a tent. She has no money and no clothes. How can she make a living? One of the many open questions here in Kenya. Tomorrow we will get a visit from Bern (Switzerand). It's always good if people come and make themselves a picture from the situation and our work.

Still waiting for the toilets and shower cabins

sh. Heavy clouds were in front of us when we left the house at 8:30 h this morning. On the way to the hospital we picked up a new nurse who comes from Western Kenya and had lost his job from one day to the other when the crises started. Arriving at the hospital ground we could assist the finish of the central fire place and the laundry construction that got the final stainless coating (see picture). Then we presented our new crew member to the others and said hello to our 85 year old schuschu (grandmother) who is more or less in a stable condition. We are still waiting for the promised toilet and shower cabins. As often in Kenya you need a lot of patience. You can call 20 times until something becomes reality. Let's hope we get them soon. The weather stayed dry. During the day we have now temperatures up to 28° C and during the night it goes down to 10° C!

This is our current crew of staff members
and temporary workers!

30 toilets and showers to be installed soon

This morning Mama Matata had to get up at 4 am to be able top reach the border to Tanzania to get a new Carnet. Normally this takes about 24 hours, but she got it in only one hour. So she had time to get the blankets that the Red Cross Switzerland donated through the initiative of kidstokids. But then she was amazed that the custom authorities wanted to charge her a big amount of money, probably more than the value of the blankets. Unbelievable! She is now trying to get them out for free. Let's hope for the best. As she won't be back before midnight, we will inform you tomorrow about the outcome.

While Mama Matata is on her misson in Nairobi, I was with the delegation of the UN World Food Program. Together we prepared for the 30 toilets and showers to be installed on Friday. We also built the central fire places (see picture) for the refugee camp here on the Rhein-Valley Hospital ground. A good organisation within these camps is of paramount importance as the number of refugees increases even more after the explosive political situation here in Kenya. Unfortunately there are still no signs of settlements within the Government and peace for the people in sight. The population asks for an immediate decision and a new election. As we heard all humanitarian organizations are at their limits and we do not know how all will continue. - Stephan Holderegger

Situation unclear - Internet interrupted

The political situation here in Kenya sems to be again very tense and at the same the internet connections have been interrupted. We hope this is only temporary and will bring you more news as soon as possible. Without interruption will be our daily photo contributions from Kenya on the Kenya Photos Blog.

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.

Visit our Kenya Photo-Blog !

On the new photo blog "Kenya Photos"
you will find one new picture of Stephan Holderegger every day,
and even in much bigger format!
Here is the link:

http://kenyaphotos.wordpress.com

Another Dulcimer concert on 2700 m

Today we visited the water station in Thugunui on 2700 m where all school children gathered together to attend another concert of Swiss dulcimer player Nicolas Senn who is currently staying in Kenya together with his mother. The water station was opened on November 15th 2007 together with the Austrian help organization "Schilling für Schilling" and allows the whole community to have fresh drinking water the whole year round ... and even free of charge! The children were very receptive and happy. The adults were also listening and all had a good time. At the end the community thanked Mama Matata and the musician. Nicolas took the opportunity to walk down to the Rhein-Valley Hospital ground on 2000 m and realized how much effort it took for the locals in the mountain village to bring the water up the mountain before the water project was established.

This old men sponsored the land for establishing the water station.

Film shooting at the Aequator with Nicolas Senn

ns. Today the Swiss delegation (Gaby from the Swiss TV, musician Nicolas Senn and Stehan Holderegger) went to the Aequator and visited a village where Nicolas had a concert last September. The locals immediately recognized the Swiss dulcimer player and showed autograph cards from last time. Gaby filmed the meeting and could make several interviews. We even plan to organize a big concert together with Kenyan dancers. Fortunately we had no rain on the way back to Nakuru. Soon the rain season is expected to start here and we already had first showers last night. Let's hope that the thousands of refugees in the camps will survive! The conditions will get worse and worse.

In today's newspaper...

Clip from today's edition of Kenyan paper "The People Daily"

Story on girl who escaped the flames

In today's edition of the Kenyan Newspaper "The People Daily", a story of a girl was published that escaped from a burning church. As the paper mentions, "young Wanjiru persevered with serious burns on the left side of her body for four days at the Catholic Church grounds before a Good Samaritan took her to Moi Referral Hospital for treatment. She is now camping at an non-governmental organisation-sponsored facility, Rhein-Valley Hospital, at Kasambara in Mbaruku area of Nakuru District. Wanjiru is grateful to the hospital's directors Ruth and Stephan who footed her hospital bill. Stephan says the girl was initially deeply traumatised that she could not allow anybody to touch her. But she responded well to treatment and has now recovered. The hospital is hosting over 2,000 internally displaced persons from Eldoret, Burnt Forest, Likia, Londiani and Naivasha. Some from Nakuru showground had also moved to the hospital. Wanjiru intends to get back to school at the nearby Kasambara Primary School. She has however forgiven those who killed her father and grandmother, but would like the Government to pursue and arrest them." Click on the article to enlarge it.

Swiss donate 150,000 CHF for Kenya

km. The popular Swiss weekly "Migros-Magazin" (circulation of 3 million) again presents the issues of the Rhein-Valley Hospital in today's edition on 4 pages. After a first report of the magazine there was a huge reader response and a total of nearly 150'000 Swiss Francs were donated. Dispite all problems Ruth Schäfer (Mama Matata) speaks about first signs of hope! Here is the link to the article in the online-edition:

Press and TV will visit the hospital on Tuesday

sh. Today we had a meeting with Josef Muya, Director of the Lake Nakuru Lodge in Nakuru Town. He helps us with the food distribution for the Kikuju refugees and plans to come to the hospital this Tuesday together with journalists from the Press and TV to explain the current situation. He hopes that the tourists soon will come back to Kenya, because without them the country cannot survive. We also have strong hopes that finally the Press and the Government realize the facts and start supporting our efforts.

TV interview with Stephan Holderegger

km. This evening the popular Swiss local TV station TeleZüri invited the founder of the Rhein-Valley Hospital Stephan Holderegger for a 30-minute live interview. They also broad- casted recent video footage that Stephan took in Nakuru. Ruth Schäfer, the director of the Rhein-Valley Hospital and partner of Stephan, joined them on the phone from Nakuru. It's great to see that Tele-Züri fully sympathizes with the project and asked the viewers to participate with a donation. At the end of the interview Stephan also mentioned that all the donated money is used 1:1 for the help in Kenya. The full interview can be seen as podcast here.

Despite bad news we still have hope!

rs. Today I had a stressful day. I transported all the baby food we got on Friday to the hospital, from where it will be distributed to the refugees. At the hospital we were also busy. A patient with third-degree burns came for after-treatment. Unfortunatey we again got bad news about the still active unrests: 13 people were killed, among them a pregnant women with her unborn baby. The locals, especially the Kikuju have big fear in regard to more violence here in the North-West region. Without daily prayers to God our team and myself couldn't continue our tasks. We will fight for the poor and try to relieve the destress, whatever is happening.

Swiss Red Cross promises 50 Tents

rs. Today 2800 people came to get their food portions at our Rhein-Valley Hospital in Nakuru. Especially the women were fighting to be first in line. I had to calm them down several times, explaining that there is enough for everybody. It is only now that I realize how much help I had in the last 10 days when Stephan and Hennie helped me with my work. I also have good news from the Red Cross in Switzerland: Mr. Thomas Kumpera promised to give us 50 tents by the end of the week. We urgently need them for our refugees.

Waiting for the Red Cross delegation ...

sh. The Red Cross in Nairobi promised to visit the Rhein-Valley Hospital this morning at 10 am, to discuss the arising problems with the increasing number of refugees in our region. Many of the refugees came to our facilities in order to manifest their cause. We waited until 2 pm but nobody from the Red Cross arrived. We will try to intervene in Switzerland and Holland after we return home tonight. We have enough video and photo material to convince the organization on the urgency of the situation. Thousands of people are on the move and fear to go back to their homes. We promised them that we will do our best to improve the sad situation. Ruth Schäfer, the director of the Rhein-Valley Hospital will stay here and still hopes for more cooperation and support for the coming days and weeks. The picture below was also taken today and shows patients waiting to get their vaccinations; in the middle Ruth Schäfer.

4000 get food and water from the hospital

sh. Today we had a hard job at the Rhein-Valley Hospital in Ksasambara. Around 4000 people got their food and water. The whole hospital staff was occupied all day. At 5:30 pm the last family was served. Some additional helpers took care of the registration of the refugees. If you are not here you cannot believe the current situation and feelings. Again a day has passed without a real hope at the horizon. We are all tired. Not because of the hard work but because of what we watch. We can only partially help the people in distress.

Visiting refugee camps in Naivasha

Today again the temperature was around 45 - 50° C and we visited two refugee camps in Naivasha, one with 3500 Kikuju's and another with about 1750 Kiranji, Luja and Luo people. Everywhere the sitution is the same: men, women and children are all traumatized and scared. According to the latest news people in Molo again lit fires and houses were burned to ashes. Still the people believe in God and hope for help.

We are preparing the food for tomorrow. 3500 to 4500 refugees are expected to come to the Rhein-Valley Hospital in Nakuru to get something to eat. We also have to register everybody in case the Red Cross can find another camp for them. Today's picture shows a boy that lost his leg seven weeks ago, when he was caught by a truck while flying.