Meeting people on the way to Thugunui

rs. Today I wanted to go to Thugunui where we have our mountain water station. But on the way I met so many people who wanted to speak with me, that I didn't reach my destination. But anyway it was good to have the possibility to contact the inhabitants. Some of them already started to build a new home here. I could manage to come back before it started to rain.

Active day with Malaria and Diabetes

rs. Many things to do today. Some patients came for a control and one girl was tested which Maleria medication is the correct one. There are various types of Malaria, so we usually make a test first. If you give a wrong medication, it might not help but can endanger the life of the person. Other patients came with Diabetes, still very frequently found here in Kenya. Our doctor Wanjara tries to inform the people in detail about the correct food plans. Some who do not listen come back to us as emergency cases.

A movie for our refugees

rs. Today we had a surprise for our refugees. We installed a screen and a projector and showed them an animated film of 1 1/2 h. Many saw these video machines for the first time in their life.

Fence reparations

Reparations of our fence so that the animals cannot enter our property. Otherways we have the neighbor's chicken in our kitchen!

Catholic church hinders our activities

rs. Our refugee women were in the garden since the morning. They have a lot of joy to cultivate it and to see how their vegetables are growing that they can use in the kitchen. Unfortunately the catholic church, which is our neighbor, only thinks how they can hinder our activities. They went to the Governmental Offices in town to declare that our women ruin their property! By the way we are working on our property which is obvious according to the border lines on the map. So I will have to discuss the matter with the authorities as well as the church people. I always thought that the bible says, "love your next as yourself". But nothing is to feel from this love...

Quiet Sunday with joyful children

We had a quiet Sunday. Most of the refugees went to church.
Our guard Congo was looking after the children.
Some girls were playing, others were even washing clothes.

Head injury was today's emergency

rs. Today we had an emergency case. Renovating his house a man was hit by a piece of metal when the roof fell down. Fortunately the injury was not bigger. Our doctor Wanjara could sew the wound and after two hours the patient could return home.

Giving joy through distrubution of clothes

Today we distributed again clothes that we have collected over the past few weeks. Everybody had joy and it was a fulfilling day to make some little presents to our refugee family.

Student from Eldoret visits our place

rs. Today Alice Kwamboka, a student from the Public Health Dept. University of Eastern Africa Baraton, came to visit our hospital and the refugee camp. She was very surprised about our activities and thanked for what we are doing for the population. She also praised our staff and said that she wished to work in such a nice family-like team. After 4 hours I brought her back to Nakuru, where she continued her way home. At the end she said she would be inspired to come back. I said yes, everybody is always welcome.

Organizing work for the refugees

rs. Today we planned the work for the refugees. We want them to participate in our activities. Some should clean the flower garden, others will start with cutting the grass tomorrow. Grownup childs could help in the kitchen. So together with Fundi we established a shopping list so that we can buy the needed tools. Some enjoy helping, for others its a duty, but that's the only way to have a functioning community. Finally we got some food items for the children out of our storage container.

A visit from Switzerland

rs. Today we had a visit from Switzerland. Felix Moser and his family came to Kenya to celebrate a real Kenyan wedding which is on a much bigger scale than we know it from Switzerland. His wife Eunice' origin is from Nyeri, a typical Kikuiu region, about 180 km north of Nairobi. Eunice brought her sister with her who has a 4 year old girl that cannot walk and also has some eating disorder. I learned that she didn't get enough oxygen at birth time. Our doctor Wanjara check ed the girl and gave some advice. I personally think that with intense physiotherapy the condition might change. I also offered the mother to stay here for a month and our doctor could try to help.

Busy laundry day

rs. Today many refugees were washing their clothes. In fact there were too many and the laundry strings could barely hold the weight. It is funny: if the Kenyan start to do something, all others follow. It is the same with food stands in Nakuru City. There are dozens of pineapple sellers but no other fruits are avaibale. If they would discuss among them who sells what on a specific day, the market picture would be more diverse. In the afternoon, some men wanted to play football but the rain announced itself early so they probably have to play another day.

Reloading corn bags to a safer place

rs. Some of our corn bags have been damaged by mice so we had to reload 12 large bags to a better place which is our storage container. The helpers preferred to carry them on their shoulders instead of using pushcarts. Unfortunately they don't care enough about their bodies although I told them many times that they have to be careful in the youth so that they will not suffer from back pains later.

Chapati lunch in honour of Maina

rs. Today our kitchen girl Ann was in charge to create some kind of Chapatis in honour of Maina's birthday. So we had a nice time together. As the needed flour is very expensive here, this is only for special occasions. It is also important to balance all the stress of the week!

Young student with paralyzed side

rs. We have a new patient. She is a student. Her parents live across the street. Her father is a policemen in pension. One of his daughters went to the Nairobi University. At the end of the semester she slumped down, but could raise again by herself. When she went home, she slumped again when she left the bus in Gilgi. For 10 minutes the people could not speak with her. Next morning at breakfast time she again fainted. Finally the mother asked for help and our doctor Wanjara came over. Now she was brought to our hospital and we have to check her. For the moment it is not clear what causes her weakness but her left side was kind of paralyzed. Let's hope our doctors can help her.

Baby day is always very intense

rs. Today we were active weighing and controlling the babies. Wanjara and the male nurses Mathew and John did the main job, but the whole crew helped them. The reaction of the babies on the scale is very diverse: some are enjoying it, others are crying. What always amazes me, how helpless some of the Kenyan mothers are. The correct care of the babies is certainly not one of the strong sides of the mothers. Here in the hospital we can be of help but I wonder how they are doing it at home.

Reparation of floor plates

rs. We had a lot to do because the PVC floor got damaged due to the strong disinfection chemicals we are using in the hospital. Small Peter was also present when we worked. The new plates were prepared outside of the house, then the glue was applied, before we could place them in position. This kind of work smells quite bad so our doctors are happy when everything is finished.

Bora Bora Taxis: cheap but not very safe!

rs. Yesterday I was in Nakuru City to get some mail posted. I was also looking around and found this truck overloaded with mattreses - the Kenyan way. Then I recognized these so called Bora Bora Taxis. These are bicycles that are used to transport people. Not very comfortable but cheap: you pay between 0.05 - 0.15 $ for a ride! Unfortunately these rides are not very safe. There are a lot of accidents, not only between bicycles and cars but also between the bicycles themeselves. Everybody is driving like crazy...

No news because of internet problems

We have this nice picture for you taken today in Kasambara, but unfortunately no news due to internet problems. We hopefully will be back tomorrow!

Eldoret ist still unsafe

rs. Paul went to Eldoret on Monday to check his property. The neighbors were not happy to see him and said that they didn't want to see him coming back. He told me about his negative experience and concluded that he has to sell his property and get something in the Kikuiu land. The situation in many places is still very unsafe. Also in Nakuru there is still a lot of criminality.