Finally unloading the kidstokids Container

rs. Yesterday was the moment to unload the many school supplies that were sent to us through the kidstokids organization in Switzerland. Our crew was amazed to see them. They have never seens such quality school chairs. First they thought they were all for our office. Then I explained them that they will be given to our Kenyan schools in the region. They checked out the chairs themselves and couldn't believe that the height could be manually changed. Tegla Loroupe who will get part of the equipment for her new Peace School in Kapenguria can only organize the transport to her place in 2 weeks, so we brought them to a tent to store them in the meantime. The rest stays in the container for he moment until we have made the plan how to distribute them to our schools in Thugunui.

Church wants to dispute our property!

rs. It's unbelievable how the church authorities react towards our property. Today 8 of them came to investigate and to put border marks on our ground. We could only laugh about their strange and impertinent conduct. We do not have to worry. Next week the officials of the Government will come to finalize our border lines according to the plan we established when we got the property several years ago. But what is frightening, that the people from the church seem to have a heart of stone...

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.

Wrong accusations from the church

rs. Today I went early to the hospital. I heard that Mr. Bernhard from the church council wanted to check the measurements of our property. They still believe we are working on foreign ground. Fortunately we have our official plans since 2005. But still they want to threaten us. After some loud discussions, they realized that they are wrong. But we do not want to wait until further discussions arise, we try to go to the Governmental offices in Nakuru town on Thursday to get an official certification of our ground plans, so that there will not be any needs for further recriminations.

Cleaning day

rs. Today we had a cleaning day - outwardly at the facade a in the house washing the curtains. Also in the camp everything seems to be fine and clean. If you instruct the people correctly and have some patients you can achieve quite a lot, even in the rural area of Kasambara...

Sunday in the Nakuru National Park

After all I have to take the chances to visit our Nakuru National Park when I live so nearby! It's always nice to be here to watch all the wild animals in their natural habitat.
-Mama Matata

Blog translations now available

We included a new feature that you can find on the top right side of the blog. It is a Google gadget, that allows you to have the blog texts translated in many languages. Although the translations are computer generated certainly not perfect at all, they still give you the chance to read our blog texts in your language. Check it out!

School ist starting next week

rs. Peter and his sister are waiting until Mama has finished her laundry. Summer vacation is over and next week school starts again and for many children this means entering a higher class. Some even have to go to Thugunui up the mountain about one hour walking. Here the schools are quite full. The children who have a long way to school asked if they can get a lunchbag so that they can stay there the whole day. If the teachers agree, it's certainly possible.

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.