somewhere deep inside, something’s got a hold on you

the day finally arrived! my very own medical camp, made possible through the generous donations of all of you and the amazing anna.

the days leading up to saturday saw us getting more and more excited; anna spent a good couple of hours sticky-taping a toothpaste box to the back of a toothbrush (all 200 of them), last minute phone calls from marcus telling me about the shit he had to deal with from certain organisations (this country can be so exhausting), heading into the city centre in heavy traffic to buy stethoscopes and BP cuffs to use on the day and then to give as donations for the future medical camps… it was as exciting as it was stressful. but it was so goddamn worth it.

rubiri primary school grounds

I hardly slept on friday night – partially due to the fact we had a few beers with some other volunteers at our local bar & may have been a bit inebriated – but also because I was so excited. something we had been planning for a while was finally happening and was now coming to life.

a very early morning saw me up at 6am (although I was awake well before then) and getting a matatu with anna and her friend nikki, who helped out, to meet the other volunteers (ashley, richard and sarah) at the local shopping centre just before 7am so we could get going, naivasha is about 2hrs from nairobi in good traffic. we arrived just after 9am, and the best part was seeing patients already waiting when we arrived. I was actually a little worried, partially due to the fact that the camp was being held in a really rural location – rubiri primary school, on the outskirts of naivasha – and for patients to get there, they would have either had to get a piki piki (motorbike) which would cost money that not many people have, or to walk for quite a few hours. so seeing people there made me grin like an absolute loser.

patients already waiting to be seen

the biggest thing I’ve learnt about medical camps is that it’s not about the number of people who come. you don’t want to have huge huge numbers of people who come because you’d be so pressed for time and resources, they wouldn’t get the care and treatment they deserve. it’s about the quality of the care they receive, that each patient is listened to and treated accordingly.

a slightly negative part of the lead up to the camp was the crap marcus had to deal with from certain groups of people – apparently there was some shit storm about the people who we had organised to do the HIV testing, apparently the certificates held by the ‘testers’ were different to what is normally accepted and the testers would have to be met to assess their ability; ridiculous, considering these people are qualified and would have been doing what they do for quite some time. it sounded like they weren’t happy about us having HIV testing available at the camp… and this only came to light a couple of days before saturday. we couldn’t take away the HIV testing only a few days before; it had been advertised in the flyers we had printed and via the community health workers who had a loud speaker and we going through the surrounding villages and towns telling people to come on saturday. there’s a massive importance on the role of trust; patients have to feel as though they can trust whoever is treating them, otherwise they would never come back to another camp. if we took away something we had promised would be at the camp, would these patients trust anything we said again? simply put, no. there was a lot riding on this camp too as KCC are hoping to build a primary school just next to rubiri primary school. this was to be the chance that the people in the area would get to know KCC and what they’re all about, and they would trust that we’re delivering what we say we will deliver. and seeing the amazing work that KCC has done in their early development schools, for them to have their own primary school would be amazing; hence this camp being a big deal.

a classic example of the political bullshit we have to deal with here in kenya. it’s so hard to do something good for others when you’re jumping through hoops trying to make everyone happy.

the camp started at about 10:30am, a little bit behind schedule but there was lots to be done once we arrived. even though marcus, anna (a different one) and steinar, plus a few others, were already there and had clearly been getting things organised, we had to sweep the floors of the classrooms we’d be working in, figure out what classrooms would be used for cervical cancer screening and HIV testing and black out the windows for privacy, set up the registration area (and later a tent to protect flavia and anna (the norwegian one) from the blazing sun), set up the pharmacy with all the medications we had in stock, organise desks into makeshift tables for doctor/patient conversations etc etc. lots to do, but lots of hands make light work. and man, did we have a lot of hands!

getting organised!

after the debacle of gaining a medical licence for the day (the kenyan government got incredibly strict about ensuring only qualified medical professionals work in a volunteer capacity, enforcing that volunteers need to ‘purchase’ a licence in order to work here. it is a really important thing that has happened though, which I’m glad to have been to first one to get it organised so future medical volunteers can easily get it sorted.) mine cost $100 which covers me for a month, even though I only needed it to work one day – and even then it wasn’t like I was doing anything that would put anyone’s lives in any danger, all I was just gonna do was work in triage – taking patients vital signs… that’s hardly cause for concern. bloody political drama, but that’s a story to be told another day with a few beers.

triage, hectic as per usual

little leo had his first ever checkup

patients receiving their uji/porridge

the day flowed really well; richard, ashley and nikki helped with the public education forums and did a fantastic job. we had oral hygiene, hand washing, germs and reproductive health (a lady from kenya red cross did that talk) and every child got a toothbrush and toothpaste, then we had enough for almost all of the adults.

the tooth brushing talk

the hand washing talk

handing out toothbrushes and toothpastes

anna practising hand washing with some kids

statistics wise, we had 229 patients who registered: 50 women had cervical cancer screening, 50 patients volunteered to be tested – 31 of which had never been tested before… that is an incredible result. to have 31 people now know their status when before they had no idea is fantastic! there was also a room for family planning, we also had immunisations should any kids need them but only one had a measles injection – didn’t have any other kids needing any. but at least we were prepared.

eating lunch while we work

cleaning the uji cups

sah hipster

we saw our last patient at about 3:30pm, although I’m sure a couple of extras came later on. the long task of packing up everything, including medications that we’re left over (counting them as well), putting the desks back into the classrooms, taking down the blackout shades, cleaning all the dishes from the day. by the time we had our debrief, it was time to head home. anna and I were going to go to a festival that night but decided against it a few days prior, as I was leaving so soon and wanted to spend as much time with my host family as possible. turns out we were so exhausted we probably would’ve collapsed the second we had a beer and listening to some music! it always surprises me how tired I am after medical camps; this was my fourth one in four months, and each time I feel like I come home and pass out. whether it’s just the long day in general, or having to use the ‘medical knowledge’ part of my brain – which I’m not really using here – I always sleep like a log that night!

we were definitely delirious by this stage

honestly this camp couldn’t have been done without the huge support and organisation of marcus, of the KCC slum project. the fact that he can organise a medical camp amongst all of the other work he does at KCC is amazing, and hugely appreciated. also a big thanks to the volunteers from NVS, staff from kijabe mission hospital, district ministry of health, NHIF, kenya red cross, the public health office, area administration and of course, where we held the camp, rubiri primary school.

and of course, you guys. all of you who donated to my “taking healthcare to kenya” fund, this happened thanks to you. what I’ve done in kenya over the past 4 months hasn’t been as medical as what I thought it would be, and you’ve all been so supportive of ‘little ray of hope’, where I’ve spent the majority of my time, and some of the donation money. but I was over the moon to do something medical – your donations went towards the meeting that was held a month ago with all of the above mentioned organisations, buying medications for the patients, ensuring we had an allowance for the staff members who worked during the day (only kenyans received this), printing flyers to give to the kids at rubiri primary school to give to their family and neighbours, purchasing enough toothbrushes and toothpaste for almost every patient, buying the HIV test kits, mobilising community health workers in the days prior with loud speakers to get the word out, purchasing my medical licence so I could actually work during the day, ensuring we had food for the patients during the day, transport of goods and volunteers, providing lunch for the staff who worked during the day… there are so many more things but I honestly can’t think of them now (when the report of the day is written, then I can let you know!)

the a-team

thank you, thank you, thank you. I can’t say it enough.

this world has lost it’s glory

outreach weekend

it’s truly a sad day when you see witness first hand how others manage to survive in utterly horrible conditions and yet still manage to smile & welcome you into their homes.

nvs calls this two day event ‘outreach weekend’; where volunteers go out to three slums to visit and talk to locals, to distribute food, help out wherever necessary and to spend some time with the children. my ‘family’ (fellow volunteers living in my homestay with me) woke at 4:15am to meet our taxi at 5am – another occasion of ‘africa time’ as he didn’t show up for another 20mins, but we made it to junction mall in nairobi just after 6, when we were meeting at 7am and had been told that if you’re not there by 7am they’d leave without you. I’ve always been pretty strict about being on time, especially when travelling, but considering kenyans are always running late- then we don’t actually leave nairobi until nearly 9am. as much as you try not to get annoyed, it’s frustrating when you lose time at the end of the day to do other things (like climb ‘pride rock’ from the lion king).

we first stopped at great rift valley first to look at the huge expanse of area, as well as witness where first man was thought to have been found. it was pretty incredible, such a huge valley surrounded by huge mountains – obviously photos don’t do it even the smallest bit of justice.

then we headed to kcc slum, a place where kids are put through primary school through funding from donors to the project – but the parents from the slums help with buying uniforms, like a cost share thing. it costs $30 to send a kid to school for a year at kitendo children’s charity (kitendo means small good deeds), but they only have space for about 50 kids at a time – due to not enough teachers. volunteers who go here usually do teaching, but I was talking to one who said that the language barrier was huge – so they’ve been helping with cooking, cleaning and general upkeep of the school.. which is really just a few tin sheds close together. they also have a huge vegetable garden where all their veggies come from, which a few volunteers (like myself) helped weed their new carrot patch. nothing like ’round-up’ in the slums, it’s all DIY.

we also walked around the slum area, I had two little girls run up to me straight away saying ‘teacher, teacher!’, and grabbed my hands. their names were mary and gwen (both about eight years old) and we walked and talked all through the slum. at orientation, the staff sung this song called ‘jambo bwana’ and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head, so I was humming it while I was walking with the girls and they recognised it (being a pretty popular song) so we sung it together. and by singing together, I mean they kept laughing at my poor attempts at singing in swahili… which is by no means even at beginner level. but their laughter was so beautiful, I would have done anything to hear them keep going.

we must have been there for a few hours at least, and then it was time to leave. we had a bit of a treat in the afternoon where we went to hells gate national park and could bike ride through it, to pride rock, seeing wildlife just in the surrounding grasslands (not fenced off!). it was insane, when will I ever get the chance to say “oh yeah just went for a bike ride and saw zebras, gazelles, wildebeest and warthogs.. just like a real life lion king movie”. the views were incredible but I have never been so sore in my entire life, my crotch was not meant for riding 16km on a bicycle! literally could not sit properly for the next 3 days. so. much. pain.

the next day we started the day almost as early as the previous day: had to meet downstairs at 6:50am to help package up corn flour/maize into smaller bags (which is used to make ugali, more on that later) and blocks of cooking fat. definitely a great task to be doing pre-breakfast, who doesn’t love playing with kilograms of white powder in the morning?

the first slum we visited today was called the kihoto idp camp in gilgil. the people here arrived after the problems that arose in africa around 2007 & have been here since. I was definitely shocked to see people living under tarps, particularly when the conditions can be so tough – between the blistering heat and the rains that stay for 2 months, these people simply just can’t catch a break.

I should mention that we were told by our ‘guides’ on outreach that we shouldn’t feel obliged to hand out money as the money we paid to go on outreach was our donation for food and for the school clothing for kids. anyway, we visited a few different people in their homes, including miriam.

this 100 year old lady went blind after she fled her home country and was attacked by soldiers. she is completely dependant on her daughter, who has a family of her own yet cannot find work. the woman who was telling us miriam’s story was the leader of the idp camp, I forgot her name, but really was just pushing us to give donations (in monetary form). initially I wasn’t phased by it, but we were told by one of our guides that a couple of years ago, volunteers felt passionate enough to help out and supply the ‘camp’ with goats so they could use them for breeding and selling. however the people in the camp have become so dependant on volunteers showing up every week with lump sum donation (from our fee) that they let them out of the pen and seem to have lost their will to fight. when we asked the leader of the camp about work, she said something about going out every day to look for work but there is none. it just seems really hard to be able to help people who won’t help themselves. I saw it as a student paramedic in mildura with our own indigenous people; it’s funny how some people manage to get through problems while others depend on either handouts from the government or from random strangers.

the last visit was to gioto garbage slum. I can hardly find the words to describe this place – it was huge, and that hardly even starts to describe how big this tip was and the fact that people live here. people have been here since between 1980-1981 since they were chased from their land and displaced. there was a real feeling of helplessness and hopelessness, with girls dropping out of school because they’re pregnant (often due to rape) and they all depend on the garbage for survival. every morning when a new load of rubbish is brought in, it’s sifted through and anything that could make money for them is collected (ie. plastic bottles), where 1kg of plastic bottles can fetch between 9-10ksh (11-12 australian cents).

this was the first I spent of the donation money, $125, which was our contribution to the food parcels, monetary donations to people at the slums and the kids in the schools. so thank you to those who so generously donated, that’s how some of your money was used!