Miscellaneous Photos

Here are some random photos from the week that couldn't really make up their own post.

On Monday morning, my throat was really sore. I asked George to take a look and he found a white spot in there. I came down with strep throat. This is the third time I have had it in six months. Fortunately, I was in the middle of a medical camp so I talked to one of the doctors and visited the pharmacy area to get medicine. The next day, my throat hurt so badly, I decided to stay at the hotel. It turned out to be much needed for me and Eli. At the camp, there was nowhere for Eli to sleep so he ended up falling asleep on me towards the end of the day. On Tuesday when we stayed back, he took a three hour nap. Poor guy was exhausted. He had been sleeping very badly at night and desperately needed rest. Due to the lack of sleep and strep throat, I did too.

I wondered what we would do all day at the hotel, but we had plenty to keep ourselves busy. My amazing and generous Mom, put a whole suitcase together for us that came with the team. It was full of fun and much needed stuff. I sent her a few requests for things we needed (bug spray, lotion, batteries, etc.), but she filled the rest with cool stuff for all of us. We all scored, but since it was my and Eli's birthdays (post soon to come), we really made out. Eli got a ton of clothes and fun toys. Toys are so special because we have so few for him. Here he is napping with Olaf and Christmas Bear. Later he played with his Furby forever! I think the hotel staff members were freaked out by it!



Some of the team members blessed us with things for Eli as well. Clothes, shoes, and toys. He got a few cars and lots of little people to put in them. He had a blast driving them all over the hotel.



Eli got another special gift. One of the team members, Kathy, a pharmacist from Australia, was so kind to Eli. She was so helpful and willing to hold him and play with him. During the week, she knitted him a hat! We called it his "Shrek" hat. I really enjoyed the time I spent with Kathy.



On the last day of the medical camp, the team stayed to play games with the kids.



Here is Sue taking a photo of some kids as we were leaving. They love to have their picture taken and see themselves.



Every time we go from Kisumu to the village, we cross the Equator, which I think is really cool. I always harass George about stopping to take a photo, but usually it's too hard to stop suddenly. This time he was prepared and I finally got my picture on the Equator.



More random photos to come as I get them from others.

Village Friends

Because Eli is very active, my main role was to keep him out of the way. Unfortunately, that meant I couldn’t do much of anything to help with the camp. I ended helping coordinate the team lunches and being available if there were problems or if anyone needed anything. I would have loved to do more, but I had couldn't. I think if I go to another camp, I would bring someone who could help watch Eli so I could contribute more.

Since we couldn’t stay in the church building, we made ourselves at home at a nearby house. The man who lived there open up his house to the team. This is where they ate lunch everyday and where Eli and I hung out.



Eli made friends with the kids living there.



They were such good sports and pushed him around all day in the wheelbarrow. They were small themselves so the poor little things were huffing and puffing as he had a grand old time being chauffeured around.



Eli brought his evange-cube one day. I showed the story several times to the kids. They didn’t understand English, but they liked to hear me tell it… over and over! Here is Eli trying to tell the story.



Shortly after the above cute moment, Eli bopped one of them on the head with the cube and had to go to time out.


I love this photo. It looks like he is praying for the kids or blessing them. But, he is just using their heads to help him step down.




One bonus about being there, he got to indulge in the foods they ate. Here they are eating chapati.


Later he wolfed down omena (tiny little fish, a Luo staple). George was so proud when I showed him the photos.



He spilled omena soup all over his shirt so he went shirtless the rest of the day.



I had a nice time there too. I even found a little dog to play with.


I talked with the ladies who were doing the cooking and got to practice my Luo. It was a pleasure to hang out with them, especially since this is where George is from and we’ll be there a lot in the future.

Medical Camp

On Monday, the wonderful craziness began! When we arrived, a lot of people were already waiting.



Each day we arrived, it was full of people. Unfortunately, each day, there were people that couldn’t be seen. There was so much need, but not enough time or medicine to help them all. Over the course of the week, over 2100 people were seen. With only four doctors, that is quite a miracle. Each person on the team was busy all day. I was worried that because it is in such a rural, remote area, no one would come. However, news spread quickly about the camp and people stayed there overnight so they could make sure they would be seen. It broke our hearts that anyone had to be turned away and it makes us want to do more there.

Here are the different stations:

Registration: Basic info (name, age) were given by the patients and they were given a sheet of paper that would accompany them to each station.



Intake: More info was taken here: patient history, temperature, blood pressure, etc.



Doctor: Here is where they met with the doctors.




Pharmacy: This is where they turned in their papers and received their medicine.



George's brother (on the left) was very helpful. He did a lot to help us prepare for the camp while we were in Tanzania. He also did a lot during the week of the camp.



Lab: After seeing a doctor, some of the patients were referred to the lab area where George did a few tests on things like malaria and pregnancy. This is also where injections were given and wounds were treated.


Most of the time, George worked with Roman, an EMT who is also nursing student, and Lisa, a nurse practitioner. They were a huge blessing to him and they all made a great team.






Prayer Area: This is where the pastors hung out and were available to share the gospel and pray for the patients. I don't have the final numbers yet, but several hundred came to know the Lord this week!!!!



Because many of the people in this area didn't speak English or Kiswahili, we had to bring in extra translators who spoke their mother tongue. One of them was George's sister, Nancy. It was nice to see her everyday.



The team was made up of 22 people. That doesn't include the translators, pastors, cooks and other helpers that showed up at the camp each day. The 22 included people from the US, one person from Australia and several Kenyan staff (doctors, nurse, Kiswahili speakers, logistics, etc). One of them was Timothy, one of the doctor's sons. Timothy is in high school and came to help during his break. Eli took a special liking to him and called him "My Timmy." Timmy was always willing to play with him.



Everyday, the team went to a neighbors house for lunch. A few days, we had sandwiches, chips and fruit. On the first and last day, they cooked a hot meal for the team which was a real treat.



Our camera is slowly dying so I didn’t get a lot of good pictures, but this will give you an idea of how the medical camps run. There will be more posts to come with additional stories and photos.

Team Arrival

On Saturday, the team arrived in Kisumu. George’s parents invited everyone over to their house for lunch. It was a full house as there were 20 or so people there! It was so neat to see everyone who was on last year’s team. It was also cool to meet the new people. We had a nice lunch with George’s family and too soon it was time to say goodbye to them and head to the hotel which was an hour away, closer to the camp site.



Once we got to the hotel, we got settled in and the team went to work packing medicine for the week.



On Sunday morning, we went to the village where the camp would be to attend church. The church service was a bit formal, but the people were very welcoming. One lady stood up and sang “Blessed Assurance” in English.





Eli had fun in the kids corner of the church.



After church, we went to George’s brother’s house for lunch. There is a beautiful view from his property so the team enjoyed sitting outside.



It was good to go there on Sunday so the team could see where the camp would be and get a feel for the place.