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Published: November 25th 2012
It has now been a full week since I arrived in Limuru, Kenya. It's starting to feel a bit like home. I'm getting used to having a tiny frog watch me shower everyday. At first he scared me but now he's a part of the bathroom furniture.
I have now met everyone in our house and all are super friendly and easy to get along with- Becky (UK), Sarah (UK), Emily (AUS), Cassie (AUS), Hannah (AUS), Brecklyn (US), Kelly (Belgium), Anna (German), Jessica (German), Teresea (Austria) and Colleen (AUS). There are males usually just none at the moment.
Becky and Sarah are hilarious and make me laugh to the point where I'm silent laughing and clapping like a retarded seal. It's great!
On Monday Hannah and I both had orientation which involved being shown around our project sites by Patrick, Charity and Eric our co-ordinators. Originally I was to be placed at BOC (Body of Christ) Orphanage. However I thought it would be good to see how the clinics are run here. So I have been working in Karuri Medical Clinic in Banana Town in the mornings up until 1pm and then BOC orphanage in the afternoons. The clinic mainly
is an outpatient clinic but there is also maternity, antenatal, postnatal and an under 5's room.The clinic is very understaffed and there are little to no resources. Nurses do everything. There are no doctors. Nurses assess and diagnose patients based on visual observation. There are no stethoscopes no other tools to assist their assessment. All wounds are dressed with betadine and gauze and bandaged. It doesn't matter what type of wound it gets the same treatment. Most procedures aren't sterile and antibiotics that isn't used is kept for the next patient rather than discarded like it would be at home.
For my first day I was the triage nurse, taking blood pressures and heart rates of patients and trying to decipher there main issue in order to direct them to the dressing room/injection room or the consultation room. This was highly difficult with the language barrier. It seemed quite pointless being a triage nurse as even when a patient came in with a blood pressure and heart rate through the roof they weren't moved up the priority list, the rule was to wait in line. Not to mention they only took blood pressure and heart rate rather than a
Challenge
Crazy white peoplefull set of baseline observations. It was worrying! That first day was fairly long and frustrating as I felt I could help so much more than do blood pressures. But I realised that even if it was boring me slightly I was still helping the clinic. Their facility was not advanced enough for me to practice what I have learnt back home. Here you make do with what you have and that's the best you can do.
At one point of the day I couldn't take blood pressures because the power went out and they didn't have batteries for the machine and there were no manual machines. Likewise I was told to stop using gloves as they have only 3 boxes for the whole outpatient clinic. HIV testing involved taking blood yet it was done without gloves. It's simple things like this that make you realise how advanced our country is back home and how lucky we have it.
The days after this I helped by dressing wounds and giving vaccinations. I witnessed nurses injecting straight into veins without canulas, it was a huge eye opener. Many patients would come in with hypertension, lacerations from assault, abdominal pain, urinary
BOC Orphanage
BOC Orphanage tract infections, headaches and colds.
On one particular day I was lucky enough to witness a natural birth down in the maternity unit. Hannah had seen plenty back home but this was my first so she warned me of what I was about to see. Yet neither of us were prepared for the differences between African births and Australian births. The mother (Maggie) was 18 yrs old. It was an incredible gift to see yet horrific to watch too. Maggie was given no pain relief. The procedure was meant to be sterile but I could see so much cross contamination happening. Maggie was left lying on a bed/table, mostly naked, with no curtains surrounding her for privacy. There was blood everywhere and the nurses were inducing her rapidly when there was no need for it. When I held Maggie's hand the nurse yelled to let go and not help her. It was brutal watching her in so much pain but she pulled through and gave birth to a beautiful boy. Delivery of the placenta looked even more painful. It got to a point where I had to sit down as the smell of the blood and what I was
Masai Markets
Sneaky drink with the girls seeing was becoming too much. Following the birth Maggie needed stitches. Luckily for her she was given local anaesthetic, some mothers don't receive this and are given stitches without it. Emily, one of the other volunteers (and paramedic back home) witnessed this and said it was one of the most brutal and horrific thing she's seen. After the birth everything was simply put in a bucket of what smelt like chlorine, followed by a bucket of warm soapy water and then a bucket of sterile water. The blood on the bed was wiped down with a cloth and soapy water.
It's very interesting and a huge eye opener learning how things work here. Staff use their phones casually whilst in consultation with patients and all staff go on their tea break at one time. So if an emergency happens, no-one is there to help. During one of our tea breaks I decided to sit in the sun and have some traditional african mandazis (like donuts but without the sugar). Little did I know hawks regularly swoop the area and before I knew it I was running from the biggest hawk I have ever seen. It was hilarious for those
The Great Rift Valley
View of Great Rift Valley whilst driving watching, but an experience for me.
After the clinic I have been attending BOC Orphanage. The children are absolutely gorgeous. They appear so happy even though they have nothing. There are close to 40 orphans in this one orphanage. Most are orphans due to HIV/AIDs and some have abusive parents. Others come to the orphanage when they are lost, sometimes their parents collect them, other times they don't. There is one boy Alex and his siblings who came to the BOC as they were saved from their mother who tried to kill them. Their individual stories are shocking. Most kids wear the same clothes for a week.
Over the week I have been slowly getting to know the children as next week I will only be attending BOC. I'm extremely excited! Myself and some of the other volunteers have activities planned and games to play. I brought toys and colouring books for the children and will slowly distribute them throughout the week.
To sum up our week Patrick, Charity and Eric organised a challenge for Friday. You could liken it to the amazing race. We formed groups, made team uniforms and ventured to Limuru open air market. Our
Hells Gate Gorge
Hells Gate Gorge team looked like Masai's. I wasn't sure if the locals would be offended or enjoy it. We used clues on pieces of paper to catch a Matatu (local taxi/van- scary, fast and squished) into town where we had to find a barber shop where a lady named Monica had money for us. With this money we bartered for oranges to take back to BOC for the children. Other teams bartered for bananas, mangoes etc. During the challenge we also had to find the supermarket and buy 10 kg bags of maise for the orphanage. Our final challenge was to balance a boiled egg on a fork in your mouth and to take 30 steps. All tasks had to be photographed. The team with the most fruit and most money at the end of the day won. The kids loved the fruit and we all had such a great day with the challenge. That afternoon we went to the Masai Markets. Here many wooden items are on sale including jewellery, plates and carvings. Many westerners come here to barter souveneirs. It was a lot of fun.
Yesterday, being a free day for volunteers Teresea, Hannah and myself organised a day
Hells Gate
Bike riding through Hells Gate National Park tour to Hells Gate in the Great Rift Valley. It was incredible to say the least. The Great Rift Valley is made up of Lake Naivasha, Lake Nakuru National Park and Hells Gate National Park. We hired bikes to see the park. There is dramatic scenery with looming cliffs, gorges and basalt columns. We saw zebras, wart hogs, impalas, gazelles, baboons and monekys. Unfortunately we didn't see any giraffes until we left the park and found them on someone's property. Lion's only visit Hells Gate seasonally, which is why it was okay to see the park on a bike. It was such a hot day, but magnificant at the same time. Hannah felt fairly rubbish the whole day and I began to feel rubbish towards the end. Once back at home we were going to go to town for a drink with the other girls as it was the last weekend for most of them and it was also Annas birthday. Hannah, Jessica and I were all too sick to go. I have officially thrown up my whole stomach and it's lining. It was a wise decision not to go! Feeling much better now and have decided to have a
Hells Gate Gorge
Hells Gate Gorge lazy sunday reading and playing card games.
Very excited for the next week and to see what's in store!!
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jenny mc innes
non-member comment
karuri medical centre and BOC Orphanage
Well Ash that was a great read, what a week you have had, we are pleased that you seem to be getting use to life over there. I like the fact that you told us about the frog in the bathroom, I like hearing things like that. Take care and cant wait to hear the next lot of news. Love you mum xxx