Eburru!

Friday 7/26 we left for Eburru….we were supposed to leave at 9 but didn’t leave until 12:30! I was a long morning of waiting…and then more waiting in Naivasha to run some errands before heading up the mountain! It was so great to finally arrive in Eburru! The clinic is huge and they are using the 2nd floor as a preschool. Next door is a maternity unit and a couple of other buildings that house a couple of people and likely have another future use. All the huts are cemented along with the walkway in between….there are even flowers planted! To my dismay, the squatties remained the same. Bummer!
Steve took me to the Morgan property which is on 10 acres…very cool! The old house is beautiful but needs a lot of work. The property is fenced and sectioned off for the orphanage. They want to refinish the house into a lodge that will support the orphanage. The house is an old british colonial house build in the 1930’s. It is a beautiful house that is just run down after not being lived in since the 70’s. They have great things planned for Eburru!
A team arrived from Kijabe who all work at the hospital with Mary and will be doing some outreaches in Eburru. I was so tired that night and they typically don’t start dinner until 7 or so…and it’s a 3 or 4 hour job peeling and chopping so I was literally falling asleep while peeling potatoes….and really wasn’t doing a very good job anyways. We finally ate dinner and I could head off to bed….I thought I might die of exhaustion! I’m staying in one of the huts by myself which is a little scary…the worst part being venturing to the squatty during the night!

Saturday 7/27 was a packed day! We had planned to leave for Noabibi at 9am for a medical clinic….but we didn’t leave until 11 (there is a pattern developing here!). It took over an hour to get there…down and around the mountain. It was beautiful! The drive went through a couple of small towns and was like an impromptu safari! We saw giraffe, zebra, eland, gazelle, monkeys, baboons and all kinds of other animals…amazing! There are not too many other places where you see that while driving down the road!
We arrived at the AIC church in Noabibi and found a group of people already waiting for the clinic. We set up in the mud hut church with a waiting area, an area for vitals, for the exam and the “pharmacy”. The people can and had their vitals takes by Milli, Mary examined them and discussed their complaints, wrote a prescription and sent them to me at the pharmacy. It was the best place for me since I don’t speak Swahili but it was still a bit frustrating since some of the drugs have different names than in the states and their medical terminology was different – not to mention their horrible hand writing! I spent a lot of time organizing and familiarizing myself with the drugs. I had to ask a lot of questions but made it through the day! It was fun by exhausting…we saw 32 patients!
We headed back in a crowded car and as soon as we pulled up to the clinic, someone came running to the care with supplies for Mary to go to a delivery. She grabbed me and we went running (literally) up to the house in town. By the time we arrived, we had missed the delivery by about 45 seconds…so there on a chair was a tiny newborn African baby! I don’t think I have ever seen a baby that new in real life. Mary took care of the mother and Milli took care of the baby. I think Mary had intended for me to do what Milli was doing but since she has been a nurse for a while she just dove right in…which was okay. It was a good chance for me to observe…though I felt a little useless. According to Mary, they have several births a week so hopefully I’ll get the chance to help!

Sunday we went to church and it was amazing! They have a building now! It was corrugated metal with a dirt floor and wooden benches. It is so amazing what God has done there in the last 5 years! When I walked in they were singing and dancing…I got some video but it doesn’t do it justice. It was a typical 4 hour service…all in Swahili except for my own small talk. There were many special numbers and different testimonies. I was completely covered in little ones who all wanted to be touching me – and they were filthy so I was as well by the time we left.
After service, I found some friends from over the years and was able to visit for a bit. Pretty much every time I was introduced to someone new, someone would add “she brought her parents with her once!”….I thought that was hilarious! I guess I’m extra rememberable because of that?

Monday I started helping Mary in the clinic and was an interesting experience. For the most part, I just watched how things worked, read over “charts” and occasionally filled some prescriptions. Throughout the day we saw about 15 patients of all ages…it’s a busy place! We had some funny house visits with various patients and the clinic is pretty much open all the time. Mary’s cell phone is on the clinic contact list so they call her and she runs down there.
Tuesday 7/28 was a crazy day! At 41am, I thought I heard hooting (Kenyan term for honking) and the guard yelling but thought it was a dream and went back to sleep. I got up at 7 and was getting dressed when there was a pounding on my door with someone saying I was being called. So I walked down to the clinic and walked in on another delivery! Thank Goodness Mary was around that day! I walked in about 2 minutes before the baby was delivered and once he was, we couldn’t get him to breath. We rushed him to the other room so we could try and use an ambu bag to breath for him. He had a strong heart beat so we could continue for some time. The grandmother and Aunts came in, saw what was happening and were on the ground praying and crying in Swahili. I just prayed outloud for that baby as Mary kept pumping air into his body. After about 10 minutes he finally breathed on his own! The ladies ran around finding blankets and a jiko (charcoal cooker) to warm him up. It was pretty chaotic for a while! Mary went back to the mother and left me to care for the little guy. He had great reflexes and was opening his eyes so seemed he would be okay. He was so sweet and I held him for a couple of hours while we gave him some meds and fed him some glucose. Mary brought the mother out (she’s only 15!)…she was still in shock from the whole experience. The rest of the day we just watched over them while we saw other patients …about 20 in all! It was a long but fun day!

In Experiencig God, which was one of the books we used when discipling the student teams, the majority of the premise is “find where God is at work and join him.” That seems to be exactly what is happening in Eburru – so it’s most definitely a privilege to be a part!