July 22nd: Early in the morning, we got a start on the approximately 10km round trip down to the shores of Lake Victoria. It is quite a walk, as the hospital compound is high up on a hill with another escarpment between it and the shores of the world’s second largest freshwater lake. The views were incredible though, and we both stuck our toes in the water, quite nice swimming temperature, but not very clean, so none of that for us! We were home in time for lunch and a relaxing afternoon out of the sun.
Photo: Kiri with some fishing boats at the Kendu Pier on Lake Victoria.
July 23rd: We spent the morning in the finance office of the hospital, and we are almost done our first task. In the afternoon, we went to Nyaburi School for the afternoon physiotherapy. Unfortunately, again, the children had yet to eat their lunch, so we toured the dormitories again briefly, and spent time talking with the professionals while we waited. Daril took the time to also make a pair of wrist braces for a student in need. There were a few children who finished their food and came for physiotherapy, as well as a young girl who fractured her arm playing and came immediately to seek help – which was provided. Impressively, Daril stepped up to the task, as this is not an unusual occurrence around the school. We were able to continue our index of boarding students, as some of the older ones visited us in the gymnasium.
Photo: A young student with a fractured arm being attended to by Daril.
July 24th: In the morning, we stopped by Ruby Kraft Primary School, to see if there were any more tasks we could do around the school. We were directed to a storage room to help clear it out. It is the room where they keep the exams being used and kept for records, but part of it has fallen to clutter. It is a task we are working on slowly, because the staff at the school need time to go through and verify what is to be kept and what can be disposed of. We then spent the rest of the morning finishing up the file checking. They were very grateful for our work. In the afternoon, we went to Nyaburi School to make the lists of children a priority. Michael, the rehabilitation assistant was very helpful with making progress on it, and by the end of the day we had only five children left to meet, out of the approximate hundred who board at the school. We also learned through personal experience that many children are epileptic at the school, amongst their other health issues. The staff handle the many medical conditions to the best of their abilities in the difficult situation they work in.
Photo: Celena adjusting Emmanuel’s wrist braces.
July 25th: Today, we again spent an hour in the morning at Ruby Kraft Primary School, working through the storage room. It is slow to progress. We finished the morning in the finance office of the hospital, doing small tasks. We returned to Nyaburi School for the afternoon physiotherapy. The children were quite active in the gymnasium today, likely because school is almost finished for the term and many of the younger ones have finished exams. We truly feel we are becoming attached to the children at this school. We finished up the afternoon, after doing some exercises and stretching, by playing ball with them – whether that be throwing it, kicking it or head butting it – whatever works with their abilities to put a smile on their faces!
Photo: Kiri helping Sylvester complete his strength exercises for his amputated leg – he wears a prosthetic.
July 26th: We spent the morning at Nyaburi School (we’re putting many hours there this week, because school ends for the term early next week), both in the special class, helping students with activities and learning, as well as assisting with grading of exams for the younger primary levels. In the afternoon, we spent a short time at Ruby Kraft School, continuing on the storage room. We ended the afternoon in the finance office, completing some small tasks again. We also visited the library of nursing school (which is within the hospital complex), as they are hoping to transfer the system to an electronic one. There is another volunteer working on designing such a system.
Photo: The Nyaburi school yard with children playing outside, and some teachers working on the shade outside.
July 27th: Our first stop this morning was at Ruby Kraft Primary School to continue our work in the storage room. We made quite an exciting discovery – we found a book that comes from Yellowknife: “Dehcho”, written by Stephen Kakfwi. It was great to have a little reminder of home even when we are halfway across the world. From the school we continued on to the finance office and did a little bit of filing. After lunch we were off to Nyaburi School for physiotherapy. As the end of the semester approaches the schedule had become a bit more relaxed for the children. But we were still able to spend some time getting exercise with the children. We joined in with a circle of students and hit a volleyball around a bit, and later spent some time with the children up closer to the dining hall.
Photo: Kiri and Celena with a copy of “Dehcho”, by Stephen Kakfwi, that has made it all the way over to Kenya.
July 28th: It was a special children’s day at church, which meant we got to enjoy lots of songs prepared by the schoolchildren of Ruby Kraft School. Otherwise, the day was spent relaxing and enjoying our time in Kenya before we leave, as it seems to be going by fast now!
Photo: One of our home-cooked Kenyan meals: rice, ‘green grubs’, cabbage and chapati.
