Sunday, November 7, 2010
Checking in on the medical front from Kijabe
Last week was heavy with RTA’s (road traffic accident’s). One of the unfortunate results of improving roads in Africa is that cars can go much faster and the resulting accidents are more severe. On the weekend a small bus collided with a lorrie it was overtaking and about 13 people came into Kijabe. Three people died and others were admitted with serious injuries. Two days later a similar event brought people into casualty, say around 14, but thankfully no one died. One young man was paralyzed from the waist down and others suffered multiple open fractures. Treating CHI’s (closed head injuries) is a challenge here. We don’t have a CT scanner so you must rely on clinical evaluation, which is a bit like crossing your fingers. I learned an interesting neurosurgery trick the other day: you can screw through the skull, insert a catheter into the ventricle, inject air and take an x-ray. Then you can tell if there is midline shift and be guided in where to drill a burr hole. I had to put a number of joints back into place with all the accidents and had the pleasure of putting my first traumatic posterior hip dislocation back into joint. I have put back innumerable prosthetic hip dislocations at Northwest and thankfully the techniques are no different for traumatic hip dislocations. I have a small pocket pulse ox/heart rate monitor and it works perfectly for cases requiring moderate sedation. I pop it on the finger, inject a little valium/fentanyl and voile, pop goes the joint…after a bit of pulling of course. I have oxygen and suction, as well as airway stuff, so we’re good on that front. I’ve had to learn to live without etomidate or propofyl here, but have come to a new appreciation for the old fashioned standbys.
just a tiny bit of an amazing week!
This week has been our most amazing so far! It is hard to even know what to say about it. Ken Kierstead from Seattle, UPC and the Fluid Foundation…and a friend of many of you, was here in Kenya. He graciously welcomed us into his adventures and plans and what resulted for us were the most incredible experiences…meeting people, seeing projects, making friends…
Last Wed we drove across the Rift Valley in order to join up with Ken, some Kenyan World Concern staff and drivers to take us in 4 wheel drive vehicles across miles and miles of horrid roads, passing giraffe, zebras, ostrich, wildebeests etc etc. until we reached an extremely remote Maasai village where 2-3000 people live! The area would be totally uninhabitable, as was the land all the way from Narok town where we met up with the group, to the village, if it weren’t for a spring which provides an endless source of clean water and makes it possible to have trees, grass, grow crops and live….not lavishly, but survival is possible. There were a few trucks, and a few matatus…otherwise it is all about walking….endless walking! ( I would love to put a pedometer on a Maasai for a day! All our “records” would be smashed immediately for sure!) We had the privilege of seeing a credit union/saving type of project whose start up the Fluid Foundation and World Concern have partnered to support. The concept of saving is so new and unusual, but here they are making headway and catching on. Perhaps the next time there is a drought, as there was for several years only ending about 9 months ago, they will be able to use the money they have put aside to help them keep from starving! It was very exciting to see this catching on. The credit union has almost 300 members as it ends the first year.
I had the pleasure of getting close contact with a young Maasai woman, a member of the board for the project. She stayed close to me and I longed to talk with her. Many of the Maasai are so beautiful. I find myself wanting to stare...which my kids say I do anyway! So this is probably really bad. Finally we were in the car together as we headed back to the village after a goat feast…this is a huge deal in Kenya…getting treated to goat…(Whether you think of it as a treat or not it would be horrible to not partake with gratitude and enthusiasm. Thankfully, Warren and I basically like it.) Anyway, we were in the car with a Maasai who speaks English so we could ask each other a few questions. She asked me, “is he your husband?” and I asked her if she was married and if she had children. She was and had two, ages 2 and 6. Then she asked me if I had children. (John was not with us) I told her about them and their ages…She clapped her hand over her mouth…shocked and realizing that I am OLD!;) It is hard to tell ages of people you don’t see often…as in other races and cultures!! We have the same problem. I was guessing at that point that she was about Alison’s age….and when I asked, exactly right. I later learned that she is someone’s second wife…
The separation of language…painfully limiting. I could have spent days and nights talking with her…hearing her story, learning about her life and culture, asking her about her hopes and dreams. Instead I went home with a wee connection that indicated that we wished for more…and a beautiful beaded necklace that she made which symbolizes that I am a queen or something amazing…and a hope for heaven…and the chance to communicate!!
Later this week I met Frances, a whole blog in himself…but he speaks 23 languages! And I believe him…He was clearly one of the brightest and most alive people I have ever met, and also Rose…who speaks 10…including fluent German, an uncommon sort of addition for a Kenyan.
Some people just get right to it.
Last Wed we drove across the Rift Valley in order to join up with Ken, some Kenyan World Concern staff and drivers to take us in 4 wheel drive vehicles across miles and miles of horrid roads, passing giraffe, zebras, ostrich, wildebeests etc etc. until we reached an extremely remote Maasai village where 2-3000 people live! The area would be totally uninhabitable, as was the land all the way from Narok town where we met up with the group, to the village, if it weren’t for a spring which provides an endless source of clean water and makes it possible to have trees, grass, grow crops and live….not lavishly, but survival is possible. There were a few trucks, and a few matatus…otherwise it is all about walking….endless walking! ( I would love to put a pedometer on a Maasai for a day! All our “records” would be smashed immediately for sure!) We had the privilege of seeing a credit union/saving type of project whose start up the Fluid Foundation and World Concern have partnered to support. The concept of saving is so new and unusual, but here they are making headway and catching on. Perhaps the next time there is a drought, as there was for several years only ending about 9 months ago, they will be able to use the money they have put aside to help them keep from starving! It was very exciting to see this catching on. The credit union has almost 300 members as it ends the first year.
I had the pleasure of getting close contact with a young Maasai woman, a member of the board for the project. She stayed close to me and I longed to talk with her. Many of the Maasai are so beautiful. I find myself wanting to stare...which my kids say I do anyway! So this is probably really bad. Finally we were in the car together as we headed back to the village after a goat feast…this is a huge deal in Kenya…getting treated to goat…(Whether you think of it as a treat or not it would be horrible to not partake with gratitude and enthusiasm. Thankfully, Warren and I basically like it.) Anyway, we were in the car with a Maasai who speaks English so we could ask each other a few questions. She asked me, “is he your husband?” and I asked her if she was married and if she had children. She was and had two, ages 2 and 6. Then she asked me if I had children. (John was not with us) I told her about them and their ages…She clapped her hand over her mouth…shocked and realizing that I am OLD!;) It is hard to tell ages of people you don’t see often…as in other races and cultures!! We have the same problem. I was guessing at that point that she was about Alison’s age….and when I asked, exactly right. I later learned that she is someone’s second wife…
The separation of language…painfully limiting. I could have spent days and nights talking with her…hearing her story, learning about her life and culture, asking her about her hopes and dreams. Instead I went home with a wee connection that indicated that we wished for more…and a beautiful beaded necklace that she made which symbolizes that I am a queen or something amazing…and a hope for heaven…and the chance to communicate!!
Later this week I met Frances, a whole blog in himself…but he speaks 23 languages! And I believe him…He was clearly one of the brightest and most alive people I have ever met, and also Rose…who speaks 10…including fluent German, an uncommon sort of addition for a Kenyan.
Some people just get right to it.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
21 at 48....
The three of us ran a 1/2 Marathon as part of the Nairobi Marathon today...21 kilometers! It is my 48th birthday...and this is what I wanted to do?? John was stuck...mom's birthday request, what could he say?
As many of you who know me know...I have always said I wouldn't do longer races, trying to have longevity in my running life...over years, not with miles at one time. Something about being in Kenya...just felt like it was the right thing to do??!
Running here in Kijabe is a challenge. So our "training" consisted of running at elevation, but never going more than our 4 mile distance. 13 miles is a big increase!?!?
Some of you also know of our pedometer addiction. Warren is currently contemplating walking to the gas station for a phone card...He needs only another 2000 steps and he will have 40000!! for the day. His last record was in Rome with Erika...27000 in one day. The thought of walking another 2000 steps sounds incredibly horrible to me. The way Warren looked at the end of the race...maybe he should call it good as well!
As I read over what I have just written I am wondering if we have totally lost our minds...or brain cells to living up too high in the sky!
As many of you who know me know...I have always said I wouldn't do longer races, trying to have longevity in my running life...over years, not with miles at one time. Something about being in Kenya...just felt like it was the right thing to do??!
Running here in Kijabe is a challenge. So our "training" consisted of running at elevation, but never going more than our 4 mile distance. 13 miles is a big increase!?!?
Some of you also know of our pedometer addiction. Warren is currently contemplating walking to the gas station for a phone card...He needs only another 2000 steps and he will have 40000!! for the day. His last record was in Rome with Erika...27000 in one day. The thought of walking another 2000 steps sounds incredibly horrible to me. The way Warren looked at the end of the race...maybe he should call it good as well!
As I read over what I have just written I am wondering if we have totally lost our minds...or brain cells to living up too high in the sky!
Thursday, October 28, 2010
out of africa...
Today I finished reading Out of Africa. I think I read it a long time ago, and I love the movie, although the movie is not much like the book. But it is so different reading the book here… an amazing and accurate recollection of this place!
Isak Dinesen basically lived right here, within a few miles of where we are spending our year. Her weather was the same, her views were the same, and the people groups around her were the same.
She starts, In the day-time you felt that you had got high up, near to the sun, but the early mornings and evenings were limpid and restful and the nights were cold.
Exactly!
As she finishes the book she describes her goodbyes, including the grief of saying goodbye to the Kikuyu women on her farm. (Kikuyu are the dominant tribe in Kenya …a very tribally divided place!!...and they are the dominant tribe and language here in Kijabe.) I have also found myself intrigued by the women.
The old Kikuyu women have had a hard life, and have themselves become flint-hard under it.…They were more difficult for any disease to kill off than their men…and they were wilder than the men……They had borne a number of children and had seen many of them die; they were afraid of nothing. They carried loads of firewood---with a rein round their foreheads to steady them---of three hundred pounds, tottering below them, but unsubdued; they worked in the hard ground of their shambas, standing on their heads from the early morning till late in the evening…..And they had a stock of energy in them still; they radiated vitality. The old women took a keen interest in everything…This strength, and love of life in them, to me seemed not only highly respectable, but glorious and bewitching.
Last night Warren was out working on the piki as our neighbor’s helper Aidah walked by, headed home after working all day. I love her. When I need something for my kitchen she happily helps me, when I need to communicate within the local “network” she does it for me, when I look for the strawberry lady she appears because Aidah calls her???...It is like magic, but really it is Aidah. She works so hard but she genuinely feels bad for me when one of us is sick, when we don’t have water, when anything is off…I do think she sees us as more fragile than she is. Which we are! Anyway, Warren offered her a ride home. She already had her arms full, but she asked for a few minutes to cut some grass in a nearby field…with her machete! When Warren met up with her they tied this big load of burlap wrapped grass to the back of the piki , Aidah and her bags got on the back of the bike, and off they went. Warren was gone so long that I was starting to get concerned. When he got home he could not believe how far he had gone…straight up! She walks to the top of the escarpment, loaded like I described, for at least 40 minutes…both directions…every day…6 days/week.
And this morning as she half walked, half jogged by my kitchen window, she purposefully looked for me…and gave the biggest smile and wave…as she always does…
Isak Dinesen basically lived right here, within a few miles of where we are spending our year. Her weather was the same, her views were the same, and the people groups around her were the same.
She starts, In the day-time you felt that you had got high up, near to the sun, but the early mornings and evenings were limpid and restful and the nights were cold.
Exactly!
As she finishes the book she describes her goodbyes, including the grief of saying goodbye to the Kikuyu women on her farm. (Kikuyu are the dominant tribe in Kenya …a very tribally divided place!!...and they are the dominant tribe and language here in Kijabe.) I have also found myself intrigued by the women.
The old Kikuyu women have had a hard life, and have themselves become flint-hard under it.…They were more difficult for any disease to kill off than their men…and they were wilder than the men……They had borne a number of children and had seen many of them die; they were afraid of nothing. They carried loads of firewood---with a rein round their foreheads to steady them---of three hundred pounds, tottering below them, but unsubdued; they worked in the hard ground of their shambas, standing on their heads from the early morning till late in the evening…..And they had a stock of energy in them still; they radiated vitality. The old women took a keen interest in everything…This strength, and love of life in them, to me seemed not only highly respectable, but glorious and bewitching.
Last night Warren was out working on the piki as our neighbor’s helper Aidah walked by, headed home after working all day. I love her. When I need something for my kitchen she happily helps me, when I need to communicate within the local “network” she does it for me, when I look for the strawberry lady she appears because Aidah calls her???...It is like magic, but really it is Aidah. She works so hard but she genuinely feels bad for me when one of us is sick, when we don’t have water, when anything is off…I do think she sees us as more fragile than she is. Which we are! Anyway, Warren offered her a ride home. She already had her arms full, but she asked for a few minutes to cut some grass in a nearby field…with her machete! When Warren met up with her they tied this big load of burlap wrapped grass to the back of the piki , Aidah and her bags got on the back of the bike, and off they went. Warren was gone so long that I was starting to get concerned. When he got home he could not believe how far he had gone…straight up! She walks to the top of the escarpment, loaded like I described, for at least 40 minutes…both directions…every day…6 days/week.
And this morning as she half walked, half jogged by my kitchen window, she purposefully looked for me…and gave the biggest smile and wave…as she always does…
and the game played on????
from a local online news source...
Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Sunday sent a message of condolences to relatives and friends of the seven soccer fans who were trampled to death during Saturday night's Kenya Premier League match in Nairobi.
The impatient fans broke into the stadium moments after the match pitting archrivals Gor Mahia and the AFC leopard football clubs began.
Football lovers in the thousands had braved the rainy evening to watch the match between the two teams whose encounters in the local premiership league has historically attracted fanatical supporters to the stadium.
Police and Kenya Red Cross officials said six of the victims were trampled to death as thousands of fans tried to force their way into the Nyayo National Stadium.
The seventh person died at the Kenyatta National Hospital where 11 other fans were undergoing treatment for injuries. AND WE KNOW HOW THIS GOES!
"Our emergency rescue teams are on the ground and they have been able to confirm the deaths of six people whose bodies have been found outside the stadium. They are five males and a female," Kenya Red Cross spokesman Titus Mung'ou said.
"We can also confirm that another person has succumbed to injuries at the Kenyatta National Hospital. That is what we at the Red Cross can say for now because there are several other emergency rescue teams from other organizations involved."
Kenya Football Federation (KFF) chairman Sam Nyamweya says Football Kenya Limited, Kenya Premier league management and the Stadia management board are to blame for being casual about the preparations for the match.
"KFF strongly condemns the mayhem that characterized the otherwise classic match between Kenya's premier soccer clubs (AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia) on Saturday," Nyamweya said in a statement on Sunday.
He called on the government to launch an inquiry to establish what may have caused the stampede during the match between AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia, alleging that tickets for the match were over-printed beyond the capacity of the Nyayo stadium hence the tragedy was inevitable. INEVITABLE??
Earlier this year, football's Word governing body FIFA banned the stadium due to safety and security concerns. Gor Mahia eventually won the game 1-0 following an 87th minute penalty that was converted by Collins Okoth. GAME PLAYED ON??? GOOD TO KNOW THE SCORE!? THE FOOTBALL SCORE AT LEAST, CROWD -7, GAME ON THE FIELD 1-0
A fortnight ago, the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier match between Kenya and Uganda, surging crowds broke the gate to the VIP section of the Nyayo National Stadium but no injuries were reported. WOW...THERE WAS EVEN A TRIAL RUN THAT HADN'T GONE WELL!
Another fan reportedly died in 2005 in another Africa Cup of Nations-cum-2006 World Cup qualifying match between Kenya and Morocco, prompting world football governing body, Fifa, to order the stadium capacity at Nyayo reduced to 26,000 from its 30,000 capacity. OH, A FEW TRIAL RUNS!
BOLD IS MINE OF COURSE...WOW. Life in Kenya....
Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Sunday sent a message of condolences to relatives and friends of the seven soccer fans who were trampled to death during Saturday night's Kenya Premier League match in Nairobi.
The impatient fans broke into the stadium moments after the match pitting archrivals Gor Mahia and the AFC leopard football clubs began.
Football lovers in the thousands had braved the rainy evening to watch the match between the two teams whose encounters in the local premiership league has historically attracted fanatical supporters to the stadium.
Police and Kenya Red Cross officials said six of the victims were trampled to death as thousands of fans tried to force their way into the Nyayo National Stadium.
The seventh person died at the Kenyatta National Hospital where 11 other fans were undergoing treatment for injuries. AND WE KNOW HOW THIS GOES!
"Our emergency rescue teams are on the ground and they have been able to confirm the deaths of six people whose bodies have been found outside the stadium. They are five males and a female," Kenya Red Cross spokesman Titus Mung'ou said.
"We can also confirm that another person has succumbed to injuries at the Kenyatta National Hospital. That is what we at the Red Cross can say for now because there are several other emergency rescue teams from other organizations involved."
Kenya Football Federation (KFF) chairman Sam Nyamweya says Football Kenya Limited, Kenya Premier league management and the Stadia management board are to blame for being casual about the preparations for the match.
"KFF strongly condemns the mayhem that characterized the otherwise classic match between Kenya's premier soccer clubs (AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia) on Saturday," Nyamweya said in a statement on Sunday.
He called on the government to launch an inquiry to establish what may have caused the stampede during the match between AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia, alleging that tickets for the match were over-printed beyond the capacity of the Nyayo stadium hence the tragedy was inevitable. INEVITABLE??
Earlier this year, football's Word governing body FIFA banned the stadium due to safety and security concerns. Gor Mahia eventually won the game 1-0 following an 87th minute penalty that was converted by Collins Okoth. GAME PLAYED ON??? GOOD TO KNOW THE SCORE!? THE FOOTBALL SCORE AT LEAST, CROWD -7, GAME ON THE FIELD 1-0
A fortnight ago, the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier match between Kenya and Uganda, surging crowds broke the gate to the VIP section of the Nyayo National Stadium but no injuries were reported. WOW...THERE WAS EVEN A TRIAL RUN THAT HADN'T GONE WELL!
Another fan reportedly died in 2005 in another Africa Cup of Nations-cum-2006 World Cup qualifying match between Kenya and Morocco, prompting world football governing body, Fifa, to order the stadium capacity at Nyayo reduced to 26,000 from its 30,000 capacity. OH, A FEW TRIAL RUNS!
BOLD IS MINE OF COURSE...WOW. Life in Kenya....
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