Day by Day...

This week has been off to a slow start yet will end with a bang. I am giving my 2 day seminar—yes, they requested it be split into 2 days as people are traveling from around Kenya to attend. I will be teaching on rehabilitation and gait training to a crowd of professionals with variable degrees of experience. It always makes me a tad nervous to act like an expert on something—but here goes nothing :) if you are up at 6 am texas time—please pray that I am accurately conveying my points across cultural barriers. Thank you.

Life has been interesting here within the team. We are struggling to get the workers at Kijabe to work efficiently in order to create the prosthetic legs so that I can gait train then so that the other students can perform outcome measures on their walking. Obviously, I am unable to work with and teach someone to walk until the leg has been created….which means, I am basically in a holding pattern until thur/fri every week. I get frustrated knowing a patient needs more rehab than I will be able to give. It simply takes time and repetition. Life here is so different—as you can imagine. We take (they do—I am lactose intolerant)—chai tea breaks 2 x day—at 10 and 4 pm. These breaks can last anywhere from 15 to 45 mins. As you imagine, this is a good chunk of the day spent playing checkers and drinking chai. While it is fun, you should see the line of patients waiting on prosthetics/ orthotics. Do not misunderstand me—chai is served to everyone in the hospital. It is a custom. While I do enjoy the fellowship—I want more than anything to give quality rehab to people—and time is the limiting factor. Im sure you see where I am coming from—I will not beat a dead horse. Please pray that our team as well as the men working in the brace shop are as efficient as possible in order to give our patients the best products possible in a timely manner.

As I mentioned before—this is my LAST weekend in Kenya. Blows my mind ive been here nearly 3 weeks. I am just now finding my niche here in the hospital. Yesterday was pretty awesome—myself along with Ricc (the prosthetists that came with us from the US)—found a neuroma at the end of a 15 y/o patient’s residual limb. A neuroma is a collection of nerve endings or a knot that forms on the end of a nerve that is very painful and can not be put into a prosthesis until it has been removed. We were not sure who to refer the child to—so I walked to the hospital—spoke to the head surgeon—he was admitted on the spot—and will have it removed tom afternoon. SO DIFFERENT THAN THE US. I loved seeing the boy get taken care of. I wish you guys could see what I am looking at right now—our house is on the ledge of a hill—overlooking the rift valley. I can see 2 volcanoes and mountains in the distance. It is green with trees down below. So beautiful. Also, I can see mtns in Tanzania from here. UNREAL. Worship songs come alive to me from this view.

Weekend plans: Saturday—hike 2 hrs to a nearby waterfall and play with a group of people. Should be a blast. We have to hire an armed guide. Crazy! Sunday—going to Nairobi with a group of people to hit the Masai ( a tribe here) market, eat Ethiopian food again, and go feed baby orphaned elephants. I am so excited about the elephants…and im sure you all want me to feed them so ill shut up about it J Monday ) a holiday here---I might climb Longanot—a volcano—in hopes of seeing giraffe. Yes, the giraffe are my motivation b/c lets be honest—ive hiked enough to last a few years with Mt Kenya. I still can not believe I did that.

Alright-im off to get ready for the day as you guys are falling asleep. So weird to be so far from what is familiar. More to come—

Megs