Thank You!

After several long days of flying, I am finally in the comfort of my home eating a wide variety of delicious food. It is weird to walk around and not have people staring at you constantly. I have, on more than one occasion, been wanting to say "asante" instead of "thank you", and "jambo" instead of "hello." These words were in my vocabulary every day and were starting to become natural!

One of the first things I noticed when entering the United States again were all the difibulators lined up along the airport wall, ready for an emergency. This caught my eye because in Kenya, the hospitals didnt even have these, and they were governement hospitals! Although I appreciate the fact that if there were an emergency, a life would be saved, it is hard to see that many of them being unused at a time. I almost wanted to rip one off the wall and send it to Kenya myself!

As stated in a comment by a family friend, I will just have to collect my thoughts and help in the best way that I can. There are people in this country that need help, I just have never been exposed to it as much as I was in Kenya. We will see where the world takes me, and maybe one day I will find my niche here in the US helping others.

As for the pictures, I have hundreds, but I cannot post them all on here. I will have to show them to you in person. I can then also show you the video I took of all the children. If you think these pictures have touched you deeply, wait until you see them laughing and playing. It is wonderful!

Also, I promised everyone a picture of my Kenyan mama. Her name is Priscilla and she is sitting to my right. The lady sitting on my left is Jane. She is the sister of my mama and from Nairobi. They were both very lovely and will never be forgotten. I will be staying in contact with them, so when I return someday I can meet up with them.

Enjoy these last few pictures and once again thank you for keeping interest in my blog!

A Final Note

Today was my last day at the hospital. It is hard to imagine that I will be home in less than a week and back to a normal lifestyle. I have adjusted to Kenya so well, that it will take me some time to adjust back. To think that I will no longer be the only white person in a town just boggles my mind. I have gotten used to being a minor celebrity here and having everyone say "jambo" to me as I walk up and down the street. In no way am I looking forward to living in a rude and uptight society again. I guess every good thing must come to an end.

Since my last post, I have seen various types of excisions and a skin graft, which is when patches of healthy skin on a patient are shaved off to cover up a wound on a different part of that patients body. In the case that I saw, the patient had necrotizing fasciitis, more commonly known as flesh eating bacteria. The wound spread from her ankle to half way up her shin, and was almost completely wrapped around her leg. In the United States, and most well developed countries, this procedure is very easy given the technology used. Since Kenya is a third world country, this technology does not exist, they are slightly behind. Rather than using an electronic skin shaving device, which harvests perfect skin, all at the same depth, we used a special cutting tool that cuts at the same depth, but it is all manual. This is just as easy and harvests around the same quality skin,the only problem is, every patient has to buy their own blade for the procedure. They cost around 850 ksh, an amount that many citizens here could only dream of having. Luckily, the lady had the money to buy the blade. We gave here the spinal anesthesia and were ready to harvest some skin. This is when we ran into the worst problem of them all, the blade was dull and couldn't cut through any layer of skin. I am sure you are wondering why a blade that was brand new is dull? We were all wondering the same thing, you are not alone. The blade was so dull that even the doctor tried to cut his own skin and it wouldn't. At this time the assistants tried to sharpen the blade at any means possible. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. After failing to sharpen the blade, we gave up and went on to our last option, to manually cut skin off using a normal surgical knife and scissors. This brings many problems though. Try to imagine how thin skin is and how impossible it would be to cut off only the top layer without the use of a special instrument. It just cant be done. The surgeon did his best, but in the end, the chunk of skin that was taken, which happened to be from the thigh, contained some fat as well. The good news was that it could still be used to cover up the wound. The bad news was that the wound we created would have to be stitched up, leaving a very nasty scar. One can only feel terrible for the patient, since she will most likely have to return to the surgical theater, after trying to buy several new blades of course.

Now you may think that things couldn't get much worse than this. I thought the same exact thing, but the next day when we showed up about to attempt a small procedure, we realized that the hospital had no blades. There was not one sterile blade in the hospital to cut with! Suppose there was an emergency, what would we have done then? It is a government hospital, and there were no blades anywhere in the hospital. All we could do was laugh, including the surgeon, at how pathetic it was. The government just doesn't care enough to make sure its hospitals are stocked with enough blades to carry out procedures. I will never forget these two unbelievably shocking moments.

On a semi-happier note, I will be returning to the orphanage tomorrow to say farewell to all the children. I have been trying to prepare for this moment for awhile now, and still haven't figured out how I will explain to them that I will not be coming back next weekend. I plan to spend the majority of my day there and take as many pictures and last minute video as I can. They are amazing children, and I am sure I can speak for everyone when I say that they will certainly be missed.

My time here in Mombasa, Kenya has been a remarkable and life changing experience. If I could do it all over, I wouldn't change a thing. I have learned how little I actually knew. I feel I have grown as a person and will no longer be blinded by all the materialism in our country. When I return, I know I will be quizzed on whether or not medicine is something I would like to pursue still. I will not have an answer. Truthfully, I still need some time to think it through when I return. Part of the reason for this is because the medical procedures I saw were mostly completely different from the procedures done in the states. To add on to this, I witnessed plenty of surgery, when in reality, I don't think I see myself as a surgeon. It was more of a test to see if I could handle the intensity, I think. To sum things up, I did enjoy learning about all the anatomy behind everything. Once again, it just made me realize how much I don't know and how much I will have to learn. This upcoming year at college will be interesting. If I succeed in school, then yea, I will continue to pursue medical school, but if i don't, I will have to start thinking of alternatives.

To everyone who has been reading my blogs weekly, I thank you. I am glad I could share my experiences with you in some way. I hope that I have made each and every one of you more aware of what the world is like outside our bubble. I cant wait to join everyone back in the states and share some more stories over a well cooked meal. See you soon!

An Amazing Gift

Yesterday I had a very rewarding experience. I got the chance to hand over a Playstation 2 to the children of the orphanage as a gift. This was all made possible by the scholarship money I received from Augmentity (a technology company that works with my dad), and the money given by my grandparents. Being here has made me realize that this kind of money doesn't deserve to be spent on me. This is why I took the opportunity to give a gift that would last. In order to understand how big this was for the children, you must realize that there are specific stores/shacks alongside the road with playstations that you can pay to play. Now the children of Calvary Zion will forever have a gaming system to play, free at their own will.

All together I presented them with the Playstation 2 system itself, two controllers, five games (street racing, wrestling, Madagascar, soccer, and a warrior game), and a 8 gb memory card. To say the least, their faces were ecstatic when they got it. They asked me on multiple occasions whether or not I was going to take it with me when I left. They couldnt seem to grasp the fact that it was going to be theirs for good. I really wish you could have seen their faces and the state of awe they were in as they played it for 6 hours straight while I was there. Here is a picture of a couple of the kids:
Once again I would like to thank the people who made this gift possible. It is a great feeling to be able to give a gift of such quality. They will be the coolest kids at their school, thats for sure!

Next, I know that all of you have been asking for a picture of the hospital. Given that it is a one story complex and spread out among many acres, it is almost impossible to capture it entirely. Below is a picture of the front desk, where it then spreads to the right and all the way around to the back of where I am standing. I will try and take more specific pictures in the week to come, since it is my last week here in Kenya.



This last picture is for the pure joy of making my father have nightmares. This is one of many spiders that hang around in the trees outside the hospital. This picture is taken at a fair distance as well. Click the picture to enlarge!

That is all for now. It is sad to think that my time here is coming to an end. It has been a great experience and I have learned a lot. It will be interesting to see how I change as a person. I am ready to come home and enjoy the company and good food. I will pay my last visit to the orphanage next weekend. It will be difficult, but it has to be done. All I can hope for is that one day I will return and see all their lovely faces again.

Psychiatric Ward

I know I have been slacking on the posting lately, but it has become a hassle. This past week I took a few visits to the psychiatric ward. It is one of the few they have here in Kenya. Lets just say it was quite an experience to be face to face with schizophrenic patients as they convince themselves that you are their son. I attended a group therapy session where one by one each person stood and explained different things going on in their life. It reminded me of the film One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. It was surprising to see that quite a few of them spoke English, not to mention one of them is German. He kept on telling me to go to the German embassy for him and spoke of some letter he has. In addition, I was offered tea, which was actually just water, and when I turned it down, the man seemed offended. This explains only a few of the people I came across. I haven't even started on the patients with major depressive disorder or the patients having manic episodes, but I imagine you could figure out what they act like.

Among the calm patients there are the violent patients, so they must be locked up in strong rooms. I don't know too much about them, but I can explain what I saw to the best of my ability. First of all, the rooms are not padded like they are in the states, they are tile all around. This means that patients are easily capable of inflicting pain on themselves. I can't see how this can be good. Walking past, the patients, who happen to be all male, are constantly jumping up against the door windows yelling stuff at you. It is probably a good thing that I dont speak kiswahili or it would have been way more terrifying.

On Tuesday, the psychiatrist came in and evaluated patients. Unlike in the US, there is no confidentiality, so we were allowed to sit in on it all. Although it was a very interesting experience, it got kind of boring since the majority were drug abusers. Also, I was very disturbed by how the students of the hospital reacted to ever patient. They would all break out in laughter if the patient said something funny. It is hard enough for a person to let out their feelings and thoughts to one person, not to mention a group of 30 that just laugh. Things are obviously done differently here.

Next week is my last week in Kenya. Although it is hard to believe, I am ready to come home. It will be interesting to see how I react to society and change as a person. I already know that some things will irritate me beyond belief, for example how people take things for granted. I will definitely miss all the children and my host family. They have been good to me and have made me feel comfortable here in Kenya. The food will not be missed to much, although ugali has grown on me and I may have to make some for the family. Get ready Mom and Dad, because this time I will be forcing food down your throat!

Well I havent decided how I want to spend my last weekend here. There are thoughts of going snorkeling tomorrow or Sunday, but I do know that I want to visit the orphanage again. They deserve any free time I have. I will report back with pictures on another day. Sorry if I have been losing interest, it is just difficult to write these so often. Talk to you soon and I cant wait to join all of you back in the states!

A Few New Pictures!

Sorry for the long wait everyone, but I have finally been able to get some new pictures. Since the internet is moving extremely slow today, all I could upload are the following three pictures. First, below is a picture of Moses and Brian with the house dog, Rex. I don't recall if I have mentioned Moses before, but he is around 7 years old and is a big help when it comes to cleaning. I was told that he will be moving to Finland to be with a family when he reaches a certain age. I don't know if this is completely accurate though.
Next, is a great picture of Peter. He is the one who wrote me the lovely letter, which I shared in an earlier post. I spend a lot of time talking with him while at the orphanage. He has aspirations to become a pilot and has told me that I can fly for free once it happens. I will truly miss this kid. Believe me when I say that it is different when you miss a child who can carry on a conversation and when you miss a child who cannot.
Lastly, here is, in my mind, one of the best pictures I have taken. Not for the reason that I am in it, but for the reason that all three children have a different expression and are all looking at the camera, for once. With me are Prince, Melody, and Levis. Enjoy!

Update

I know I promised everyone new pictures today, but the computer I am using at the moment doesnt have any working USB ports. I was supposed to try and take some pictures of the hospital today, but due to some last minute plans last night, I was too tired to go into work this morning. It is hard to build up the courage to take pictures when I hate looking like a typical tourist. Ill get it done for all of you eventually.

Tomorrow there are tryouts for the Tusker Fame Academy, Kenya' s version of American Idol. My friend Sam and I are considering going. Who here wouldnt want to see two white kids be embarassing on TV. It would be almost guaranteed that we would make the bloopers. I will have to build up some courage first. If I dont end up trying out, I will spend my day at the orphanage. I dont have much time left here, so I must spend every bit wisely.

I dont know how much I have told you about the hospital, so I am sorry if I repeat some things. So far I have been bedside to two cesarean sections, two colostomies (one being the reversal), an appendicectomy, a hydrocele, an ectopic pregnancy, and the most recent, a hemorrhoid surgery. Given that the anesthesia machine is still not working, all these procedures can be quite risky. I have yet to scrub in and assist, but for now I am perfectly content with just watching. It is all very interesting.

It is hard for me to think of what to write on these posts. I have been here so long that I tend to forget which things would seem interesting to you. It is all starting to seem perfectly normal.

I dont know whether or not some of you have heard the news, but I have contracted ringworm recently. It has spread all throughout my beard and can be quite itchy at times. It doesnt come as a suprise to me that I got it since Purity, one of the little girls in the orphanage, has it as well. I did not know how contagious it was until now. All that is necessary to treat it is a cream that the hospital gave me to treat fungal infections. It should clear up within a couple of weeks. At least I dont have malaria like one of the other volunteers here!

Well I feel as if I am just rambling on. A post without any new stories/pictures is not so interesting. I will work on that. Only two more weeks left!

A Letter From Peter

Yesterday I returned to the orphanage to see all the kids again. I was greeted immediately by at least 5 kids jumping on me. It was nice to see that none of them have forgotten me yet. Given that I have not taken any new pictures lately, I have posted some older ones that you have not seen yet. These should give you something to look at in the meantime while I try and get some fresh ones of things you havent seen.
One of the main reasons I am posting today is because I wanted to share with you a letter that I received from one of the children. His name is Peter, and he is 10 years old. I am sorry that I cannot provide a picture at the moment, I will make sure to get one next time I return. Here is what it says word for word:

Cover-"Kiss before you open it"

Inside-"Dear Kevin, How are you? How do you feel when your here with us? Please tell us how you feel. The aim of me writing this letter is to inform you that were very happy with you we feel loved and we feel like you are our brother. May God continue giving you knowledge and wisdom in your learning. We pray for you every now and then just because we love you. May God help you and get work and help you not forget us when you go home or anywhere. May God make your way back home to be just soundly and nothing happens to you. We hope that when you go back to your country your going to tell your relatives about us and how you enjoyed here. Bye thanks for your love and care that you have shown us. Bye have a nice day and goodnight. From Peter"

Reading this letter reassures me that I have touched the lives of these children. They dont ask for much and appreciate the littlest of things. He is a brilliant kid. In school, he is constantly getting in trouble, not because he is a bad student, but because he is too smart for everyone. He is constantly playing jokes while still succeeding in school. I have never met a 10-year old that uses words like "inform", especially when it is not their first language. This kid really deserves a good future. It is sad to think that such a gifted child has such a small opportunity to succeed. He deserves nothing but the best.

It is going to be nearly impossible to leave these kids behind in 3 weeks. I dont want them to just be a memory. Sponsoring a child is one thing, but I want to be able to hear from them and know how they are doing. It will be difficult, but there has to be a way.

Well I better get going. I think the internet cafe is about to close. I saw another cesarean section today. It seems like they are quite popular. I did not scrub in completely, since I showed up late, but I will soon.

I am glad I could share his letter with all of you. I hope it has touched you as much as it has touched me.