Jambo!

I have many things to talk about in this posting! I know that I always run the risk of thanking people individually because I fear I’ll forget someone. Please know that I’ll do my best to not forget to thank every person that has helped me with our fundraising effort. Thanks to my Aunt Jeanette, my Uncle Don, my Aunt Carol and my Uncle Ron and Aunt Jo, too. I hope that Jason is keeping up with the American way to thank people (thank you notes/cards!). I owe my mom a special thank you. She wrote Oprah about what I’m doing! Can you believe it? I am sending this out to all of you in the hopes that you will too write her. Mom, maybe you could post her address in the comments area so that everyone has it and can write her. Maybe if enough people write her, she’ll help us. It never hurts to try! (Email Oprah) Also, I want to send a special recognition to my co-workers in AT. It was so wonderful talking with all of you on Tuesday. Our time was short, but I was so happy to hear your voices. I miss you all much and I look forward to coming back in June to work on the “wonderful podcasting projects” (smiling!) Because I’ve been so honest up to this point with my postings, I’m not going to be shy with what I’m writing in this story. I was reluctant to share but a great “pen pal” of mine suggested I share it so I’m going to. There is a huge outbreak in Machakos of sickness. It seems as if the entire city has come down with this nasty flu/cold-like virus. The kids have not been immune to the sickness as you can imagine. Of course neither has the solo volunteer or the staff. I have been quite ill the past week. It’s been more of a nuisance than anything else, but still, when in Africa, I take nothing about my ill-health lightly. I’ve learned to not be such a baby (I’m sure this will be quite temporary) when being sick as I can only imagine young children without a mom to be there to hold them and tell them everything will be fine. These kids suffer far more greatly than I do. I won’t lie though, there have been times this past week that I just start crying b/c that one thing just set me into tears (and it was usually a trip to the choo that set it off)…Then I think of the kids and how strong they are and how they cope with sickness. The scary thing about this whole story is this: When the kids started to get sick, we would take them to the local clinic. I can’t even begin to describe the health care at the place these children were going to. I wanted to take pictures but I didn’t. It really scared me. There were 20 to 30 people on a bench outside waiting to see one Dr. And I don’t even know if she was an actual Dr. We waited a long time b/c the “Dr.” was in “surgery” b/c the baby had an umbilical chord that was bleeding and he had to put stitches in him (that’s what I was told). I was also told that on the way to taking the baby to Machakos town (the clinic is actually in the hill and the hospital is in town) the baby died. I don’t know any details and of course I will not judge the situation not knowing anything, but yet so sad to hear. Little Ni Ni (pronounced nee nee), the 6 year old, was so sick, and James was also very sick (I wasn’t at this point) that she couldn’t walk herself. I carried her through the hills (a good few miles one way…those of you that know how much I love hills can prob. still hear me cursing all the way to the US) with this small little child on my back. I think she either was so sick that she peed on herself earlier that morning or she perhaps did so on me on the way or the way back from the clinic (I couldn’t tell b/c I was so hot and sweaty from carrying her, I could only smell). The "clinic" diagnosed her with malaria and gave her 5 different types of medicine. FIVE for a 6 year old. AND they didn’t test her. They just asked her symptoms and said she had malaria. That girl was not only MISdiagnosed but also OVERdosed with drugs. She was so sick that I swear to you I thought she was going to die. It was one of the scariest health things I’ve ever seen. And the culture here reacts to sickness differently. They would force-feed her food and tell her not to throw it back up even though she was gagging and choking to keep it down. They said she needed strength. They’d tell her to eat and not get sick and if she shook her head no as to say she didn’t want it, they’d open her mouth and put it in her. It was an eye-opening site for me. I write this not in a place of judgment. It’s the reality of this culture. Good thing they didn’t try any of that on me! I wouldn’t have it! (smiling). By last Saturday, almost every child at the orphanage was feeling ill. Leah brought in a Dr. from Machakos/Nairobi to "check" the kids out. Turns out it’s just this huge flu/cold thing (airborne) that’s going around everywhere. There’s no malaria and I can attest to that 100% since I thought it be best that "someone" be checked to make sure. I paid a whole 100 shillings (70 shillings = $1.00) for them to tell me I’m negative. The silver lining with all of this is that Leah was so scared by this whole occurrence that she asked that Dr. to sit with her and put together a health plan for each one of the kids. I don’t quite know where she’ll get the money but I have faith it’ll work out. Speaking of the kids…I’ve included a bunch of pictures of them. These were taken on Wed evening. A short story: Every year Leah takes some of the kids to Mombasa (a beautiful coastal city where the kids can play in the ocean and the sand and be spoiled!). She can’t take them all. Those that went last year won’t go this year. Those that aren’t going are very sad. On Wed, when I went to work with the kids on schoolwork, I told those that weren’t going that we would have our own little Mombasa celebration. I’m on my way to the local Nakumat this week to buy a fun movie, popcorn (some of them don’t even know what that is!) and soda. When I said the word movie and soda every one of them jumped on me with huge smiles and thank you's. There are no words to describe how I felt to have the opportunity to give these children something we take for granted so often. Have I mentioned how much I just love each one of these children? That’s all for now. Hope this message finds you warm and well! Love, Renee PS I had to include a pic of the mission statement of the orphanage. I thought it was the coolest thing that she actually has one! And, Leah’s son "took" a dog named Bobby (female) from a friend that was abusing her. I gave her a bath last week. She’s the sweetest thing but she cowers when you try to pet her.