A purely fortuitous situation occurred as we registered at the Eldoret Club upon our arrival. There was a gray wispy haired gentleman on his phone standing next to us at the desk and in a delightful Irish brogue was lamenting to someone on the other end that he couldn’t play golf for a month due to a recent surgery. The clerk had left the desk for a moment, so I made small chit-chat, sheepishly admitting that I couldn’t help but overhear his conversation. I told him my husband, David, was also on the “injured list” (broken clavicle with surgical pinning 4 weeks previously) and was also unable to golf. A small conversation ensued and our Irishman introduced himself as Paul, a Brother from the Order of St. Patrick’s, as well as a five-term Chairman of the Eldoret Club. When I told him of our medical mission and that I was an RN, he immediately invited me to his school in Kabongo, approx. 8 miles out-of-town, where he also had a medical clinic. I immediately accepted his offer, and he made arrangements to pick me up and drive me there so I could spend the day with Josephine, his on-site nurse at the clinic.
Lovely Josephine lived in faculty housing Brother Paul had built next to the school, and she did anything and everything in the health care field. Every week she held a mother/baby wellness clinic for moms in the area. At birth, every mother in Kenya receives a small paperback notebook for her baby, in which is recorded all important data, such as weight, length, immunizations, feeding issues etc. About 20 moms arrived early at the clinic, notebooks in hand and they sat on a long bench, happily waiting their turn. The babies were very quiet, I think only two cried during the entire time I was there, one when he received his latest round of immunizations and the other when he saw ME, his first “muzungu” (white-skinned person)!!!
Brother Paul had built his Patrician School in 2003 from private donations with the promise that he would find the poorest and most underserved area in Eldoret. It was on this site that a church and homes were burned and people were murdered in the post-election riots. Two years later he had enough money to add the clinic. True to his promise, no money is collected from the patients and all are welcome. Josephine handles everything from birthing babies to intestinal parasites.
It’s a very simple set-up; each mom signs in using her cell phone number as an identifier (EVERYONE has a cell-phone; there is no rural mail delivery because the poor have no address, they just live in small shacks on odd snippets of land. While post office boxes are available, the poor get no mail, nor could they afford the monthly fee). She brings a small cloth on which to lay her baby when ready for weight and examination. Forms are filled out by hand in triplicate, no, quadruplicate! All data is excessively recorded over and over; one large ledger for the government, then one for the city; another for the health dept., one for the clinic, and then again in the baby book.
One mosquito net is issued per child. If the baby was born in the country without medical assistance, then this is often the first time the baby is being seen by a health care practitioner and is given a net, which is dutifully recorded. Otherwise, netting is given at the hospital. Mosquito netting is quite a problem lately.The Gates foundation has funded an enormous quantity of a new kind impregnated with insect repellant, to be given out, but it has recently come to light that over 50% are being used inappropriately: to deter rodents from entering the food supply area at the shacks, to wrap around trees and keep small animals away, or...as wedding veils!!!! A massive educational program ensued and it suggests there is some improvement in appropriate usage. When I mentioned this to the moms, they tee-hee’d and glanced conspiratorially at each other but then instantly denied they would ever do such a thing...
We also counseled regarding “family planning” ( 60% of Kenyans are Christians, 30% are Muslims; the term “birth control” is rarely heard; it’s a little too direct). Unfortunately, the uneducated men are quite chauvinistic and enjoy the freedom to make as many babies as they wish; sons are certainly preferred and there’s no societal or financial disincentive for bad behavior. Men have perpetuated the myth that birth control pills make women “sick”, so women are reluctant to take them. In truth, however, men feel that the pill lessens a woman’s desire, and therefore they discourage its use. There has been more luck with the birth control shot that lasts for 3 months but follow-up for return injections remains a problem. in the urban areas, however, young families are having 2 or perhaps 3 children, rarely more, and men take responsibility and invest fully in their families.
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| Josephine R.N. in her office/exam room |
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| After building the Patrician School, Brother Paul requested a nearby tract of land from the government on which to build a clinic for the poor in the area. He received some funding assistance. |
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| Our BEST Bro, Brother Paul |
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| Moms waiting happily with their babies for weight and vaccinations |
