Just coming to the end of 2 weeks in Kenya..

Today was exciting and very long.

I was called at 4 am to look at a head wound. It was probably a skull fracture and I sent him to the hospital which was an hour away.

At just before 6 am a woman came in labor.

Only one nurse was at the clinic since the other 2 were doing the transport to the hospital.

I heard the motorcycle drive up so got up to investigate.

The woman was in very active labor and delivered about 10 minutes after we got her on the table. A beautiful girl. It was an easy delivery and the first one that I really got to do myself. Mom was up and bathing in 30 minutes, but it was her 5th baby.

Then we went out to do the development evals on the children. Drove for about 1 1/2 hours to a place that had a tiny nursery school, and nothing else around that I could see.  The kids of course were very cute and mostly not too afraid. I think they all have pretty normal development and are amazing, since they can figure out how to put pegs in a peg board, even though I am sure they never even saw one before.

We finished the assessments and then had to wait for 2 hours for the truck to come pick us up. Drove another 1/2 hour, did a few more assessments and then it took 90 more minutes to get back. Finished at 6:30 pm, after leaving around 8 am.

We come home covered in dust. Take a bucket bath, but dusty again the next day.

We have numerous tough cases to try and find help for.

A boy with severe scoliosis at age 3.  A girl with a growth in her eye. It  is not affecting her vision, but it looks really weird.

I gave about $60 to a grandmother today to keep her daughter in school this term. Of course there are many more like them, but GHP can only support a few.

I really am amazed at the people here, they are kind, gentle and patient. The kids sometimes wait for 2-3 hours to get tested. They are happy for the pencil I give them.

Rifka Stern MD