Day 9 “A day in Mukuru Slums”

We woke up early to a delicious French toast breakfast made by Amanda and Alyssa. It was nice to sit down and eat a meal. We had 21 bags of supplies and donated items we had to go through. One bag got lost at the airport and we were all guessing what could be in it. Many of the team had a hard time sleeping due to jet lag. We left at 9 am to go to the medicine warehouse and looked through their pricing book to find out what meds we needed. Laura was able to come up with a list of meds we needed and we waited while they got it from the warehouse. Mary Walugha, Mary Mambo, Sammie and Angelina met us there. After we loaded the van with antibiotics and enough de-worming medicine to de-worm a few thousand men, women and children, we headed to Mary Mambo’s clinic, orphanage, school and church in the Mukuru slums.
Mary and her husband Joseph are two very amazing people with big hearts. We went into each classroom and handed out jolly ranchers as well as spoke to the students. We toured the school during their lunch and the children volunteered to share their lunch with us, perhaps their only meal of the day. We then went outside to play with the children, which was so much fun! While we were playing with the children on the streets, we heard Joseph preaching and stepped into the church (the children followed) and the children fought for to sit on our laps. Not one of our laps was empty. We had to stand up during church and introduce the team and received a warm Kenyan welcome. Many of the children wore ragged clothes and when we accidently dropped some candy in the mud, they scooped it up and ate it. Many of the children we met were orphans or had at least one parent who died from AIDS and the other parent dying from the same dreadful disease that plagues Kenya. We then visited the clinic where they do 4-5 deliveries a day. There was one woman there in her last stage of labor-most of the women are HIV positive. Mary and her staff showed us around and we gave them the supplies that had been donated for her clinic. She was very grateful and especially loved the clamps we brought, which she uses for cutting the umbilical cord. Also, she really liked the newborn packs we made that included a hat, a blanket and one outfit to send the newborns home with. After we gave her the supplies, we went over to the school once again and delivered the many donated items to the school. Some items included: chalk, stickers, division/subtraction/addition cards, puzzles, coloring books, crayons, markers, toys and other useful supplies for the children and teachers. They were very excited about all of the new items and couldn’t wait to distribute them amongst the classrooms. Lastly, we all went into the child’s home were Mary and Joseph Mambo house up to 22 young orphaned girls ages 5-17 that have been sexually abused by their guardians. The conditions were probably much better than the children were used to but still in dire straits. All the children slept in one room where there were several bunk beds stacked together. Mary explained that there is a long waiting list of children that they know are being sexually abused but they do not have any room for them at this time. She also explained that one girl had just showed up and used one of the other girl’s uniform and said she was staying and that she couldn’t go home. One of the girls staying at the center stated that she could sleep in her bed and share her food and clothes. Mary said she didn’t have the heart to turn her away but stated it is frustrating to know of girls that are being abused without the ability to help them. We then gave her the items that have been donated such as: hair ties, burettes, combs, Vaseline, bubbles, friendship bracelet materials and other items for the orphanage. It was hard to leave but we had to visit Mary Walugha’s clinic further down in the Mukuru slums. We said good bye and gave many hugs to both the Mambos and also the children.
We traveled to Mary Walugha’s clinic in Mukuru, upon arrival we saw the amazing things that they have already done in this community. They had 3 acres of land that housed their semi-permanent clinical structure. They had a laboratory, clinic with 2 exam rooms, and a pharmacy. The great thing about what they are doing is that they had a small fee for laboratory tests and also medications. This has allowed them to be self-sustaining for more than 6 years. The problem they have been facing recently is the need in this community has outweighed their funds. This was one of the many reasons we decided to sponsor a medical camp on Saturday, so that we could help in one day the amount of people it would take months for then to see and treat. Lance, Duncan and Michael arrived so while they continue to meet about the details of the medical camp, the rest of the team headed back to Lancaster.
The rest of the team made spaghetti and started to pack the many medications that we had brought and purchased for the medical camp. While we did this, the rest of them picked up Dr. Furaha from the airport. She is a Doctor from Tanzania that came to help with the workshops and medical camp. She was a very nice woman and didn’t hesitate to help us pack the medications and talked about what she does in Tanzania. We didn’t go to bed till late (as usual) around midnight, but thankfully we got a lot done.