Hello from Mutomo, Kenya!
Clare has been here for just over a month now and Derek has been here for 3 weeks. We have been diving all in with life here.
Clare has primarily been working on the maternity unit at the hospital. This has been an opportunity to mentor, teach, and also learn. There have been some hard times, but also some very joyful moments. She is currently working with 2 premature babies (both born around 28-29 week gestation) to keep them growing with NG tube feeds of expressed milk and encouraging their mothers to continue to do kangaroo care (basically skin to skin, see attached picture). The language barrier has been a bit of a challenge, but she is slowly learning enough words to be able to communicate as needed. A smile and being able to laugh at one’s attempts go along way. There are a couple of projects in the community that she is working on and will hopefully be able to provide some training to the community health volunteers. These individuals play an integral role in the health of the community.
Derek hit the ground running on arrival. He’s busy collecting video of various activities that CMMB has going on, including a research study that is in the final stages. He is also busy documenting the various bugs he’s found here. The rainy season lasted an extra 3 weeks, so the bugs had 3 more weeks to grow. Clare frowns on this hobby.
One of the biggest blessings of our time here so far has been going to mass at the local parish. There is such a sense of warmth and welcome during mass. Father invited us for coffee on the first weekend we were here together and he has since become a good friend. We are enjoying being able to go to daily mass when we can. These masses are in English and are mostly full of the local students, especially the Sunday mass. This is a chance for them to practice their English.
All in all the pace of life is very different from what we came from at home, but it is a pace that is bearing a lot of beautiful fruit. We are learning how to cook with what we have (basically onions, tomatoes, green peppers are always available, everything else is seasonal and meat has to be purchased in Nairobi 3 hours away). The fact that it is currently mango season is wonderful and we are enjoying a lot of mango/banana fruit salads.
Thank you for your prayers and support. Please know we take you with us every time we go to mass and we lift you in our daily prayers. Until next time!
Comments