WEEKLY REPORT AS AT 10th TO 16th JANUARY 2011

THE CLINIC

The clinic this week was quiet with few patients.  Most of them were early pregnant mothers – miscarrying.  There was a case of a boy circumcised traditionally and had to be done again as it was badly done.

Two girls, one from KOP and Leaning Centre had malaria and were treated.

We received 26 outpatients and 2 maternity deliveries.  The situation is not improving due to Christmas festivals.  It will continue this way until end of January.

Staff:

We have one new male nurse by the name Justin Mwangangi, who will replace those who have been coming on locums and were not very reliable, sometimes they could decide to come to work or not.

INCOME:

Outpatients only managed to raise USD 527.08 while maternity only USD 62.92 better than last week, though below the expected target.

EXPENSES:

Expenses totaled USD 469.52.  This you will verify the details from pages 3 and 4.

World Food Programme

 Two meetings are expected next week.  Florence, Hendricka, Angeline and Vincent will attend to know the method in which the food will be distributed.

Unfortunately our Learning Centre children will not benefit since the programme is only targeting children below 5 years and who are malnourished plus pregnant mothers. 

LEARNING CENTRE

The children are doing fine despite of one girl who had malaria and was treated.

There were some two visitors – a Canadian with his girl friend from Ruanda, dropped by and promised to sponsor some of the children.

KILELESHWA

Our children might be sent away from school if they don’t appear in full uniform this Monday. Most of them had torn or worn out uniforms and the Headmistress gave a stern warning to them.

According to Barasa, some of the sponsors had not remitted their funding so it was not possible for each child to get full uniforms.

The children and their parents, Florence, Barasa and the teachers held a meeting on Saturday.  The agenda was to see how the parents could come in and assist where necessary and also Barasa to get in touch with Ray of Hope Foundation before deciding on what move to take.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

The support group managed to open an account with the bank using the money Glide church had donated to them.  

Rosemary

 January 16, 2011

CASH COLLECTED AT THE CLINIC AS 10^th to 16^th JANUARY 2011

OUT/PATIENTS

DATE		USD
10TH JANUARY 11TH JANUARY 12TH JANUARY 13TH JANUARY 14TH JANUARY 15TH JANUARY 16TH JANUARY		24.66 75.21 124.53 99.25 67.93 78.91 56.60
TOTAL		527.09

MATERNITY

DATE		USD
13TH JANUARY 14TH JANUARY		38.22 24.66
TOTAL		62.88

           

EXPENSES AS AT 10^TH TO 16^TH JANUARY 2011 

DATE	ITEM	USD
10TH JANUARY	LAB REAGENTS	24.66
11TH JANUARY	PATIENTS LUNCH PARAFFIN WATER DRUGS LAB REAGENTS SALARIES	7.64 3.69 25.89 30.82 24.66 76.19
12TH JANUARY	MILK	0.36
13TH JANUARY	PATIENTS FOOD DRUGS FLORENCE LAB REAGENTS ROSEMARY	2.58 38.22 36.99 18.50 39.82
14TH JANUARY	MILK PARAFFIN DRUGS NJUGUNA’S SHOP (PART).	0.73 3.69 30.82 59.80
15TH JANUARY	MILK PATIENTS FOOD DRUGS TRANSPORT	0.73 2.58 6.16 0.12
16TH JANUARY	PATIENTS LUNCH AGNETA – LOCUM SELESTINE – LOCUM DANIEL – LAB LOCUM MISCELLANOUS	5.05 7.39 14.79 3.70 9.86
	TOTAL	475.44

WEEKLY REPORT AS AT 3rd to 9th JANUARY 2011

THE CLINIC

The number of patients attended to was 29, 2 antenatal and 6 maternity cases. 

During the week we generated USD 320.23 from out/patients and USD 186.30 from maternity making a total USD 506.53 very much, almost half lower than last week.  Most locals traveled upcountry and spend all the money they had during Christmas festival, and also in January most children go to schools for the first time either Grade 1 or Secondary form 1, so they cannot have money to spend on medication, but cater for school fees.

The total expenses were USD 297.34 mainly locums and paying salaries. 

On 6^th we managed to pay the salaries of the staffs as follows: -

Boice Kitavi                                       -           USD 228.25

Solomon Asindivira                            -           USD 215.91

Selestine Lombisya                            -           USD 185.07

Rhoda Khasandi                                -           USD 80.19

Ken Otsieno                                       -           USD 80.19

Florence and Rosemary will pay themselves as funds come in.

DONATIONS

We received the following from Kermit Washington

$ 1,100 dollars for rent

$    200 dollars for the lab man

$      50 dollars for Rosemary – her weekly reports

$      50 dollars for Everlyn – to assist her on Okoth’s expenses

Also received was USD 86.36 through our bank account sent by Teresa Gipson to assist us offset the utility expenses for the Learning Centre.

World Food Programme

Florence attended their seminar on 4^th and 5^th and Hendricka, Angelina and Vincent attended on 6^th and 7^th at Pan Africa Hotel.

Since it is a Government project, they want to impose their rules so that the Government provides all Community Health Workers (CHW) when they start supplying food.  This we found was not acceptable, so we are still discussing. 

 

LEARNING CENTRE

On 4^th 21 children reported, but were send back home due to lack of food.  Evelyn said that she had not received food money from Marceline (Bware). 

The teachers took the weights of the children and found to be better than last term.

 

Barasa brought 7 bags of maize and 3 bags of beans.  This will last a whole term.  He also purchased books, pens, ink, rulers, covers and uniforms.

I handed USD 143.12 to Teacher Evelyn towards Ken Chemiati – Kileleshwa being sponsored by Catherine.

 

Benard Okoth will continue staying with Evelyn.

There is still a problem that needs to be addressed about the children at the Learning Centre who become homeless.  For example – Okoth’s case has not been resolved yet. 

 

There is another child whom Agneta our cook has been housing.  His name is Dickson Muruli – Kileleshwa in grade 8.  During the time when Feed the Children used to give us food, Agneta used to be given a small ratio to subsidize her budget, but since the programme was discontinued, she just struggles with him.  It is now running to 3 years.

 

Another new development is Odinga also at Kileleshwa, he has been staying with a friend’s late mother and now it seems she is surrendering him back to the Learning Centre.  According to the teacher and social worker Oding’a rural home cannot be located, since there are no close relatives.  One of the teacher’s (Alfred) wants to house Oding’a for a few days before an alternative is found.

The teachers and cook are taking up these responsibilities because they are close to them and whenever there is a problem, the children only look up to them for help.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

They received their Registration Certificate from the Ministry of Culture and Social Services and will open a bank account next Tuesday the 11^th with the Co-operative Bank of Kenya and deposit USD 194.94.  They spent USD 27.14 for registration and typing minutes.

Rosemary

January 9, 2011

CASH COLLECTED AT THE CLINIC AS 3^rd to 9^th JANUARY 2011

OUT/PATIENTS

DATE		USD
3RD JANUARY 4TH JANAURY 5TH JANUARY 6TH JANUARY 7TH JANUARY 8TH JANUARY 9TH JANUARY		37.01 6.16 38.86 52.49 90.68 71.56 23.44
TOTAL		320.20

MATERNITY

DATE		USD
3RD JANUARY 4TH JANUARY 6TH JANUARY 7TH JANUARY 8TH JANUARY 9TH JANUARY		17.27 38.24 12.33 54.28 27.14 37.01
TOTAL		186.27

           

EXPENSES AS AT 3^RD TO 9^TH JANUARY 2011

DATE	ITEM	USD
3RD JANUARY	PATIENTS FOOD PARAFFIN CAROLYNE – CASUAL	6.16 3.70 71.56
4TH JANUARY	PATIENTS LUNCH	3.08
5TH JANUARY	PATIENTS LUNCH	1.97
6TH JANUARY	TRANSPORT – HENRICKA, ANGELINE PARAFFIN DRUGS	2.46 3.70 23.25
7TH JANUARY	PATIENTS LUNCH VIM FLORENCE ROSEMARY MISC.	4.31 2.46 49.35 37.01 30.84
8TH JANUARY	PARAFFIN PATIENTS LUNCH DRUGS	3.70 3.82 1.48
9TH JANUARY	SELESTINE – LOCUM MOSES – LOLUM AGNETA- LOCUM PATIENTS LUNCH DRUGS	14.80 3.70 7.40 4.31 18.19
	TOTAL	297.25

KERMIT WASHINGTON AND KENYA

INTRODUCTION

Kermit Washington is one person we have no words to describe his character. He has touched many people’s lives, especially those from the slums and denied himself his basic needs. He has made many trips to Nairobi the capital city of Kenya, sometimes selling off his property to make sure he supports this poor people. There is no single day he has slept without calling Nairobi that is Florence to know about this same people.

PRE – RAY OF HOPE CLINIC & COMMUNITY CENTRE

Florence first met Kermit and Dr. Teresa Gipson in the year 1997 in Portland Oregon, USA at a friend’s house and that was the beginning of the dream come true for these three individuals.

Who is this Florence – Her full names are Florence Manea Muyundo having trained and qualified Nurse, Midwifery, and Diploma in Clinical Medicine, General and Diploma in Pediatrics all, at Kenya Medical Training College in Nairobi Kenya. She is currently the Director at Ray of Hope Clinic and Community Centre.

Going back to their meeting, Kermit and Teresa were then involved in voluntary work in Kenya mainly, doing medical camps in the slums. Sometimes during these camps could be joined by USA Doctors such as J. Donkers who has come many times, Dr Sammy and some from Kenya, just to mention a few the late Professor Bwayo, Dr. Stephen Ndombi and some University of Nairobi University School of Medicine students.
Whenever they came to Kenya, they used to be accompanied by many friends who used to come and do these Noble calling.

Kibera – Kibera is a densely populated slum area second largest in Africa followed by Mathare. He started doing medical camps in the two slums areas alternating from 1997. The camps could only be held in a day and sometimes it became very difficult where to store the left over drugs for the next camp. After many consultations, Kermit requested Florence to look for some premises where they could be storing their drugs and making follow-ups on patients who had been administered.

RAY OF HOPE CLINIC AND COMMUNITY CENTRE
KAWANGWARE-

In 2004 the unfinished building, which was, just on foundation was found in Kawangware and Kermit made a commitment by paying some deposit so that we could retain the building. By October 2004 the building was ready for occupation. There were 3 departments or units that went along that is the Clinic, the Community Outreach and the Learning Centre.

1.    THE CLINIC

The clinic started with three personnel -Asst. Physician, Administrator and Nurse Aid. It has now grown and in addition has one more Asst. Physician, Pharmacist, Lab Technician, two cleaners and one security guard bringing to a total of 9 personnel. Kermit has been a backbone to this clinic. He pays a monthly rent of USD 1,100 plus the salary for the lab technician. Apart from that he supports many people, giving tokens, paying for their medical bills, rents, school fees and awarding bonuses to the staff and many other contributions.

He also supported a girl who was volunteering at Mama Ngina Children’s Home to look after the young babies. He used to send 100 dollars every month to help her offset her outstanding fees from her former secondary school, where they could not release her certificate after completing form IV. He one time send her USD 1,000 dollars to pay for her travel ticket to Britain which ended up to some conmen. Despite to these he still continued to send her 100 dollars until in the year 2007 when she landed a nanny job in Italy where she also had an opportunity to further in her education and now has Diploma in Hotel Management.

Through him we were able to get from NBA Association – USA drugs which we cleared from the Airport.

There isn’t year that goes by without Kermit holding a medical camp at the clinic. He feels sad to see the poor locals paying for the drugs and yet they have no food or shelter. There are times when the clinic cannot make ends meet because they have no resources or run out drugs because of giving free medication. Kermit has stood by it and bought drugs or sent money to pay bills.

Dr. Teresa Gipson has been concerned with the well being of the clinic, she always solicited medical equipments, chairs dressings, drugs, and instruments that she once put in a container and got to the clinic. She has never stopped helping, every time, anybody came to Kenya, and she usually gave him or her something to get to the clinic.

The staffs have played a very big role particularly the Director, Administrator who volunteered in all aspects as we have short of staff.

2.    COMMUNITY OUTREACH

This support group has been running along with the clinic. Kermit liaised with American University who used to dispatch volunteer students to come and work at the clinic. With the help of the community health worker, they were able to do door to door visits and know the type of people who were suffering and needed help. So in 2006 a community outreach support group was found catering for men, women and children with HIV/AIDS. These students also started a Tailoring school, where they identified some students and those who graduated were awarded with sewing machines and most of them are very successful.

Kermit worked so had and made sure they received nutritional food through Feed The children, a programme that ran until 2007. This programme benefited the malnourished children, their weak parents who became strong and were able to go back to their jobs. Among the support group some money was given to boost businesses that improved their stock and now most of them have very stable families and no longer ask for help from the clinic.

Kermit also used to take some members of the support group for shopping in one of super markets, where some locals had never stepped and were asked to pick whatever they wanted from food, clothing’s, shoes etc. This was done with the help of NBA basketball players.

3.    LEARNING CENTRE

The children at the learning centre have their parents at the support group (community outreach). Most of them were HIV positive but because of taking drugs have turned negative. They were discovered when the American students were doing their visits, which found that there was a need for an informal learning centre to be started. In 2007 a learning centre was established to cater for those children who have never been to school or dropped out. A close study established that there were over 1,000 children who were not going to school and the matter needed to be addressed urgently. This is a time when Kermit together with Teresa Gipson requested to start an informal school. Two teachers were sort. In addition the cook joined the learning centre. It started as a rescue centre, but has over 60 children, through the influence of Kermit and Teresa. The 22 of the 60 have joined normal schools and yet those who have been left behind, eat well, dress and are taught how to read and write as they wait for their sponsorship to come by. As these children get sponsorship to normal schools, those waiting on the wait list fill their positions. These children dress in uniforms comprising from shoes, shorts and shirts, which Kermit and Teresa buy.

CONCLUSION

We do sincerely treasurer the works of Kermit and Dr.Teresa Gipson towards the centre and all the Kenyans. From the time he volunteered by giving free medical care to Kibera slum dwellers and finally finding a permanent location or premises where he could leave the materials for the next medical camp, he has always dug dipper in the affairs of some individuals to know what the problems most of them go through, a role, which he has done to date.

I personally thank him for the good work and dedication he has committed his life to the sake of the slum dwellers of Kibera, Mathare and now Kawangware – ROH.

Florence has also dedicated her life to see that she does not let Kermit and Dr Gipson down, she works tirelessly at the clinic and even at times she is called at odd hours when there is a very sick patient and a complication. There was a time she left her dying husband in hospital to attend to matters at the centre, and most unfortunate, he is now deceased and cannot witness the fruits his wife has achieved. She also stretches a palm leaf to the homeless children and stays with them in her house before they find a solution. To all the staff we say thank you because this cannot happen single handedly.

REPORT COMPILED BY – FLORENCE MANEA MUYUNDO- DIRECTOR
AND
EDITED BY –ROSEMARY SIMIYU – ADMINISTRATOR

BOTH OF RAY OF HOPE CLINIC AND COMMUNITY CENTRE

First Trip to Africa

The summer of 1994 I was working with Pete Newell at his Big Mans Camp. At the time his camp was probably the number one camp in the world. Pete was a world renowned coach and former general manager of the Lakers. He was the gentleman who drafted me to the Lakers out of college, and was responsible for me earning a spot as a starter in the NBA. I was working on the camp when the situation in Rwanda broke out. The news was flooded with horrendous accounts of murder and terror, and the hundreds of thousands of lives that were being taken . My daughter came into the room after watching a news broadcast on TV and was incredibly upset. Here was a young girl who was so sensitive and caring that if she saw a dog or cat hit by a car would always make me stop and pull it out of the street. She was compassionate for everyone and everything. She told me I better do something about this situation. I saw the broadcasts and it reminded me of the problems in Somalia years before when several people were suffering and dying from the drought. I felt as though I should have helped those people and didn’t, and even years later still had residual guilt. I felt like this was my opportunity to change that feeling, so I looked in the phone book for an organization where I could donate money. I remember calling several organizations including Doctors without Borders and The Red Cross. I didn’t have any success speaking to a person, just to an automated teller telling me how to donate money. When I called the Northwest Medical team in Beaverton Oregon my luck changed. They were operating ten minutes from where I was living, and got a person on the line that was able to talk to me and give me information. They also knew who I was and were very thankful that I called so I decided to donate to them. I don’t remember how much I donated on my credit card, but I did happened to say to them before I hung up that one day I would like to go and see for myself what the conditions were really like. They said, you can go with us next week, we are taking a group over. They put the head of the organization on the phone, Ron Post, hoping that he would be able to convince me to make the trip. He knew that if I went it would help generate a lot of exposure for his organization because of my affiliation with the NBA. I told him I would talk to my wife and make a decision in a few days. Pat was out of town, and when she came back Dana told her what I wanted to do and I ask her if it would be alright with her if I went. She was never the kind of woman who would tell me not to go or stand in my way anyway, I had asked just to respect her feelings so ultimately I had to make up my own mind. This was still during the war so things in that area hadn’t calmed down that much. In a day I returned a call and said I had decided to go. I ask what I needed to do to get ready to go and all of the different supplies I needed as well as the itineraries. They were very happy about me going and told me what I had to do, which included vaccination shots from the doctor, making sure my passport was up to date, and acquiring a visa. I had never been to Africa and honestly it was terrifying to say the least and all of this was happening very fast. I had no idea who I was going with, only that there were about 10 doctors and nurses going, but I wouldn’t be meeting any of them until I flew into London. While getting my vaccinations the doctor informed me that the shots I was taking would take over ten days before the antibodies would be active so in other words they wouldn’t do me any good until I came back. Basically I was traveling into the unknown of a war ridden Africa which was dangerous as it was, and additionally unprotected from the diseases which were so rampant in that region. I was vulnerable to everything and to say the least it was frightening. On top of that I didn’t even know where we were going, the airline tickets only flew us to Nairobi Kenya. So three days later, unprepared and not knowing what to expect, I boarded a plane taking me to Minneapolis, Minnesota, from Minneapolis to London England, where I met up with the doctors and nurses and introduced myself. As soon as I met the doctors and nurses I could tell what really good people they were. These were people paying their own way to go head first into danger to help others and I thought it was very admirable. We flew from London to Nairobi, got off the plane with all of our supplies, medicine, and tents, and I was told we were to head to Entebbe, Uganda. In Uganda, where the soldier were stationed was a completely desolate airport with nothing at all there but a shell of a building with supplies and people in it. I still had not made the connection of where we were and how we were going to get where we were going. The African airports are not like American airports in terms of having luxury like restaurants, comfortable seats and clean bathrooms. We were waiting for one of the American planes to refuel and take us to where we wanted to go. There was no set schedule or any particular arrangement for us to go, there we were at the airport with all of our equipment, not knowing, without anyone knowing how we were going to get to Zaire. Because of all of the strife in the area, things like planes and transportation were being handled as well as they could be under the circumstances. People including ourselves and the soldiers were just sitting and waiting for instructions, passing the time. I noticed there were a lot of K rations or food surplus that the Army gives the soldiers. I thought to myself that this might be a really important thing to have for the trip, not knowing where my food would be coming from in the next few days. I asked the soldiers if they had enough that they would be able to part with some of them. They were laughing at me and asking why I wanted K rations. My response was that you never know when we might need them. In trade for parting with their K rations I gave the soldiers several shirts with NBA and team logo’s. I had quite a few of them which came in handy because they were objects of value to the soldiers because they represented home. I honestly cant remember if we stayed overnight, but I remember not knowing when we were going to leave and time was at this point confusing. The one thing I do remember was how professional the American soldiers were, how they stayed in position and waited for their orders to go in. By the second night, Ron Post had found a way for us to get from Uganda to Goma Zaire, which is now the Republic of Congo. He had helped us arrange a ride with the Canadian Red Cross. We traveled in a large heavy cargo carrier riding in nets, not seats, on the side of the plane. The carrier housed supplies tents and big trucks, like large desert Hummers. I remember thinking to myself that if this plane crashed those big trucks could come unhinged and crush us like bugs. Traveling was exhausting, there was no food or fresh water available, all I had was my K rations. I remember when the plane took off it was so heavy and smooth, very loud, but so heavy that you couldn’t even feel it coming off the ground. It was not like commercial planes at all where you feel the bumps on the runway. I remember looking around at everyone sitting in the net seating, not comfortable but getting from point a to point b, still in my mind not knowing where we were going. It was very surreal, but we were together on a mission. About 4 o’clock in the morning we landed on another military base. I was unsure where we were landing but the real question was us landing in a country that we didn’t have visas. The soldiers all helped us to get all the supplies and medicine unloaded into a truck that looked like a military transport truck . It was a large truck with only with an enclosed cab and open sides. I remember the military people saying to get in the back with the equipment and stay down. We would be taken to jail if anyone stopped us and discovered we were in the truck because we didn’t have any visas for that country. After driving for like an hour we came to a road and saw a house on the hill. We were greeted by an organizational leader from ADRA, the Adventist Relief Agency. We unloaded and went to our room, following a long and tumultuous trip.

We woke up the next morning and found out where we were, in Goma Zaire about a mile outside of the Mugunga Camp . When I looked outside, with the house being up on a hill there was a clear view of the surroundings. There were a few other houses near by with broken windows. All of the trees were chopped down and the ground was bare and covered in powder like dirt. There were lines of hundreds of refugees walking by every hour who had fled Rwanda with nothing but the clothes on their backs, only with their lives. To me it was like a death march. These were people who were forced to leave there homes with only a few minutes notice or they would be killed. When I initially agreed to come and help these people I simply had in my mind that I was coming to help people and was unaware of the circumstances that they were subjected to. They were everyday people, doctors, teachers, family people just like us, who were one day living normally and the next struggling for their lives as refugees. The conflict that erupted was between the Hutu’s and the Tutsi’s, two opposing tribal residents of Rwanda. The majority of the population was the Hutu nation, at about 90% and the Tutsi in the minority at 10%. The Tutsi nation however was the controlling party for many years after gaining independence from Belgium. Following the Belgian influence, the Tutsi nation was considered favored and more privileged over the Hutu’s. A strong ethnic division and hate between the two groups had been created, which to my eyes were no different than we would be able to distinguish a democrat or a republican just based on physical attributes. The different tribes were issued identification cards designating which group they were a member of. These cards were used to separate the two groups publicly and in the school systems, treating the Tutsi as favored. After decades of strife between the two groups the Hutu’s regained political control. The war that I was witnessing reached it’s pinnacle in 1994 when the Hutu president was assassinated in an airplane bombing. The Hutu in turn blamed the Tutsi for the assassination and used it as a catalyst for the war to break out against the Tutsi nation. In actuality after some investigation it was suspected that the Hutu extremists were the real culprits. Not only were the Hutu organizing to kill Tutsi, they were also killing the pro peace Hutu, their own people, with the attitude that if they weren’t with them, they were against them. There was encouragement from radio broadcasts and political figures to carry out the violence and extreme killing. Several of the people who died during this massacre were hacked with machete’s by people who were their own neighbors and youths who were members of the militia. Women and children were not exempt from the violence that took place. Women of the Tutsi tribe were often encouraged to be raped by war propaganda based on the premise that it would even out their assumed feeling of ethnic superiority. The Tutsi in defense re organized their army and began to fight back, killing masses of Hutu and beginning to win the war. Of the Tutsi population, approximately 20% were killed in the conflict. The civilian Hutu and the members of the Hutu army that were being defeated began an exodus to Goma Zaire to escape the violence. These were the people passing in thousands past our house as we looked down. I had originally thought that the people we were going to aid were the people who were in the disadvantage and had been the ones who were attacked. As I came to learn more about the situation I began to understand that the majority of the people we were aiding were the ones who were members of the group that had actually started the conflict, and then as the advantage of the war shifted were the ones trying to then escape, along with the defeated members of the military. The level of desperation was enough to make the area dangerous, but coupled with the anger of the men of the militia who had been embarrassed and lost face took the potential danger to a whole new level. Here were heavily armed men struggling to regain respect and control of something because of all they had was lost.

The refugees had been given permission to camp in Goma by the government of Zaire which was a seemingly generous act but in actuality the entire place was virtually uninhabitable. Goma is referred to as the Valley of Death, an area that came to be as a result of a volcanic lava flow, with the threat of a new volcanic eruption on the horizon. The quality of the ground is such that it is potentially toxic during rain, emitting a carbon dioxide gas that is lethal to people. It is incapable of growing food to sustain any type of life. Since the whole top layer of the ground was volcanic rock, it was impossible for the refugees to dig holes for bathrooms or graves. Because of this, bodies were left on the side of the road wrapped in blankets. I was saying to myself how awful it must have been for family members to have left their loved ones on the side of the road wrapped in blankets, just waiting for someone else to pick them up and burry them in a mass grave.
Before we discuss the refugee camp further I would like to describe where we were staying. Our house was situated up on a hill and at one time it would have seemed as if it were a nice home, but at this time it was struggling to survive like every thing else in the area. We bunked with about five people per room and there were no working bathrooms inside, only an outside latrine. It was small, hot, and smelly. I was the only one without a mosquito net so I wouldn’t allow my roommates to open the windows because I remembered that the doctor who vaccinated me told me my shots would be ineffective at protecting me from any disease. It was difficult to sleep because it was so hot and stuffy with so many people in the room. During this time in addition to everything else there was an outbreak of the Ebola virus and little was known about how the disease was transmitted and there certainly was no cure. That being said I didn’t want to take any unnecessary chances with myself. If my memory serves me correctly the Adventists didn’t eat meat, they cooked potatoes and vegetables which I do not like to eat. Therefore I was very happy to sit in my room and eat the K rations. Waking up in the morning, looking out the front door and seeing others in distress I began to wonder how safe we were staying up in this house where people knew we had the things they needed. They were responsible for a massacre of thousands of people, and I was feeling as though we were certainly not exempt from potential violence. There was no police of any form or military backup, so who ever was the strongest would survive. I advised my counterparts to be mindful of standing on the porch watching the people and eating as if it were any other day at home. We were part of this now, needless to say right in the middle of it, and the circumstances applied to us too.

The first day half of the group began to assemble the equipment and medicine so that we would be ready when we found a place for the clinic, the other half got in a car and drove up and down the road to find a place to set up that would be the most accessible to the refugees. As we were driving some of the doctors were taking pictures of the people. I told the doctors this may not be a good idea because of the distressed nature of the people and I didn’t want it to create any animosity or be disrespectful. After we stopped in a few places and tried to dig and set a tent, we realized it wouldn’t work. We were not able to dig into the ground and the clinic would be out in the open and vulnerable to theft. Ron decided we needed to go to the Mugunga camp where the Red Cross and World Vision were set up so that we would have some stability along side of them. If we left our equipment in their areas we would have protection from theft as opposed to setting up and breaking down every single day. They had people stationed 24 hours a day where as we were a smaller group with less man power. We went to the camp with 300,000 people , no food, water, light, bathrooms or security. It was a terrifying place with men walking around brandishing machetes and guns, looking very angry. These were the men from the Hutu army who had been embarrassed and fled Rwanda and were attempting to regain some status and control over the civilians by threatening violence and attempting to control operations at the camp, their threats were in vain. I told the doctors to remove their valuables, watches, rings, earrings, and be mindful to not put their cameras out the windows. One swing of a machete was capable of taking someone’s arm off, and the temptation would be there if there was a valuable attached. There was no law enforcement to stop anything. I also remember saying to myself if I was in the situation I would get away from this area saturated with so many people, sleep during the day and stay up at night because that was the most terrifying time without having shelter. These were destitute people, it was hot, stinky, waste was everywhere and because it was so hot the waste became dust and part of the soil. It would get kicked up as people were walking so there was bacteria everywhere. We put up our tent and organized the medicine. People lined up by the hundreds, women having babies, babies needing medical care, everyone needed water. The French would bring water in in a big truck, looking like a giant water bottle, with thousands of gallons of water. There wasn’t enough water for everyone so people would line up for hours. If you got out of line and lost your spot you wouldn’t have water. No one was sharing water because people didn’t have enough for their own families. Without water you would simply die. Half of the doctors would be working and half would go around to the makeshift shelters because a lot of people were to weak to make it to the clinics or to wait in line. It was just to hot and they were just to sick move anywhere. Every day the doctors would go up and down the line and determine the people were who were in the most urgent need for treatment. People were dying every day of heat and dehydration. One day late in the evening we saw two brothers carrying a young girl and I said to bring her in to the tent, she was about six or seven years old. The doctors realized immediately she was very ill. They determined she had pneumonia and gave her a shot of antibiotics and set her up to an IV. They were having a hard time to get the IV into her because she was so small and frail. They finally got her set up and her brothers were looking after her. I wanted to take her back to the camp with us so that we could monitor her and said that she could have my bed, but being new and my first time I didn’t insist that we take her. I will always remember her because as she layed there I was putting chap stick on my lips and she pointed and gestured that she wanted some. So I put chap stick on her lips and gave it to her to make her more comfortable. When we returned in the morning the little girl had died. After learning that she died I felt very guilty that I didn’t insist that we take her. I couldn’t help but think how terrible it would be for the brothers to return to their family and tell them their sister had died. From that point I realized I needed to have more power within the group because I would have made the decision to take her with us. Realizing that that young girl, having been born in Africa had a minimal chance of survival where as a child in America would have been ill for maybe one week. One thing that I learned is that if the doctors had stayed for one year with as much medicine as they needed the line would not have gotten any shorter. The magnitude of the devastation and the hardship of the people was endless. I felt very guilty that I was able to get on a plane and leave at any time I wanted. I always told the people that I would be back to help but that I needed to gain knowledge and information so that I could help them more effectively. Because there was no place to bury the people the French would come by and pick up the bodies and burry them in the sand near the lake. The wild dogs were digging up the bodies and eating them. One morning a group of men came and ask me to go and help them re bury the bodies and I had to tell them no, you have the wrong man. I was already having nightmares and I knew that was not a job I wanted to be part of! In Goma we were working with a translator named Viene who helped us a great deal because he spoke French and fluent English. He lived in the Houston area but when the conflict broke out between the Hutu and the Tutsi, he flew to Zaire to find his family. Without his ability to help with the translation and communication we wouldn’t have accomplished half as much. Along with us in the house was a little boy named Moses. Moses was an orphan whose family was killed during an attack that bombed a bridge in attempt to prevent people from crossing into the next region. He was saved from a pile of bodies that were about to be bulldozed into a mass grave when someone saw him moving. He was brought to the house where I was staying and I was his best friend because of the contents of the k rations which included m&m’s. After about 5 days Ron Post asked if I wanted to stay any longer. I told him no, that I was ready to leave and get back home because I felt like my physical presence there was no longer needed. What I learned was how the operation was being conducted and what the needs of the people were. I also realized that for about a dollar per day a Rwandan could be doing the job that I was doing and better because I was not able to translate. I was anxious to get home and begin to assemble my ideas into actions for future trips. Not to mention I was physically and emotionally drained. I saved one pair of shoes and one change of clothes, all of my other clothes were dirty. I decided to leave them all behind on the advice of the other doctors because they told me with all of the bacteria present it was possible to spread disease. I was wondering how I was going to get back to Nairobi without a visa or transportation. I told Vienie that I would contact him and help him find his family and I headed on my way home. I got lucky and hitched a ride with the Canadian Red Cross who took us to Nairobi. They were very happy to aid us, all that needed to be said was that we were relief workers and without question they would give us rides or assistance. Once again we were flying in a large transport plane, this time empty because it was returning to collect another load of cargo. I got my ticket to fly out of Nairobi and headed to the gate. Africa is not like America in terms of the flight check in, there are not people at the gates to let you into the airport, not like you can walk in and buy tickets. They don’t even open the doors to the airport until and hour or so before the plane takes off. When I finally arrived I walked in and approached the lady at the counter. She said the flight I was booked for was full because I had not confirmed 24 hours in advance and my seat was given away. I told them I was in a place with no phones. They said they were sorry but the best they could do would be to try to get me on a flight the next day. In Africa, there is no such thing as sleeping in the airport overnight. That meant I would have to leave the airport and go somewhere. Not knowing where to go I asked to speak to a supervisor and told them that there was a terrible accident at home with a family member and I would have to return for a funeral, it was imperative that I got on a plane. She began to cry and booked me on first class to London. After boarding the plane I was greeted by a flight attendant who brought me a coca cola with ice. I remember thinking how wonderful ice was at that moment, and how refreshing the coke was. I was so exhausted I don’t even remember the plane taking off, only being awakened by the flight attendant 9 hours later telling me we had landed in London. After arriving in London I was informed that I had missed my connection. I had only a back pack and one pair of clean clothes, the ones that I was wearing. The help counter took mercy on me and saw me staring at the departure wall and saw how exhausted I was. She gave me complimentary hotel passed to the Heathrow Hilton. It was very nice of her, she could see I was a traveler in distress. I checked into the hotel and went to the room where I slept for the next 20 hours straight. I missed my next connection, sleeping through the wake up alarm because of my exhaustion. I think it was also the first time I had felt like I was safe and clean in almost a week. The house in Zaire was surrounded by death and danger, and there were no locks on the doors. I couldn’t help but think to myself that the United Nations should have stepped in and done something to keep peace. I always heard the phrase Never again used in terms of the Nazi camps from World War II and the violence that came with that and felt like this situation in Rwanda was no different and the UN should have intervened. Once I woke up I headed downstairs to a Chinese restaurant where I proceeded to order about seven different things on the menu. The waiter asked who all of the food was for and I said me! I told him that it had been days since I had really eaten and ate all of the food that he brought to the table. I had lost about 20 pounds during the trip. When I returned to Portland the Oregonian newspaper wrote a front page article about my trip. Tens of thousands of dollars were donated to the Northwest Medical Team because of this article which had raised the awareness of the people in regard to the situation.

2011 BUDGET AND JAN 2011 BUDGET[1]

Learning Center 2011

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas  and a Happy New Year to all of you.

I do not have Alfred's email- please forward to him so he can also have input

Over the past few days I have had a chance to  go over  all the reports, look at the budget from 2010 and focus a bit more on  what we will be able to accomplish for 2011.

I wanted to share the information with you and get your feedback. We are still analyzing the monthly budgets and will get those details to you ASAP.

#1- Budget for Kile 2011- as you can see from this spreadsheet our projected costs per child is 39,060 KSh per child or about $520 USD per year. This includes costs such as the stove, admission and interview which will be waived for the current students- so the cost per child is a bit less for returning students.  It DOES NOT include  administrative cost, bank fees, transfer fees, food, your time or any other charges that we may incur.

Our donors give $510 per child

The balance comes  from  monies raised by ROHF

#2- LC and Kile Census - See the attached spreadsheet. 

Kile- we are looking forward to receiving more sponsorships for Kile- as soon as I know how many we have I will let you know. I know there  have been promises from a number of donors but until the money is in hand we cannot mover forward with taking the child to Kile. 

LC- The LC budget breaks out as follows

Salaries for Evelyn and Alfred- donation from the Arthur family

Food- Kermit Washington

Rent- Kermit Washington

Uniforms- multiple donors

Books, Electricity, Water,Enrichment  , salaries for Agnetta  and Hendricka and all other expenses-  ROHF

In your projections for enrollment for 2011 you  estimated an increase in the number of children in the LC from 29 to 50 and for Kile 22 to 46.  

The projections for the Kile enrollment will be totally donor dependent. At this point we have not received the money from the donors who previously donated so promising additional students would be ill advised until we know what to expect.

In regards to the LC- ROHF is NOT in a position to support an additional 21 children at the LC. We do not have the funding and  in these economic times when donations are down 25-40% an  intake that would double our budget could sow very bad feelings in the community if we were not able to follow through. 

#3 Strategies  for 2011

1. No intake for new students  at LC until 2010 donations have been totalled (  Jan 15th)

2.  Instead of sending more children to Kile which is very expensive because of transport we might consider finding another school,.  Consider the  chance to send children to a boarding school in upper primary??

3.   Modify our message  regarding the sponsorship program-  up to this point the emphasis has been on  recruiting donors  for kids who are going to Kile. I would suggest that we look for donors to sponsor all the kids. The fee would be the same.  If they go to Kile or another school we would have the funding to cover expenses for both LC ( including medical care, water, electricity, enrichment , salaries etc) AND cover the costs of children who entered the formal sector at schools like Kile.

4. Identify Local businesses from whom we can solicit donations  such as textbooks, paper supplies etc

Other suggestions??

One of the biggest threats to an operation like ours is depending entirely on one donor for a particular funding line- what happens if the Arthurs suddenly decide they can no longer afford to pay salaries or Kermit has a change in finances and cannot afford the food and rent?? We should think about these possibilities and work together to diversify our donor base and make the program as efficient as we can.

As we close this year of 2010 I want to tell each and every one of you how great it is to be part of an organization that is doing something positive in the world- making a difference in the lives of  children- those who will  stand on our shoulders and hopefully make Kenya a better place. Each of you has unique talents, personalities , strengths and weaknesses. It is only through communication, tolerance, transparency, love and the grace of God that we  can form a strong team  and continue to succeed.

I look forward to your feedback and once again wish each of you a blessed, safe and very prosperous New Year

Teresa