Busy times..

Last night we had a lady crying and banging on our front door. It was a lady Vicki and I had befriended. She had been beaten by her husband. In this small complex of 8 or so homes, it is seemingly a quiet compound. Moffat (who is rarely home so we were lucky) opened the door and suggested she go home to collect her baby and return to sleep on the couch. She left, there was shouting, screaming and the slam of 2 doors, one which sounded like the compound entrance – we assume it was her husband leaving. I waited an hour – she did not come back and we did not see her today. I am hoping she will be home tomorrow so I can see how she is going before I leave Nairobi for 10 days.

Today Faith and I took a baby and mother back to their home. Even though she was in labour in the hospital for 15 hours before giving birth, her husband arrived 4 hours after the baby was born and so very drunk. He had spent the money his employer had given him in advance to pay for the maternity bill on alcohol for himself and 3 mates. She refused to see him and only felt comfortable leaving once he had passed out on a chair in the reception area. Her sister lent her portion of the bill allowing her to leave with a bit of dignity. The walk to her home (a tin shed in the slum) was only a couple of km from the clinic but along an extremely busy, very dangerous road (Naivasha road). Faith and I took turns holding the tiny baby girl (she was 2.6kg and her mother has HIV) and squeezing our bodies between trucks parked on the side of the road (actually on the road!) with matatu’s, trucks, bikes, cars and buses whizzing by you at such a speed, I am sure it would be almost impossible to judge distance between life and death. It never really occurred to me that it was such a dangerous route until I was holding another life in my arms.

Pictured is the first birth Faith and I performed together. Even though this first time mother gave up, held her legs together and demanded her husband take her away from here….., it was simply wonderful and they were very happy. I have 1 more month to learn as much as I can. Who would have thought I would love birth so much – and in case you’re wondering…, nope, I still have no intention of having children. :-) Right now I simply adore my life tooooo very much!

Building development on the clinic is getting more exciting by the day. The second birth room is almost complete and is looking absolutely fantastic. Tomorrow we hope to be able to paint the walls and visualise where everything is going to go. Today, Grace (Faith’s 13 yo daughter) and I helped with the arduous task of removing tiles from the cement floor. The tiles (lino) were so incredibly well glued to the floor that we were removing almost as much cement as tile. We sat our backsides on the floor and scraped at the thin old lino, one cm at a time with a flat head screwdriver (in the video). We are so excited to see the finished product – the sore back and blistered hands will definitely be worth it!!

Most of the cement has been laid and we are waiting on our third quote to replace the tank stand to hold 5000 litres of water. A few things need to be repaired including leaky sinks and toilets, roof and door handles, but it’s all happening!!! The picture where Faith holding back a sheet with 3 beds is how birth room 2 looked before we commenced making changes to it just 2 days ago. We are very pleased with the progress.

Tuesday morning I am leaving early for a 10 day Vipassana course. It is an ancient meditation practice. “The technique used is a pure science of mind and matter. It is also an art of living (http://www.dhamma.org/en/art.shtml) an antidote to all the stresses and strains of life. It provides a deep pool of peace and harmony within, and ultimately leads the end of suffering” The 10 day camp is being held on an organic farm at the foothills of Mt Kenya. Nervous? Yes! Crazy…, possibly!

Vipassana means to see things as they really are. We are to observe complete silence and no eye contact or touching permitted what so ever for the entire 10 day period. Wake up call sounds at 4am and lights out at 9.30pm. I arrived in Kenya following a stressful, challenging 5 months in Australia. I know this will be a mighty confronting and challenging curriculum for me (and one I may be grossly under estimating just how tough), but it is one challenge I believe I am ready for and will receive benefits from.

Tonight, we had dinner at Stella’s (Moffat’s sister) home. She cooked an amazing meal of pilau, potato and meat stew. I took a large bottle of fanta, coke, dinner mints and lollies – fantastic treat for the family and whole neighbourhood. :-) They certainly are very good at sharing here.

We had many wonderful sunny days last week, heaps of people were out cutting grass with machetes. It is such a terrible shame that there is so much rubbish on the streets in Kenya; there could be many beautiful areas with a little care.

We are hoping to have a constructive day of painting tomorrow - oooohhhh I’m excited. Hope everyone is happy and healthy. If you’re not happy, then please, do yourself a favour and take steps to change it. XX