January 22, 2020
Habari za Asuburi,
We woke up to a severe thunderstorm and pouring rain as we did the day before. The weather can be cool, hot and humid, stormy, rainbows and sunshine all in one day.
No matter what the weather, it was another wonderful day working with the students and medical staff here. Today Patrick, Marissa, Jill and I met with Happy Maya, the Ilula social worker highlighted in a prior blog. We had the opportunity to do home visits in Kipaduka village about 30 minutes drive from Ilula. Kipaduka is spread out, a beautiful farming town and has a population of about 1,700. Our loaded four wheel vehicle made its way along a red dirt and very wet bumpy road. Frist stop in the village was at the pastors house where we were invited in and offered refreshments. We were asked to sign a guest book, which apparently is a custom whenever visitors come to a village. We then walked through corn and bean fields, past cattle, goats, chickens, pigs in pens, and mud houses. We arrived at the patient's house and met the community leader there. This was a new patient to the Ilula system so we spent lots of time listening to the stories, Happy asked many questions to get a full picture of the patient and family's situation. Dr Patrick performed a physical assessment and got a detailed history. It was wonderful to see how carefully his needs were identified and interventions planned which included the help of the pastor, community leader, the community, and the family to help improve the patient's and family's quality of daily life.
We walked to our second patient's house and saw a patient known but not seen by Happy. This patient was quite physically handicapped with dysphasia who was delighted to meet us. He verbalized his desire to go back to school and to someday be a pastor. Happy's goal was, after seeing the patient, to contact the Neema Craft organization to see how they can help him to get a job. The patient was overjoyed. I was very happy to witness the quality and compassion of social outreach available in these communities.
In the afternoon we presented the Days for Girls program to 40 nursing students and Upendo Koko, pastor from Iringa who has agreed to spearhead the initiative in this region. We are thrilled! Present also were our Ilula nursing faculty friend, Tuly, Dr Ken, and some of our BKB students. Ellen, Monica and I presented an abbreviated version of Days for Girls to the nursing students who were very attentive. After the discussion, we demonstrated the use of the menstrual kits (which brought a few laughs!) and had several kits available for the nursing students to view. The presentation was well received and a joy to present. The nursing students who attended ALL agreed to try the kits and give feed back! Our first class was a success!!There are plans for more presentations next week by the second group members. I look forward to more opportunities in the future.
Quote for the day from the Days for Girls presentation: Monica B's final words to the class after presenting on female and male reproductive systems was " I just want you to remember that the sperm that swims the fastest is the one that makes you, so you are already a winner!"
Asante, Mary
Habari za Asuburi,
We woke up to a severe thunderstorm and pouring rain as we did the day before. The weather can be cool, hot and humid, stormy, rainbows and sunshine all in one day.
No matter what the weather, it was another wonderful day working with the students and medical staff here. Today Patrick, Marissa, Jill and I met with Happy Maya, the Ilula social worker highlighted in a prior blog. We had the opportunity to do home visits in Kipaduka village about 30 minutes drive from Ilula. Kipaduka is spread out, a beautiful farming town and has a population of about 1,700. Our loaded four wheel vehicle made its way along a red dirt and very wet bumpy road. Frist stop in the village was at the pastors house where we were invited in and offered refreshments. We were asked to sign a guest book, which apparently is a custom whenever visitors come to a village. We then walked through corn and bean fields, past cattle, goats, chickens, pigs in pens, and mud houses. We arrived at the patient's house and met the community leader there. This was a new patient to the Ilula system so we spent lots of time listening to the stories, Happy asked many questions to get a full picture of the patient and family's situation. Dr Patrick performed a physical assessment and got a detailed history. It was wonderful to see how carefully his needs were identified and interventions planned which included the help of the pastor, community leader, the community, and the family to help improve the patient's and family's quality of daily life.
We walked to our second patient's house and saw a patient known but not seen by Happy. This patient was quite physically handicapped with dysphasia who was delighted to meet us. He verbalized his desire to go back to school and to someday be a pastor. Happy's goal was, after seeing the patient, to contact the Neema Craft organization to see how they can help him to get a job. The patient was overjoyed. I was very happy to witness the quality and compassion of social outreach available in these communities.
In the afternoon we presented the Days for Girls program to 40 nursing students and Upendo Koko, pastor from Iringa who has agreed to spearhead the initiative in this region. We are thrilled! Present also were our Ilula nursing faculty friend, Tuly, Dr Ken, and some of our BKB students. Ellen, Monica and I presented an abbreviated version of Days for Girls to the nursing students who were very attentive. After the discussion, we demonstrated the use of the menstrual kits (which brought a few laughs!) and had several kits available for the nursing students to view. The presentation was well received and a joy to present. The nursing students who attended ALL agreed to try the kits and give feed back! Our first class was a success!!There are plans for more presentations next week by the second group members. I look forward to more opportunities in the future.
Quote for the day from the Days for Girls presentation: Monica B's final words to the class after presenting on female and male reproductive systems was " I just want you to remember that the sperm that swims the fastest is the one that makes you, so you are already a winner!"
Asante, Mary
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