Blood, Spit, Urine, and Poo

Today was probably the day I was most worried about when preparing for this trip. Our team split up into medical and non-medical persons. The non-medical team went to visit a special needs school as well as the sports fields and their technical school. (The stories from there are courtesy of Aydann :)) The medical team went to Pangani (the first school MOHI started) and worked in their clinic. This clinic serves the surrounding community — both the children at all of MOHI's schools and their parents and neighbors.

Special Needs School

We arrived at Baba Dogo (little Father) in the morning and went to the room where they do therapy with the special needs children. As we got there, we met Steve (who has Down syndrome) and his mom as well as Gordon (who uses a walker) and his mom.

We also did home visits in the local community where these kids live. There was also a sports field which MOHI owns! After we got back, we had time to pray over the families at the school and their struggles with their children's special needs.

Finally, we went to MTTI which is MOHI's technical school where people can learn skills like sewing and masonry.

I got to hold Francis, a little baby who has brain damage from oxygen depravation, for a while so her mom could get a break, and that was my favorite part.

The hardest thing I saw today was also a beautiful thing: a little girl named Esther has cardiomegaly (enlarged heart). She was such a beautiful kid, but her dad left her and her mom because of her condition. Disabilities are so taboo here, that the dad could not stand being around her. And it was very hard to see because we were all able to see Esther as the beautiful little girl that she is, and yet her earthly father left her. We can have hope though because her Heavenly Father will never leave her nor forsake her.

On our way home, I saw a sign that explained what I was feeling beautifully: "Jesus Christ is Savior Universally." And He is: God is savior if you're in the slums, and He is savior in a nice five bedroom house.

Pangani Clinic

I had a wonderful day, let's just start there :)

I got to work with two wonderful people in the lab. We processed all kinds of samples: blood, stool, urine, saliva, the whole nine yards. I did a lot of strep tests, some malaria tests, lots of general parasite tests, an HIV test (which was thankfully negative), and then full blood tests and urinalyses.

It was really cool to learn to work with the machines and understand the results. (While it was sad to see parasites under the microscope and know that they were living in a person, it was quickly quenched with the knowledge that identifying the issue would lead to medication just down the hall)

During the slow times, I got to know Patrick who was the head lab tech and he taught me so much about the work he does and how to interpret results. I think I might have learned more from him in the couple of hours we had than I did at a full day in school :)

My highlight of the day ties to my biggest fear about this trip so let me explain that portion first:

As an EMT, you can get an extra certification for doing IVs and blood draws, which I have. But I haven't done any blood draws since September so when I saw that they needed me in the lab, I was very nervous about my ability to perform the task at hand with excellence. I really didn't want to turn a bunch of small children into pincushions.

Thankfully I have gracious friends and family who let me practice a bit :) but there was definitely still a lingering fear. So when we showed up to do school screenings and it was "just" a finger stick, I was relieved.

However, I walked into the clinic lab and saw needles and vials and all that fear returned full-swing. It was not helped by the lab tech saying that it was much harder with the extra melanin and dehydration and small veins of children. But I didn't let that stop me and still offered my help if they wanted a break. By the end of the day, Patrick took me up on it and said "go"

Aaahhh!!!!

Another thing that made it difficult was the different kinds of needles we were using. In the US, they often have a "catheter" which is the plastic thing that stays in your arm after the needle is removed and a "flash" which is a small compartment in the needle that fills once you are in a vein. Furthermore, they also have vaccuum containers that suck the blood out of the vein. Not so in Kenya! No catheter, no flash, no vacutainer. Just a needle attached to a syringe which adds the risk of slipping back out of the vein, missing the vein completely, and pulling too hard and collapsing the vein.

But by the grace of God I found her vein right away and the girl didn't even flintch! I got the blood I needed without collapsing the vein, everything went literally as smoothly as possible! And I am so happy it did!

So the thing I was most fearful of was not an issue (big surprise) and now I am more confident in my skills and that my calling aligns with those skills. So as always, God is in control, He's got me, He's guiding me, He's sustaining me. And boy am I thankful for Him.

One more story and then I’ll go: a little girl needed her blood drawn and she was very scared of the needle, but was trying to be brave. She was starting to cry a little, but I looked over and her younger brother, probably about five or six, started praying for her!! It was so sweet! (She did great, by the way)

Blessings,

Shawna