First Day of Clinics

Well I think I'm officially the least liked at the Bondini school — let me explain :)

Today we went to the Bondini school in Nairobi which teaches 900 kids from another slum area. We went to do health checks for these kiddos. Today we worked with mostly 4, 5, and 6 year olds and checked their vitals, hemoglobin levels, vision, and looked for other issues such as dehydration and malnutrition.

The hemoglobin levels are why I am probably the least liked. To get this, they needed a finger prick. Some kids did really well! Especially for being so little. Others, not so much. There was a lot of tears and a few kids who screamed and had to be held down. Even one who was so mad, he managed to knock stuff off the table and ripped through my gloves. They did NOT like those needles and by extension, me.

Ugh! I don't think I'll ever get used to making kids cry... but it was super necessary — so many of those kids had anemia. To give you an idea of their levels, a normal hemoglobin level would be between 12.3 gm/dL to 15.3 gm/dL. Severe hemoglobin levels are considered 12 gm/dL. Most of the kids I stuck were 11-something and the lowest I saw was 8.6 gm/dL. It was really interesting, near the end I could kind of tell if they were going to be low or not based on the color of their blood. There was also a lot of dehydration and malnutrition which made it harder to get enough of a sample.

We probably saw close to 150 kids today and will be doing the same tomorrow for more kids. Around lunch I was feeling really defeated and didn't really want to go back and make more kids cry, but God saved my day!!

As I was waiting outside the "stabbing room," there was a new class of kids also waiting outside, and we all started singing a version of "if you're happy and you know it." They were laughing and smiling and grabbing my hands and arms and it gave me a needed break. God is so good!

I also got to talk with another lab tech in between kids and learned her story. Snyder was so sweet!! She travels to all of MOHI's schools throughout Kenya to care for the medical needs of all those kids. She told me about her fiancé and their wedding planning (she's got a pink and blue wedding dress picked out) as well as her dad who has cancer. He has to get his leg amputated in a few days to stop the spread. His name is Boaz if you have time to pray for him and his surgery.

My favorite part of the day was as we were getting ready to leave all of the kids were waiting on the ground level for their parents to come get them. We were also waiting for something (I'm not sure what) but I started goofing around with one of the kids. Originally, we were just jumping up and down and chanting but as more kids joined, I quickly got tired so I squatted down ...and then they all squatted down. So I sat down and sighed ...and they all sat down and sighed. And a game was born! We probably played "copycat" for fifteen minutes and oh my goodness. This is why I love being able to do these kinds of things. I love their energy and joy! I love hearing them praising God! I love people and how they reflect our Maker! I really am at a loss for words right now.

...so maybe I'm not the least liked in the school. Maybe God gave me the job He needed me to do and blessed me in spite of the difficulties.

Blessings,

Shawna