Hi everyone So this weekend marks the mid-way point in my placement. It also may be my last official visit to Kisii (which means I might not be giving formal blog entries). I will try to access the internet from my cell phone and attempt to give you guys regular updates; but no promises. This week was pretty good. We did two days in the community and two days at the Opapo clinic. We went to a community that was close to Rongo (unfortunately I didn’t get the name but it was still in Rongo district). We saw approximately 40 to 50 different cases with my self seeing 19 individuals. Unfortunately, many if these people required medical attention and needed to be referred to the hospital. There were a couple of cases that I could help with direct (such as those who needed some assistance with equipment;mainly calipers which are braces used over here). The second community we visited was on the coast of Lake Victoria. It was called Sindo which was approximately a 2 hour drive from Rongo. We were able to identify 3 children that would benefit from intense therapy sessions so hopefully we’ll see them next week during our Training Week (where the clients will stay over night and have treatment everyday for a week). We also saw dislocated hips (which I’ve become an expert in identifying) and a possible case of sickle cell. During this last week I’ve also realized (or has come to a greater understanding) of the hardships that people here have to face; specifically those who have a disability or have been orphaned at a young age. I have come face to face with two young women who were in this situation. One I have already commented on. As an orphan she had a child at 13 and now at 18 has another baby. The second situation that I’ve come across is even worse. I met a 24 year old who suffered from polio as a young child and was left with permanent disfigurement of her legs (she walks on the lateral side of her feet). Because of this, she was coxed into marrying her older sister’s husband (culturally, if there is a disabled sister, the older sister’s husband is suppose to give support .. which can be seen as a form of marriage). With this man, this young girl has already given birth to 4 children. She came to the clinic asking for assistance because she has now left that house (which had her older sister, their husband and her sister’s 6 kids) because she was being physically abused by her sister. The worst part of this story is that she had just given birth a week before coming to us. My preceptor told her to come back to the clinic this week and we’re going to help her set up a business so she has a means to support her family….hopefully we can help her and she doesn’t have to go back to that home. The next 3 weeks I expect to go quickly. I will try to jump on here again with shorter entries. Take care everyone and Ramadan Mubarak Love Noreen

My 2nd week of placement in Kenya

Hi Everyone I’m officially finished 1/3rd of my placement. Things have been going great. This week we had training week in the clinic where the clients come to the clinic for the entire week and stay over night. The reason for this is because they have training everyday of the week and some can not afford to travel back and forth from home. We still stay with Mr. Okidi in his home and return every morning. The clients I saw this week were similar to the ones that would be at home with one exception. There was this young boy who was no bigger than 10lbs and his mother said he was the age of 2. He was severely under nourished and it was very hard to believe that he was any older than 6months old. I looked at his teeth to really confirm his age (to the best of my ability that is..). The best thing we could do for the mother was continually remind her that she needed to feed her child every 2 hours even if he wasn’t crying. My preceptor was determined to make the mother understand the efforts she needed to take to feed her child, even if he wasn’t awake. We’re expecting this client back at the hospital so we can get more medical interventions underway. The 2nd child I saw was similar to one I have seen in the past at home. He had CP and was having difficulty with increase tone in his legs. I really hope that he comes back and we can achieve some more goals with him. I’d like to see him walk, however a walker for a child is unheard of here. Even for an elderly person, walkers are too “cumbersome” when there’s no pavement but just gravel roads. I also saw adults during the week. I saw a women who had suffered from severe rheumatoid arthritis and she had lost her ability to walk. We are planning on visiting this lady in her home and see if we can find alternative ways for her locomotion. Currently, she is being carried by her daughter and son (who could be as young as 12 years). In other news…I’m having a great time… next week we may go to Roma which is a national park in West Kenya.. Miss everyone very much Take care Noreen

My 1st Week of Placement in Kenya

Hi everyone

So I completed my first week on placement in Rongo, Homa Bay and surrounding areas. It was a week full of eye opening experiences. On the 1^st day of placement, I was able to use my skills from ErinOaks Children’s Centre to diagnosis a dislocated hip for a 15year old boy. Over in Kenya, physiotherapist are allowed to give their clinical impression (diagnosis) to clients/patients. In Canada, we can’t really give a true diagnosis. Also, Kenyan PT’s can cast fractures and club foot (a common foot deformity seen in infants). When I was in Homa Bay (2^nd day), I assisted in casting for club foot. Unfortunately, surgery is very expensive for many people over here, where as in Canada, many people would just have a surgery to correct the club foot.

It can be very frustrating, unfortunately, when we come across people who can’t afford simple things like an operation to fix a fracture. Since this is a common problem, they use a device here that will pull the legs (or arm) apart while the fracture is new until the bones meet. We came a cross a man who was walking on a one year old compound fracture of a femur. When he brought us his recent x-ray (2 weeks old), this fracture was still separated.

Another issue that we’ve been running into is individuals coming to the clinic asking for money, rather than help for their disability. Over here, the white man is called “Muzungo”. We commonly hear people yelling this while we walk down the street or when we’re in the Matatus. Anyways, people in the towns have been hearing that the “Muzungos” have come and this has brought many to the clinic with the hopes to get some financial assistance.

We have also come across spina bifida (another very common problem). In Homa Bay hospital there as a 6 day old infant that was waiting sponsoring so he could be taken to Nairobi or Kisumu for surgery. The protrusion of the dura (the area around the spinal cord) was fully exposed.. which is scary since this child was at a crazy high risk for meningitis.

On a happier note, the food here is great. I also got a chance to visit another city/town/district called Magori. Over there they had a hospital as well and we stayed in the hospital guest house (which had running water and flushing toilets .. very exciting).

I was also going to post pictures today, but I changed my memory card and completely forgot to bring the full card.. so…I will try again in 2 weeks. I might not jump onto the internet next weekend. Getting to Kisii (the city).. can be difficult on the Matatus.

Miss you guys a lot..

Love

noreen

Way of life and the Matatus

Yesterday night Deb arrived (another PT student from Mac) and the rest of the group also returned from their weekend trip to a rainforest (Kakameca…north of Kisumu). So yesterday night was pretty fun having a large group of people in the home. All together, there is 3 OT students from Mac, 2 PT students from U of T and 4 PT students from Mac (including myself). Today we decided to come back to Kisii to check emails and look around some more. I decided it would be a good time to tell you guys a little more about how Kenya is like India and about the Matatus.. Well.. Kenyans love to sell stuff to you in the same manner as an Indian would. My mom would love it actually because she could use her bartering skills to the max. Also, showering is the same with the bucket over the head and they also eat chapathi.. which is sooooooo good! The toilets are also the same which I talked about already. There is also a lot of Indians in the area.. so it’s very interesting to see a lady wearing outfits shopping at the local Nakumatt.. which is a large superstore of East Africa.. also owned by Indians.. it reminds me of Walmart.. seriously…. They sell everything.. The matatus are also very interesting and fun to ride.. sometimes. They are small mini buses that they pack full of people. They will literally try to fit 14 people plus a driver and a man that collects money in a car that should only hold 10. They also drive pretty fast and pay some local music .. which is fun. That’s the way we’ve been traveling to the city of Kisii.. a 20 to 30 min. drive from Rongo on a matatu. Tomorrow I will be starting my placement at the Opapo clinic. Hopefully I’ll be able to jump onto the internet again next week (Saturday or Sunday) and fill you guys in on how the week went “at work”. Bye for now! And Miss you all!

Living in Rongo

Well, I’ve made it to Rongo, Kenya and I’m having a great time. I am a little home sick but I think that was to be expected. Everyone is very nice! Food is also very good. Yesterday I was able to see many areas around Rongo. I went to Homa Bay and Kisumu. Kisumu is larger than I expected and there are a lot of Indians.. :) I also so a little or Rongo which reminded me of Milton; but mainly because it has the same population . Kenya reminds me a lot of India. In India .. we did have running water, but Mr. Okidi’s place doesn’t.. that’s the only difference this far. Everything else is the same. I take showers the same way (bucket over head.. after boiling the water). Thank goodness I cut my hair!! I will take pictures of my room etc, but I can’t promise I will be able to post many because the internet is pretty slow and I’m afraid it would take almost 30 minutes to load them. But I will try. My mosquito net is lovely.. it’s kinda funny how a princess net for decoration in my old room can actually be put to practical use over here. Currently, the only problem I am having is using my new international SIM card.. I was either very tired yesterday, or I was going crazy ( not sure yet). Either way, placing a call was a pain. I’m sure Roger’s is going to love me because I am expecting a large bill next month (yes.. My Roger’s number is still working.. but don’t even think of call me sidrah.. I’m still screening my calls :P.. j/k). I will get Khadir to try skyp and if that works, he can give the number and we can still chat. The issues with the “hole in the ground” isn’t that bad.. actually.. I was also surprised Amarah.. haha.. . Well that’s all for now. I’m sure I will have a lot more to add next week. I start placement on Tuesday and that’s when the excitement should begin. Miss everyone Love Noreen Xoxo p.s.. if my grammar is bad.. or there’s spelling issues.. get over it.. I don’t have time to proof read…time is money.. J