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