Kenyatta Hospital

My eyes have been opened to the continuing role I’ll be coming back to Kenya for. This is a post I have been so excited to share with you guys!!

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I have just come off of safari, which was an eye opening experience of its own in a very unexpected way. It gave me time to remove myself from my volunteer work and process all that’s been happening.

Thursday, Teresia and I had a meeting at Kenyatta National Hospital. Without much info on what we were going to do, I got ready that morning having a feeling that this day was going to be special. An Uber picked the two of us up and we also picked up Eglan on the way. She is a local and is an occupational therapist that comes to Total Rehab when they have the funds to support her. Once we made it to hospital‘s campus we found Jennifer. I have mentioned Jennifer and the work she does in previous blog posts. This day I really saw her for who she is - God‘s servant in every conversation and situation. She is well known around the hospital and takes the time pray with people in every corner of it with special attention to the pediatric oncology unit. She guided us through the hospital to our meeting with the social workers.

Over the next 3 hours is when it became clear to me the future work that I am to be a part of with Total Rehab.

Together, Jennifer and her team of social workers have been monitoring six children who have found themselves as permanent residents of the hospital. All have lived there for at least 2 years, some as much as 5. A hospital is not a home for a child. Especially one like Kenyatta that is busting at the seams. Being a national hospital owned by the government they are not allowed to turn anyone away. You see criminals, children, adults, infants, and seniors covering every wall, bench, bed, and even patches of grass in the breezeways. They cannot leave until their bill is paid so people remain there until someone brings them the money needed to discharge. What Jennifer has been doing is trying to find a suitable home for these children and a place that will accept them. She spent an entire day making phone calls and getting rejected because many of these kids don’t have birth certificates and their parents aren’t easily found. Her last call was to Teresia who didn’t say yes quite yet, but she didn’t say no.

Jennifer, Teresia, Eglan, Bahati, Lenore, Evelyn, and myself piled into a room. Here we were, a diverse group of women who saw a problem and wanted to go out of their way to fix it, and I wasn’t just a witness..I was a part of it. I’ve never been more humbled in my life than the moment of realization that this was the truth. I knew that my purpose here would be revealed to me over time, but not in this big of a way. These kids all have their own broken stories and we have the opportunity to change that and give it a happier ending. This is changing lives and a picture of the Holy Spirit planting a mission in people who couldn’t be more different, but have a calling to do His work, His way. Seeing God’s hand in the timing of it all is what made it feel so intentional that I be on this team as well. My first day meeting Teresia I also met Jennifer and video taped their interview of Teresia sharing what Total Rehab was, why God called her to do it, and answering Jennifer’s questions about how others can help. This was also their first day meeting face to face. Not even a week later we are sitting in an office together about to evaluate children to see if they will fit into Total Rehab. I mean, wow.

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Carol was the first. We talked about the complications of her family and how she says they wanted her to get married so that she would move out of their house. To date, the family is unreachable. She is somewhere between 21 and 29 years old. She has a child that is almost 2 years that she doesn’t remember because of some form of amnesia she suffers from. She is very neat and can do a lot for herself, but doesn’t like her bed messed with. Carol has downs syndrome and is beautiful, soft spoken, and hasn’t stepped foot outside of the hospital in 2 years. Watching the first interactions between Carol and Teresia was so cool! The staff made it very clear that there is no pressure and no true decisions had to be made today. Nonetheless, not even 5 minutes into their initial encounter Teresia looks at them all and says, ”She will fit well.”

Next was Daniel. Apparently, he was Jennifer’s boyfriend. I’m sorry Garner, but after he and I met it was love at first sight. He is now my Kenyan boyfriend and a hopeful new addition to Total Rehab. He’s around 10 years old, lively, giggly, really good at hide and seek, and loves white people! He reminds me so much of Lydia, who is one of my sidekicks at Total Rehab. I think the two of them will get along well and share similar interests. He is a very good candidate, and had called Kenyatta home for the past 5 years. Teresia said, “He will fit well, too.”

We moved to see two infants that shared a bed and enjoy each other’s company. One has hydrocephalus and the other a feeding tube and is blind in the left eye. We are going to get them both re-evaluated because for now they told us there isn’t a surgery that can be done for the boy with hydrocephalus but we would like a second opinion. As for the little girl with the feeding tube, we would like to get her re-evaluated to see if she would be able to eat without the tube. It’s hard to tell without going through that process first, because Kenyatta is such a busy hospital that the tube might be only because the nurses cannot take the time out of their day to devote to feeding here. Further evaluation will let us know soon! If she can’t feed without the tube, it would cost money that Total Rehab Centre doesn’t have to have a nurse out there to position the tube correctly and monitor it.

Next, we visited with a teenage girl and unfortunately the same issue of needed a nurse around the clock came up. She doesn‘t have any life threatening illness at the moment, but she is totally dependent upon the staff there. Our fear was that if we brought her to the Centre, she would need to come back to Kenyatta within two weeks to get proper medical care. The transportation cost to and from the hospital is another thing that’s not in the budget.

Lastly, we met Smith! He is cute as can be and has cerebral palsey. His personality makes up for his lack of trunk control. Teresia said he would also be a good addition to the orphanage. After meeting him we went and recapped all of the children we evaluated together.

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I was beaming with excitement after all this. Real change is about to happen for real people. I have Behati’s contact for when I come back in the future, as a physical therapist able to make a bigger impact. She was the main social worker that guided her team. Jennifer was so kind to explain to Elliott, the head social worker, her recognition for how good of a job Kenyatta does with the resources they have. We would never want to make them feel like we think they‘re not giving sufficient care, because they are. We all agree that a home is a better environment for a child than a hospital, and they understood and were so grateful for her making that clear.

Later this night Teresia and I talked about what it’s going to look like to bring in three new kids. Right now we wait for paperwork and processing, with hopes that all the outstanding bills will be waived. Three new kids means three new mouths to feed, three beds, and anticonvulsant medication for Carol to name a few. Most importantly, hiring on a new staff member because the ladies that currently help run it are already spread very thinly. They cook, clean the floors twice a day at least, wash heaps of soiled clothing, manually feed the kids three times a day because most can’t feed themselves, and change their diapers and clothes. That’s why having volunteers is so nice because that gives the kids entertainment and a chance to get out of bed or their wheelchairs for a change. They don’t have time to give the one-on-one attention the children so desperately crave.

It’s impossible to set these things in motion and not commit to a role of coming back to follow through with making sure the kids are being taken care of and happy. I’m dreaming big here, but my goal is to be part of Total Rehab becoming a refuge for many, many more children. This is going to take time and fundraising. I’ve been told that Therapy Across Borders is trying to find land so that Total Rehab can have their own property, rent free, without having to worry about paying a landlord. Right now they’re actually very fortunate to have a landlord that is ok with them using property to house special needs children (something that is rare here). I want them to be able to hire more staff. I believe the Lord wouldn’t start all this if we wasn‘t going to provide in the end! I know this to be true because me coming to Kenya is a prime example of that. I had no idea why this mission was the one for me, and now look at what He has given me a chance to be a part of. I am so thankful to be his instrument.