Back at Bethany

I spent most of the day today at Bethany touring the wards with Mercy, the Chaplain at Bethany Kids. Mercy graciously allowed Dr. Patey and I to join her on her rounds as we had the opportunity to meet and speak with every child and parent throughout the hospital. We were originally going to do the rounds with a physician, but the opportunity to go with Mercy seemed much more appealing as were would be able to stop and spend time rather than the sometimes clinical way in which a physician can interact with patients, especially in a hospital as busy as Bethany.

Mercy conducts each visit by saying hello and greeting the child and parent. Many of the children and mothers (called ‘Mamas’) she knows well as they have been at Bethany for a while recovering, but many of the children were admitted as recently as last night so she is just getting to know them. Each visit starts with a greeting, an introduction of Dr. Patey and I, a conversation about the child – their condition and progress - and then Mercy would read some scripture from the bible in Swahili, selecting various passages depending on the situation in each ward. Dr. Patey and I were also invited to pray, and often the Mama would pray as well, more often than not in Swahili.

Each ward was very different, depending on who was in the room. In some rooms where there are Somali refugees, the prayer was very difficult because of their strong Muslim faith. I will write more about that in another post. Mercy persists with her message and prayer regardless, and we found that most people were so grateful for the message of faith during what is a difficult time for them.

Generally, the children in the hospital are there with their mothers, but there are also some fathers who are there with their children which is really encouraging. Parents wear pink hospital smocks and sleep in the same bed with their child.

Many of the children suffer from spina bifida and hydrocephalus, but there are a wide variety of reasons why the children are at Bethany. I met a one month old little girl with hydracephalus who was waiting to have a shunt surgically placed in her brain to drain the fluid there. I met a Masi man (the Masi are a traditional tribe who live in the Masi Mari area of Kenya in mud huts, wear jewelry and elaborate clothing, and are a traditional hunter and warrior tribe of Kenya) with his young daughter. She had been admitted with severe burns to her feet from stepping in a fire and subsequently had to have both feet amputated. He is holding his daughter in one of the pictures above and if you look closely, you can see the stretched skin from his ear lobes where they had been elongated over time with various instruments as it is a sign of beauty in their tribe. I met another young man and his mother who had just had his nose surgically repaired after an incident with a machete.

For the most part though, the boys and girls at Bethany were being treated for clef palette, hydrocephalus, spina bifida, and club foot. The young babies with their heads severely swollen from fluid build up on the brain with tubes coming out of their heads, noses, and arms is heartbreaking. Their little bodies and tiny arms dwarf in comparison to their heads as they await the implanting of a shunt to drain the fluid. When addressed early, this young boys and girls can recover entirely and go on to lead quite happy and productive lives. Untreated, however, they would have a difficult time walking, would have developmental difficulties, and here in Africa, could quite possibly end up abandoned in the current culture. Despite the condition of the boys and girls, the blessing is that they are in the hospital receiving the treatment they need and will hopefully go on to lead full lives because of the work taking place at Bethany.

The most remarkable part of our visit was the strength, courage, and resilience of these young mothers who had sought the medical attention for their children, despite society’s views of disabilities, and were in the hospital with them full of hope and optimism for the most part. We met some parents who were frustrated, defeated, feeling overwhelmed and hopeless in regards to their children’s future, but we were introduced to many more by Mercy who had been similarly depressed and hopeless, but had come to embrace the optimism of the hospital and of their faith as Mercy shared the gospel and prayer with them each day.

One of the most wonderful moments I experienced was the mothers in the cramped hydrocephalus ward who lifted their hearts and voices in song together. Holding their child and rocking them back in forth in their arms, or joining their fellow mothers, they sang songs of praise and worship to God in Swahili as a group united in their struggles, and in their faith. I felt so blessed to have been able to witness this moment as I filmed it. I will try to upload the video onto this blog post for you to share in the moment. The camera work is shaky as it was another emotional and electrifying experience, but it is worth a few moments of your time to watch and listen. Despite their situation, they still had time for their faith, for each other, and did so with such optimism.