Bethany

Dr. Stewart took Dr. Patey and I to visit Bethany. We walked through the main part of the Kijabe hospital toward the Bethany Kids wing. I had seen the photos for years from Dr. Stewart, and even used some in the presentation Mr. Oswald and I used when we introduced the Lenten project last February in our gymnasium. However, I was not prepared for what I was about to witness.

We walked into the main hallway and Dr. Stewart pointed out rooms to the left and right where mothers were dressed in the same pink smocks as their children who were there for surgery. While the children are in the hospital, mothers (and some fathers) move into the hospital with their child to be together for the whole process. In the first two rooms we looked into, there were four beds, each with a small child with hydrocephalus or spina bifida. As Dr. Stewart lead us around the first part of the ward, he explained how beds and space was getting tight and how they had planned to increase the number of beds through expansion. We walked out into a courtyard and he explained where the expansion could be by pointing to the external walls. There is a small green tent set up in the middle of the courtyard in which is the ‘office’ of Bethany’s chaplain appropriately named Mercy. Dr. Stewart promised me a chance to chat with her later in the week. We walked along a path through the courtyard where laundry was hanging (the mothers do theirs and their children’s own laundry there) and then back into the hospital through another set of double doors.

Dr. Stewart explained how when they had maximized capacity in the original wing years ago they needed to expand within the existing Kijabe hospital so they purchased more space from what used to be a portion of the maternity wing. We walked into this new wing into a room filled with hospital beds portioned around the room carefully side by side and lengthways like a hospital bed jigsaw puzzle. Mothers stood over their children’s bed in their pink hospital smocks tending to their children. I watched a mother stand rocking back and forth as she gently rubbed the back of her tiny son while a tube drained fluid from his swollen head. A father and son sat beside one another on a chair, the boy’s legs bandaged and under-developed. We moved into the next room and saw nine or more beds in a room that was clearly meant for no more than three. Each bed had a child lying in it and a mother in a matching pink smock sitting beside them.

As we walked back through the room and out the way we came in, one of the boys with a swollen skull from hydrocephalus and tubes draining fluid began to cry as his mother tended to him at the side of the bed. I am having a diffcult time writing this because it was a powerful experience. It has strengthened my resolve to do whatever possible to help these unbelievable doctors to carry out their mission to help these children who so desperately need it. They are doing everything they can to accommodate and work with the resources they have. I will take photos on Tuesday when I am back again for a surgery and rounds with the doctors. It also serves as a reminder of how worthy all of the work at St. Vincent has been for these children. They will benefit from your support.

I was at Joytown today visiting the school and children there and also at another school run by Feed the Children (the group that we donated our Halloween Candy to this year). They are a contrast in facilities and dignity and so much to process. I look forward to sharing more in my next post along with some photos.

The photos that are showing in the slide show on the right have been updated and include many of my shots from these first few days. They scroll through, but you can also click on the pictures to move them along. I was obviously fascinated with the markets on the side of the road so there are many pictures of them. I have also been talking about Pierre, Noel, Dr. Stewart and Dr. Patey a lot and there are one or two posed shots of them as well.

I've recieved two posts so far! Thanks for your support and comments. I hope these notes find everyone well back in Canada.