Our First Days in Mutomo

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We have made it safely to Mutomo after many, many hours of traveling.  We will work our way backwards on today's blog -- telling you about today's adventure and working back in time (if you are interested in hearing all of the details).

Today--Saturday, June 19:
Happy Father's Day!

This morning our group went to mass at the church located next door to the Mutomo Hospital.  At the church was the population of a girls' school from across the street and several other people from the community.  The priest was escorted in by two rows of dancing girls, with beautiful music sung by the entire congregation. During Mass, we were welcomed into the church by the priest, and Philip was invited to speak at mass.  He encouraged everyone to come say, "Hello, Minnesota!" to us, and we were to respond, "Hello, Mutomo" -- after which we would introduce ourselves by name.  This introduction "exercise" has been so helpful because many people in the community have approached us, and they feel more comfortable around us now that they know who we are and what we are doing in the community. 

Following tea with the sisters, our groups split up.  One group stayed at the hospital and was able to witness the birth of a baby.  That group included Lizzie England, Eric Grutzner, Ashley Bruber, and Rose McNeely.  The group went into the delivery room, where the expectant mother lay.  Attending the birth were one doctor, one midwife, Sr. Josephine, and one nurse.  Once the mother delivered the baby, the doctor hoisted the baby in the air so that she could see its gender (as opposed to having the doctor announce the gender).  It was a boy, who weighed 2.6 kilograms.  He was swaddled and given some injections.  In addition to seeing the birth of the baby, the girls saw the placenta delivery as well. The girls are clearly impressed by the experience, and they were delighted that the doctor explained the entire procedure.  One memorable impression is that the mother held her own legs, as opposed to having them in stirrups, but the students were also surprised that they were allowed in the delivery room without being required to wash their hands or wear protective gear. 

This same group found that the most mortifying part of the day was that they had to sing the Vis graduation song to over 100 moms and kids at the hospital.  The girls felt their voices didn't compare at all to the various kids at Mutomo who stood up and sang in front of the group.  Mr. Grutzner later assembled a rope out of strings and constructed a volleyball net.  The kids here are also thrilled with the soccer balls we brought because the kids here make their own soccer balls out of wet newspapers bound together with twine.

Another group went to Kasala (they aren't back as of this writing, so more news later), and one group went to a remote medical clinic in Athi.  The truck ride was, in Jessie's words, "crazy" with moments where we thought we might run over young children or any of the various animals (camels, donkeys, goats, cattle, and -- no joke here -- chickens) crossing the road.  The roads were all dirt, deeply pitted and grooved in spots, except for a 500-foot section of pavement graciously provided by the Japanese government (which amused us to no end). 

Upon our arrival, we were greeted by a group of 20 or so children singing (even including our names in the songs) and dancing.  The singing here -- and we can't emphasize this enough -- is absolutely beautiful!  We were also given dance lessons and the students (and by "students," we mean Jessie Wyatt) also taught the local kids some dance lessons, including "The Bernie" and "The Stanky Leg."   Meghan Hickey led the kids in drawing and coloring, and some students even wrote compositions about their lives and their HIV status.  (All of the kids at the Athi clinic are HIV positive and most are orphaned).  The Vis group was also asked to write compositions with info about our lives.

Amanda Scheid, and eventually all of us, played with the kids.  We then had tea, and the kids ate lunch provided by Mutomo Hospital.  After more singing and dancing, it was back to the hospital.  Philip reminded us that the funding from the United States government is keeping alive all of the HIV-positive children we saw today.  If these programs are cut, these children we met will sicken within a month or two and then go through the remainder of the HIV cycle and die. 

The children here are so well-behaved and friendly.  They love singing and dancing, and they all approach us by introducing themselves with a handshake (even the toddlers know to do this).  But we can see that their lives are challenging.  Food, disease, the lack of water, and the lack of money to pay for education complicate these children's lives.  Eric learned that the cost of secondary school (high school) is prohibitive for many families either because of location or the cost of uniforms and fees.  The cost for secondary schools is just $250 a year, but that is a significant sum of money for many of the local families.  Organizations that can manage funds for the children's school fees would be an ideal fix for this situation because one-on-one sponsorships don't effectively help kids through the secondary schools.

A quick note about the drought:  the earth here is unbelievably dry and dusty.  Indeed, during our drive today, we saw 50 or so camels and an enormous herd of cattle being driven south (the camels were from Somalia) so that they could reach water down in Tsavo National Park in Southern Kenya.  In fact, it's so dusty that Philip's gray hair was turning brown as a result of the dust being blown into his hair.  (He approved the telling of this story :-))

Our Arrival in Mutomo Yesterday (June 18):
We woke up in Nairobi at the Southern Sun Hotel and then had a fabulous, gourmet breakfast poolside.  After loading the mini-bus and taking photographs of the friendly guards (who also taught us some Swahili words like "cool" and "awesome," we headed to the bank for money and then the grocery store, which was astonishingly well-stocked and large.  The girls enjoyed looking at different brands of food, and they learned how to say "Happy Father's Day" in Swahili. 

Following the trip to the grocery store, we went on a fairly long and slightly harrowing trip to Mutomo via mini-bus.  To distract themselves, the girls took videos, sang songs, reminisced about their Vis experiences, discussed first kisses, and pelted Mr. Bruber in the head three times with snacks (actually, only Jessie pelted Mr. B in the head -- unintentionally).  The roads here are astonishingly bad -- dusty, ridged, pitted, and with deep gulleys in some points.  Drivers weave all over the roads -- right, left, right again -- so they can avoid the worst parts of the road and protect the car from damage.  The scenery, however, is astounding, with small towns here and there.  The towns are almost identical to each other in their appearance:  small and windowless concrete huts line both sides of the dusty roads.  Donkeys and chickens mill about, and the roads are dotted with people (mostly kids) walking with their animals to get water.  Regardless of their conditions, the kids always waved and smiled broadly as we drove by and waved.

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After six hours, we finally arrived in Mutomo at the Paris Bed and Breakfast.  Each girl has her own room, but many of the girls decided to share rooms last night.  We had dinner with the Sisters (goat stew over rice, chapatis, and braised cabbage with fruit for dessert), and then we retired to the hotel for a quick debrief before we all collapsed from exhaustion. 

The Plane Rides:
The travel was unbelievably long, but the flights were smooth, and there were no problems.