Final Post

The group took a walk on the wild side over the weekend...to see the other side of Africa. There were beautiful landscapes such as this.

Spectacular views of the Great Rift Valley

Amazing animals...

And who can forget the incredible Dung Beetle! Yep he's rolling dung using his hind legs. Truly amazing. ;)

Then...history was made. Thank goodness we had a TV and could see what was happening. It does make a person feel slightly uncomfortable when there is conversation all around you about how "the U.S. forces tracked and killed Osama" and the people having the conversation are looking at you while they are talking. It starts to feel very personal.

Upon our return there were other uncomfortable things to deal with... Termites decided to make themselves comfortable in our rooms!

When it rains they come out of the ground and look for mates! They are about 3 inches when their wings are spread. They were everywhere!! The more lights the more termites. So again, we had to sit with a candle until they disappeared for the night.

Clean up the next morning...gross!


Terri and Julie met with Jeri and Joe to work on VICODEC strategy.

Then on to the medical clinic!

The medical clinic was a huge success! Over 500 people walked to the clinic to receive either medical or vision assistance.

Here we are getting our assignments for the day.

People started arriving about 7:00 am. The guards were in place to keep order.

The doctors and nurses were introduced and a prayer was said.

Julie was assigned to registration. Writing names was quite a challenge but at the end of the day...there was no name Julie couldn't spell. :)

People were lined up around the VICODEC corridor. Numbers were given to each person and they were called in order for an initial screening, evaluated and told which doctor to see.

This is what the screening room looked like for most of the day. Thanks to our volunteers who kept the patients in order and moving to see the doctor.

Ann and Michelle making decisions on the best procedure.

A patient meets with the one of the doctors from Kenyetta Hospital.

The pharmacy was busy all day long. Handing out free prescriptions and advising how to get those they did not have.

Registration for the eye clinic was done by our VICODEC friends, while Val and Lori assisted the patients with the actual exam and follow up.

All the VICODEC kids were on hand to be weighed, measured and screened for illness before returning to school. If you recall, the school year is 3 months on and one month off. VICODEC staff weighs and measures the children before they leave for break and upon their return. The sad news is that during that month the children are away, they lose weight.

Most of the illnesses reported were Malaria, Thyphoid and many chest infections. In the eye clinic many glasses were prescribed, medications given out and surgeries recommended. The clinic was a huge success, again giving VICODEC exposure in the community in hopes of retaining new patients.

It's the last post for the trip. Tonight we leave for home. We will leave here at 6:30 pm for a 10:30 pm departure. We are expecting many delays and heightened security.

We were blessed to see the children return to school. Check out this video of the kids singing!

Thank you to everyone for your support and prayers during this trip. Please, if you haven't already, consider sponsoring a child or supporting VICODEC in some other way. You can see that the program is amazing and now you can talk to your friends and family about what they have seen and felt on this journey. Please contact Terri Green at 920-831-8818 for more information.



FINAL UPDATE

The group took the weekend and visited the wild side of Africa! Here are a few photos

Update

Our first full day without electricity was Thursday. That's an eye-opener! You don't realize how often you use it until you don't have it.

The morning started out very rainy but cleared up nicely. Today our volunteers worked with the children of Nakeel Primary School to decorate garbage cans. The children agreed to keep the campus clean if the cans were provided.


Attention US Venture Associates... THANK YOU! Look what you were able to provide to VICODEC with the money raised through two casual days. They are overwhelmed and very grateful!

U.S. Venture is helping to sponsor a free medical clinic to the community of Ongata Rongai. Nurses and doctors will be on hand to provide medical care and to prescribe any medications necessary. VICODEC has also partnered with an eye clinic so this year eye exams will also be provided. This is the second medical clinic we have done. The first clinic provided services to over 800 people. I can guarantee we will be working very hard on that day.  Here Ann and Barb are sorting medications for the upcoming clinic.





In the last blog, I was explaining how the sponsored families receive a food supplies quarterly and I posted several photos of some of us picking up the bulk food...here is the rest of the story.

The mama's of the sponosred children are asked to provide some volunteer work for VICODEC. In this case they are cleaning the campus before the children arrive back at school. In Kenya children are in class for 3 months and off for 1 month. The children return on Monday.

When the bulk food arrives at VICODEC it has to be measured and sorted. At this time, we have 64 children sponsored so we obviously had to make up 64 separate bags.

Here Lori is adding flour to each bag and Michelle is working on preparing the bags for incoming food items.

Alison making sure the bags are filled properly and Wallie and Julie are measuring rice!

Here are the parents that came to pick up there food and meet all of us.

 If you can, please watch this video of a young girl, who is new to VICODEC, recite a poem she wrote in front of the parents and staff. She is remarkable and the poem is very fitting to how the families and children feel about the sponsorship program.

I'm going to sign off with this photo of Ann meeting the mama of her sponsored child. A picture is worth a thousand words...

Kibera Slum

 Work continues at Nakeel, painting windows and painting chalkboards.

Some of the group stayed at VICODEC and worked with the social workers to install a camera for communication via SKYPE and did some training on Facebook. After a successful camera installation, off to the market to purchase food items for the sponsored families.

The sponsored families receive rice, beans, soap, tea, sugar, flour and other items every 4-5 months. The social workers buy the products in bulk and separate the food into bags for each family.

Faith, Terri, Grace and Lori were overseeing the packing of the truck.

If the store didn't have enough of the product we needed, they sent a person by bicycle to a neighboring warehouse to pick what was needed. A very unique way to deliver! On to Tusky's which is a large store similar to a Walmart...they have everything. We picked up garbage cans and soccer balls for the children of Nakeel. They promised to start keeping their campus clean if there were garbage cans provided. We promised soccer balls for their efforts.

Then on to Kibera Slum, the largest slum in Kenya. Kibera is situated just outside of Nairobi and is 2 miles square. Rumor has it that there are over 1.2 million people living in this area. We met a pastor (Kenyaneeta) who agreed to take us into Kibera so we could make a comparison between Kware slum which is the population VICODEC serves and this one.

The railroad runs directly through Kibera and runs all the way to Uganda. In 2007 when there was so much politcal unrest, it was noted that the people of Kibera rose up and each person assembled at the railroad track and lifted at the same time, removing the track from the ground so the train could no longer pass through.

The area was extremely dangerous and we were only able to walk on the outside near the railroad track.

Challenging Day

Cleaning and painting was the project for today. The dust on the doors and windows was so thick at times it was hard to distinguish cement from dirt. There are no hoses... so spraying down the doors and windows was not and option. Scrubbing was done with bamboo hand brooms and rinsed with a watering can. It's so warm everything dries before you can even rinse. Michelle, Alison and Val pose for this photo before getting back to work.

But as you can see, painting did get done and new friends were made. This is Julie with Paul, the parent/teacher coordinator. Paul wears a suit for everything including today's project. His suit took on a new pattern when he backed into a freshly painted pole...sorry Paul we just couldn't get the paint out.

Lori and Ann are tackling the over 20 poles around the campus. Sanding and then applying two coats of paint.

Wallie going for another container of paint.

Lunch was catered in by VICODEC. All you could eat rice and lentils.

Some of the older girls who helped clean windows and doors.

Tomorrow, work again early in the morning and then a special visit to Kibera. The largest slum in Kenya.

Alison's post

Today was another successful day at Nakeel. After cleaning yesterday, today we painted all the classroom doors and prepared to paint the inside of those classrooms tomorrow. The kids once again were wonderful and always wanting to help us. There is something about all these children that really make all of us feel pretty darn special, and all the hard work seems really easy when we know we are doing it for them!

Not only have we had lots of fun helping over at Nakeel but we are also meeting the wonderful people that work right here at Vicodec. This place is truly amazing and the things they are doing for all the kids is great!

Time for dinner....pictures will be posted later tonight.

Good Morning!

Good morning from VICODEC! Preparing for Nakeel and a full day of work. It's cool this morning, about 60F. Should warm up to about 80F. Expecting over 80 additional community members to work on the school today.

Our friends the african bees are working hard on this beautiful trumpet flower. We are so grateful they are focusing on this beautiful trumpet flower and not us! These are not your ordinary bees, these are the true killer bees of africa. I will admit...I do have a zoom lens! :)