Kenya Mission 2009

by Mary Jane Trinkus

Frequently upon our return, we are asked, “How was the mission?” There are many ways to answer this question. We can tell of the long journey, the weather and the beautiful animals of Kenya.

We can also tell of the work that was done during the 2 weeks. We were blessed with the ability to help many. At the 50 year old hospital, 109 surgeries were performed. At Upendo Village there is a bustling outpatient clinic. Our hardworking medical team saw over 600 patients at this site. Two days were spent at an IDP camp. This is a place where 5000 internally displaced persons have lived since the civil unrest 1 ½ years ago. 300+ patients were seen in just two days. Adding the patients who came daily to the hospital, frequently waiting all day to be seen by our surgeons, we totaled over 1000 outpatient visits. Our construction team, in just two weeks under a dry, hot sun, built 4 homes. Two were 24x12 with 2 windows and a door. The other 2 were 30x12 with 3 rooms, interior doors and 3 windows. These larger homes housed families each with seven children.

So, listing the work accomplished is an informative way to answer the question, “How was the mission?” But there is another way too.

It has to do with how it touched our hearts and speaks to the images we carry home. It’s about the devastating drought, the crops dying, and the reports of people starving to death. It’s about a life saved because we were there with our expertise. It’s about the endless heat and breathing the constant dust as the homes were built. It’s about the overwhelming gratitude on the faces of the parents who now have a roof over their children’s heads. It’s about the sickness and despair of the tent camp inhabitants as they approach their second year anniversary living in a tent – their lives as they knew it, long gone. It’s about the smells and the flies on the patients in the hospital but also their thankful smiles because we performed their surgeries and helped them heal. It’s about the 165 bed hospital with a 145 % occupancy rate. It’s about telling a patient with a surgical problem that we are going home tomorrow, time has run out. It’s about working on a home and realizing that none of the children you see have a pair of shoes. It’s about hearing a child’s giggle as you play patty cake.  The answer to “How was the mission?” is different for each of us. It’s at times exhausting and  exhilarating, painfully sad and wildly joyful. It is a struggle, a privilege, a hardship, a blessing.  Mission is a way to be with our brothers and  sisters in need.

 

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