Friday in the Special Needs Clinic

Friday in the Special Needs Clinic….hard work with a big payoff

Finally, it is Friday here at Tenwek, the day we have all anxiously awaited and prepared for over the last few months. Our goal has been to make this journey to support Solomon Rop, PT and the Special Needs Clinic at Tenwek Hospital. Making the journey with us is my friend and colleague, TR Goins and my sister- in-law Betsy Hage, who is also a PT. TR owns Abilitations, a pediatric therapy practice in Raleigh, NC while Betsy works for Bill's practice in their bundled care program.  

We have arrived with 4 suitcases full of therapy supplies, padding, strapping, AFO’s, club foot braces, toys, and educational materials. But mostly, we have arrived with big hearts ready to serve!!

We began our day just like any "female Amercian therapist would”…detailed ideas of how we think things should be, thoughtful treatment spaces with toys placed at arms reach, handouts at the ready to be distributed to families, and even a makeshift waiting room outdoors to handle the onslaught of children we knew would be waiting. Solomon arrived soon with our first dose of reality and the realization that the families would not want to be waiting outside in the frigid temps ( a comfortable 65-70 degrees). Go figure, we American Southerners would relish a breezy, low humidity 70 degree day. Nonetheless, they started to arrive and trickle in slowly and our plan for treatments were working well. But then they just kept coming and our pace frenetic. So many children and families with so many needs. TR handled it well, keeping us realistic about our pace, and reminding us to just keep it moving. Luckily, reinforcements arrived and Mimi and Preston became great therapy assistants along with Mickimom (my mother-in-law) who entertained and engaged the mothers and children waiting. We were reunited with Enoch, the little boy who we made a chair for last visit. He is now 9 years old and still using the adapted chair we had made by Julius the area carpenter. We saw Faith, the little girl with spina bifida who is the namesake of the fund that covers the costs of the Special Needs Clinic. We saw several little “Emmanuels” reminding us all the while that God was in fact with us! Each time we looked into the darling faces and bleak circumstances of these Kenyan children we saw great need but also great hope and joy. We will take away from that morning so many moments. All in all we saw over 30 kids in just under 5 hours. And this was just the first half of our day….

After downing a quick lunch we headed off to a local village to deliver a wheel chair. Solomon's wheelchair ministry is growing and a secondary part of the Special Needs Clinic.  He deliver's wheelchairs on Friday afternoons to local children in need.  This day we were to visit Nellie, a 10 year old girl with spastic cerebral palsy.  We should have known it was going to be an adventure from the outset.  Once we arrived, we realized this large chair would not fit through the makeshift barbed wire fence door.  We had to hoist it over the barbed wire into the cow pasture dodging patties to get it to her hut.  We were greeted by her mom, Edna.  She was a lovely single mom of three children and described how she found Solomon at Tenwek through word of mouth.  Solomon and TR fit the chair to perfectly suit Nellie and her positioning needs.  Nellie is unable to sit, walk, or stand due to her CP and this chair offers her cushioning and the positioning she needs to interact with the world and provide a safe place to sit.  Although she is non-verbal it was evident she loved her new chair.  As typical with the customs of home visits in Kenya, after her chair was fitted we were welcomed for a time of chai, thanksgiving, and prayer.  It was a holy time!  Ephesians 2:10 states, "We are God's workmanship, prepared in Christ Jesus to do good works which he prepared in advance for us to do."  

On our way home, Solomon decided that we had time for another home visit.  He wanted Betsy to see a patient who had just had a knee replacement which is fairly rare in Kenya due to expenses.  Because it is the rainy season in Kenya, it has been raining daily.  This afternoon was especially rainy and the patients driveway looked more like a mudslide than a place for cars.  Solomon made it halfway down the long driveway where we were greeted by Simeon Sang and ordered to load up into his car.  Apprehensively, we loaded up with Simeon for a slippery ride down the rest of the driveway.  He brought us into his home where we met his wife Grace.  Betsy worked her magic and did her best home PT.  Simeon sent us on our way with a prayer and great thanksgiving, but we all could have just sat in their presence sharing stories for much longer.  And we almost had to given the adventure packed drive by Simeon up their muddy driveway. 

We arrived back home to the guest house with muddy shoes, dusty clothes, and a load of memorable experiences that we unpacked and savored over a warm Kenyan pizza.