Canadian Pride... in Kenya!

By Christine Cassidy

It’s been a busy week here in Kiirua!

After a restful weekend at Mama Jen’s – along with a slightly embarrassing rendition of Oh Canada at her church service on Sunday -- we were ready to kick off another week! The week started with the Melanie and I switching roles in the hospital -- I moved to the maternity ward for the next two weeks and Melanie headed to the OR. We were both very excited to see what experiences a new area of the hospital would hold!

Although the maternity ward is extremely different than that of the QEH, I really enjoyed it. I helped with medication administration, baby care, and examinations. The doctors and nurses are all very kind and willing to teach me. I had the opportunity to assist the birth of two babies! As they say in Kenya, I “conducted” the birth.
Although these were natural births, I am shocked by the number of cesarean births that take place. At the first sign of any type of complication, whether with the fetus or mother, the woman is rushed to the OR for an emergency cesarean. In addition, the women are extremely tiny and regularly give birth to babies with low birth weight. The prenatal care is nowhere near that of Canada, but they are truly doing their best. Next week I am spending Wednesday in the Maternal Child Health clinic to take part in the antenatal care clinics. I am really looking forward to seeing how this aspect of Kenyan health care works.

Thursday was another amazing day at one of the Twinned schools – Marinya-a-Ruibi. We spent the day educating the children on malaria and the use of mosquito nets. The children really enjoyed the demonstration part of our teaching session. At this particular school, we had one child lie under the net as we showed how to tuck the net under the mattress. Mama Jen then asked for a child to act as a mosquito. A young boy comes up to the net and pretends to bite the little boy under the net. It was very cute and definitely helped ensure that the message was transmitted to the children!

Friday started early with an impromptu visit to the OR to take part in a total hip replacement with a visiting surgeon. Since it was Melanie’s week in the OR she scrubbed in and assisted with the surgery! Once the surgery was over we headed to Machaka to spend the day with the children. Once again, it was a wonderful time.

This past weekend was our big Canada Day celebration! We spent Saturday prepping for the big day. The party was a huge success. We had guests from the hospital, business centre, schools, as well as the Sisters. Pin the tail on the zebra, a water balloon toss, a three legged race, and dodge ball were a big hit. The spread of “Canadian Grub”, consisting of pizza, meatballs, salsa, cookies and brownies were also a highlight. Everyone truly enjoyed themselves. Mama Jen said that it was the best Canada Day party she has ever been to! We are definitely going to make sure the students from last year are aware of that. A little friendly competition!

Until next time,

Christine

UPEI Nursing Student