Every Day Brings Something New

My clinic has over 560 clients enrolled in the HIV/AIDs treatment program. That means that they come once a month to get their drugs, see a doctor, get blood tests, and find out when various support groups are meeting. I spend the first part of every morning taking vital signs and screening the patients before they meet with the doctor. Once a month I meet with the children for ‘Kids Club.’ That’s the support group for HIV positive children, but mostly it is a lot of game playing, dancing, and snack eating.  All of this was my motivation to celebrate World AIDs Day at my site.

On December 1^st we had over 120 people from the community gather together at the clinic for the event. My health club students came to help me run the raffle table and perform a dance and a short drama. We had the community health workers make a presentation as well as had an HIV positive member of the community speak about living positively and reducing stigma. We tested over 70 people for HIV this day! It felt great to see people come together and talk about something affecting their community.

Just when I think things will quiet down, Kenya has another curve ball for me. Today, a motorbike pulled up to the clinic and a young man carried a semi-conscious teenage girl into the clinic. She had vomit all over her and the man explained she tried to poison herself. I rushed in with Dominic, one of our doctors, to get an IV started and NG tube inserted (that’s a tube that goes in through the nose down to the stomach).  We pumped out the contents of her stomach until there was nothing left and she regained consciousness.  I spent some time washing her face and cleaning her up and then talking to her about what happened.  Sister Tina, one of our social workers, joined me and called in the girls four mothers (She comes from a polygamist family).  After a long detailed conversation, Sister Tina finally asked her why she chose to poison herself. As I strained to listen to the conversation in Swahili I picked out that the girl felt she had no happy day at home.  I know young girls all around the world have trials and tribulations, but for this one I just wanted to wrap my arms around her and tell her she is beautiful.