JOURNEY by Judy Richardson

Posted on Apr 04, 2007

Ndathi, Kenya
Continent: Africa
March, 2007

I journeyed to this distant and remote location with a long-time friend to visit a healthcare clinic, “Samaria Healthcare Clinic and Maternity Center.” Written on the exterior pinnacle of the building is a Kikuyu phrase, “We Treat, God Heals.” Our purpose for this journey was three fold: to assess the on-going equipment and supply needs of this facility; to assess the needs in this community of 20,000 and to learn what resources might be available for the continuing education of the nurse mid-wife who owns the clinic and the two nurses who are employed at the clinic.

Prior to 1999, healthcare did not exist for this community located at the foot of Mt. Kenya – next to Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Kenya. The closest city is 90 minutes away over terrible roads. So, people died from curable illness, childbirth, machete wounds and many other treatable maladies.

In 1999, Susan Kaburu, a nurse mid-wife who had been educated and worked in an acute hospital in Nairobi felt a calling to return to her origins in Ndathi where family members still lived so that she might be a healthcare provider. However, she had no supplies, no building in which to see patients and no equipment. But she understood the desperation of the people and she had great faith. She met an American woman who was also of great faith who had access to financial resources which would eventually result in a remarkable structure dedicated in 2005. This clinic, the Samaria Healthcare Clinic and Maternity Center” was our destination as well as our focus for the ensuing ten days. The friend with whom I traveled was the woman Susan had met some years previously.
We took only a carry-on for our personal clothing but two bags each filled to capacity with medical supplies and equipment. We took sterile gowns, gloves (exam and sterile) needles, antiseptic, hand cleanser, skin prep, surgical drapes, face shields, etc. etc. Because of the lack of electricity in the clinic we also took flashlights, batteries.

While I was putting away supplies, a pregnant woman arrived to give birth. She was in active labor (according to Susan’s assessment). She had walked alone from her village which was quite some distance away and arrived only an hour before her healthy baby boy was born. I assisted in that delivery and used a foot-powered suction for the baby’s secretions. No anesthesia is provided for childbirth and this young woman barely moaned during the birth of her 8 lb infant.

59 patients were seen during that Wednesday. This day was immunization day so the mama’s and the baby’s came. The staff (a certified lab technician, two nurses, the midwife) saw a variety of injuries and illnesses that day. They reported at the end of the day that they had been able to treat everyone.

In this community, micro-lending has given the people a remarkable sense of hope and self reliance. Muhammad Yunus, PHD in Economics from Vanderbilt won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his work to fight poverty. His work began in Bangladesh during the famine in 1974. The concept of Microlending was born and this concept has been embraced in Ndathi, Kenya. A group of 28 women were given loans of 5000 shillings ($75.00) and they each purchased a large container to catch rain water. The women bought grain, fertilizer, a goat, a sheep. They are able to repay these loans with profit from crops or other entrepreneurial efforts. As a result, they are hopeful rather than hopeless, empowered rather than desperate. In this community, there are numerous other microlending groups. One group of 77 farmers grow snow peas and sugar-snap peas. They have been successful in shipping their fresh produce to other countries in Africa and abroad. Their loans have been repaid and the money is re-loaned for additional enterprises. Another group of 20 women make hand-knit garments to sell.

Ndathi is now a community of hopeful, increasingly self-reliant people. Their children are attending a local school, the local church is growing and a central focus of the community and the Samaria Health Care Clinic is providing effective health care for these wonderful people.

We’ll be returning with more suitcases…