Poppy Buchanan and Mary Barr Travel to Kenya in December

Posted on Jan 21, 2010

Poppy Buchanan and her daughter, Mary Barr, traveled to Kenya in early December to check on the status of several Burning Bush initiatives. Their first stop was Nyeri, where they visited Rosemary and Eustace Kamunya, co-directors of the WAKA Clinic there. Burning Bush is funding construction of the WAKA Continuing Education Center, adjacent to the clinic, which will offer ongoing training programs for nurses in the Mt. Kenya cluster. The WAKA Continuing Education Center will allow the nurses to get the training they need close to home, and will also serve as a depot for much-needed equipment and supplies. Construction of the center is ahead of schedule and should be completed in early March.

Poppy and Mary next traveled to Othaya, where they met with Jocelyn Macharia, who owns and operates a clinic in the village. Through the auspices of Burning Bush and the Nurses Apron Partnership (TNAP), Jocelyn is currently enrolled in the distance learning program at St. Paul’s University in Limuru, Kenya, and expects to earn her master’s degree in three years. Her tuition is being paid by proceeds from the sales of Gotcha Covered: A Legacy of Service and Protection, published by TNAP. Jocelyn remarked that the classes have been of great value to her, and she has begun to utilize her newfound knowledge in providing care to her small village. As Poppy and Mary visited with Jocelyn, they had the opportunity to observe a class she has started to train community health workers in HIV/AIDS prevention. They were meeting under a tree near the clinic.

Next, it was on to Kijabe Hospital, where Poppy, Mary and Rosemary met with Sue Newton, the wife of a pediatric anesthesiologist at Vanderbilt Medical Center, and Mary Muchendu, director of the Kijabe School of Nursing. They discussed possibilities for program networking with the WAKA Continuing Education Center and also talked about locally available educational resources. Mary commented, “Once again, we were reminded that coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous. Rosemary and Mary Muchendu worked at the same hospital early in their careers and had many friends in common, even though their paths had never crossed!”