Entry From Dad

Hey. This is dad's turn to write a little. It has been amazing so far and we are just getting started. There is so much I would like to convey to everyone, but any words I come up with never seem to be enough. This is our second morning actually here at Tenwek. As Riley wrote earlier, we had a tour of the grounds and the hospital yesterday. I know that I've seen things like this on TV, but part of my brain wouldn't comprehend that it is real. At least until seeing it first hand. The conditions of the hospital are actually very good, compared to the government run hospitals. I really can't imagine it being a whole lot worse without being in some combat zone. They are all packed in as close as they can, and it is not uncommon to have to put more than one person in a bed. Usually kids together or mother and her newborn child. That is, if the child is healthy enough to go with her. Several children are taken to the "nursery" because they are very premature and need some help breathing or eating. Logan, my brother who is a doctor is helping at the hospital, says that it not uncommon to lose one or two babies a day. A few days back he had to pronounce 4 babies dead in the course of a half hour. There was a set of triplets that were born at 24 weeks, and a single that died shortly after birth. I know that some of this sinks in and some cannot without actually seeing it, but please take a minute to think about that a little bit. This sort of thing is really common around here. The really sad part is many of the babies that are born or seen here could at least have a better chance with better hospital conditions and supplies. I am amazed at what they call "sanitized". Most areas in the hospital have windows that can be closed, but a lot of areas are open to the outside. The workers at the hospital will take breathing tubes, vent tubes, and most other plastics and sterilize them the best they can, then hang them over these openings to let them dry. After that they are good to be used again. I hope to get some pictures of the conditions, so you can see more of what I'm talking about. Now, I don't want this to be Sally Struthers commercial, so I'll move on to something more positive. They are helping a lot of people that would not have had any other option before. They are doing the best they can with what they've got, and many Kenyan's are happy for that. Riley is going to take a stent in the nursery helping feed some of the babies. I think that this will be a great experience for her and I know that she will forever be changed by what she has, and will see on this mission trip. I probably won't write as often as Riley will, but I will try to get some more pictures that she can put on here to show everyone, and we will have many more when we get back. Signing off, Dad.