Mikinduri Children of Hope

Written by Phil Handrahan, a member of the Mikinduri Children of Hope Tour Group, November 2006

Well after a complete review of a frustrating day on Saturday we regrouped and decided to head out early in the morning to the Orphanage where we would do a full day medical / vision clinic. After all many of the locals spent the night there so that they could see us the next day. As we went to the rooftop to check the weather, the “gods” were on our side as the skies were clear and the sun was shining brightly. The spirit within the group remains high and everyone is anxious to get to the clinic and are looking forward to a big day. Jane and Joan will have to remain in Meru as the rain-washed out the roads again. Local travel to On Sunday morning we dispatched a set up crew who arrived at the Orphanage approx 9 am to get things in order. Sure enough many of the locals were there from the day before and the lineup was well underway. We quickly got things in order and we were able to begin our clinics by 10 am. With the exception of a few afternoon showers, we had a hot, sunny day all day long. Order within the orphanage regarding our clinics seemed to run our clinic is “just there”, known as only a short distance. Marilyn is under the weather today and will stay behind.
 
very smooth. All volunteers of the local Community Development Committee were in full force (approx 30 members), many of them actively working with us during the clinic, and a few standing around, watching and trying to ensure that the locals knew it was them individually who was responsible for the good will brought into their community. We still deal with issues of the local CDC members moving their family members and relatives and friends to the head of the line. Mackenna’s brother Sammy drops by and meets the group and is fitted with a pair of glasses. All in all we had a very good day.
 
Father Bernard of the local Catholic Church in Mikinduri has invited us to have dinner at the church this evening to recognize the benefits we have brought to the community. Ted and Silvanos have had to deal with the politics of the invitation throughout the day, as Father Bernard is relatively knew to the town and has not been active in the Community Development Committees. All of the volunteers are invited and welcomed as well and the evening appears to have been very successful. Father Bernard offered use of his Internet access to assist our communication efforts in the future. We hope that it may be further progress for the community as a whole. The message of everyone needing to support one another and work together for the benefit of the needy and disadvantaged in the community is strongly stated and appears to have been accepted. The dinner also proved to be a great opportunity for us to thank and provide a small token of appreciation to the many volunteers who worked with us.
 
Monday morning we are on the go by 6:30 and off to visit with the first family to be sponsored by MCOH. The family was very appreciative of our offering. Back in town, we have breakfast and then begin our meetings with the CDC Health Committee and then a meeting with the overall CDC Committee. The meetings were very productive and a number of issues raised and discussed. Ted advised of new initiatives planned for the near future, family sponsorship, sewing center, solar ovens, and micro-financing. All are receive a very positive response and the CDC members recognize the need for their committees to be more actively involved for these opportunities to succeed. Following the meetings, the CDC members thank us for our efforts and provide us with their tokens of appreciation. Safe to say that all recognized the challenges brought on by the weather however the CDC members congratulated us on our perseverance and determination to hold the clinics and deliver the many items to the schools, widows and orphans. It is very clear that there is a very strong bond between the people of our communities.
 
We’re enroute to Meru to pick up Jane and Joan. We also have a mother with a small child traveling with us so that they can catch the bus to Nairobi to get to the hospital for treatment. Plans are to stop at Castle Lodge for the night before heading onto Nairobi for our flight home. While everyone is leaving Mikinduri with mixed emotions, all of us are looking forward to a hot shower. As stated earlier, the only dry place in Mikinduri was the shower. Those white porcelain fixtures will also be much appreciated again. Until the next time…

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 19th, 2006 at 10:54 pm and is filed under Dispatches. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.