Where: West Royalty Community Hall (across from Capital Honda)

When: Sunday Oct 4th at 7.00 PM

We would like to give a huge THANK YOU to everyone that volunteered their time,  to everyone that dropped
off plants, and to everyone that came to purchase plants and compost. We couldn’t have done it without each and everyone of you.

Since we opened the joint office in Mikinduri last year, we have made wonderful progress. At this point we have 135 kids and families, who are receiving assistance with healthcare, housing, and education. What a thrill it was for those of us, who have sponsor kids in the area to visit with them and get to know them a little bit in person at the feeding center.

Paul and Etta Connolly and Rebecca Ellis actually went to visit their child at their respective homes. What an eye opener for them and such a special treat.

Anyone interested in sponsoring a child can visit www.chalice.ca or call 1-800-776-6855. It only costs $33.00 per month, and 90% of the money goes to the childs welfare. What a gift to the donor as well as the recipient family. If you wish you can specify that you want to sponsor a child in Mikinduri.
Feeding Programs

Because of the success of our child sponsorship, we have been able to reduce the number of feedings at the Kinwe center. However Sat, approx. 150 kid’s are fed, as well as  taught special life skills, and have fun playing games like soccer.

At the newest location called Kagwuru, we now feed 300 school kids nutritious lunches every day. As a result of doing clinics there, and being so alarmed at the levels of malnutrition (refer to Kathy opening piece) we have had to  implement a special breakfast program which includes preschoolers. To facilitate the program, we hired Priscilla a part- time teacher at this wretched school to run the breakfast program. Priscilla is also gathering the mothers and teaching them about nutrition, personal hygiene and  women rights. We have been attempting to grow much of the food required, however with a serious draught affecting crops, it has been a challenge. However, since we just finished opening a new water pipeline from the nearby mountains, we will be able to irrigate the newly planted emergency crops.

Water projects

We were so delighted to be able to be able to conduct the official opening of two water pipelines, one(referred to above) is in the very poorest area of Kagwuwu. The other not far away at Kiguru. Both pipelines will provide lots of water coming from clean springs is the nearby mountains. The people will benefit greatly from this beautiful clean water.

Agricultural Development Program

This is a new program in partnership with Chalice. While there, we interviewed and contracted Mr. Bernard Mware, who has his masters in Agriculture, with a lot of experience in working with farmer groups. Bernard will be developing this new program in all nine Chalice sites. However the starting point will be in Mikinduri, where he will be working with Francis Mwika, our current Mikinduri agric. specialist. The program will be working with farmer coop groups, to share knowledge, new simple technologies, new varieties of drought resistant seeds and crops, as well marketing techniques. We are hopeful that large test plots will produce excess food which can be sold at a profit to go back into the programs.

This is a key project for the future prosperity for our communities since it has the potential to make a substantial difference in their lives by helping them with their main field of endeavor that of farming.

Education Scholarship Sponsorship Program

Currently, we have eleven students enjoying their secondary school experience. In Kenya, students must pay about $500.00 per year to go to sec school. For most people this is far beyond their reach.

While in Kenya, Dr Jane Farmer enjoyed several days visiting every student at their various schools and confirming their advancement, as well as being able to assess their university potential. We continue to fundraise so that we can expand this program.

Feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Ted Grant
President
Mikinduri Children of Hope

VISION

We tooks with us 14,000 pairs of glasses, half of which come from the Lions club of Canada at no cost to us. The other half we purchased at very low prices. While there, we assessed and fitted approx 3000 people, young and old with glasses. The balance of the glasses we left with the teams leaders to be used for clinics which they will conduct in the future.

MEDICAL

This is a more difficult area to get a solid number for because of the varying degrees of treatment that people required. However, I don’t believe I would be exaggerating to estimate that a minimum of 1000 people were treated for everything from scalp conditions to very malnourished children, some of whom we had to rush to hospital to be put on intervenes.

One aspect of our clinics which is expanding each time we go, is the number of Kenya health professionals who partner with us. This is not only very encouraging, more importantly it enables our teams to serve many more patients.The Kenya Dept of Health send HIV teams to each of our clinics to give people a chance to be tested confidentially.

Our operating philosophy is to try to partner with other organizations, which share our views and principals. We are very encouraged at the level of interest from Dalhousie Med School in partnering with us and a Egerton University from Nakuru, Kenya, which has a large med school. In fact Dr Joseph, who is also a prof of medicine at Egerton expressed great enthusiasm, at building a working relationship.

Dr Joseph, along with eight of his second year med students, worked at our clinics in Gil Gil. Nothing is finalized, but serious and hopeful discussions are ongoing. Dr Ed Harrison and myself will be meeting with Dal Med school officials, to explore a range of issues in late May. This is an exciting advancement. As well, med students at Dal are conducting an awareness campaign and fundraiser in support of our work in mid April.

DENTAL

See Dr. Bill Allen’s reflections here.

“I had wanted to go to Kenya since I was 16 but didn’t want just a regular safari trip. I wanted something that had more meaning and even though it would be a short trip, would hopefully have an impact on my life and possibly others. That’s when I met Karen McKenna. Within the first few minutes of meeting, she asked me if I wanted to go to Kenya January 2009. She may have been joking, but it turned out that I booked my flight within the next few weeks as did my two sisters, Cheri and Cindy. It’s difficult to put into words what the whole experience has meant to me. Nothing quite prepares you for the range of emotions you feel; from pride in being part of a foundation that provides so much assistance to people in need, to sadness when you see people left homeless and no food to feed their families. There were days spent laughing and others crying. The rewards were endless: seeing the joy on the faces of those receiving a wheelchair that desperately needed one; providing support to families who had no means to feed their children; celebration and praise from displaced people being given food and blankets; training students to teach nutrition and hygiene classes; and the ceaseless efforts of our founder, Ted Grant, who took time to speak to anyone in need. It was a pleasure to work with local Kenyans and realize that we are all just “one community-jamii moja.”

Tracy is a food scientist from Toronto, whose knowledge and caring helped significantly to support the rest of the medical team. Tracey headed up the assessment team, whose job it was, among many other things, to measure, weigh and record the ages of all young people coming thru the clinics. I believe it is more than simply coincidence that Tracy’s nutritional knowledge was there when we needed it to address the serious malnourishment we faced.

Rita Grant , Co-Founder of MCOH Remembers

“It was an honor and a privelege to be able to help the people of Mikinduri.
It was very gratifying and humbling to look into the eyes of those people who along with the other members of the team, I was helping in some small way.
At the vision clinics, of which I was apart, I was taken a back by the humility of the faces I looked into. They were receiving a pair of glasses that to them meant so much. It was a “big deal”, for instance to the elderly gentleman who walked miles with the help of a cane to come to the clinic.

Serving hundreds of children at a feeding centre was another highlight of my trip. Six years ago, when Ted and I started the MCOH, I never realized how many children would benefit by getting a nourishing meal, much less being able to serve the meals in person. The look in the eyes of those children melted my heart and captured part of my soul.

At yet another orphanage, the team were able to present inexpensive toys to the children. It was evident on those tiny faces that it was the only toy that they ever received. I had a hard time imagining my own grandchildren being there in that situation. Another face that comes to mind as I try to relate some of my thoughts and feeling, ( which by the way is only a snipit of the volumes I could write if space allowed) is that of the elderly woman who was a part of a group of internally displaced refugees, who were livinoutside a park near our hotel. She looked to be in her nineties. She cried when we showed her and the couple of hundred others with her, some kindness. She deserved a lot more than we could give her. To live to be ninety and find yourself in that place at that time in your life is not acceptable.

Another women in that same group was a young pregnant women that for some reason caught my eye.  She was hoping to receive one of the 50 blankets we were giving to mothers of babies. She looked so relieved when someone in our group handed her a blanket too. At least she would have the clean blanket to put her newborn on.It wasn’t quite a soft baby blanket or colourful receiving blanket, but more than she dreamed of before we came that day.

These people have very little and most of the time nothing to give back.They give what they have which is a beautiful smile, a song and a dance.
There are many people that come to my mind and I say a prayer for them and wonder how they are doing. What a responsibility we have to share and be good stewards of what we have been given. There but for the grace of God goes all of us.”

Rita Grant reflecting on her first trip to Kenya as part of the vision team.

Paul Connolly, MCOH Board Member Reflects

“For me, one of the most satisfying aspects of the Kenyan Mission was the comradery of the team.
It was , in my view, a privilege to be part of this remarkable group of people covering a wide age range as well as many disciplines. The common denominator for all was a keen desire to help make a difference in the lives of those we came in contact with. Regarding my work in with the Vision Team, I found a lot of personal satisfaction from the smiles and the gestures of satisfaction from the Kenyans who were helped through the clinics. The one story that stands out in my mind is the elderly lady who came back to our Clinic after receiving glasses, to thank me as she could now finally read the Bible
The whole trip was a wonderful experience that will remain forever implanted in my mind.”  Paul Connolly

Paul serves on our board as well as our fundraising committee.

Dr. Bill Allen

“Nancy and I returned to Mikinduri this year for two weeks(after assessing the situation last year )and took with us six bags carrying “back pack” portable dental equipment and supplies with us. We worked in five locations over the eight clinic days. Nancy did all the sterilizing using a pressure cooker and Shari Quinn helped me by dental assisting.

The first three days in the Coulson School we worked without other dental partners. At our other locations we were joined by Dr George Kariuki, a Kenyan dentist , and Mercy, a dental technician. A dental technician is a term used in Kenya for dental students in training who spend an entire year doing nothing but extracting teeth. We left our forceps and supplies behind for the third week, so Dr Kariuki and Mercy could continue to work with the rest of the team.

Over the three week period 25 “man days” of dental extractions were done on all age groups and 877 teeth were removed. We limited extractions to 1 or 2 per person in order to give a little relief to as many people as possible and tried to remove whatever tooth caused the most pain. To put it into perspective, if the population of PEI was 150,000 people and we had only one dentist, then you know how serious the dental problems are in Kenya and how unlikely you are to get relief from constant pain. We were fortunate in some locations to have student doctors and nurses as interpreters who were extremely attentive and helpful. At other locations interpreters were less helpful. No different than here really.

Out of respect for our patients we would only register fifty first thing in the morning and depending on how our day progressed, we would reopen the line and add ten to twenty patients at a time (no shortage of work). We felt it was not fair to the people to stand all day in the hot sun only to be told at day’s end we could not see them This also meant they were free to try to be seen in the medical and vision clinics.

I spent one day working at the Meru Dental Clinic at the Meru District Hospital. There were four dental technicians and I worked with them on a rotating basis. I spent most of the day showing them how to properly give local anaesthesia as pain free as possible while I watched their techniques extracting teeth. I found they were better than most Canadian dentists doing extractions and I learned a lot by watching them, which was a great help for me over the rest of our stay. At the hospital clinic they only did extractions. They had three chairs in bad need of repair. Only two lights worked and they had no drills or suction to do fillings.

At our various field clinics the Kenyan dentists worked without lights and sat the patients in patio chairs to give anaesthesia and extract teeth. I don’t know how they could do it. What struck me the most was how tolerant the people are to pain and how cooperative they were when we worked on them. This went a long way to compensate for the lack of facilities we had to work with compared to home.

The most satisfying moment came in the Combi (van) when I was leaving the last clinic at the end of the two weeks knowing we, with the help of the Kenyan dentists and support people, had far surpassed our expectations. The portable equipment and supplies we purchased worked well over all and we had seen far more people than we had envisioned. Out of all those teeth removed (mostly George and Mercy ) only 2-3 proved to be difficult surgical extractions.

Special thanks to Shari and Nancy for making my days run smoothly as well as Greg McKenna for taking care of our equipment and for cherry picking younger kids in need of dental treatment, from the long lineups. Nancy and I are looking forward to returning next year hopefully working again side by side with the Kenyan dentists at fewer sites for longer stays to reduce set up and closing down times leaving more time for treating the people.”

Dr Bill and Nancy Allan are devoted members of our mission teams, not only purchasing the equipment and suppplies, but also serving on our medical committee and volunteering at fundraising events.

Karen and Greg McKenna

Karen and Greg have once again travelled to Mikinduri returning with unforgettable memories. This being Karen’s 4th trip and Greg’s 3rd, there were endless new experiences. Greg returned to PEI with the nickname Dr. Greg as one of his important roles during the clinc’s was to comb the 100’s of people and retrieve the individuals who were in most need of attention. This proved to be a very valuable procedure, especially when many very malnourished children were brought to the medical teams attention. As our saying goes, “the weak ones are usually pushed to the end of the lines, these particular cases could have been very easily missed”. With involvement in our new agriculture projects, Greg realized that the potential to grow anything they need is certainly there. This is going to take a lot of work and guidance but it can be achieved.

As the head of the Vision program, I had a very busy but productive 3 weeks. There were additional clinic’s performed in new areas which kept the vision team hopping. These clinic’s were as rewarding as they were challenging. One could not help feel a great sense of accomplishment realizing that approx 3000 pairs of glasses were given to those who otherwise would never receive a pair. Yes, planning for and making this trip is hard work and takes a lot of dedication, but being part of a team who allow these small

Karen and Greg’s participation in our mission trips has been critical to the success. Their committment and spirit of generosity really forms a great foundation for newer team members.

Rebecca Ellis,Pharmacist, Dr Jan Rogerson MD, Jennifer Boswell,Pharmacist

The members of the medical/pharmacy team that participated in the MCOH January 2009 mission have left Kenya with countless memories that continue to evoke many varied thoughts and feelings in each of us.  The hospitality and generosity of spirit of the Kenyan people is one such aspect that warmed our hearts.  It seemed like everyone in the area came out to welcome us and celebrate our arrival.  It was somewhat frustrating at the same time because it felt like they thought we had the answers to all of their problems.  When we looked at the sheer numbers of people who were in need, their problems seemed impossible to solve.  The hours were very long for us and it was physically and emotionally draining work. No matter how long or hard we worked there were always countless people turned away.  At times it seemed like we weren’t accomplishing anything.  Then we would stop and think of the individuals we were able to help.  We recognized that some of these people were in imminent danger of death and, were we not there to help, they may have not survived.  We realized that to these people we made all the difference in the world.

When we were preparing for the trip we did a lot of research concerning the needs in the area.  We had several meetings to discuss what equipment and medications we needed to obtain to best serve the medical needs of the population.  Our preparation paled in comparison to the experience we gained by actually conducting the clinics.  We learned a great deal and will no doubt be much better prepared for future clinics.

During our travels we spent time in several different areas and were able to take in the unparalleled beauty of the landscape from the semi-arid zones to the tropical mountainous regions.  It was difficult to comprehend how within such a beautiful country there could exist such poverty and despair.  It was remarkable how the Kenyan people were so happy even though they had next to nothing by Western standards.  It made us stop and wonder about the true definition of happiness and this experience will undoubtedly affect the way we live our lives in the future.

Rebecca, Jan, and Jennifer made a huge difference in our ability to deliver medical services to the Kenyan poor.

“I will never forget Tracy rushing into the clinic with a tiny baby in her arms, and as she passed her to me she said “She weighs 5 kgs and she’s 15 months old!” We had been running clinics all morning, so busy we barely had time to reflect on the number of hungry children we were seeing. But Tracy had been measuring and weighing children all morning, aware of the overall malnutrition.”My God” she cried,”the children are all below the 3rd percentile!” We were overwhelmed. Mothers with their babies pressed to their breasts, trying to offering them milk, but because the mothers were so malnourished there was little milk. Children who were seen and quickly drank the rehydration fluid and wolfed down the food we offered; they were starving -literally. At the end of the day in clinic we gazed over the large fields of corn crops bleached and dry in the scorching sun. There had been little rain and they were now facing a  drought and the shallow rooted corn crop, which is their main staple, would not be harvested. Without warning I felt tears falling down my cheeks. These people- these wonderful, caring, ordinary people were going to die. They had done nothing wrong, they struggled to provide the best they could for their children - encouraged them to go to school, to work hard, to care about each other - these innocent people were facing extreme hunger, and possible death. What could we do?

That evening we had an emergency meeting of Kenyan and Canadian team members who wanted to focus on nutrition. A plan was begun. We would offer a breakfast program to compliment the school lunch program, and have Francis, our agricultural specialist begin planting crops in the nearby field that MCOH owned. This was a beginning, a way to stave off severe malnourishment. We would include the parents in the care of the crops, helping them learn better farming skills, and offer a hand up. Our goal would be to have the feeding program become independent and hopefully they might even have enough to sell.

Back in Canada now our trip sometimes feels so distant, but I will never forget the feeling of picking up dear little Mary from Tracy, so innocent, so helpless, and so in need.”

The above reflections was offered by Kathy Mutch RN. Kathy acted as our triage nurse and director of the medical clinics. The vision, dental, and medical teams never knew what to expect from a severely mal nourished child to a young teen with burns scars (which healed without any medical attention) so badly he couldn’t turn his head, to a small girl with a large open wound all festered and weeping. Kathy’s role was not on easy one.

Can you imagine being faced with all that misery and not having the resources to help? Can you imagine having no drugs, bandages or ointment’s with which to work? We owe that blessing to our generous donors and fundraising volunteers, who provide the funds which provide the resources. There is no means of expression sufficiently adequate to express our sincere gratitude. If Kathy’s introduction doesn’t demonstrate the profound difference you are helping to make in the lives of the far less fortunate, then I don’t know what would.

Refugee Camp Experience

By accident, we happened upon a group of children in a park in Nakuru, being taught under a big tree. When questioned by Kathy and Tracy, about the situation, it was learned that they were internally displaced refugees (I DP’s). On the other side of the row of trees were 400 refugees living on the side of the road outside the park. They were sleeping on the clay, with only the bare necessities of life. They didn’t even have tents.  Once again, because of your generosity, we quickly decided that they needed our help.  A few hours later the whole team returned with trucks loaded with blankets, cooking oil, water tanks, rolls of black plastic and rope for them to make shelters, sanitary napkins, soap, tooth brushes, and some soccer balls and inexpensive toys.

One very old lady, all bent over from years of back breaking work, tears of thankfulness running down her face, started the group in singing and dancing to thank us. This was our second day in Kenya. What a way to start our mission work. We left knowing that we only made a tiny difference in their material world, but a much bigger deference in their level of hope. Thank God for the generosity of our volunteers and donors which afforded us the option of being able to help them.

Special Orphanage Project

You will remember the special appeal for funds last December, after we heard about the conditions in an orphanage in GilGil. This was the situation where the 83 children of all ages were sleeping on wooden bunks without mattresses, sheets or even blankets. Your great generosity allowed us to visit the orphanage with a truck load of mattresses, sheets, and blankets, plus we left enough funds, with trusted leaders, to buy shoes, and school books for them. We were so priviledged to spend 3 or 4 hours at the orphanage. We sang and danced with them, shared stories, learned about their struggles, and came to know John and his wife, who give up everything they owned to start the orphanage.

Some of the kids badly needed medical attention by the med team, as well as fitting two of the leaders with glasses. Cheri Butt, put on her clown outfit and amazed the kids with balloons shaped into animals. A new experience for these kids and for us. We left some money for two of the younger boys to have operations at the hospital, in the days after we departed.

Once again, words do not express the difference your generosity has made in these beautiful children lives. Thank you so much for your wonderful generosity. I know we will be back to see them next year. We were so thankful for the response we got last Dec for the special fundraiser.

Click here to read more team reflections on the 2009 mission.

For more information or to volunteer please call Coreen/Mike Conroy at 569-5501.