Africa September – October 2014
Blog #1: September 22
Dear Friends,
Once again I’m off to see the world. This, my fifth trip to Africa, will be the
shortest. In 2008 I provided medical
care in the poor suburbs of Maputo, Mozambique through the Mercy Ships
organization. From 2010 – 2012 I spent
about three or four weeks each year in my rural clinic in Keumbu, a village in
the western mountains of Kenya, work described in my book, “On a Mission.” Last year, instead of Africa, I provided
medical care in a Leper colony in India.
I arrive tomorrow morning in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Amsterdam has a well-deserved reputation as a
haven of free spirits and individual rights.
Marijuana is sold openly in “coffee shops.” Women-of-the-Night display their wares in
glass walled rooms. Culture
opportunities abound too, though I’ve already thrice toured the most famous,
the Van Gogh museum.
After a twenty-four hour stopover, I board on the 24th
for Nairobi. There I meet with Jared, a
fellow who I supported financially through “medical school,” and Francis, an
upper level bureaucrat I’ve known for a few years. This latter I met through my
brother, Michael, whose career with the US Census Bureau, the United Nations,
Harvard, and Hawaii’s East-West Institute, has taken him to over 100 nations
around the globe, with resultant friends practically everywhere. I might also meet with Mishael Oyunge, the
head of the HIV program for the country.
A night of dining and stories in Nairobi will follow.
The next day I fly to Kisumu, a town on Lake Victoria. There I’ll be met by my friend, Pastor Robert
Nyamwange with a rented car and we’ll drive the hour to Keumbu. When I first arrived in Keumbu, population …
oh … 1000, in 2010, I spent three weeks volunteering at their hospital. I learned a bit of Swahili, studied tropical
diseases I’d never before seen, and recognized the needs of a third-world
medical system. In 2011 I returned to
begin the water project, bringing with me that year and in 2012 a smattering of
supplies and gifts. Of those, the most
important was the water project. This
project alleviated hundreds of deaths due to lack of clean water for drinking, cooking,
or medical needs.
When I sell my books at art fairs, showing off my Mission book, sometimes I hear stories
of other missionaries or soldiers traveling to Africa and digging wells. It’s a wonderful and generous action. Unfortunately, it’s generally more of a
gesture. For once the well is in place,
who remains to maintain it? I paid to
have a pump placed in Keumbu in 2011. In
a few months the water supply ran out, and the next year I placed a well. By 2012 the pump had burnt out. I paid to have it replaced. In 2013 the cistern had sprung so many leaks
it wouldn’t hold water. I had to pay for
a repair job there. Earlier this year
the septic system needed a rework.
Placing a pump and well is only part of the job, unless those placing
the well insure a system to keep it working, it will soon be like an old car on
blocks rusting in a backyard.
So, I will be checking on the water system, and paying for
needed repairs. I’m also bringing gifts
for the hospital, over-the-counter medications not available in Africa such as
Benadryl and Tylenol, and a pulse ox machine that runs on AA batteries. The hospital part of this trip will be short,
only a few days. While in Keumbu I stay
with the Pastor at his orphanage. The
orphanage began in about 2008 when a homeless girl wandered into Pastor’s
church one morning asking if anyone could feed her. Pastor adopted her, and by my first visit in
2010 he had adopted seven. By 2012 the
residency was ten. Now he is supporting
forty orphans. When we leave Kisumu
we’ll stop first in the county seat of Kisii Town with its three grocery stores
and pick up large bags of rice, flour, sugar, salt, and other necessities for
the orphanage. 100% of the sales from my
Ndovu and Mission books go to my mission trips, and from that I’ve budgeted
$1000 for supplies to the orphans. While in Nairobi I will leave in Jared’s care
a suitcase stuffed with donations for the orphanage. Jared will take the suitcase by bus to Keumbu
the next day and meet me there. Let me
take this moment to express my thanks to the three nurses at Memorial who
donated clothing and toys, and the students under Claudia Parker at Columbus,
MS, School of Science who gathered toys as well.
After my Keumbu visit, I fly to Johannesburg, South
Africa. Here I will be met by Marilyn
Bassin. Marilyn and her husband ran an
HIV Orphanage in Sowetto, and, though he passed away last year, she continues
to provide care there. I’ll stay with
her and help at the orphanage and see what other medical adventures are
available for the next few days. I have
a short tour planned for the end of my stay in South Africa before flying back
to the states via Legos, Nigeria.
As I said, it will be a short trip, but a full one. I’ll send blogs with photos when I can. Some
people have asked if I worried about Ebola.
Despite the reality of its rapid spread, it actually isn’t overly
contagious if proper precautions are taken, and by that I don’t mean Haz-Mat
suits 24/7. (Anyone ever tried to wear
one of those things? They don’t allow
your skin to breathe and within five minutes you’re feeling like you’re in an
oven!) Ebola has its victims in
northwest Africa while I’m in the South and Southeast, far away. My only concern is the airlines might decide
to close the Legos airport, requiring a new route home.
So … on to Africa and more adventures. Feel free to send me feedback, greetings,
observations, etc. It’s always good to
hear a few cheerful words from home.
Fondly,
Philip
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