There have been so many emotional expenditures along this trip; so much to visually process and intelligently categorize that it is totally overwhelming.  The good work and meaningful impact of Global Alliance and Vitamin Angels, and the significant influence of their work on the people of Kenya and the micro villages we visited, is beyond valuable, but of course there is an enormous amount of work yet to be completed, and this contributed to an overall feeling that at least one loose end needed to be tied before our time in Kenya was over.

Tom and I had a two-hour trip back to Eldoret to discuss and reflect on what we had experienced over the last five days, and we both shared that same feeling that something was being left unresolved. In the clarity of a moment created by the mind-cleansing understanding of how significant life is, no matter where it is being lived, we decided what it was that needed to be resolved and directed our wonderful driver – and friend at this point, Ben – back to the Riley Mother and Baby Hospital.

It took us all of five minutes to Find Kennedy.  Wrapped in a heavy blanket in 80-degree heat, he appeared to have a fever, but we were happy to find out it was just the extra blanket and within minutes he was smiling in my arms and goo-gooing like any other seven-month-old you could ever hold anywhere on this planet. Relieved that he was still in the good care of the hospital, we inquired as to what was necessary for Tom and I to sponsor Kennedy into a home where he would be free from the second-hand risk of disease, and be loved and cared for and given an opportunity to live a life to it’s full capacity.

A quick call to our Global Alliance partner and close friend at this point, Betsy Rono, gave us the ray of hope we were looking for.  About five kilometers from the hospital, attached to the private school that Betsy’s children attend, was the Testimony Faith Homes center, a center that offers sponsorship opportunities that provide children with a loving home environment, a mother and father to care for them and a school for when the time comes.  We wanted to see it before we left.  A quick stop on the way out to the airport revealed a gated, clean, well-kept center with four “homes” of children in various age groups. We met the father of one of the homes and got a quick tour.  Although I believe we would have liked something a little more intimate for Kennedy, we both believed it was a significant improvement from where he was and certainly better than an orphanage.

With the decision made, thanks to the help and guidance of Betsy, we are proceeding down the road to sponsor Kennedy into a home, secure a birth certificate for him, and assure him an opportunity to live a life that will meet his full potential.

Kennedy Aura Malaika (Swahili for angel) will soon be out of the Children’s Ward at the Riley Mother and Baby Hospital, and in a home where he can laugh and play and grow up; a home that will provide him fond memories, a footing for his future, and sisters and brothers to support him when he enters his adult life. Maybe in this case 2 people make a difference in 1 life. Either way, we now know that little Kennedy, who touched our hearts and souls in such a profound way, has a real shot at a life of his own.

Postscript

Tom and Kennedy

This was officially my last blog post, but Twinlab will keep the blog active for some time and I promise to provide updates on Kennedy and the balance of Howard’s trip as news becomes available. I left New Jersey knowing that this trip had all the potential of being life-changing, and it lived well beyond that potential.  From the addition of new friends like Betsy, with her unparalleled dedication to the people of Kenya , specifically the mothers of Kenya’s children, and Ben, our tireless driver with MOI university, who knows every back road and ditch in Western Kenya, and of course my travel companions, Robert and Bri, Todd, Jessamyn, Matt the super photographer, and of course Howard, the impact and memories of the trip will live on for a lifetime.  And of course a special thanks to the guy who helped me remove a big one from my bucket list… Tom.  Funny things, those bucket lists; yes, I removed one, but only to have it replaced by several more.

Thank you all for helping to add so much value to my life, and by extension, the lives of my children, Daniel and Julia.

The lasting effects of this trip will never wear off. Thank you and best of life to all!

The village gathers for Vitamin Angels' arrival. A village is appox. 10 homesteads of 10 people.

After another one-hour dirt road ride from our hotel in Bumala Kenya, (I should mention that a recent power outage prevented the water pump from working, so we had no running water for the night) just 25 kilometers from the Kenya/Uganda border, we arrived in another cluster village where Vitamin Angels and Global Network have been distributing vitamins through one of their prenatal projects.  Just like in Musango, the villagers here in Makunga brought out everything they had for chairs and set them in the front yard under the biggest tree around to have a meeting on the program and to once again hear from the local mothers who have had recent births while taking Vitamin Angels prenatal vitamins.

After some brief opening comments by the registrar responsible for registering the mothers for Global Alliance, we heard once again how the vitamins dramatically changed the way these mothers felt during pregnancy and child birth. The comments and the experiences of these women were exactly like those from the villagers the day prior: increased strength and stamina, bigger full-term babies and easier births. And of course happy laughter from the audience when one woman thanked us because she no longer had to eat dirt to get her needed minerals.

Conducting interviews in the village with the women who had been taking the prenatal prior to birth.

One of the differences in this visit was the active involvement of the men.  Several of the men in attendance asked to speak, including several of the tribe’s elders, who were basically looking for information on what the women had been taking and why they (the men) were not included.  Information and communication at this level is so challenged because most of the experiences these villagers have with pills is in the form of drugs, or even health related regimens of drugs associated with the HIV pandemic.

Howard spent some time addressing the group on the work that Vitamin Angels and Global Alliance are doing, and through an interpreter did a great job of bringing the health and nutrition message to this village.  Smiling faces around our impromptu tree meeting as the interviews and discussion was adjourned.

And then some fun….

Tom had been lugging around a giant duffle bag for me all week filled with toys, school supplies, coloring books and balls to give to the children.  What a wonderful experience it was dispensing the goodies and seeing the smiles and light in the faces of these children who have little outside of their own imaginations to play and learn with.  Within what must have been seconds, the loot was distributed and pick-up games of ball toss started all over the village while some kids gathered in the shade to color and write.

What a wonderful end to our time here in Makunga. Real good is coming to these people by virtue of Vitamin Angels’ reach and, through our support for their work as well as the industry we represent, scalability to a much larger solution is only time and dollars away.

Next, we were off to Eldoret to catch a plane, but not before one last stop at the Riley Mother and Baby Hospital and a visit to a local school. More on that to come…

After leaving the intervention hospital in Esharaka, we headed to a remote village within the cluster. Located about 50 kilometers from the hospital, the village of Musango lies within some of the richest farmland in Kenya.

The drive along the picturesque countryside was tolerable, even with the road ruts and speed bumps working against the scenery with every turn of a tire. We turned off the dirt road onto what could only be described as a goat path as we arrived at the site of our visit.

We were greeted by the entire community with chanting and dancing and singing as we were climbing out of the vehicles, singing the praises of Vitamin Angels, and the prenatal program that has existed here for some time.

The townspeople brought their chairs and their benches and their stools for a front yard meeting and review of the program. Once again we heard from the local women who have been taking the prenatal vitamins about how their recent pregnancies have been different and how they felt the vitamins were affecting their life.

After the group meeting, individual interviews were conducted and information was collected for assessment. Similar to our other interviews, the message here was clear – the women of the town who have been taking the prenatal vitamins have more strength, more stamina, birth full term babies, have far less complications, and bigger babies are being birthed.

We ended our time here handing out a few balls and toys for the kids. My children Daniel and Julia packed up gifts for the village children. Soccer balls were a big hit. American footballs had never been seen by the children and were a real novelty.

To the people in these remote areas, we are Mzungu, “people of white skin,” and at the intervention hospital in the cluster of Esharaka, we were the first white folk to visit this area since the 1960′s.  Mzungu are perceived as profitable, as they come with money and goodies. Children greet you with the brightest smiles I have ever seen and there is a custom at many of the commercial establishments to have white visitors sign a guest book.  There is an element of status attached to having the largest list and even the gas stations asked us to sign.

On Tuesday we were able to sleep in until 7, a welcomed rest following two 16-hour days.  We began our three-hour drive into the very remote villages of western Kenya to witness first hand the work of Global Network and the prenatal program of Vitamin Angels, and to understand the different culture of the tribes.   My mind was not ready to absorb the magnitude of the differences in what we take for granted in America and I am not sure I have the words to adequately share what my eyes saw and my heart felt.

We drove on roads to the village that we would liken to an extreme mountain bike trail and we were tossed around the back of the trucks like we were weightless.

After three hours (the last hour spent entirely on dirt roads) we arrived at the intervention hospital that services the Esharaka cluster.

The supplements distributed in the villages.

We were welcomed by 11 women and their infants waiting on the grass for our arrival. The women, all recent mothers, gave presentations telling us how their most recent childbirths, after having taken prenatal vitamins, differed from their prior births. The stories were amazing. Everything from better appetite and strength to length of labor, to full term pregnancy, improvement and size of the newborn… We heard of the women previously eating soil to acquire basic minerals, and of course the side effects of that practice includes the ingestion of worms.

It became clear how Vitamin Angels has become a very strong brand in the program, even to where the prenatal vitamins themselves are referred to as “vitamin angels.”

(As an aside, the mothers’ husbands weighed in to express their happiness that their stronger wives could now dig deeper ditches and carry water longer distances.  One commented that his wife was no longer throwing up, getting fat, and eating too much of the family’s food. In fact, the changes in their wives were so stark that they commented that they wanted to take the prenatal vitamins too!)

After the conversations with these mothers, we split off for individual discussions and I chose to interview a woman named Miriam, who was the mother of a six-day-old baby. Two thirds of the way through the interview she revealed she was not the mother but actually a “co-wife” (sister-in-law). I was told that the mother was ill.

Using the confidence I have gained through my discussions with Howard and the Vitamin Angels’ team on approach and collecting data, I stepped outside my comfort zone and dug deeper. It turned out that the mother (whose name was Mildred) was 20 feet away and sitting on the curb. I asked what her illness was, and Miriam shared that Mildred had been hemorrhaging from her birth 6 days ago.

I was confused, as we were speaking on the lawn of the hospital, with the door just feet away. Why wasn’t Mildred getting help? After a three-hour walk carrying a six-day-old baby, Mildred was refused treatment due to lack of funds, and left on the front lawn of the hospital to die….

Within two minutes we had Mildred in the ER (also known here in Kenya as the “theater”) for emergency surgery to repair a tear from her delivery 6 days earlier. Additionally, her transportation back home was arranged so that she wouldn’t have to walk another three hours after surgery.

Amazing, considering that in the US we are prohibited from climbing a set of stairs after giving birth for risk of hemorrhaging.

Post script… Mildred’s husband left home when she was newly pregnant with her baby.  He sold the family cow, their only source of income, and has not been home for eight months. They told us he left to find a beautiful woman.

Our journey to the Eye Ward took us through the courtyard of the hospital, a space filled with seriously ill people awaiting critical care, scores of people in line at the hematology clinic for HIV testing, and little boys having wheelchair races.

Vincent, we were told, was an orphan with a serious blood condition, and his infectious smile and beautiful laugh that had touched our hearts earlier in the day were driving us to find him once again. As we entered the Eye Ward we immediately spied Vincent sitting in the middle of a bed playing with Legos, like so many children his age anywhere in the world.  What immediately catches your attention when you meet Vincent is a smile so wide you can’t help but smile with him and eyes so bright they would light up a room. He recognized us immediately.

Tickle party! This photo was taken by Julianna, who kept grabbing the phone from Kate while sitting in her lap

We played Legos, Vincent shared his bricks, and he reminded me of my son and his extensive Lego collection. In contrast to my son’s vast collection of Legos, Vincent had 7 Duplo Lego bricks and he giggled when he didn’t agree with where I put the ones he shared with me, which of course led to a tickle party.

As the tickle party moved to a giggle fest, we noticed a woman standing nearby, observing us with Vincent.  Michael then introduced her to us as Vincent’s mother! Suddenly not an orphan, and as it turns out, no blood disorder! Confusion turned to elation in understanding Vincent’s real situation.  We learned that Vincent had been in the hospital to have a glass shard removed from his eye, which had been saved by the wonderful doctors here at the Riley Mother and Baby Hospital.

Whatever the cause for the confusion with Vincent, we were happy to discover that he didn’t need further hospitalization and through continued discussions with Michael (our angel child advocate) and Vincent’s mother, we found out they were indeed discharged.

Then some disturbing news.

Vincent was unable to leave the hospital because his mother couldn’t pay the bill. We learned that the hospital policy was to hold the patient for up to three or four months, until a hearing would be given to see if the charges could be waived to allow the patient to go home. Certainly a disturbing practice when you consider the logic of incurring more costs at three dollars a day, tying up a much needed bed, and keeping healthy Vincent in a disease ridden environment when it’s unnecessary. Vincent’s total bill for two weeks in the hospital was the equivalent of 110 US dollars…

We solved the issue, and Vincent and his emotional mother returned home.

I feel privileged to work for Twinlab and grateful for the exceptional healthcare provided to me, internal advocates for our care and the freedom of choice when it comes to care for my family.

Asante San (Swahili for thank you very much) Twinlab.

Say hi to Lydia

What started out as a quick tour of the children’s ward ended with an all-out assault on the senses and we were immediately overwhelmed. The children’s ward is an amazing wing of the Riley Mother and Baby Hospital and was created by the generosity and love of the Test and Mamlin families. The ward is made up of two corridors of beds, separated by the children’s activity center, which was our first stop along the tour. As soon as we entered, the smiles on the children’s faces beamed and our hearts melted.  The children were precious; some blind from meningitis, some in wheelchairs, some orphaned, and the rest with a whole host of other diseases including HIV, malaria, and cancer.

We needed to leave after a short visit with the kids to meet the acting director for the hospital, and extend a hand of gratitude for our full access pass to the hospital.  Nothing has been off limits for us, which speaks to the high regard the hospital administrators have for Howard Schiffer and Vitamin Angels. I did not hear a word he said as I was in a silent emotional freefall… tears flowing, as my heart had been left in the children’s center. I can’t remember a time when I could not gather myself, gain my composure or pull myself together.  My emotions were now in the gentle hands of the children.

Time to breathe.

In the bathroom, back against the wall, and a hard cry. It took a while for me to gain my composure and when I returned to the group it was time for another meeting on protocol with the Global Network. I was greeted at the door by Tom and Matt asking if I wanted to pass on the meeting and go back to the kids and reconcile emotionally from the first encounter. I would have sprinted…but we walked calmly.

Upon entering, the lights were off and the children were gone. Panic began to set in, but then we were told that the children were back in their beds in the ward. It was 4 pm. We were nearly begging to be taken to the ward when Michael, an absolute angel and advocate for the children, escorted us to the ward. We showed him pictures of Vincent and Julianna, and said we would love to see them again. Much to our amazement, they were not there, for although Julianna did have terminal cancer, she was not an orphan and had gone home. We were a bit confused and yet thrilled to know she was just in for the day for treatment. We also found out that Vincent was now in the eye clinic.  Their absence led us to another little angel, Kennedy.

Kennedy

Kennedy is seven months old and was found abandoned in a dumpster where he had been placed in a plastic bag.  He is a beautiful healthy little boy, placed in the hospital only because he has been orphaned. One of the most difficult things to process is the environment this little guy was thrust into.  The room Kennedy was in was less than 100 square feet with five beds lining both sides of the room with no more than 12 inches between them.

Healthy little Kennedy’s neighbors included the adjacent bed with a 13-year-old boy with his beautiful eyes wide open as he slid deeper into a coma due to his meningitis. His mother sat vigil by his side as flies danced over his face, a visual paradox of love and loss in a single frame.  I offered his mother a hug, as she told me she had been giving hugs to Kennedy to make them both feel better. The remaining beds were filled with a child dying of TB, a crib filled with 3 babies, a set of new born twins and Lidia, a robust little girl with Spinal Bifida, all of which had no family there to watch over them.

We are all born into our lives with a basic belief system that intuits logic as the guiding variable in all that we will ever encounter along life’s path. A trip to the children’s ward at the Riley Mother and Baby Hospital will shatter that belief system and you will immediately comprehend that what you are witnessing defies all logic, and only exists because we allow it to.  Our blog is aptly named “1 Makes A Difference”. Vitamin Angels has chosen to make a difference, and I for “1″ feel privileged to be a part of their work.