Trip to Kenya Orphanage
Just the Right Medicine

By Monique Boekhout as published in July 17, 2007, Lake Wylie Pilot

Team provides eye, dental, physical care


Medical Mission: May 31 - June 7, 2007

KOP has organized mission trips to Jubilee Center in Nairobi, Kenya, since 2003. The first trip was special because it brought us the first children. The second trip was frustrating because we did not have the equipment shipped in the container to do our job. The third trip was a mix of emotions as we piled in a construction blitz and the Kilimanjaro climb. This fourth trip was outstanding for all that was accomplished. One thing that remains common for all four mission trips, however, is the dedication of the people who unselfishly donate their time and money to travel halfway around the world to help orphan children become responsible adults.

The latest KOP mission trip can be summed up this way - 6 months of planning, 23 participants, 46 suitcases, four vans, gallons of drinking water, one upset stomach, 101 happy children, a huge success.

Arriving at Jubilee
The first team left Charlotte May 31 for Nairobi. We were greeted by our Kenyan ministers Joe and Alyce Mwangi with our usual Kenyan travel agent, Raylenne Safari Tours. We transferred to the Methodist Guest House, our home for the duration, and crashed in our beds for a short night's sleep.

At Jubilee, the children were waiting for us and had prepared dances and songs to welcome the Mzungus - strangers - from America. Before we knew it, they had us dancing, too. It didn't take long before we were all out of breath. Our children are very talented and love to sing and dance. We have one extremely dynamic drummer who never misses a beat.

Setting up shop
The Kenyan staff had the dental chair, cabinet and all the equipment we shipped two years ago in the recently completed administration block. This became the team's quarters for the next three weeks.

Mellonie Wallace and Carolyn Clark, Dr. Ernie Myrick's assistants, immediately started to unpack, while Billy Turner and my husband, Bob Boekhout, helped Myrick assemble and connect the equipment.

Myrick's wife, Elaine and Sara Turner were assigned to the future teacher's breakroom and went to work installing charts and equipment to check the children's eyes and set up shop to make eye glasses.


Eye Testing

Another room had been transformed into a medical examination room and Janice Thomas and Nancy Pittman unpacked their own supplies to provide physicals, exams for ringworms and immunizations.


Immunization


Recording height

I moved into a room that had a desk (how considerate of the Kenyans) and a large table that would be used for sorting papers or for making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, depending on the day of the week.

Bob transformed the room next to my office into a hardware store, a small replica of Little Hardware in Charlotte or Carter Lumber in Newport. (Our thanks to both of them for their donations of tools and supplies.)

Tool Inventory Check

By 4 p.m., we were exhausted but in good shape for Monday. We headed to our hotel after a stop at the ATM machine for Kenyan shillings and the local supermarket for supplies.

After breakfast Sunday, we boarded the van to go to the Believer's Faith Cathedral of Praise, the church started and built by Joe and Alyce. The children were there, looking very sharp in their choir uniforms. It was a contemporary and upbeat service, not only the children, but the delegations from churches that branched off from Believer's Faith. It was a great experience.

After church, the men went back to Jubilee to finalize the examination rooms. The ladies took off for a tour of Nairobi and shopping for souvenirs at the Zebra market, a typical tourist's trap in Nairobi. Bargaining is an art and a game for Africans. We all had fun comparing our "good deals."

Mission: Medical
The next five days consisted pretty much of the same routine - get up at 5 a.m., eat breakfast, board van by 6:30 a.m. in hopes of avoiding traffic jams that clog Nairobi every morning and every night. Ruai, about 20 miles east of Nairobi, takes more than an hour to get to. At night, traffic is worse. It took 90 minutes to two hours for the same 20 miles. We never got back much earlier than 7:30 p.m., which makes for long and hard days. But the beauty of it is nobody complains and everybody goes on to do whatever is assigned the following day. We always started the day with devotions provided by Billy Turner, who shared experience of a previous mission trip and did a great job keeping us focused on our mission.

By the end of the week, 101 children had their teeth checked, cleaned, cavities taken care of teeth rebuilt when needed and a few extraction performed.


Teeth Cleaning


Teeth Extraction

All of their eyes were checked. One child with a lazy eye received a patch and instructions on how to wear it. Several pairs of glasses were made for children needing them, and all of them received a pair of sun glasses, bracelets and stickers.

All the children had physicals, with their weight and height recorded in new files created and updated by Janice and Nancy, pictures of each child included. Thirty five children received immunizations.

Hundreds of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were eated, with the kids eating them like Oreo cookies, licking the inside before eating the bread. Of course, there was also a lot of love, hugs and laughters shared with the children.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for what you have given to these children.

Photos courtesy of Monique Boekhout

Trip to Kenya Orphanage
Building for the Future

By Monique Boekhout as published in July 24, 2007, Lake Wylie Pilot

Team takes on bunk beds, school needs


Construction Mission: June 10 - 20, 2007

On June 9, after saying goodbye to the first team, my husband Bob and I enjoyed a quiet and unhurried breakfast at the Methodist Guest House. The second team would be arriving to being construction at Jubilee Children's Center.

The lumber to build the bunk beds and desks had arrived, and Bob wanted to check it out. He also needed to finish inventory and packing the dental equipment. I wanted to play with the kids. I brought along donated soccer uniforms. Although we didn't have enough for everyone, the children enjoyed sporting the professional look. While Bob was working, I enjoyed a volleyball and soccer game between our two local teams, Himalaya and Everest. Those games were rehearsals for the Olympics to be held the next weekend.

We were notified that the second team, led by James Yoder, would be delayed until the next morning because of airline issues. But two volunteers, Nancy Slinkard, coming from Colorado and Ramona Havas, traveling alone arrived that day. We had to cancel Sunday morning plans with the children.

Everyone arrived the next morning without luggage. I felt bad, but I admit I was more concerned about the tools, hardware and desk tops they were bringing. If these items did not show up, there would be no construction.

Monday morning, everyone was eager to go to Jubilee to see the kids and get started on the construction. It was everyone's first time in Nairobi, except Owen Brown who had been with us the year before. The team discovered the organized chaos that the tremendous traffic generates on the Kenyan roads; they marveled at how many people walk to work; they watched the local train overloaded with people hanging from doors and windows and sitting on top of the wagons; they took their first pictures of local markets and of the bicycles riders jockeying between cars or donkeys pulling carts.

Building begins
After the usual welcome greeting of songs and dances from the children, the construction team went to work filling the air with the smell of sawdust and sounds of electric tools.


Construction of Bunkbeds



Although Tim Klund from Charlotte admitted he didn't have much experience with a hammer, it didn't take him long to contribute his fair-share of the work. He was on a mission to check what KOP has accomplished at Jubilee in hopes of replicating building in another part of Nairobi with the Greek Orthodox Church he is involved with. A trio of friends, Al Steele, a retired builder, Harvey Thomas, a painter and handyman, and Pamela Varnadore, a purchasing agent who loves to "fix and build" in her spare time, were the hands-on people who would make the work progress.




Finished Bunkbed

Nancy Slinkard was our flexible asset, as she could be assigned at construction or with children's activites. Ramona Havas, a physical therapist, and Kelly Gainey, a school counselor, contributed to beds construction. James Yoder had plenty of experience building bunk beds as part of the original team who built the first 26 beds in 2003. His assistant was Larry Beamguard from Clover First United Methodist Church. Bob teamed up with Owen to complete 16 school desks for the future high school, kept everybody happy with the right tools at the right time, fixed the basket ball hoop and a broken swimg, set up the volleyball net and other tasks, earning him the "Gopher of the Year" award.


Construction of School Desks


New School Desks