Challenges at FreMo
01 Aug 2011 Leave a Comment
in FreMO, Fundraising, Midwife mission trip, Nairobi
The renovations of the second room happened quickly thanks to David and his crew. They worked through the night knowing that it would be difficult for us to manage around the construction if more than one lady came in labor. Here you can see the progress.. 
Grace and Natarsha got a little into the action
But, as with many things I have experienced in Kenya, there were challenges to come. Here you can see damage to the ceiling after a large storm that moved in the day after the ceiling was painted.
Unfortunately, the previous contractor’s work has not been adequate and caused many problems from a collapsed water tank, leaking sinks and now a leaking roof. We have tried to make some minor repairs but it appears that to prevent more water damage to the new birth rooms, the building will need a new roof. The first estimate I got was right at $1000. I plan to get a second. I do not have the funds to repair it but I figured I could spread the word and maybe we can make this happen. Dig deep and click the donation button to the right..
If only 20 people donated $50, FreMo would have a dry place for women to birth this wet season. A place where the father is welcome to participate in the birth. A place where violence at birth is not tolerated. A place where the women and babies are treated with love and respect. One of the things I have learned here in Kenya is that together we can face and overcome any challenge.
For all of you that are already involved, Thank you! The cost of renovations completed and new supplies comes to $800. You can view the before photos in the previous post and Here is the room so far..
Please spread the word! Asante Sana!
FreMo Medical Centre
22 Jul 2011 5 Comments
in FreMO, Fundraising, Midwife mission trip, Nairobi
I first heard about FreMo from an email forward relating to an internet competition entry by Vicki Chan, a midwife from Australia. The Sunsuper Dream competition prize was $5,000 which Vicki proposed would pay for one annual salary of two Kenyan midwives needed for the new birth center renovations at FreMo. The dream won and from the moment I read of Vicki’s dream and FreMo, I knew I would have to visit them while in Nairobi.
FreMo Medical Centre was started one and a half years ago by two brothers, Fred and Moffat. It sits on the edge of a ‘slum’ called Kawangware, it’s mission to serve the underserved with care and respect. Vicki learned of FreMo from an article in her home country written by another volunteer, Natarsha Jazepczyk, both felt the same pull to FreMo. I believe there is just something about the heart of these brothers that creates a luminescence that draws you in.
Vicki met up with Natarsha and came to her first sight of FreMo on a mission to help renovate both the building and even ideas for woman who would come there to birth. I was lucky enough to arrive the day before Vicki left, and within minutes of meeting, I felt I had known her forever. This happens sometimes among midwives, probably because we share a place of such intense joy and sometimes sorrow in the circle of human existence.
Vicki and her supporters have left an amazing imprint on birth in Kawangware. A beautiful birth suite, flush toilets, shower, water tank, and more building improvements were just part of the changes. What she was more excited about was witnessing a new attitude to birthing women; where birth attendants encourage the woman to sway her hips to move the baby down while rubbing her back, and fathers excitedly participate in the birth. This is not usually how birth is done here in Kenya, but as you can imagine, once you experience birth with this type of love and reverence, you cannot tolerate it any other way. We all believe the FreMo will become an example for birth throughout all of Kenya!
So, I am just honored to hop on a train with a mission that is reigniting my passion and the beliefs that first drew me to midwifery. Grace and I will stay here in Nairobi for about a month and help at the center. Fred an
d Moffat have created a space for us to stay in a room they purchased for expanding the clinic. Natarsha will be here during our stay and she is the most perfect birth assistant, most helpful guide and most vibrant force of energy that keeps things moving.
We are using part of the donations and part of our own money to help finance the changes needed to have a second birth room. Don’t know that it will match the beauty of the room Vicki helped create, but we will do our best 
And of course, I am still desperate to return to GIWA. I will be making some trips out there to make arrangements for us to stay there the rest of our time here.
Thank you all for your support. You will not believe the difference your donations are making!
Here we go!
16 Jul 2011 2 Comments
in Fundraising, Midwife mission trip, Uncategorized
Finishing up the last details. We leave tomorrow, on my 37th birthday. We arrive in Nairobi at 1:30am on July 18th, Kenya time, which is 8 hours ahead of Texas. My friend, Albert, has agreed to pick us up which is a great relief. We will stay for the first couple nights at the Shalom House, where I stayed in Nairobi before. I hope to meet Vicki and Moffat and see the FreMo clinic the day I arrive before Vicki leaves. Then we will go from there. I will have internet access at the Shalom House, so I will post an update once in Nairobi.
Our only personal possessions fit in one backpack each.
Here is a glimpse at our luggage full of donations which includes… 
pregnancy tests, IV equipment, portable Hgb machine, blood typing tests, urinalysis, first aid supplies, herbs, supplements, gloves, suture materials, manual suction device, glucometer, anti-hemorrhagic meds, bulb syringes, cord clamps, syringes/needles, baby blankets, cloth diapers, knitted baby hats from Jenn Winter and more! Too much to list it all
A huge thank you to all the in-kind and cash donations. Now it’s time to put it to work. I will keep you all posted as I can. Keep us in your prayers. All my love!
Preparing to leave
13 Jul 2011 6 Comments
My daughter and I are asked often these days..
”So, Are you ready?” and “Are you excited?”
Neither of us knows quite how to answer. The list in my head of things that I need to do to prepare to leave my work and my life for six months keeps growing, no matter how many times I write things down. I am organizing and re-organizing the cargo bins full of donations in order to fit as much as I can. I don’t know if I will ever be “ready”. Thank goodness the ticket is bought and in just a few days it won’t matter, I will be on the plane whether I am ready or not.
As for how I am feeling, that too is difficult to relate. I am mostly anxious, occasionally excited and sometimes terrified. Today I heard a story of a man from Austin who was convicted of a crime for dispersing nutritional supplements in South Africa, even after a lengthy legal battle.
At this point, I do not know where I will stay or how I will be received. All I know is that I have been called to go. I have heard that voice inside tell me that this was part of my destiny since I was a small child. There are days I drive and see a house for sale and think about how I could make a down payment on a home or send my son back to college with the money I am spending to volunteer. But I know that is not my calling.
I also know that there are so many woman and babies there with no one to turn to, no one to assist them in one of the most important times in their lives.
I do not know what is waiting for me and Grace in Africa. But I know that I must go with an open heart and walking in Faith.
White Ribbon Alliance Video
27 May 2011 2 Comments
in Midwife mission trip Tags: Africa healthcare, maternal mortality, White Ribbon Alliance
I came across this video while looking up statistics for a presentation that I am creating in order to continue to try to secure financial sponsorship for my upcoming mission. You can learn more about the White Ribbon Alliance here. Check out the “Birth and Death” Video on their site also. After watching this, you will know why I must return to the mothers of Kenya.
You can be part of the solution! If you or anyone you know would like to sponsor this work, please donate here at the side bar or contact me. I would love to meet with anyone interested in learning more.
Crawfish Fundraiser
28 Apr 2011 Leave a Comment
in Fundraising Tags: Africa healthcare, fundraising, IDP camps, photos, video
A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has donated to this effort so far… The bands, the venue, the cooks, the silent auction donations, the Feedbak… too many to name but you know who you are! I cannot do much alone, but together we really can make a difference. So much of a difference, it is hard to describe.
We raised $1000 towards the total goal of $10,000 needed. Share this video, post on your facebook and please pass this along to anyone you know who may lend support. Love and Blessings!
Arriving in the Rift Valley
21 Apr 2011 4 Comments
in IDPs, January Trip Tags: Africa healthcare, IDP camps, photos, volunteer tourism
After a few days in Nairobi, I was excited to be on my way to the IDP camps in the Rift Valley. My excitement grew as the busy streets morphed into hillsides with meandering trails and loaded-down pack mules. Even as we got further into the countryside, there were people walking everywhere. I am not used to that. In the U.S. it would be odd to be driving through the country and see people walking along the road, down trails and over hills.
Women carried heavy loads and infants on their backs. Men whizzed by on motorbikes and repaired large trucks on the side of the road. Small children walked alone or sat under a tree watching over their small herd of cows or sheep. Groups of colorful roadside stands offered visual delights. Men and women worked the fields together with pick and hoe. I saw none of the big machines and industrialized farming I am so used to seeing in the rural land I am from. It seemed a totally different world.
Our first stop was at a hardware shop in Nakuru where Irene was checking on an order of supplies for the beginnings of the medical clinic at Giwa. We waited in the van for what seemed like quite awhile and Jenn assured me that this was typical of Kenyan business. “This is Kenyan time”, she would say. I had to contain my anticipation and my desire to get to work. Lit
tle did I know of how much work would be waiting for me.
When Irene returned to the car, she squealed with excitement as she had managed to raise funds in the store for school fees for a few children that needed sponsors. I realized quickly that she is always working to help the people of Kenya. With two cell phones in hand, she is a tireless servant and amazing multi-tasker.
The first IDP camp we visited was Pipeline. This community is still almost all tents. Tents supplied by UNICEF and the Red Cross more than three years ago, when these people lost everything they had. The tents have housed the IDPs for more than three years and many are b
arely standing after all of the scorching sun and Kenyan rains. Later an older man showed me pictures he managed to grab before fleeing his home in the post-election violence. You could feel his sense of pride in his former homestead and overwhelm in trying to rebuild from nothing.
Despite these circumstances, you could see resilience and hope in this new budding community. Jenn filled me in on some politics of the camps and the importance of having a good leader or “chairman”. Pipeline’s chairman was named Moses and his eyes and smile lit up with warmth and wisdom. Through donations, Pipeline had a new small clinic almost complete, a thriving community chicken project and the beginning of a school/community house. There were still no supplies and no healthcare provider, so I told Moses that he could let the women in the camp know that I would be back later in the week to check on anyone pregnant or nursing.
By the time I returned to Pipeline, I had already provided care at the other camps and was getting more of an idea of what to expect. I had become accustomed to working out of my backpack on the dirt, so it felt luxurious to have a small concrete room where I could close the door for privacy, a small exam table to lay the women down and a place to set my equipment out. The women and babies formed a line out the door, waiting patiently in the heat. I knew by now how to identify the ones that I was likely to help the most, so I moved quickly and jotted one line notes to remind me which ones to buy medicine for. I didn’t get a chance to go back to Pipeline before I left but managed to get the medicines delivered to those I had promised. I often wonder how they are doing..
Midwife In Africa Fundraiser
29 Mar 2011 4 Comments
in Midwife mission trip Tags: fundraising
I am so excited to announce.. the next big event! I hope you all will join us! We will have an authentic crawfish boil by my closest cajun friends. Wonderful items to shop at our silent auction. Plus celebration with dance and music inspired from Africa, Louisiana and one of my favorite DJs! You can donate here online to have your name on the list or donate at the door(checks accepted). Even if you can’t donate, please come by and say hello.. I need your love and support as inspiration to make the journey! Post on your facebook and anywhere you can think of to pass the info along.. 
Big thanks to DJ Protege for the flyer!
Meet Millie
28 Mar 2011 1 Comment
in IDPs Tags: IDP camps, Jenn Winter, video
Millie is an IDP from Giwa. She is a single mother in her early 30′s who lives with her two children and mother. As you will see, her english is very good and she was the most wonderful interpreter for me. She attended clinic days and would even walk with me all over camp to find particular patients. I left her with a book, Where Woman Have No Doctor, and when I return I plan to see if she is interested in training with me.
This is raw footage shot by Jenn Winter, who is hoping to create a documentary of the IDPs in Kenya. When she mentions “10,000″, that is Kenyan shillings, worth only a little over $100 in US. The government gave each IDP family that money and instructed them to leave the arena and go start their lives over. A “shamba” is a farm/land.
Who are IDPs?
22 Mar 2011 3 Comments
in Fundraising, IDPs, January Trip
I picked up a few reading materials before and during my trip. Most of them, I left behind with friends in Kenya. Without means for school fees, many Kenyans are never taught to read. But for those that can, reading material is a prized possession. Can you imagine having no access to T.V., radio, internet, books or newspapers. I found neighbors bartering with each other at the chance to borrow a newspaper from one month prior. Even those that cannot read will try to make out words and relish each and every photo.
Anyway, there was one magazine that I held on to because the cover story was “IDP – Internally Displaced Persons.” Recently, I was finally able to read it. Please, please read this story. There is more to tell, but you will begin to understand why I must go back.
