Vanovers' Travels: Sunday 9/27/15 - Tenwek adventures and more...

Happy Sunday friends and family,

Marilyn and I have been enjoying our first weekend off since we have been coming to Tenwek! We have had an interesting couple of days since my last post. On Friday, we had a visit from one of the Kenyan consulting physicians (Dr. Matilda Ongondi) who I had worked with on the medicine service 2 years ago. At that time, she was running the medicine service and was a font of information and knowledge about how to practice medicine in a resource-poor country like Kenya. Last year when we were here, she had just left Tenwek for her “dream job” at Kenyatta Hospital in Nairobi. Her departure was a tremendous loss to the medicine department, but I was pleased to hear that she had been “promoted”, and would be studying hematology and oncology, and would be applying for subspecialty training. On Friday, I was about to begin medicine service rounds, when Matilda appeared at the nurses’ station to say hello to some her medical interns, students, and consulting physicians. She indicated that she had made a last minute decision to visit her family in Bomet for the weekend, and had stopped by just to say hello. We visited briefly and I congratulated her on her promotion to Kenyatta. We then parted, and I began making our rounds. About an hour later, I had a call from Marilyn indicating that she had also had a visit from Matilda, and upon talking about her plans, had discovered that she was coming to Texas for 10 weeks to study hematology/oncology. Upon further questioning, Marilyn discovered that she was coming to SAN ANTONIO, and would be working at the Cancer Therapy and Research Center in the UTHSCSA medical center!...furthermore, Matilda indicated that she would be arriving the same day that we are scheduled to return home…..and that she did not yet have any plans for a place to stay!! Marilyn’s response to her was “Yes, you do….” Clearly, a God-orchestrated encounter! As a result, we will be hosting her for some part, or possibly all of her stay in San Antonio. I hope that many of you will have the opportunity to meet her….she is a delightful sister-in-Christ, and an outstanding physician. We are very excited about her coming to San Antonio…we are currently waiting to find out if we are on the same flight home or not?! On Saturday, we decided to go on an outing to Kericho, which is a larger town about 2 hours drive from Bomet, and Tenwek Hospital. This area has several large tea plantations and flower farms which offer tours to visitors with advance arrangements. Our visiting staff coordinator at Tenwek arranged for a driver to take us to visit one of these plantations owned by a British company called Finlay. We had an uneventful trip to Kericho, and after passing through an elaborate layer of security, were admitted to the Finlay tea plantation. We enjoyed a fascinating presentation about how tea is processed, and then had a guided tour of the processing plant. Our tour also included some tea tasting, and I can honestly say that I had the best tea I had ever tasted (with hot milk and sugar of course…all Kenyans drink their Chai this way!). Afterwards, we were on our way to the flower farm (also part of the Finlay complex) when we suddenly heard/felt a loud, sickening, “thud” on the undercarriage of our minivan. Our driver got out to inspect what had happened, and I did as well….to my horror, the drive shaft was detached at the universal joint, slanting downward and dragging on the dirt road. At about that same time it started to rain….needless to say there was more than a little bit of consternation on my part! I had visions of having to wait hours for another van to be rounded up and sent out to rescue us. All the while, I was beginning to take note of a slowly expanding bladder (after being pumped full of Chai tea!). Furthermore, our driver had begun to search around the area, and had located some yellow “caution tape”, and a piece of barbed wire…he then proceeded to slip under the vehicle in the mud and rain, and I believe he had every intention of trying to raise and secure the drive shaft so that it would not drag on the ground!! Amazingly, this did not work! (I’m not sure if he had any real expectation of accomplishing this or not?). Shortly thereafter, an ambulance happened upon our vehicle, disabled in the middle of the road and obstructing the entrance to a small bridge. Our driver and the ambulance driver had a brief conversation in Swahili, and to my shock and amazement, both of them, as well as another passenger from the ambulance (wearing a suit)….all proceeded to slide under the van in the rain and mud. After they were all thoroughly “slimed”, the ambulance departed with the 2 passengers, and our driver returned to us (still safely ensconced inside the vehicle) to report that the ambulance was going on ahead and would bring back “an engineer”. All the while, he had been attempting to contact our visiting staff coordinator by cell phone, but seemed unable to get a signal or to connect? At this point, I had lost all hope and was beginning to look around for a suitable “green toilet” off the main road. After perhaps another 30 minutes?, the ambulance returned with the same 2 individuals and a tool box…it was all I could do to not laugh out loud at the ridiculousness of our situation. Again all three of them got down in the mud and rain and proceeded to “bang and clang” for another 30 minutes or so. When they later emerged from under the vehicle to inform us that everything was fixed and ready to go, I was understandably skeptical (right?!). Our driver was again gesturing and talking rapidly in Swahili…I interpreted THIS conversation very clearly….he did not have any money to offer our “rescuers”! I reluctantly asked the 2 individuals from the ambulance how much they would like to be paid for their service…I was admittedly a bit nervous that they were going to exploit our helpless situation. To my great relief (and shock!), the “engineer” asked for 3500 Kenyan Shillings (about 34 dollars), and I also gave the passenger in the suit (now beyond recognition as such) another 20 US dollars. They were profusely grateful and jovial despite their condition…the engineer informed me that “Obama is my cousin”, and the passenger in the filthy suit also claimed that “he is my cousin also”!! What are the odds?!....Another clearly God-orchestrated event….our president’s relatives as our rescuers…small world! What is even more shocking is that we were able to drive the vehicle on to the flower farm (where we were turned away because we “did not have an appointment”), and back into Kericho where we stopped for a restroom break. By this time, I was absolutely convinced that I was in acute urinary retention due to overstretch of my bladder….I didn’t even mind using the foul-smelling trench hidden behind a rusted, fenestrated, piece of sheet metal labeled “men’s urinal”. I don’t recall ever seeing a more welcome sight. Thereafter, we got back in the van and made it all the way back to Bomet and Tenwek Hospital without further mishap. I told Marilyn that we had just had the most expensive cup of tea ever (about 150$ total including the repair costs!! What a bargain!). On Sunday (today), we decided not to tempt fate, and spent the day attending church, having lunch with one of the long-term missionaries, and generally relaxing. Below are some pictures from our various adventures. Enjoy! Looking forward to seeing many of you the week after next…

With love,

Randy.