HEADING HOME FOR THE WINTER

It’s hard to believe it’s been 4 months since my last update. I’m been at the Kowak Mission since late April and am now heading home in a few hours for the winter in Kansas City.

What a wonderful year I’ve had at Kowak. It was so different from previous years because I got to meet many of the people in our village and go to their homes to delivery mosquito nets and rosaries (donated by friends and students from Queen of the Holy Rosary Parish) and take their photos. In my spare time on weekends I would walk around for exercise by visiting some of these same areas and having a smart phone with camera I was always being asked for pictures. I would then return the following weekend to deliver the photos. Most had never seen a picture of themselves, of course, so they were thrilled. Fortunately, getting photos developed is very cheap now and only an hour away.

Since I last wrote I went to Kitale, Kenya with our visiting PA, Kathy Dunford to escort her on her way back home. I also wanted to see the Korb’s from the KC area and our long term Maryknoll Lay Missioners Russ Brine and John O’Donohue. We just missed the Korb’s as John’s mother passed away a few days before we arrived. But we had a grand time with John O and Russ and saw lots of Kathy’s friends from her previous hospital and health care jobs. I got several ideas from the head of the hospital (an Indian sister) about things to help our hospital, like odor control powder for the toilets and a unique water filtration system using a clay pot made of American design.

Kathy and I had gone up on a new mini bus (12 passenger) system and it was quick (8 hrs) and easy, so I took it home. On the way up to Kenya I forgot to lock my luggage zippers so lost several computer cords due to sticky fingers. Kathy also lost some money but was not sure how. No problem coming home and the scenery is beautiful in this southwest section of Kenya with many hills and tea plantations. We had lots of good food in Kitale and got entertained by Russ’s primary school students. They are former street children. What a great program he has there.

Fr Conard returned at the end of July from 3 months of home leave. He visited all three brothers around the country and Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Rochester who donates so generously for our hospital support. He immediately started working on building an outdoor area next to the rectory for the big Jubilee Mass for all the priests and sisters of our diocese. It was an all-day event as we had to feed most of the 1,000 in attendance. It is supposed to be at another parish next year but we are pushing the bishop to have it back at Kowak next year since it will be Fr Conard’s 60^th anniversary as a priest.

I made one last trip to Mwanza, our second largest city 4 hours south, to shop for medicine and a few items with our car mechanic, to get some repairs done and to buy a LaserJet color printer for the hospital. We hauled a crankshaft down for grinding and picked it up the next day. I arranged to have the medicines boxed up and waiting at the door for pick-up the next morning at two different pharmacies. I also arranged for the large color printer to be delivered to my hotel that evening to save me time finding parking space the next day to pick it up.  So it was a very successful trip with no punctures (flats) or breakdowns.

Of course the highlight of this last month was the wonderful baseball post-season the KC Royals had, culminating in the World Series Championship. Wow! What a team and what a season. Sure wish my twin brother had been alive to enjoy it as much as we did last year. I’m looking forward to returning home now to catch the end of those celebrations tomorrow night. I was on the bus Monday by 8 a.m. and headed to Nairobi during the last game so my friend Liz Mach was watching the game at home and texting me with the scores, inning by inning. Thank God she is a big sports fan. I feel very blessed.

Tom 

WITNESSING MY FIRST SURGERY

            i'm back at Tembo beach in Musoma. I wrote this a few days ago but did not have adequate internet speed to update the blog at that time. Now I even have wifi from the beach restaurant and am sitting in the shade with a nice lake breeze. What a life. Fr Conard is still on home leave so I’m trying to manage the mission while he’s gone and getting a few projects done. Between projects I’m trying to keep the accounting books up to date, distribute mosquito nets, photo’s and rosaries.  I’ve been dragging my feet on getting our new website for the hospital up and running, so today I reviewed what is still remaining to be done. Mostly the web builder needs more details on each service offered at the hospital and some photo’s of each service with a patient and doctor doing that service.

            So Thursday I was walking around looking for our American physician’s assistant, Kathy, to help me with some descriptions. I was unsuccessful in finding her so I asked for the doctor and the head nurse said he was just starting his fourth surgery. I asked her if there was any possibility of getting a photo of him in surgery for the website. She looked at me a little strange and then said she would ask him. I followed her to the door and waited. In a minute the doctor stuck his head out and asked for more info. I showed him my list of needs, one being a photo during surgery. He thought a minute and then told one of the nurses to get me ready. I was flabbergasted.  They were just preparing for a c-section.

            I got my gown on, my sandals, and mask and followed the nurse in. The doctor was just starting to apply the sterilizing lotion to the young ladies stomach. As I had heard from Kathy, he was saying prayers over the patient the whole time he applied the sterilizing lotion.  All I had was my smart phone because I was not expecting to take photo’s today. He then covered the naked body with a sheet, with a slit over the lower abdomen. I started shooting photo’s as he started cutting. Soon the dead embryo was removed and laid in a stainless tray. That was enough for me to take my exit. What an experience. I went back an hour later to see the doctor but he was in surgery doing his fifth of the day. What a man. So gentle, spiritual and humble. We are so lucky.

            Our carpenter, mason, mechanic and day laborers have just been doing small projects since we finished the three big ones last week. Those included a chain link fence around the convent, two toilets and a septic tank outside the hospital lab, an 8’ pit for disposal of hospital incinerator ashes and a washing station with 4 sinks and 4 clothes lines for the  patient’s families.

            This week we demolished the old incinerator, enlarged the new incinerator door, cleaned all three store rooms at the carpenter’s shop, cleaned the plumber’s shop, hailed off or burned the trash from each, and replaced the window screen and rotten wood around my front door. Today they started adding 300 bricks (4 rows) to the wall surrounding my back yard. The mechanic and helper took the diesel pump of our single cab pickup in town for repair and they finished installing it today. The helper could not find a front tire for our tractor so he will take the bus to Kenya tomorrow, since there are many more tractors there. We paid for a new tractor radiator weeks ago but the first one was the wrong size, so we are hoping the vendor can find the right size in Kenya.  He refuses to refund the money, of course.

            Cleaning the shops has turned up a wealth of items that were buried for so long that no one knew they were there. Were found 6 buckets of pipe fitting for steel, plastic, IPS and PVC pipe. That alone is now worth a fortune due to inflation. The last 12 months it has averaged 17 %; just a little above the 15% of previous years.

            Kathy our visiting PA is departing for home on July 21^st. She has been so busy at the hospital that the only site seeing has been two local towns which don’t have much to offer, except the beach on Lake Victoria in Musoma. Since it was the 4^th of July week-end we decided to drive down to Mwanza, the big city, where there are 7 Maryknoll Lay Missioners working and several sisters and a priest and brother. We learned they had planned a little beach party on Friday evening, so we invited ourselves and Liz, the local MKLM from Musoma. It was a 4 hour drive but well worth it. Saturday Liz and Kathy got a cut and color at Liz’s favorite shop while I made the rounds of my favorite hardware stores. When they finished at noon they both look great so we finished the day in a fabric store that is a big weakness for Kathy. I must admit I spent as much as anyone for family gifts. But I was particularly pleased with the hardware items I found which are not available in our small towns up North.

            About 3 pm we headed north for our last, but not least, stop; a nice hotel (Ndabaka Lodge) at the west gate of the Serengeti Park. Kathy had never been to the park and Liz and I always love to make at least one visit a year or more.  The rooms (cabins) were very nice and the meals were as well. We got in the park about 8 am and took our time stopping many places for pictures. If you know Liz or me you probably saw 10 or more of Liz’s favorite shots on her Facebook page Sunday evening. We were very fortunate to get some nice views of zebras, wildebeests, lions, hippos and crocks, plus a smattering of impalas, giraffes, gazelles, ostriches, and a nice eagle. No elephants this time but still a very nice quick trip (6 hours). It was right on the way home so we got back to the village by 6 pm. Next week Kathy and I will head up to Kitale, Kenya to visit more lay missioners that Kathy has worked with and I know most very well. After a 5 day week-end I’ll head home and Kathy will fly to Nairobi.

TEMBO BEACH, MUSOMA

I guess it’s been over three months since my last update, so I apologize. So much has gone on it’s hard to imagine. I left for Tanzania in mid-Feb and then returned 6 weeks later to Kansas for the funeral of my twin brother. After a month at home I returned to Tanzania in late April. I was met at the Nairobi airport by a former Maryknoll Lay Missioner, Kathleen Dunford. We then journeyed to Tanzania in late April.

            Kathy was in Kenya for 5 years as a Physician’s Assistant, so is comfortable with the life style hear, but Kowak and Tanzania are significantly different than the larger town of Kitale and the English speaking Kenya. So far she is doing very well and will be returning home (N.C.) at the end of July to discern what she wants to do next year. She has been a tremendous help in the short time here. She escorted one elderly priest, Fr Dick Quinn, back to New York after just being here 3 weeks, so that was a big help for the Maryknoll Fathers.

            I drove Fr Conard, our Kowak pastor, back to Nairobi in early May for his flight home. This is his time for a 3 months home leave, so he will return at the end of July and I will try to keep things running while he is gone. Of course, the Tanzania priest is here to do his religious duties while I do the project management and pay for supplies and salaries. I returned to Kowak a week before Fr Jim departed so spent most of that time getting the financial records up to date so he could see what we had to work with before his departure.

            One of the first things Fr Jim did was approve the payment for the new websites for the secondary school and the hospital. Kathy and I hope to finish most of the questions to get the hospital site activated by the end of July. It has been hard to find the time to work on that lately but things are starting to slow down a little now. In fact she and I are at Tembo beach, in Musoma, today enjoying the breeze and atmosphere of less people and especially less children that we are surrounded with daily in Kowak. Some of you may recall the name Tembo as the place we Lay Missioners frequently visited on Friday evenings after a hard week at language school in the winter of 2006.

            In addition to the weekly management of several construction projects at Kowak hospital I was asked to donate blood to a very sick freshman student at the secondary school. She has sickle cell anemia and her hemoglobin had dropped to 5.1. Her parents had driven up from Mwanza (4 hrs south) and they were frantically looking for donors, but A neg is a rare blood type here and fortunately that is my type. So I felt very fortunate to help and her parents felt like I saved her life. I’m not sure how accurate that was.

            I was especially blessed with a $1,000 donation in late Feb for mosquito nets by the youth group at Queen of the Holy Rosary near my home in KS. To that I added another $500 from friends in KS, Utah and England so I was able to purchase 420 nets for local mothers with young babies. I then met a young man, Charles, in the village who had just finished high school and was home deciding what to do next.  I was amazed to see how many people he knew and how many knew him so he was a natural to help prepare a list of mothers with young babies. They have a great system called Nyumba Kumi Kumi here in the villages of TZ. Every 10 neighbors has a group leader that they keeps informed about the needs of those ten (kumi) homes (nymuba). So Charlie went to each village leader and ask them for a list of mothers.

After a week we had a list of 130 or so families. He and I then spent the next several weeks, as time permitted, distributing nets, taking pictures and asking their religion, and number of children. So I spent 2 to 3 hours each day hiking up and down hills and through bush and really got my exercise. We visited 20 hoems each day. Ugh! But it was very fulfilling and I got to meet many new people as well as a few I knew from church or hospital or school activities over the years. A few weeks later I received 200 rosaries in addition to the 40 or so I was given before I departed in Feb. I then started distributing them and pictures to the 130 families I had given nets to earlier; again a lot of exercise.

Now I have another 140 nets and am preparing a list for two neighboring areas of our village. I hope I have the health and energy to keep going with Charlie. If not I’ll have someone else go but then the picture quality will be much less and I really enjoy the experience and need the exercise. I’ve lost about 6 lbs already.

We finished three hospital projects over the last 4 weeks. Those are two toilets and a wash station all for patients. We also finished the fence around the sister’s convent. Next we want to make a fence around the hospital and pave the area around the old patient toilets, bathing area and wash station. That will be paved with concrete bricks that are pretty decorative and made here by the school craftsman.

My health is staying good and I have had no malaria for over two years. I plan to return in early November to spend the winter in Kansas City and visit the new friends I have there now. I especially miss the contemplative group at Guardian Angel and they keep me copied well on their exciting activities. 

HAPPY FAT TUESDAY

        Happy Fat Tuesday y’all. I’ve been in Nairobi a little over a week now and with some luck I’ll be departing tomorrow (Ash Wednesday) for Tanazania. This special day is probably not the best day to travel but my options are a little limited. I’ve really been enjoying my time here visiting the priests that reside here and old friends who, like me, are just passing through. I’ve also really enjoyed the daily 7 am Masses at the chapel where the priests reside, next door to my accommodations here in the Maryknoll compound. There are usually 3 or 4 priests, a brother, a seminarian and a couple lay missioners in attendance, so it is packed. The homilies are short but great and we are done by 7:30 am and ready for breakfast. What a great way to start the day.

      They tell me it has been unusually dry lately and the rainy season does not start until April. It has also been very warm (85F) as is typical this time of year. Actually I don’t notice the heat so much since it is so dry due to the high elevation of Nairobi (6,000 ft). Also it is nice and cool at night (65F), like Kowak, my village. Anyway we got a nice shower Sunday and Monday (yesterday) and a pretty heavy rain last night, so things have really cooled off and it has been very pleasant. We even had a roaring fire in the fireplace the last two nights which we all really enjoyed, especially the two children here this week.

      Anita and Curt Klueg arrived by train from Mombasa late Friday evening (1 am) with the kids after a 30 hour trip; 9 hours of delays. They are finishing their second three year contract here in May. Both girls were born in Mombasa and are now 8 and 9 yrs old. They are cute as they can be. The family came to renew the US passport for the oldest, Rehema. Bethany will get hers renewed next year.  We all attended the wedding and reception of our young Maryknoll bookkeeper , Francis and his bride Winnie, at the Kenyatta Univ chapel on Saturday. The newest lay missioner for Kenya (Teresa) also attended. She is about 26 yr, old and came with the Kluegs as she is attending language school in Mombasa. 

         Teresa and the newly ordained Fr Lam from Tanzania and Margaret from Kitale are all attending a 3 day course at the Tangaza University given by Maryknoll and Fr Mike Kerwin’s instructors on mission integration. If I had known my departure was going to be delayed I probably would have attend it myself. I was fortunate to attend two 3 hour classes there last week at this Catholic university. The morning session was for 30 seminarians on Small Christian Communities for youth (YSCC); youth meaning between ages 14 and 28 years of age. It was given by Fr Joe Healy who teaches there every Thursday. The afternoon session was about Peace and Justice in Africa.

      Most parishes in East Africa have from 20 to 60 SCC that meet and pray together weekly. Each SCC is limited to about 20 members. The YSCC are becoming very popular but it is hard to limit them to 20 members. These are for the unmarried youth of each parish, so when they become married they are required to join the older members in the SCC. They may start forming SCC for young married adults.  The SCC concept is really the heart of most parishes in East Africa because the members get to know each other so well and care for each other as the need arises. It seems like this is something we could really use in the US churches. There are already 160,000 SCC in East Africa; see smallchristiancommunities.org.

     I also got to see my friends Russ Brine and Cindy Korb for a few days. Cindy was heading back to Kitale after 2 weeks of physical therapy for back pains. She and her husband are from near Kansas City and teach in Catholic schools in Kitale. They will return home at the end of the year after two 3 year contracts.  They have a very good blog called “kenyaforus.blogspot.com”.

       Russ is also in Kitale and has been there 15 yrs. He was on his way to Cambodia to investigate a new mission site as his 5^th contract ends in the Spring of 2016. I hope to go visit both of them and the rest of that crew in Kitale this summer, time permitting. I plan to keep busy in Kowak with two new websites and a new blog for the hospital called “kowakhospital.blogspot.com”. My goal is a blog update every two weeks.

        My old MKLM lay missioner classmate, Tara McKinney, was also here for a few days on business for Cross International. It was great to see her again and meet her co-worker David from Florida. Tara is now living in Mozambique, so that was a real pleasant surprise.

      

NAIROBI ARRIVAL AS PLANNED

     It’s Tuesday morning in Nairobi. I arrived late last night as scheduled and got an amazingly good sleep at the Maryknoll house here. That is not a sure thing depending on how much rest I get on the planes getting here. Actually I did sleep pretty well on all three legs: to and from Dallas and from London. I read a little and watched a couple movies so it was a relatively smooth trip despite the lack of internet in the airports, until I was about to leave London (Heathow). That was a little frustrating, but I finally tried resetting my iPod settings and that finally worked. As usual I left my mobile phone at home with my sister, since I have no use for it here. I have a mobile phone here in Nairobi and hope to reactivate that number for Kenya and another for Tanzania. After 7 months of no use I’m sure both sim cards have been deactivated. 

       I got very sad news this morning via email from my sister. My twin brother had a doctor’s appointment Monday and it seems his health is failing much faster than anticipated. So I will stay here in Nairobi for at least a week, until I decide what to do. I have a meeting tomorrow with a website engineer that I have been working with online for the new Kowak Hospital website and potentially the Girl’s Secondary School site. Fortunately there will be a lot of lay missioners coming thru here in the next few days that I am anxious to see. In fact I just had breakfast with two of them this morning; Tara with Cross International (formerly a Maryknoll Lay Missioner) and Cindy Korb from Tonganoxie.

        Tara and her manager, Dave, from FL are here on business for a few days and Cindy has been here about two weeks for physical therapy for her back. He husband John is teaching in Kitale, where they live as lay missioners. Brother Frank Tenhoppen is also here from NY. He has been home for health reason for over a year. We are expecting Russ Brine from Kitale to arrive this week-end on his way to Cambodia. He has been a lay missioner here over 12 yrs and is thinking of changing countries. It will be great to see him again. Also the young couple living in Mombasa are coming in with their two children and it has been many years since I’ve seen them. 

MY LAST DAYS IN KANSAS...for a few months

MY LAST DAYS IN KANSAS,,,for a few months!

     Well, I think I’m finally headed back to my Tanzania mission after an extended stay and a beautiful Summer and an amazing Fall (can you believe World Series at home) in Kansas City. I did spend 3 weeks in East Africa last June, but only one week in the village, as I had hospital business to work on in Nairobi upon my arrival. After a few months at home with my ailing twin brother I had prepared to return in early December, but God had other plans. I ended up in the hospital in Houston on Thanksgiving Day to treat a serious bladder infection, which required follow-up in a Kansas City hospital for a few days. That was followed with prostate surgery, which was followed with another extended hospital stay on Christmas Day with a bleeding prostrate.

      So now that things seem to be stable with me, my brother started having problems with internal bleeding. When it rains it pours.  He just got home yesterday after an 8 day stay in the hospital but is still very weak. In January I spent one week-end with my son Adam and his family in Louisville, KY and another in Atlanta with Kyle and his family. It was great to spend some time with all of them; especially the three grandchildren. It may be 9 months before I return so I’m sure they will all change a lot in that short time.

     Last November I made two slide presentations of pictures of Kowak village and hospital and other travels around Tanzania. The first was to a senior citizens apartment complex near me and the other was to a few classes of primary school students at a local Catholic parish after a Sunday mass. Both were enthusiastic and very interested in helping the Kowak Hospital in any way they could. The Sante Fe Towers seniors contacted me later and were able to collect $95 for mosquito nets and several dozen rosaries. Then the kids at Queen of the Holy Rosary informed me of a bake sale they organized. They generated an unbelievable $700 for mosquito nets. The sisters at Kowak Hospital will be thrilled.

      I recently received an email from the Kowak pastor and hospital manager, Fr Conard, requesting my help. This facility has been expanding quickly over that last 8 years since I arrived. They now have 174 beds, but only 4 PA’s and one doctor. Fr Conard said they are in dire need of a second doctor and ask for ideas on how we could find a source of income to support the salary of this second doctor and continue that support if and when something requires his absence or move from the mission. He has been there 38 years and is now 85, so his days are limited despite his amazing energy and current good health.

     I mentioned this challenge to a few friends from my contemplative group one evening and they suggested I make a slide presentation to the entire prayer group and ask them for support or suggestions. Our group leader was very receptive to this idea, despite his planned agenda for the group that day, if I could make it brief.  I did that presentation this week and was amazed at the extremely generous reception and hopeful ideas that would allow us to proceed with hiring a new doctor.  It is really overwhelming. What a wonderful month this has been. Of course, I am anxious to return to the mission but will miss my prayer group dearly.