Oct 8, Friday
We left the OR at 2:00 AM!!!!!! So so very tired. Our last patient was a 14 yr old girl with severe facial burns who needed quite a bit of reconstruction and grafting.
Due to the fact that our 9 month old burned pt. did not have lab work we had today off. I slept under my net until 12:30!! I must be beginning to feel a bit more comfortable because the bedding actually looked like someone slept in it.
I put on my flip flops, trying not to look around in the shower for any crawling things and freshened up.
The ambulance was waiting for us...our means of transportation, and we were off to the Kakamega Rain Forest. If you have any interest their web is...rondoretreat.com
It was a ride that was filled with adventure as well as the day. The roads are red packed dirt with huge bumps and holes that a 30 min rides takes an hour and a half. The drivers a so accustomed to the roads that they ride in a zig zag and off road. It is nuts. We hit a major storm on the way and a couple of us had to move our seat as the ambulance leaks. Mind you, this vehicle has a 7 inch wooden bench on one side and a cushioned bench style seat on the other and behind the driver 2 can sit. I was on the 7" wood holding onto a metal bar from the ceiling. The windows are covered with pealing gray paint so viewing is limited unless the sliding windows are open. I was just into the whole experience of it, there I was in the middle of absolutely nowhere, in a beat up ambulance, in a torrential down pour, in probably one of the poorest places in the world, with 5 others and loving every second of it.
Our guild, Wycliffe, was great. He took us on a wonderful hike through the forest and up a huge mountain. Glad I did so much riding this summer, it came in handy. He pointed out 4 varieties of monkeys, several plant species, trees, birds etc.
Back at Bishop Stam guest house for dinner- 9:30. We had a bit of a problem with the return from the forest but it finally worked out. Willi was there waiting with her amazing smile and served us.
After dinner I went in the kitchen and helped up clean up as the others went to their rooms. Well, Willie had a treat for me. After we put everything away, she said come in the back I have to take the feathers off the chickens and prepare them before I go to my room. ( huh?) Don't ask!!! This was just too much ...So, we go in the back of the building and there were these freshly killed chickens being defeathered. Then Willie places them on open coals and constantly flips them ( quick roast?) We go into the kitchen where she proceeds to gut them. Yep!! Takes the intestines,gizzards and other insides- out. Takes the 2 chickens and lays them in a freezer. I ask her if she wants to put them in bags. "No they will be fine, " Willie says.
What a day!!!! A real African adventure.........................
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