Please Don’t Rain on My Parade...Kenya Week 25: March 21-28

Yet another slate gray cloud head roles its way towards the hospital. Will this one let loose its power like last night? Or will sneak past and spare us the drama? What happened to Karungu’s nearly perfect, always sunny weather? Where did my nice running trails sink away to? Why does everything have to be constantly dirty, muddy, and musty?

I can’t help but feel bad about my irking feelings of annoyance: the women quickly place their troughs and basins outside the house to catch all the clean, fresh water the heavens bless them with. Tomorrow morning they won’t have to make the long heavy trek to the lake to fetch water. And rain means growth, so their children won’t starve when it comes time to harvest.

But the more it rains, the less anything happens. And in rural Kenya, that’s an impressive statement. I never imagined LESS could happen here, but apparently it can.

The roads are muddy in the morning after the nightly downpours. And by the afternoon- just when the sun has dried the roads to make them passable- the next storm creeps in. Women can’t bring their babies to the immunization clinics. Children can’t walk to school. Motorbike drivers can’t manage the slippery mud. So while everyone else settles into the customary Rainy Season Lethargy, I beg the heavens to clear for a few precious hours.

We can’t collect the data the community health volunteers gathered. We can’t visit the severely affected families. The homes and schools we’re cementing can’t continue their work because nothing dries. And so I sit in the office hoping these clouds silently pass overhead so that tomorrow I can go out.

This Is Africa.

A Good Thing Has Been Done Today...Kenya Week 23: March 7-13

By the time we arrived with the roofing poles and metal sheets, the walls were up and the men were ready to start building the roof. A smiling group of Community Health Workers arrived carrying shovels and pushing a wheel barrel full of soil to reinforce the wooden beams for the walls. The women sat under the shade trees stirring huge pots of noyo and rabolo, the traditional foods prepared for large groups. Wilson worked tirelessly with the other men despite his age and HIV+ status. The smile on his face and energy in his work revealed his pure joy at finally completing his new home. Wilson’s wife Jackline sat shyly in the shade, talking quietly with the neighbor women.

I met Wilson and Jackline back in November when the Otati Community Health Workers asked me help the couple severely infected with jiggers. We removed the parasites and sprayed their home, but within one month, the jiggers had returned. We removed the jiggers a second time, re-sprayed the home, and gave them closed shoes to protect their feet. But when I visited the couple last week, the jiggers had returned for the third time. Obviously, something more needed to be done. Their poor health status combined with Wilson’s age and Jackline’s slight mental handicap made it nearly impossible for them to get back on their feet without extra help.
The community recognized the need of this struggling couple, but it seemed useless to make any improvements to their home. The thatched roof desperately needed repairs and the mud walls slowly crumbled around them. Structurally the home was beyond repair and the only real option to improve their quality of life and prevent the jiggers from returning was to build a new home.

Wilson had planted the Bluegum trees needed for the poles and was slowly collecting the wood for the walls. He had dug the holes for the beams and leveled the ground where he hoped to build the home. But it would be months before he had enough wood beams for the ceiling and probably never before he’d save enough to actually finish the house. Without a new home, the jiggers would continue to return, causing him and his wife constant physical and psychological pain.

Wilson’s efforts stirred something in me. He was obviously working hard to improve his life and needed just a little help to really become self-sufficient. So we came up with a plan: If the community comes to help Wilson build his home, I’ll buy the metal sheets for the roof and the cement for the floor. All in all, Wilson and Jackline could get a new home for around $500 of building materials, a few days hard work from their neighbors, and a small contribution from Wilson’s extended family.

While the men labored in the hot sun, I sat under the trees with the women learning to sosa- pull the corn off the husks. As they prepared lunch, they taught me practical Dholuo words for the day...kornindo: bedroom. korbudho: sitting room. musmal: nail. dirisha: window. dhot: door. Once I’d mastered the essential words for building a home, the women taught me the seven planting seasons: 1. beto: clearing the bushes. 2. puro: preparing the soil. 3. yoro: re-digging 4. komo: planting 5. doyo: weeding 6. dumbo: preharvesting 7. keyo: harvesting.

Hearing the women discuss their work as farmers, I realized that after almost 6 months in Kenya, I still have almost no idea of the reality of life for a typical Luo in Karungu. They eat what they grow in their fields, they build their own homes, and they pray that the right amount of rain comes at the right time. At times they become so focused on their own survival that they don’t have the energy or resources to help their struggling neighbors. But today reminded me and everyone there of the beauty of coming together to help those in need. Some people can donate money, others time, others corn, and others water. All equally precious, all equally necessary. I couldn’t help but think that this is exactly the type of development work the world needs.

By 4 pm, the roof was complete. The women agreed to return next Thursday to place the mud in the walls. Wilson’s extended family will prepare the ground for cementing. By the following week, we’ll be ready to cement the floor and move Wilson and Jackline into their new home. As we stood in front of the nearly finished home for the group photo, the smiles emanating from each face gave away their inherent joy. Everyone knew that a good thing has been done today.

Before and After...Kenya Week 22

Pictures really are worth 1,000 words, so I'll let these photos do the talking. The Befores and Afters of the families we've helped so far with the Jiggers Eradication Campaigns show how powerful a little help can really be.

The Wambogo family was covered with painful parasites locally called jiggers and struggled to survive in their dilapidated and parasite infested home...

















Three months later, the Wambogo family back is on their feet in their new home...and jigger free!



Zadox (on the far left, soaking his jigger invested hands and feet in antiseptic) is a slightly mentally handicapped total orphan. Different families in the Otati community take care of him when they can. Sadly, this lack of consistent familial care led him to becoming severely infected with jiggers. The parasites covered his hands and feet, making it too painful to walk and too humiliating to go to school.

The severity of Zadox's jiggers forced us to bring him to St. Camillus Hospital. We removed hundreds of the parasites with Zadox under sedation. He went home the next day bandaged but walking.

Two months later, Zadox is back in school and doing well. His hands and feet are jigger free and once again he’s smiling happily.


Wilson and Jackline have long suffered the horrible itching and debilitating pain of jiggers. Both are HIV+ and their home is nearly falling apart. All of their children have passed away, leaving them vulnerable and extremely needy. We brought them to the Otati Dispensary to remove the hundreds of parasites from their hands and feet.

Even after removing Jackline’s jiggers and spraying their home with powerful pesticides, the jiggers retrned. Below I’m removing the fleas from Jackline’s feet the second time.
After removing Jackline's jiggers a second time, she managed to keep most of them at bay. But Wilson and Jackline's case requires a bit more help. Read Week 23's story to see what happens next!


Over 180 children and adults from the Otati Community came to have the jiggers removed from their hands and feet on the two Otati Jigger Removal Days.

Two months later I went to follow up at the nearby Otati Primary School. The head teacher proudly reported that the students are doing much better. According to him, the quality of life and health of the entire community has improved after the Otati Jiggers Eradication Campaign.