The team woke up to a very dense fog this morning. As we hiked up to the hospital, we could just barely see the road ahead.
When we got to the hospital, we had the opportunity to go over a few project presentations that other Collaboratory teams asked us to present for them. We got great feedback from the staff at the hospital and have a lot to share with teams back at home.
Today was another successful day of testing. The team has all sensors still functioning. They hope to test for four more babies tomorrow.
While the clubfoot team was working on testing, Antonio and I got to work a bit more with the 3D printer. Seith also was able to show us how to manufacture more orthotics and prosthetic liners. We had a few patients come in today that needed adjustments to their orthotics and prosthetics, so we were able to observe Seith problem solve each unique problem.
Blurb written by Brittney: Hello again! Today I am reporting on the home visit Jacob, Sam, Dr. Soerens, and myself went on with Reverend Victor and a story teller, Elvis. We had the incredible opportunity to travel 40 minutes outside of the hospital to visit one of our local patients, Mary, who was in need of surgery after an untreated mass on her foot left her walking on the lateral side of her foot; here is a bit more about her story: https://cure.org/curekids/kenya/2021/12/mary/. After taking this awesome AMBULANCE cruiser, we safely arrived in Mary's village. We were invited into their living room to talk, through an interpreter, about the condition Mary faced, how CURE has been able to bless them with both the surgery and ongoing bracing, and ultimately to take prayer requests back to the States. This experience was a true testament to how treatment and the introduction of God's love can impact an individual and their entire household! Mary is currently facing a transitional period where she in interested in continuing her high school curriculum, yet it is too costly for her household. We pray that God allows Mary's parents to acquire a freelance position in order to best pay for her education or for her family to be at peace in recognition that she is not going to school this semester and instead, the Lord has different plans for Mary. The team was able to sit alongside Mary and her mother and pray over them using one of Swahili bibles!
Unfortunately, we were not able to take any photos of our own but Elvis did, so keep watch over the next couple of days for those.
On the way back from the hospital and home visit, the team saw two monkeys run across the path with different food items and climb up the roof of one of the hospital buildings. It was really fun to see since the team has been anticipating seeing monkeys and baboons for the entire trip.
When we made it back to the house, the team members were able to meet with some souvenir sellers that had previously sold us stuff. Some of the members were able to find things that they had been looking for and even got to take these fun pictures with the sellers.
Overall, we had a pretty lowkey day at the hospital and were able to interact with many of the locals. Tomorrow, we will be presenting on more of the Collaboratory projects to the hospital staff.
-Rachel