And Then Theres This

And Then There's This

Ok, I wasn't happy with last night's election results. I was hoping Obama would really slam Hillary, but that didn't happen. At least no one was shot and businesses weren't burned. It's not just that I work in Kenya and Obama is a Luo, I really think the guy is good. If you haven't read his book Dreams From My Father do, it's better than his second. I loved his comment about his drug use. Yeah of course he inhaled that's the whole point isn't it? Duh! I'm really tired of people my generation with their holier than thou attitudes about drugs and the war.If you were a democrat back then, then you blew some weed at least and you were against the war. And if you didn't do that then why should I vote for you? Mother does not associate with Republicans so if you had the misfortune of being one of them you well.....
I love Obama because he admits that he was confused when he was younger, he was pissed, he took a while to figure out what he wanted to do.How refreshing, someone who actually had an adolesence.Someone who came from (oh dare I say it) a broken home, hell his was smushed like Humpty Dumpty. And he's still standing! Hillary, John, Mitt, Joe, Rudy Could you please get off the stage!

So of course they were talking about health care last night. I am all in favor of Universal health, but again, I'm as liberal as they get. And then this morning I was checking in on the Nation to see what's REALLY happening in Kenya and this article caught my eye. Remember I told you they don't have ambulances? Yeah, and they don't have health insurance so they get turned away from hospitals with blood pouring out of their wounds, even little kids. And if they get treated they will then owe their lives to the hospitals. So here's today's slice of Kenyan life.
shattered lives that political chaos has left in its wake
The Nation
Story by WALTER MENYA
Publication Date: 1/9/2008

Lorraine Awuor lies on the hospital bed motionless with bandages strapped on her left hand. The 11-year-old girl shuts her eyes as a twinge of pain courses through her small frame.

Ms Ruth Adhiambo feeds her sister, Alice Atieno, at the New Nyanza Provincial General Hospital. Atieno was shot by police during the skirmishes. Photo/ DAN OBIERO
The Standard Five pupil at St John’s Primary School in Koru, Nyando District, is recuperating at the Nyanza Provincial General Hospital casualty ward, a victim of police shooting in the post election violence.

She sustained gunshot wounds on her hands and chest after two bullets tore through the iron sheet wall of their rented house in Koru Town on New Year's day.

She and her two siblings are undergoing treatment but in different health facilities.

Her 48-year-old father James Ouma is overcome by emotion as he narrates the circumstances leading to her daughter’s shooting.

“We were not at home at the time... the children told us they took cover in our house as police dispersed the locals who were not contented with the elections results,” he says.

The X-ray examination showed a broken bone on the left hand and several bruises on the right hand and chest grazed by a bullet as it passed.

For close to five days, father and daughter have remained in hospital. The father hopes that Lorraine will be up soon to get back to school with her colleagues when the new term begins in a week.

Her plight has touched many hearts. When Mrs Ida Odinga visited the victims of police shooting at the hospital, her first stop was Lorraine’s bed.

In the meantime, Mr Ouma is troubled by the hospital bill, which he believes will be too high by the time Lorraine leaves the hospital.

He says that his income from employment at a chemical processing factory in Koru can hardly meet the basic family needs let alone hospital bills.

Next to Lorraine is Jackline Adhiambo, a 15-year-old pupil at a Kisumu school. She was shot in the right thigh as she walked home in Manyatta estate from a nearby shop.

Many more like Lorraine and Jackline remain at the hospital. According to the hospital's medical superintendent, Dr Julianna Otieno, the hospital has so far admitted 66 victims of the skirmishes to ward number two that houses the casualty sick bays.

In addition, Dr Otieno says that the hospital has treated and discharged 146 casualties in the out-patient section.

“The figures have been overwhelming but we have done our best to cope with the situation despite supplies running low,” she said.

Being the only referral hospital in the region, its resources have been stretched to the limit. More patients remain in the wards while others come regularly for dressing of wounds and check-ups.

Most victims are males, as our rounds in the wards and the medical superintendent’s assessment reveals. They have gunshot wounds in various parts of their bodies.

In one section of the male ward, Mr Mark Aroko, commonly known as Kobole, recovers after his left arm was amputated. Police shot him on Sunday evening a stone’s throw from his house in Nyalenda estate, he says.

The father of six and the sole breadwinner in the family is a hawker at the Kisumu bus terminus. For the duration he has remained in hospital, his two wives and children have faced tough times.

Biggest blessing

He says that some of his workmates have been the biggest blessing to him as they have contributed to help his family get at least a meal a day.

Mr Aroko was rescued by a group of youths who found him unconscious by the roadside. They took him to various hospitals with little success before finally settling on the Nyanza Provincial General Hospital four hours later.

Without any other means, the rescuers carried him on a bicycle. By the time they reached the hospital after failed attempts to admit him in four different health facilities, Mr Aroko had lost a lot of blood and had to be given blood transfusion.

He underwent two operations in three days, the last one culminating in the surgical removal of his left arm on the recommendation of the hospital medical staff.

He is still bitter with the way police treated the protesters. “I still do not understand why they came in the first place. Instead of protecting lives and property, they shot indiscriminately at innocent people and children,” he laments.

Whether he will go back to his previous duties is not in his mind at the moment. “I am interested in seeing myself out of this place (hospital). This is my priority at the moment because I know God will take care of the rest,” he states reassuringly.

Kibuye market

In the same room with Mr Aroko is a 13-year-old boy, Kevin Otieno, who was shot and in the left thigh at Kibuye market.

He was helping a friend remove whatever was left of his stall after a fierce fire started by an arsonist on a revenge mission consumed their premises.

He was the last to be brought to the facility that is now overwhelmed by huge number of patients. He could not get a bed and he lies on a mattress spread on the floor.

At the mortuary section, Dr Otieno says the hospital administration hired four people to assist the regular attendants who could no longer cope with the amount of work following the riots.

According to Dr Otieno, out of the 91 violence-related deaths reported by the Government in Nyanza Province, the provincial general hospital mortuary has received 51 bodies since the skirmishes broke out in Kisumu and its environs.









NT