Can you believe we climbed a mountain?!?

Our last day with FIMAfrica was spent in Nanyuki visiting an HIV Orphanage and HIV Hospice. We exercised our knowledge by giving a lecture on HIV and nutrition which was very well received. The children and patients were so welcoming and treated us like celebrities! It was a great way to end off the experience.

FIMAfrica was such an unbelievable experience - but we had to say goodbye and move onto BIGGER things - like a mountain!

Being in Nanyuki for 3 weeks we were made aware of how close Mount Kenya was. Since we hadn't had any form of exercise since leaving Toronto, we thought it would be a great work-out! Boy, were we in for a treat! Apparently, it is not just a walk in the park.

Since this was a spur of the moment idea we did not have any appropriate gear. We used the Sumar family connections to round up all the winter gear available in Nairobi. Luckily, we knew a guy that knew a guy that "hired" boots and jackets...upon arriving at a tiny shop we realized that our options were limited. All 4 pairs of shoes we had to choose from were at least a men's size 8 (all 3 of us are women's 7) and jackets comprised of "previously used" men's jackets that completed our sexy mountain attire. Thus, we were READY!

Day one. 9 Km to Old Moses.
We met "the boys" in town. The crew consisted of our guide, John, our cook, John and our 3 porters John, James and Robert.
We started "pole pole" (slow, slow) to acclimatize and arrived at our first camp, Old Moses, after a 3 hour trek in the rain. We arrived to a table set complete with table cloth, fresh popcorn, biscuits and hot tea! (the food was plentiful, and shockingly amazing!) The porters had gotten there an hour before us with all of our luggage. They were lean mean climbing machines and beat us everywhere by at least an hour.

Day 2. 14 Km trek to Shiptons Camp.
Left at 8am to endure a 7 hour hike. On this particular day we experienced the ups and downs of the mountain and weather. The day started with the blazing sun (Aliyah regretted her decision to wear snow pants forcing us to stop the bypassing porters for lighter attire). This was followed by rain, wind and finally the sting of hail as we trekked on. It was a long day and we were thrilled to arrive at camp despite the bitter cold. We proceeded to pile on all the clothing we had brought. To the surprise of our crew, being Canadian did not prepare us for the cold we experienced that night. Thus, we invited ourselves into the kitchen with the boys where they had a charcoal fire brewing. It was a great night with laughs, singing, dancing and a little medical education.

Day 2.5. 4 Km CLIMB to point Lenana - Summit.
Awoke at 2:30AM and left at 3AM with our head lamps guiding our way to the top through the night. Unfortunately, Michelle's stomach was still hating Kenya and she started her ascent with severe nausea...not ideal..but she plugged on reluctantly with our guide's insistence that the climb would soon get easier!...turns out that that is a dirty trick!
It was dark, cold, icy and vertical. At this point we began to question our preparedness for the mountain. At points we were light headed and scared but we continued for what seemed like forever...awaiting the sunrise and the summit. When we were within an hour of the summit and the sun began to rise, Michelle picked a spot to rest and decided that this "was it!". This was not an option. Sarah, by sheer willpower went ahead on her own; Aliyah followed with a helping hand from our guide; and Michelle, feeling like death was approaching, brought up the rear with a helping PUSH from James.
Words cannot describe this challenge...we were definitely pushed to our physical limits! In our own ways, we all emotionally and physically conquered point Lenana. What an amazing feeling! We had planned various picture formations and choreographed dances to capture our achievement; however we were frozen and exhausted. We snapped a few goodies and quickly started our descent.

Note this picture above has Aliyah climbing in it!

Day 2.83. 4Km back to Shiptons.
After reaching the peak, we thought the way down would be a piece of cake. Not the case. We learned the hard way that the descent is in fact even trickier than the way up. As the sun came up the snow melted and then turned to ice. It was very steep and we were all falling all over the place. Wearing our rain pants added extra slippage. We thought this was fun and didn't think it could lead to disaster. At one point the three of us slipped at the same time. Sarah, trying to avoid Michelle, veered off to the side out of control. With the steep incline and icy conditions, she could not stop slipping and instead of stopping on the rocks she flew right over them. After 30 meters of this, her back hit a large rock and thankfully stopped her. It was a scary moment for everyone present. After gaining composure, we all slowly and cautiously continued down. We made it back to Shipton's and were relieved to be off of the ice.

Day 3. 14 Km back to Old Moses.
Within half an hour of arriving at Shipton's we were instructed that we had to leave and journey back to Old Moses.
We were in shock, exhausted, and uncertain of the extent of Sarah's injury, however, we were forced to move on. With her strength, optimism, and 2 ski poles, Sarah made it to Old Moses. What a CRAZY AND LONG day!

Day 4. 9 Km back to base.
After finally sleeping 12 hours (sleep was non-existent before this night), we got up and mustered up the courage to put our blistered feet back into our lead boots (side note: Aliyah has never in her life experienced a blister. what a freak). This 2 hour descent was a treat but our bodies were screaming to get off the mountain. We couldn't have been more thrilled to reach the base when we did!

Overall, we climbed a freaking mountain! Mount Kenya is the 2nd highest mountain in Africa (after Kilimanjaro), and the highest mountain in Kenya at 4,985m above sea level. This climb was not only the highlight of our trip but will remain a major highlight in our lives. What we experienced on the mountain will remain with us forever.

Surgery 101

We arrived back in Nanyuki Monday evening to our home away from home, The Simba Lodge. This week we looked forward to a whole new adventure with FIMAfrica since we are no longer travelling for mobile clinics but experiencing medicine in the local community.

Yesterday we had the opportunity to observe a general surgeon in a government hospital in Nanyuki. The day started off by us dressing the part in oversized scrubs. We were so excited to finally observe our first surgery. Unfortunately when we arrived we found out that the general anaesthesia machine broke the day before so most of the 14 surgeries planned for the day were cancelled. We did, however, see some amazing sights.

To set the scene: the surgery facilities were not up to Western standards. The surgical room we were in most of the day was a very small clinic room with zero ventilation. It didn't help that there was at least 8 of us in this tiny room at any given time. The room was not sealed and cell phones were in use at all times. Gloves were worn, but hand washing was non-existant. To top it off, there were no towels in sight and also no toilet paper in the bathroom. This led to quite the predicament...

First on deck: a young male with a severe neck injury caused by a machete fight. The interior of his neck was fully exposed, and his trachea was cut so that air was escaping from the wound and he could not speak. As a first surgery experience, this was an overwhelming spectacle for all of us. Sarah started off the drama with turning white as a ghost and viewing the surgery behind a room divider. She couldn't stand up for more than a few seconds without feeling faint. Michelle and Aliyah seemed fine through most of the surgery until Michelle broke out in a cold sweat, ran out of the room, and practically fainted in the change room. Aliyah went to check on Michelle, and at the sight of her in such rough shape, felt a little uneasy herself. We felt like the biggest wusses and the nurses were having quite the laugh afterwards. From what we did catch of the surgery, we were uterrly impressed. By the end of it he had the patient talking and even making jokes.

We viewed two more surgeries which weren't quite as graphic. The first was a fibular biopsy on a 15 year old girl with suspected bone cancer. The second was a 4 year old girl with a dermal cyst very close to her left eye. We remained standing for these two events, but by the third one Michelle threw in the towel.

Overall it was an amazing experience that we wish our stomachs could have handled better! We have a greater appreciation for what surgeons do on a daily basis but are happy to stick with our profession of choice.

Up next: climbing Mount Kenya starting tomorrow morning! Stay tuned.

An Intimate Day With Giraffes!

Today Aliyah got to show Sarah and Michelle one of her most favourite places to visit in Nairobi, The Giraffe Centre. We met 5 of 9 Rothschild giraffes, a type of giraffe that is an endangered species. This centre serves as a conservation area and a breeding ground.

Right from the time we got there the giraffes were all over us. We started off a little cautious and only offered food from our hands. After feeding the giraffes and getting acquainted with their slimy black tongues, we were all left with sticky and wet hands. Since we are used to getting down and dirty on this trip, we decided to take the next step...1st base! With a bit of instruction from the giraffe keeper, we manned up and held a treat between our lips, closed our eyes and hoped for the best. We think the pictures will speak for themselves!



We spent over a good hour watching these amazing creatures in awe. It's been the most action we've had all trip ;)

FIMAfrica Mobiles

We are back from the bush...and what an experience it was. We arrived in Nanyuki on Sept 1st and met up with the ND we were working with, Amit, as well as a 4th member of our group, Liz. After our initial chat, we were pretty confident we were going to have a great time. We stayed the night at Simba Lodge, playing cards and trying our first Tusker beers (which was 100 shillings or approx $1.50 for 500ml!)

The next morning we were off to our first mobile clinic. The roads, if you can call them that, consisted of very rugged terrain. We would drive hours without seeing any people or cars, only to arrive at a very small village in which we were to treat. We would set up our little table and chairs outside, sometimes among herds of goats and cows. In total we travelled to seven destinations and treated approximately 60 patients. We treated mostly with homeopathy since it is the most sustainable and safe type of medicine to use in such rural areas. Our eyes were opened by the experience and the people we met. A few memorable cases include:
- an at least 100 year old woman (no-one knows their age out here) who walked miles to visit us at the clinic, only for us to diagnose her with Emphysema. Needless to say, we were concerned about her walk home so we drove her home instead.
- a 21 year old woman with a baseball size keloid on her ear. It was interesting for us to see homeopathy helping such a physical deformity.
- an open leg wound spanning the entire shin. It had not healed in 3 years and was finally starting to improve with the help of FIMAfrica.

- a 10 year old boy cured of asthma.
- baby after baby with various wounds, infections, or GI complaints. They were so beautiful and calm natured despite their conditions.

For the first week of mobiles we travelled with a medical clinic called Mpala. They focused on immunizations, family planning/contraception, and HIV testing. This added to our experience as we were able to witness lines of women and their newborns being treated. It fascinated us that this might be the first time they had seen a health care professional, and most of them likely delivered at home without medical help. Many of the women were very young, most of them teenage mothers with more than one child. We met one young woman who was 16 years old and had just delivered her 4th child. This made us realize our cultural differences. Here, men choose young wives and they are expected to have a baby each year. This made us understand the necessity of contraception and work Mpala did.

The amount of children we saw was remarkable! The majority of women we saw had a child on her back. Everywhere we went there was 2-10 year olds roaming the fields on their own. They were so eager to wave, jump, and shout at us as we drove by. They had such spirit and were full of life. They loved having their picture taken. The excitement of seeing themselves on camera overwhelmed them. When the cameras came out, we were swarmed with children. We enjoyed every second!

For those of you who are unaware, Kenya has experienced a severe drought this year with the last major rainfall being in March. This means that in the rural areas many local streams and rivers are completely dried up. People walk miles and miles for water, only to carry it home on their backs/heads. We have such a huge appreciation for water now, especially since we were on very short supply ourselves throughout our mobiles. For the animals this also means no food and severe dehydration. A lot of the land is extremely dry and desert like. The animals are skin and bones and it is quite disturbing. We felt so privileged to take a hot shower after 5 days of camping, something the people we saw don't have the opportunity.

Speaking of camping, WOW, we had some crazy nights out in the bush! The first two nights we stayed at Segera Mission, which ended up being the only nights we would sleep among humans. After this we went to Chololo, a private ranch spanning thousands of acres of gaming fields. Here, we slept with elephants, giraffes, hyenas, dik diks, baboons, gazelles...and mating lions! The lions were making quite the ruckus throughout the night! They became closer and closer as it became morning, likely only 50 meters away from our tents. Two couples were engaging in their loud mating rituals (which last a week by the way!!) We decided to forgo the morning sunrise and appreciate the sounds in the comforts of our tent that morning (not like we were scared or anything!)

Other nights of camping included a dense forest with a secret lookout rock overseeing miles of land and mountains. It was breathtaking! This was followed by a night in a jungle like atmosphere - very tarzan and jane-esque. We slept on a platform 50 feet high so that elephants could roam freely below us. Unfortunately, no ellie's graced us with their presence that night. Our final camping night was in the forest near a waterfall. It was so amazing to see water and we took full advantage. We quickly grabbed our suits and jumped in! The diversity of land we've seen in Kenya has been vast. We feel so lucky to have experienced so many aspects of Kenyan life - which would not have been possible without FIMAfrica.

Other fun, miscellaneous events on our trip include:

- A trip to the equator, which is basically a sign just outside of Nanyuki. Here we learned about the Coriolis water effect and took a sick jumping pic!
- A tea party among British colonials. It was an amusing event filled with cake, tea, silver, and some of the most hilarious conversation we've ever experienced. We have been re-creating the moment and brushing up on our British accents ever since! "Surely, it was a brilliant affair" (insert British accent).
- A lunch at trout tree restaurant. It was a tree house for adults - the atmosphere was incredible and we had quite the feast. We also met colobus monkeys there, who we thought were cute but their faces are a hybrid of old man and witch. Oh the creatures we've seen!
- Bathroom adventures. You know us naturopaths, needing to keep regular bowels. This was interesting seeing as we didn't see running water, or toilets in any of the mobiles. Our options were: 'long drops' (a hole of various shapes surrounded by a shack), bush with the paperwork being dropped in the longdrop, or full bush with machete digging to bury the evidence plus TP. Many times (aka ALWAYS) the bush was the best option. We would literally avoid the longdrops and walk large distances to bypass onlookers.
- Shopping. Our bargaining skills are sharp, despite the fact that we are obvious tourists. We are literally hounded when we walk the streets of Nanyuki. Sellers chase us with items to buy and try to lure us into their shops. Once you're in there is no leaving without buying, especially when they tell you their children are starving. We end up spending little money and getting something beautiful in return. For them making any money in a day is worth the sale. We are a little worried we won't be able to carry it back to Canada...

We are back at our home base, the Sumar house, and feeling more pampered than ever! We have the weekend off to sight see a little more in Nairobi and relax. We then head back to Nanyuki for our final week of volunteering on Monday. Let the adventures continue...