Separating and Coming Together
Our teams went their separate ways today. The ROCK team continued our training with the orthopedic technicians while the Clubfoot team traveled to Nairobi to observe the APDK clinic and workshop.
ROCK began the day with a time of worship. We sang about 5 songs and prayed together with the technicians. We sing out of a hymn book which has no music notes - only words. The women do a really good job of making a melody and it is really cool to sing a song with no music. The words seem to stand out more to me than when I am slightly distracted by the music.
The ROCK team taught the technicians a majority of the computer software today. I was nervous because I knew how much information we were going to be sharing today, but everything actually went really well. Evans and Shadrack are picking things up so quickly. We were even able to run a print of a small version of a socket they made to show them tomorrow.
Around 11:00 we had tea time. This was, again, one of my favorite parts of the day. I really like the chai. We also ate pancakes, sausage, and taro root with the tea. They treat us so well here!
After tea time we let the technicians practice the software while we observed them and we also assisted in making some of the orthotics they were manufacturing.
For lunch we ate rice, pasta, meat, and cabbage. Lunch lasted longer than usual because we were all having fun talking about the cultural differences between America and Kenya.
French Fries vs. Chips
Chips vs. Crisps
Pets vs. No Pets
Owl Representing Wisdom vs. Owl Representing Death
Costs of Certain Products and Commodities
Gun Laws
Hunting vs. No Hunting
After lunch Nathan, Emma, and I ran back down to the guesthouse to download a software onto our laptop. We were able to get some good pictures of flowers, butterflies, and we even saw a heard of cows people were trying to chase off of the property (you will have to watch the video to see the footage!!)
We were able to finish teaching all of the computer software by the end of the day and start a print on the 3D printer! (Like I mentioned earlier) I am looking forward to seeing what the technicians think when they see it finished tomorrow.
The Clubfoot team visited the APDK clinic and workshop in Nairobi. APDK is another clinic that is partnered with Cure.
Bekah, Luke, and Tim got to meet with all of the leaders of the clinic. They went to see the wheelchair workshop where they assemble all of the wheelchairs and tricycles for their patients. They thought it was very interesting because the Collaboratory has a tricycle team that makes hand tricycles. These were somewhat similar, and this was a very successful part of their clinic in Nairobi.
The Clubfoot team then headed over to the orthopedic department where they met Amos. He was the director of the department. He took them through the prosthetics and orthotics workshop and showed them how several different products are made. They also found out that the clinic is able to buy velcro and polypropylene in-country, which could potentially be of great benefit to their project.
After that, they moved to the clubfoot clinic to shadow the workers. Bekah and Luke got to help with casting. They got to observe the Pirani Scoring Method, brace evaluations, and cast fittings. Tim walked around the clinic with Issac, the head counselor, and got to meet all of the parents there and observe the counseling side of the process.
APDK has a gift shop that they got to visit! All of the products there are made by either disabled children or their parents. They got to go shopping and help support the local families at the same time. A lot of these things are exported and could even be found in America.
The Clubfoot team got to travel to West Point and visit the new Cure Nairobi offices. They met up with Anne who leads program management. This morning Anne was on the radio and she got to talk about clubfoot, people from all over Kenya were listening and calling in with questions.
The team had a late but delicious lunch at a local African buffet! It was their first meal outside of the guesthouse and they thought it was fun and an interesting experience.
On their return trip they stopped at a viewpoint for Rift Valley. It was a clear afternoon so they could see the whole way across the valley! Spending all day with Isaac and Victoria from the CURE Clubfoot Kenya team let the clubfoot team connect on a whole new level.
Today was one of the warmest since we have been here. It was nice to get outside a little in the afternoon and see the beautiful sights. It never gets old.
Here is the GoPro video for the day! Enjoy.