Flying Eldoret Airlines!!

Jambo!! No livestock in the runway but beautiful!! Zebras and firaffes from the air. They are very persuasive and want us to come back soon!! Very sweet people. All is well are now making our way home more pictures to follow in the near future keeping blogging on!! See you soon!! Dr. Fitz

Jambo!! from ilula kenya

(For pictures of our clinic in Ilula, click here.)

Jambo!! We saw people from the village this morning. It is amazing the feeling that comes over you when for the first time someone is able to see leaves on trees or their families from further away. Each day is a treasure hunt for the one person or child who can have their life change by one small action. Ester is 17 and had told her parents that she could not see. They heard we were here, news travels fast in the village, she came and we were able to fit her immediately with the correct prescription. She was very happy and the next day her Mum came to tell me that Ester was very happy and could see. Her Mum said that Ester was the brightest of all her 11 children and would be sitting for exams to see if she could enter higher education. She wants to go into medicine and maybe become an eye doctor!! The children here have great love.
We are loaded up for our trip to Kipkaren. There we will see at least 70 patients plus anyone who wants to be seen. This is the home of the equipment and glasses. Julius, our person we have been training is catching on very quickly. We loaded all the equipment in Adele's landover tonight and will leave at 6:15am.
It has been and will continue to be an adventure.
Truly, Life is a "get to" not a "got to". For those who know me I don't sleep much anyway but every night it is hard to go to sleep--I might miss something!!
A single action can move the world!!
Kwaheri (Good-bye for now)
Dr. Fitzgerald

eye exams ilula

Mzuri sana!! It was awesome!! While the children were in school we did exams on the staff and families. We saw 30 adults in the morning and we saw 65 children in the afternoon, so well behaved. They did very well. We will see adults in the am again tomorrow and the remaining children in the afternoon and we will bring back the children who need extra attention. Then we will pack up the equipment and go to Kipkaren on Wednesday and give the equipment its home. Julius, the young man we are training, has been like a sponge. It is all good.
Pictures to follow tomorrow. They all knew their abc's which was terrific. It has been awesome and well received. Good night Dr. Fitz :-)

Habari from Ilula near Eldoret, Kenya

Habari Iowa We arrived!! Our plane was in the landing position when suddenly we pulled up because of livestock on the runway!! They cleared and we landed. All of our equipment made it. A couple of boxes were miss labeled so we had to jerry rig a phoropter stand from plumbing supplies not pretty but it works. All the equipment works. The children are lovely and very active. In customs we had a little bit of a difficult time but we made it. They had issues with the equipment that I was understanding but if they would have denied the soccer balls we would have argued more vigorously!! Dr. Miller read stories and Lori showed them how to take pictures with her camera. Roy got the full tour of the grounds with the children all clamoring to hold his hand. They sang and danced for us and presented us with flowers. I played soccer with them and they were very kind and giggled all the way. We have spent the evening getting acquainted with the staff and families and set up equipment. Tomorrow we will do the exams and everyone is very excited. Tomorrow we will try to up load some pictures. The giraffes are vary friendly I was feeding one and it kissed me!! Tomorrow we will be doing what we came to do and we are excited!! Mzuri sana!! Very awesome!! (in swahili) See you tomorrow Dr. Fitz