Thirty-three children enveloped us the moment we arrived at the Neema Children’s Home in Eldoret, Kenya. This orphanage, started by Joshua and Miriam Mbithi felt like the most loving place on earth. I looked around the room and each of us (Brett Schulman from Snikiddy, Melody Harwood from tCantox, Matt Dayka, our photographer), including our friend Dr. Jim Lemons who had introduced us to Neema, and Joshua Mbithi who started this place with his wife Miriam only 4 years ago, had at least 3 or 4 children in our arms or on our laps. Each child introduced themselves and just wanted to be with us. I could have stayed there forever. The children have been through some difficult times, all were either abandoned or orphaned and many are shunned by the community because they are HIV positive. We knew their history but the moment we entered Neema Home we saw 33 of the most wonderful children on the planet.
In that instant I knew why people have dedicated their lives to the teaching hospital, Moi University School of Medicine, (our partner for the Kenya project) a collaboration with Indiana University started by Dr. Joe Mamlin over 20 years ago. Our colleague, Dr. Jim Lemons has also been working here for years and recently started the Riley Mother and Baby Hospital, probably the most outstanding hospital in all of Eastern Africa, which is just opening this week.
The poverty in this region is extreme. The violence is palpable (we all sleep with 'panic buttons' next to our beds) and everyone lives with the memory of last year’s massacre which left so many dead (the epicenter was in Eldoret, only a short distance from the hospital). Chronic malnutrition is at epidemic levels, there are very high rates of infant and child mortality and today when we visited the intensive care unit, there were over 40 low birth weight babies (weighing 1.5, 2 or 3 pounds!). Every single doctor, nurse, and breast-feeding expert we met thanked us profusely for the prenatal vitamins we recently shipped them (we sent in 6.6 million – thank you Procaps Labs!). They are going to make a huge difference in this community.
I’ve gone back and forth on Kenya since we arrived. We got off the plane in Eldoret to this amazing chanting reception for Salina Kosgei who had just won the Boston marathon. Eldoret looked so rural and peaceful – a stark contrast to the fear and caution we heard about repeatedly around Nairobi. Then Dr. Mamlin told us about the 'panic buttons' near our beds and we learned about last year’s violence and were cautioned about going out at night, and I wondered how people could work in this environment. During the afternoon I spoke with Dr. Lemons who carried his vision for the Riley Maternal and Baby Hospital, and Dr. Hillary Mabea, who is the head of Obstetrics and one of the sweetest men (he told me he was more nervous about the podcast than about doing surgery) and Dr. Julia Sangok, a neonatologist, who is so dedicated to improving the lives of these mothers and infants, that she like so many others is working around the clock. I was so impressed by their dedication to making a difference in this challenging environment.
But it was the children who reminded me why we all do this work. The hospital now has 12 children living there – all abandoned or orphaned and many with HIV. They are beautiful, so alive, so open, and so ready to trust a world that in many ways has let them down. I saw the same thing at Neema house and knew there is only one response we can have – to show up for these children and remind them that they are worth it and there are so many people who care about them and want them to have a healthy and full life. It really is the only thing we can do.
A special Thank you to:
Andrew Lessman and Procaps Labs, Hope In Action and our friend Jim Floyd, Dr. Jim Lemons and Dr. Joe Mamlin from Indiana University, Snikiddy Snacks, Cantox, Ode Magazine, Matt Dayka (photographer extraordinaire), and everyone at Riley Mother and Baby Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya for reminding us what is possible, and to all of the supporters of Vitamin Angels – you make this work possible!
