Woah woah woah, my days are flying by, or, as the Kenyans
would say, the days are really running. I’m leaving so soon and I can’t believe
it. Where has a year gone? I have been extremely busy so I will make this blog
post short. Before I write my goodbye post I need to fill my readers in on my little friend Tyson.
If you can’t remember, Tyson is a little boy who was
admitted into TMH January 1st of this year. He was comatose at the
time of admission and was suffering from Malaria, Meningitis and severe anemia.
This child almost died he was so sick. However, ten days later he recovered. After fully recovering he was discharged,
however, his family was unable to pay the hospital bill. A few days went by where
Tyson and his mother were staying in our pediatric ward as discharge ins. Then,
one day Tysons mother disappeared. With hope and reason to believe Tysons
mother would return, Tyson was kept in the ward. However, Tysons mother never
returned, still to this day.
Tyson in his hospital clothes.
Ten months later Tyson is still in our ward. Tyson has been
abandoned at my hospital after nearly dying. To make the situation worse he had
no relatives that were willing to take him. In addition, our hospital administration
didn’t seem to be concerned that an uneducated five year old was living within
our compound without anyone to care for him or anyone to take him to school. Frustrated
and saddened by the situation, I took it upon myself to look for a solution to
this horrific situation this innocent and sweet boy had been placed in. For the
last 6 months I have been trying to have his guardianship transferred to the
children’s office in S. Gucha county and have him sent to Maisha International Academy
(the other organization I work with) to live at and attend school.
Tyson (the little one) and some of the
Staff workers children.
Childrens office.
To say it was difficult working with the bureaucracy here is
an understatement! I don’t have enough words to describe the amount of
obstacles and challenges Tyson and I have been through. I feel like I know everyone
and all of Kisii County because of this child. I have met with his chiefs, the
country commissioner, several social workers, police departments, and the head
of the children’s office to make his case known. The only positive thing about
meeting so many people is I got a lot of soda and tea out of each meeting. I
have traveled by matatu, motor bike and foot visiting several villages looking
for his parents. Finally after six months Tyson has received permission to
leave TMH and go to school at Maisha International Academy.
I will be going with my sweet little boy this
week to Kisumu. For the first time in his life he will be going to school. It’s
going to be a difficult adjustment for the both of us, since I have literally
been his guardian for the last ten months, but, I know Tyson will be ok. Me on
the other hand, I will probably cry for his first night away from me, his first
day of school and all the way home. I seriously need to get ahold of myself, I’m
becoming motherly!
Painting.
He loves playing with my hair.
No comments:
Post a Comment