December 19th, 2022 by Joshua Blay
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By grace I have Arrived safely in Ghana and reminiscing the indelible mark Tenwek has created on me. People I met there advised me and have really been instrumental in moulding and guiding me to understanding the leading of God for me in matters relating to my practice of medicine and how to embrace. Secondly , other personal aspects of my life was addressed, my spiritually and social life was imparted and blessed by the awesome people I met here.
I am grateful to God for the opportunity to have come to Tenwek, I’m thankful to God for the consultants, medical officers, clinical officers, interns  and friends I made here and my staunch family support. May God bless you them all, above all  bless Tenwek mission hospital and prosper their vision.

December 17th, 2022 by Joshua Blay
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On completing my 3rd and 4th week, I began to understand what the practice of a Junior doctor entailed. My routine in this week involved early morning ICU rounds, pre-rounding on my patients , team sign in meeting and devotion, and major ward rounds. After which I proceeded to implement and document the plans for the patient and other changes. Later in the day, the call team would schedule a meeting in which the whole team would sign off to them for the night.
The major take away from my brief time of practice as a junior doctor was that I am the  mouthpiece of the patient. In that, I had to learn to be keen on the patient’s concerns and problems and voice them out clearly. Failure to do that adequately would affect the comprehensive care the patient would receive. Therefore it stands on the junior doctor to be abreast with the disease conditions and or syndrome to know what to look out for to be addressed.

During the 3rd  weekend, to Kisumu which is about 5hrs from Bomet to visit I friend I made in China. I did enjoy my time in a different city. I visited the Dunga beach spent and  spent the rest of the time catching up lost moments.

On the 4th weekend I went for a safari to Maasai mara. I was intrigued by the vast land and sightseeing of many animals. I wondered how these animals cared for themselves and survived. I totally believe there’s Indeed a God  that takes care of them.

At the mara, I paid a visit to the Maasai village and experienced thier indigenous and peculiar culture.

November 29th, 2022 by Joshua Blay
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Glory to God, two weeks has gone by successfully and been fruitful and productive as I had anticipated.

Week 1 began with getting acquainted with how things are done at Tenwek. It began with a meeting with the paediatric staff during their daily devotion and signing in. Our consultant Dr. Clark Sleeth a very thorough and dexterous paediatrician consultant helped to make me fit in perfectly.
At the signing in meeting that morning, I had the pleasure of being assigned to a smart , astute and hardworking Medical officer intern Dr. Joy Mueni Muli.

I was also intrigued by the calliber of cases seen here which was quite different from those I had previously seen during my clerkship in Accra, Ghana. There were lots of hands-on sessions that taught me to better appreciate and learn , how to better use an ultrasound to access adequate hydration, good state of the heart, how to take arterial blood gas samples, setting improvised central lines , identifying pneumothorax and pleural effusions on ultrasound, learning to pass an umbilical catheter and how to properly run a blue code.

My first week also happened to be the prematurity week under theme “skin to skin contact for the care of premature babies”. Among activities to commenmorate the day, the paediatric staff organized a session to educate mothers who had and have premature babies about possible complications and expectations. Also, mothers of previously premature babies gave testmomies to encourage women who had premature children. We gave gifts to the women on the ward and encouraged them as well.

My first week ended with me being on call with Dr. Joy. It was a very great experience coupled with a wide array of new cases and emergencies throughout the day and night. This call was the first ever I had done and been actively involved. So it did have a heavy toll on my health of which I recuperated through  an 8hr sleep postcall.

Later that weekend, I visited city nearby called Kericho famously known for tea to have fun with the praise and worship team at the Church. On our way I got to appreciate the beautiful tea plantation scenery. Indeed Kenya is beautiful!

My second week came by so fast, by this time I had gotten patients of my own and also had to work independent of Dr. Joy since she had graduated from internship.
My major problem at this time was the language barrier. However, with the help of other interns and nurses communication was made easy.

The weekend was thanksgiving, and I had the pleasure of celebrating it with an American missionary family. There was lots and lots to eat and drink. At the end of the day I was very happy to have joined and have a feel of the typical American thanksgiving culture.

So far God has been gracious and has giving me a good time here. Looking forward to what the few weeks holds for me !
Blessings!

November 14th, 2022 by Joshua Blay
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Late entry – 13/11/2022
On the 12th of November 2022, I arrived at the Nairobi airport at 6 AM after a 5hr straight flight from Accra, Ghana. This trip started with a mixture of indifferent feelings with regards to my expectations on arrival.

On arrival, I was quite surprised to find the disparity in weather patterns in Kenya as compared to that which was found in Ghana. All the same, I prepared well by carrying along some warm clothes.

In the airport, moving through passport control and baggage claim was swift and smooth. Outside the airport, I was met by kind Mr. Ephraim who help me get a SIM card and transported me to Bomet.
The journey was about 5hrs to Bomet. During the trip I was very intrigued by the scenery. Which included, the Nairobi National park, the famous Rift Valley and a glimpse of the famous Masai people and their culture. Through these, I came to appreciate for a fact that KENYA is the pride of Africa.

On arrival at Bomet I was so elated on seeing the commmunity and the hospital in which I would be serving for the next month.At my place of accommodation the scenery, the atmosphere, wonderful missionaries and doctors I met just made me feel so much at home.

After settling in, lunch was served, after which I had a tour around the hospital by a benevolent senior colleague. At that point my indifferent feelings were directed and guided to a more good and expectant feeling.

Later that evening , I made more friends notable among them , was a missionary husband and wife from Cote d’Ivoire. We worshiped into the night on the guitar and piano, singing Ghanaian songs, French songs and local songs alike  and they gave me good pieces of advice and a better orientation of the  core values at Tenwek Hospital of which I eagerly looked forward to.

Sunday, came and it was such an awesome time in God’s presence worshiping in Swahili and English. This experience gave me a perspective on how heaven would be someday with a plethora of individuals joined in one accord to worship. The word that day was Infact very timely, where the Revend spoke about “Jesus Christ as a missionary” thereby widening my scope to how best  I could emulate Christ in a hospital that at “treats and allows Jesus to heal.”

I do with utmost desire anticipate a tremendous experience here at Tenwek for the next four weeks and really look forward to impacting lives, being impacted, gathering knowledge and skills from this beautiful community.

October 31st, 2022 by INMED
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Hello! My name is Joshua Blay. I am a medical school graduate, and I’m starting my INMED service-learning experience at Tenwek Hospital in Kenya beginning in November, 2022.