Nyeri, Kenya 2010 - Day 3

Wheels team member and 'blogger' Phil Green writes:

An earlier start to the day in order that those working at the hospice could finish early since it is supposed to be their day off.  For me to be honest I didn't even know it was Saturday I lost track of time but that's ok.

The morning started with a slightly unhappy wheelchair owner. We had helped fit a chair for him the day before but after some time in the chair he wanted a different chair. It's really hard as from what we could understand he had seen a different chair somewhere else and that had put him off the chair we had fitted for him.  In the end though we managed to find another chair which fitted the bill.

For some of the morning Glenda and I started sorting out all the wheelchairs into types and sizes...  For those who don't know there are SPs (self propelled) and APs (attendant propelled), the SPs having large wheels.  Then they are sized by width although chairs do vary in seat death also. I'm getting better at remembering the colour coding of the chairs but it does take time.  Brian also helped for a while and eventually we managed to get everything organised so the OTs could get the chairs they needed much faster.

I felt the afternoon went really fast but I was working on lots of different chairs, fixing lap belts, making various adjustments and even shortening some old crutches.  The team just works as they say.  In a way it looks like a production line I guess and the OTs manage the process, finding out the needs and requirements of each recipient then measuring and selecting the chairs etc.  As a techie I feel like I have the easy bit just delivering what the OTs want although it's quite often a team effort to make things work.

We finished early and some of us decided to walk the 2km home or there about.  It's fascinating to experience a different country. We do tend to stand out and attract a little bit of attention but sometimes that's allowed me to use the handful of  Swahili words I have been trying to pick up.

So Day 3 comes to an end.  
Tomorrow we have church in the morning and then off to Sweetwater in the afternoon for a bit of Safari.  Well it is our day off.  I think we are all a little excited about seeing some Kenyan wildlife.

Glenda will be heading off for some meetings and coming back on Tuesday morning so we will miss her but I'm praying the meetings and her travel arrangements all go well.