Boy, talk about "trains, planes and automobiles". It's a real trek to get to this place, the most remote location I've traveled to in Kenya. One of the largest islands on Lake Victoria, about 80 km SW of Kisumu (the city of Obama). I took a small plane to Kisumu, was picked up by a driver and drove 2 hours or so to the Mbita Ferry dock. I hooked up with a med student from US, Ben Pederson, who helped me find my way. Nice guy, great conversation. See below photo:
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| Ben P at Ferry dock |
We took a 1 hour ferry ride to what looked like some sort of peninsula. Next task was to schlep across this stretch of dusty land on foot (luggage and all) to reach the other shoreline and catch a motorized canoe to the island. Normally, they take the public boat. Large and slow. Today, however, my hosts were gracious enough to bring the "speed boat", a small motorized canoe they use for emergency transport, which takes about 45 minutes.
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| Photo thanks to Ben P |
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| Ben Pederson and Chas Salmen |
Beautiful island. Although, I could have gone without the swarms of lake flies (smothering at times!). The island, I'm told, is about 54 km around and 26,000 people or so. Suba and Lua tribes mostly. Claire Cunningham with Project CURE introduced me to these guys and was inspired by their activities. Chas and brother Marco, founders of this project, are also both med students. Chas did a research project on the link between the local fishing industry and HIV. Very interesting. This island has THE highest incidence of HIV in Kenya, about 30%. Chas concluded it is mostly due to fishermen coming to these islands with lots of cash from recent harvests but nothing to spend it on besides prostitution. He points out, however, there may be a self-correcting mechanism in place. They have so grossly over-fished the lake, yield is a tenth of what it was 10 years ago. No fish, no cash, no crazy fishermen driven prostitution. Yet, no economy and the people suffer. Ugh. Complicated.
Anyway, I took a tour of the island and the local medical facilities, which are the following photos.
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| Sena Level 3 Government Medical Clinic |
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| "Maternity ward" |
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| Typical patient ward |
This medical clinic is very typical. No doctor. Staffed and managed by a MO (medical officer - about on the level of a PA in the US). Very challenged facility both in terms of lack of resources and management skills. The only way Project CURE can help here is by entering into a partnership with the hospital on the mainland. Given my experiences in working with government facilities, this is a huge uncertainty. We'll see.
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| Richard, the E.D. and me at Governor's Camp |
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