The news coming from Kenya have been distressing, but good work and good deeds are being done daily and seem to matter even more when I hear about the destruction and pain being inflicted. MEAK has kept to its commitment to provide medical care. An eye mission in Amboseli and a heart mission in Nairobi in the early part of the year took place as scheduled and went well. They also completed in the spring a medical mission in the Lamu area. I am awed by Dee Belliere/ MEAK and the Lions Sightfirst Eye team’s courage and dedication. They went up to where the Boni tribe, also known as the ‘honey-hunter tribe” lives near the Indian Ocean in the North close to the Somali border. Over 2000 patients were screened and 66 patients had their sight restored. ( link). Life must go on notwithstanding others determination to wreck violence and destruction.

As usual Dee found a patient in terrible need for care that she was determined to help. The lucky one was Osman Mohammed, a 14-year-old young man living near Lamu and terribly crippled. Several fractures had deformed his leg to such a point that it was very difficult for him to walk. Undaunted by the challenge MEAK’s orthopedic team was able to repair his leg and enable him to finally walk. In part due to Dee’s tenacity this young man has a chance to have a relatively normal life.

The security situation in urban centers is such at this moment that MEAK had to cancel its spring heart mission and maybe also its November one. BUT in typical MEAK fashion the Belliere’s while deeply distressed about not being to continue the heart operations on the spot (Nairobi or Mombasa) have been looking for alternatives.

A couple months ago I get a phone call from Dee from Bengalore. I first thought she was on vacation! I quickly became aware of my mistake. She was there in fact to discuss the logistics and the potential funding for an alternative care option. MEAK’s search for alternative ways to help the Kenyan children had led them to Bengalore, India and specifically to the Narayana Health City with whom MEAK is now teaming up to operate on Kenyan children who are being flown to Bengalore for care.

The clinic in Latakwen has done good work this year, with Nurse Rita seeing an average of 200 patients per quarter. Many are new patients. One aspect that I feel needs improvement is the family planning numbers. It would be great to see them bigger. This would benefit women’s lives and be a good step towards curtailing the growth rate of its population. Kenya has witnessed an extreme population growth in the last 30 years with the greater part of its population now under 30. This growth has been hard to absorb. High unemployment is plaguing urban areas and overgrazing is straining the land in rural areas. I am still supporting the clinic and would love to get the help of a few others generous donors to keep its good work going. Sadly I will not be able to go to Kenya this year, the first time in 10 years. The reasons have more to do with the developments of my life here in New York but I plan to go see the Latakwen clinic in Samburu land in early 2015.

In the meantime I am going to South Africa for the Joburg Art fair where I am joining Diane Frankel and a group from the Getty museum and then off to Zambia with my boyfriend. It will be his first visit to the African continent and my first time to Zambia. Zambia is landlocked with Zimbabwe and Botswana to the South, the DRC and Tanzania to the North, and Angola to the West. I have been playing with the idea of going to Zambia for years now. While loving my bush walks in Kenya (my first love) I had wanted to explore different landscapes; on foot preferably. A while back, an old friend, Debo Gage suggested Zambia with its beautiful Luangwa and Zambesi river, but the opportunity did not present itself until now. I have a new boyfriend with no experience of Africa and I thought a trip to Zambia would be a gentle introduction to the African bush prior to going to Kenya where I have so much history. No need to overwhelm him with too many stories from old times. This will be a first for both of us!

SUMMARY OF MEAK ACTIVITIES FOR SIX MONTHS TO END OF JUNE 2013

The first six months of 2013 has proved and interesting period for our charity with some very positive aspects to report as well as a couple of set backs.

MEAK has been working in Kenya since 1994 and has been carrying out medical missions since 2001.  We are now recognized as, arguably, one of the most important charities offering free surgery to the poorer elements of the Kenyan population.  One of the problems that have occupied our thoughts for the past few years has been the issue of succession.  Having founded and then run the charity for the last 19 years both Dee and I have been conscious that at some stage we will need to pass the reins on to a younger generation of like minded people.  Happily, we can now see a solution to this problem and several meetings have taken place that will hopefully ensure that MEAK’s valuable contribution to healthcare in that country will be able to continue.

Although neither Dee nor I have any plans to stop working in the immediate future, we have been delighted to have been able to recruit Alexandra Savis to our team.  Alex is an extremely experienced echocardiograph technician who has travelled on a dozen or so of the MEAK heart missions and is passionate about what we do.  She tells us that she is very excited about being more involved with the charity and relishes the challenge of taking over our projects in future years.

Alongside this development, agreement has been reached with our orthopaedic arm, which hitherto operated under the acronym EGHO (Exploring Global Health Opportunities), that the two organizations will fully amalgamate, with the eventuality that the EGHO name will be replaced by MEAK.  This development brings to MEAK an extraordinary organizational and administrative skill-set that has seen EGHO progress from an embryonic idea a few short years ago to the major player it has become in many aspects of healthcare and health education in Kenya.  EGHO is very proactive in training and trauma care and its surgeons undertake many complex and technically difficult orthopaedic procedures during their missions.

During the first six months of 2013, MEAK completed a paediatric heart mission in Mombasa, an orthopaedic mission in Nanyuki, and four outreach eye missions in the remoter areas of Kenya.  Twenty children received open or closed surgery during the heart mission to Mombasa in February.  Twentyfour orthopaedic procedures were carried out in Nanyuki, again during the February mission to that area.  Also, during our four eye missions we screened 3195 people and carried out 209 surgeries mainly cataracts and tarsal plate rotations.  Extensive teaching and mentoring was also carried out by our GRASP-IT trainers during this period.

The above simplifies the bald achievements of the charity in the form of the total of surgical procedures carried out during this time; however, I find that I have great difficulty, when writing these reports, to enumerate the multiplicity and complexity of all the other involvements that occupy our time and energies.  We find that it is almost impossible to confine our attention to the four primary objectives of MEAK ie ophthalmics, orthopaedics, children’s heart surgery and education as there are always myriad other opportunities to help in other areas, many of which are difficult to ignore. These opportunities may be in the form of helping individuals with their medical problems or subsidizing education costs to supporting organizations and groups that have similar aims and objectives as ours.  ‘The Nanyuki–Torbay Health Link Partnership’ is a good example of this kind of cooperation which has enabled us to gain a substantial Government grant to support this element of our work as well as raising the standards of healthcare in Nanyuki – to the obvious satisfaction and delight of the local medics.

I would seek to reassure the reader that the MEAK teams continues to work tirelessly on all sorts of projects in Kenya that match our aims to support and improve the availability of good and safe medicine to the population as a whole.

Rather disappointingly we have been informed by The Mombasa Hospital that after three successful children’s heart surgery missions by MEAK to their hospital, they have decided not to pursue this branch of medicine and accordingly will not be inviting us back.  We are obviously dismayed by this decision, which is apparently on grounds of cost and alleged disruption to theatres and the intensive care unit.  Significant strides had been made by this fine hospital and their staff in the appreciation of the care and rehabilitation of children following open heart surgery and their decision is a terrible blow to MEAK and the PSG group in Mombasa who are constantly looking for ways to save the lives of local children dying from heart disease.  Meantime, we will continue to work in Nairobi whilst we look for another hospital in Mombasa to pick up the baton of this worthwhile and noble enterprise.

In the latter six months of this year we have planned  further heart and orthopaedic missions.  In July we visit Dadaab on the Somali border and in August we return to Turkana in Northern Kenya for a much delayed eye camp. Three further eye trips will take place towards the end of the year.  Most of our missions have comprehensive reports written by the lead participants on their completion and these are available to our readers if required upon request.

Mike Belliere

Founder / Director

M E A K

WE ARE BACK! EYE MISSION SUCCESSFUL , TREK AMAZING

We flew into South Horr, just south of Lake Turkana by midday and met up with Dee Belliere, founder of MEAK, and Helen Douglas Dufresne, our walking guide, founder of MILGIS  TRUST and MEAK’s partner on the ground for this mission.

The eye mission was well on its way and despite some very serious hurdles it was turning out to be quite successful. The location had been moved from the original plan. Due to tribal conflicts in the area the mission had to be moved from Waso Rongai to the Horr valley. The Samburu sports center in the town of South Horr had been made available and the community could not have been more welcoming.

The final count was gratifying: 214 eyes operations were done and 4 patients were referred and flown to Nairobi. The medical team (one surgeon, three nurses and one anesthetist) was smaller than usual – one less doctor – and did an amazing job.

However there was clearly a sense of frustration. This mission had been planned for months and one of the goals had been to treat the Samburu and the Turkana people, neighboring tribes. Traditionally these tribes are often warring each other over their livestock. A lot of effort had been put into promoting peace and it seemed like it was working. Many eye cases had been identified among the Turkana people. Sadly shortly before the beginning of the mission the Turkanas had raided the Samburus and stolen 400 head of cattle. As a result no Turkana would risk coming into Samburu land to have their eyes fixed despite the fact that many needed operations. But such is life in the distant lands of Northern Kenya and the MEAK team that worked in partnership with the Milgis Trust team did an amazing job despite the circumstances.  When I am in Africa I always remember a Clint Eastwood line: “Adapt and Improvise.”

There is still much more that needs to be done!
We arrived in time to see some cataract operations being done, and even more gratifying we witnessed the reaction of many of the patients when the eye patches were removed seeing for the first time in years.  The quiet chatter, gentle laughter, and beaming smiles were a sight to behold!

Cataract operations were the majority but a few patients with Trachoma were treated and other eye ailments were also attended to. Trachoma is prevalent in this area and a major cause of blindness. As a result of recurrent infections the eyelids turn into themselves and the eyelashes constantly rub against the eyeball creating constant excruciating pain.  To address this situation, a team has been scouring the region screening for eye ailments and teaching better hygiene.

We took a day and a half to get our bearings. The night before we took off, the Samburu men, many of them dressed in their warrior gear, treated us to an amazing dance and song performance.  It was a gesture of thank you and a very special gift. These dances and songs have existed for centuries and are profoundly moving. We felt very honored.

Most of the Samburu men would be coming along with us on the trek, leading the camels and setting up camps.

We started our trek south towards the Milgis Lugga through the Ndoto mountains. We trekked through a landscape that was breathtaking. We started at the Horr Valley walking across the south end of Ol Donyo Mara into the Seren valley.

We traveled through open plains, and valleys with the bush in full bloom. See the lovely Cadia (Purpurea) flower!

We climbed rocky hills, traversed the Ndikir Laurie mountain pass, reaching heights that allowed us magnificent views of the Ndotos peaks and valleys. We camped near dry river beds or luggas – one, the Lomolok Lugga, turned into a flowing and bubbling stream in 10 minutes – or on mountain tops in Urra that made you want to cry or laugh or just simply sit quietly in awe at the beauty of our planet.

Once the need to talk waned our senses awakened to the bush life surrounding us.  As I walked I would stop to pick the leaves and seeds of the sage bush delighting in its perfume, or loose all sense of time as I followed the movements of the rosy patch bush shrike whose song had caught our attention, or yet again admire the candelabra like sculptural form of the many euphorbia trees in full bloom.

I stood mesmerized by the vibrant yellow blooms along its cactus like limbs creating a halo around the tree.

We encountered young children who are given responsibility at an early age herding the family goats. We were an oddity in this part of Northern Kenya and a great source of amusement and curiosity to these youngsters. We passed by Samburu manyattas or huts clustered together and protected from predators by an enclosure made of twigs and branches.

We did run into the occasional warrior, armed to the teeth and yet very stylish. I was very lucky to get a picture of one of them.

The level of excitement in the group peeked when we ran across very fresh elephant dung! Our chances of running into a big bush animal were seriously improving. Birds, dik diks, herds of goats were great but we wanted the big stuff!  Total silence was requested which I welcomed with great relief and perseverance paid off. Twice we spotted those majestic creatures on the hills feasting on the trees. Some of us who had amazing eyesight could just see them with the naked eye. I, on the other hand, needed my binoculars!

Every morning we woke up at 5:30am to the song of the Samburu man coming to fill our washbasin with hot water. After a cup of tea or coffee, we departed under the rising sun for our day’s journey. Four camels carrying our breakfast, which the Samburu men would set up mid-morning when we needed those extra calories to help us along, accompanied us. Pete and Helen, our guides, made sure we had a full breakfast!  Fruit, eggs , yellow like you have never seen, homemade muesli  we figured that if we marketed it ,we would make a killing it was so good.

Some of us at the end of the day wanted a final challenge before turning in and climbed some pretty steep hills and encountered baboons along the way.

Intermittent rain was mostly refreshing though at times it was unexpected and created quite a stir.  One night we went to sleep under starry skies and rain startled us awake in the middle of the night.  Jumping out of our bedrolls, we rushed out of our tents to undo the flaps of our rain cover with the help of the Samburu team. But by the time we got back into our tents, bedrolls and clothes were wet except for some clever ones who had had the prescience to keep their bags packed and had thought of covering their mattress. I was not one of them!  We did not let that happen again!

Under Helen Douglas Dufresne’s instruction we learned to identify Orion’s Belt at night and Venus and Mercury at sunrise. We fell in love with the dogs that accompanied us. More then once I found myself woken up from my mid-afternoon nap on a mattress laid down on the grass by an over eager dog’s paws on my chest.

The real stars of this walk were our Samburu porters who worked tirelessly to make us comfortable and who on an impulse would break into a song and a dance for their own enjoyment and to our utter delight.

Some of us, unfortunately, fell sick but were amazingly brave. We had to adjust the pace of our walk and did not get to see the Latakwen clinic that is my special project. We all made it to our destination though, which was Helen’s base camp, Lkanto, set at the top of a hill situated at the confluence of the Milgis and Sarya Luggas.

We took in for the last time the awe inspiring, view savoring our accomplishment yet a bit sad because of the upcoming good byes. I confess that there is no place I would rather be then on top of that hill with its 360 degree view of the two large riverbeds with to the south, the mountains of the Matthews and Mt Kenya in the far distance, and to the north the Ndotos hills.

After a quick shower we departed for the airstrip where a final treat was awaiting us. The children from the local school dressed in their Samburu outfits performed a dance celebrating a world where man and nature coexist in harmony.

Still under their spell we climbed into our charter plane after effusive thanks to Helen and Pete Insley who had led us very competently and brought us back safe.

Thank you for an amazing journey.