Week 7 Working with IcFEM

In this week we started with building of the handbike. Our objective for the handbike is that it’s adaptable to the area of Mount Elgon and also for other area’s in Kenya. The second goal is making the handbike of fewer and cheaper materials as possible. A must is that the materials are available in this area. This makes it possible for the user when something is broken, that they can repair it easily.

We thought that we could finish the handbike in one week, but we didn’t. There where a lot of difficult things. Like the drive is very difficult to make. This part of the handbike takes a lot of time to make. Also with fewer tools, it makes it very hard to make things fast and easy. It means that you have to search for alternatives for some solutions because you don’t have the tools to make it like the way you would like. But the handbike is almost finished. Only the drive needs to be finished. After that the handbike get a painting color to protect them against the weather and for the look. The painting will be done by someone in town.

In the same time that we worked at the handbike we wrote a manual about how we are making this handbike. We make a description of every part we fit together. With pictures and text we hope that we can give a clear mind about building the handbike.

Next week we will finish the first handbike and completely evaluate the handbike. After that we write our manual and than we will start with building of the second one.

Week Six

Monday the 10th of September we worked at the IcFEM head quarters on our documentation for the wheelchair project. We did some analyse and drew three drafts with our initial ideas. It’s very important to have more ideas for the wheelchair, you can choose the best parts of each of the designs and think of different solutions.

Tuesday morning we and Leonard Wanjala did some field research of the disabled who have a wheelchair. We did some interviews and took some pictures of there wheelchair and completed a moving analyseThe first person we visit was a woman who got a wheelchair from IcFEM five years ago. She was really dependant of here wheelchair. It was nice to talk with her about here application of a wheelchair.

The second person we met was a guy who had a wheelchair, a tricycle and an adaptable car who he could use with his hands. He had a serebral pausy.

It was very useful to talk with him because he knew a lot about wheelchairs and he had also had good ideas for us. In the afternoon we visit Christine, she is spasmatic and has really heavy spasm and she only can lay an is incontinent. We visited her because two years ago two guys from our course did a project for her. They realised a horizontal lay wheelchair for her would give her the opportunity to move. It was good to see that the wheelchair was in a good condition after two years. We also visited some children from the field research of the two guys.

Wednesday we were invited to join the IcFEM staff for the celebration of the launching of the fellowship unit. There were a lot of people. We listened to some speeches and did a lot of praying. It was nice to see some things that IcFEM does in the districts. And we hope the new fellowship unit will be a success like the other fellowship unit the Mission has set up.

Thursday we went with Leonard Wanjala to Bumgoma to visit the Ministry of Health.
We visited their orthopedic workplace and talked about working together with IcFEM because they have a lot in common with IcFEM. In the afternoon we visited the District Hospital of Kimilili. We spoke with the director and the fysiotherapist and saw the workplace and some other departments. We also visited the Rotery Doctors from the Netherland who were based in the Hospital.

Friday we started with building our trycecle and helped Alex with making plaster works.

Trip to Kijabe and Nairobi- Week Five

Tuesday morning we left at 7:00am from Kimilili bus stop to travel to Kijabe. Leonard Wanjala was our company. In Kijabe we want to visit a hospital and an orthopedic workshop.
After a bus trip of 11 hours we arrived in Kijabe, the journey took that long because the rood was very bad and we waited more than 2 hours because of a traffic-jaw. At 18:30 we arrived at the Hospital of Kijabe. We had a dinner and slept in a guesthouse that was part of the hospital. In the morning we visited the orthopedic workshop and got a conducted tour and spoke with the employee’s. It was very nice to see the methodical and the working system, and to see the careful. There was a quality workshop with very good tools and materials.

At noon we left Kijabe by matatu and went to Nairobi. In Nairobi we wanted to do some research for the wheelchair project. After an hour traveling we arrived in Nairobi. We checked in at the YMCA hotel in Nairobi-city and we went for a tour in Nairobi. The next morning Alex Juma joints us. Alex graduated this summer his course orthopedic technology at the University of Nairobi. After breakfast we went to see the orthopedic workshop of the hospital of Nairobi. He is the right person to show use. We went for a tour and saw the work they do there. After the tour we went to the Kenya Medical Training Centre to see the course of Alex and see the educating system and the workplace. They have a lot of materials and developed tools. It’s a high quality workshop.

At noon we went by bus to go to APDK, this is an orthopedic company with a lot of products and cares for disabled people. We saw the orthopedic workshop were they do measuring and plastering and were they make braces and shoes. We went also to their wheelchair factory; it is the biggest in Kenya. They make tricycles and crutches and have a shop were you could buy products. They make crutches from reduced materials. APDK works with a very good system to produce the tricycles, the take care about their product.

At APDK there is also an orthopedic centrum with departments for physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and also a orthopedic workshop.

On Friday we traveled back to Kimilili. It was nice to see another part of Kenya and we also learned a lot of the things we saw in Kijabe and Nairobi.

Next week we’re going to finish the designing of the tricycle and start building it.

Week Four

On Monday we went with the four of us to Dreamland to get further with our handbike project and to help Alex. Alex is making some orthesis for some patients. Marleen and Eelke were assisting Alex en Merel and Caspar were thinking about the design of the handbike. When we were lunching, we were thinking about our internship, about the supervision from IcFEM and our projects. After a discussion with the four of us, we concluded that the supervision was not what we have thought before. We have decided to make an appointment with the director Mister Solomon on Tuesday.

In the morning when we arrived at the Office, there were a couple of patients waiting for us. The patients that we met before at the Fieldresearch. They came this day to Kimilili so we can do the measurements for their orthesis, calipers or corsets. But before we started with the measurements, we had a talk with Solomon, Leonard, Tatwa, Patrick and Matthew about our internship. Solomon told us that we have to make a new program for the remaining weeks of our internship and to set up our goals that we want to reach this internship. He told us also he wanted us visit Nairobi and that we can see the wheelchair factory from APDK. It was a very useful talk.

After the measurements, Caspar and Eelke went to Dreamland with Alex and some patients. In Dreamland they plastered some patients, so we can start with making the orthesis and corsets. Merel and Marleen stayed at the Guesthouse and made the new program and the goals.

On Wednesday we went with Loenard to Kitale Hospital. Once in two months, people who need surgery or treatment went to Kitale Hospital, so they could be booked for surgery or treatment. That was also this day. Leonard was supporting his friend from Kijabe to book all the people for surgery or treatment. Some of the nurses from the Hospital showed us the hospital. We thought it was a very beautiful Hospital, but it was a little bit old and dirty.

On Thursday Caspar and Merel went to Dreamland and Marleen and Eelke stayed at the Office to get further with the handbike report. There was nobody in the workshop of Dreamland, so Caspar and Merel couldn’t do much. After making drawings of the bicycle parts which we can use for the handbike, they went back to the Office to support Marleen and Eelke. At the Office was a guy with a handbike who was training for the Paralympics. We made pictures of his handbike, so we get a clear view of the existing handbikes.

We also give our new program to Patrick and Tatwa.

On Friday we stayed with the four of us at the Office. We have finished a very important part of the analysis of our handbike report.
In the afternoon we had a talk with Patrick and Tatwa about our new program. They were very positive about it. We were going over the whole program, so we could make appointments with the people we need and we know how much money we need for the activities.

It was a nice week, because we have made a new program for our internship. Now we have got a clear view of our remaining weeks and everybody knows what we are gonna do.

Introduction Field Research- Week Three

Field research means searching for people with disabilities in the district around Kimilili. On the 20th and the 21th of August we went to 6 schools were all the disabled people came together. With 3 people (two of us and Leonard or Alex) we were doing diagnose of the people. We write some information down about the patients, like name, age, gender, occupation, status, residence, address, telephone number, medical history, diagnose and treatment. We also make pictures form the patient, one portrait and some pictures of their disabilities. So after that we can make a database of all the patients in the district. We know which problems there are and how we can help. It’s also very handy for Loenard, Jackim and Alex when we are left. It’s also very handy for IcFEM, so they know the problems in the district.

On Monday the 20th we left in the morning to our first school, after 15 minutes driving we arrived. We first had an introduction to the staff of the school. After that we met the patients who already were waiting outside. There were 10 patients with several kinds of disabilities. We split them in two groups and Marleen and Eelke had 5 patients and Merel and Caspar had 5 patients. Some patients we sent to surgery and some we asked to meet with us at DMCC the next week. After we finished the last patient we set off to the second school. It was about a 20 minutes drive. There were around 30 patients with all kind of disabilities and diseases. We didn’t now that we had to make a diagnosis of people with normal diseases, like deaf problem or sightless. It was difficult to say to them that we couldn’t help them. IcFEM can help them but we don’t have the knowledge for those problems. Out of the 30 we made a diagnosis for 15 patients and also some of them had to have first, surgery and afterwards we can help them with prostheses or ortheses.

The last school we visit there were no patients because our visit wasn’t very well arranged. Some people came because they saw our vehicle but they were patients with normal diseases.

The next morning we left early in the morning by matatu and boda boda to go to the first school of the day. Also there were very many people but only a few we could help because of their disabilities. We had the same problem with the second and the third school. At the third school we found two people who wanted a tricycle, so we can help them because of the tricycle project.

On Wednesday we worked out the information of the Monday and Tuesday. We made a database and give it to IcFEM. We also worked on the tricycle document. On Thursday and Friday we went to DMCC to help Alex with some braces and plaster work. We also welded some other stuff and did some regular work.

It was a nice week but we also saw the bad side off the orthopedic work we do. It’s not nice to say to people that we couldn’t help them because we are not doctors. It’s very good for students like us to meet with very disabled people.