Won't Turn Back

It's been a week since I last posted and I'm sorry to say that not much has happened since. I've been in Kenya for 4 weeks now, and everything is starting to feel normal. Not normal in a boring way, just normal in a way that I feel like my days are starting to feel routine. So I've been doing more castings, seeing patients, watching surgeries, and hanging out in the hospital ward. It's all exciting, but I feel like I've talked about all of that on here already. Something I haven't talked much about though is what I've really been learning. Of course I've been getting a lot of experience and learning a lot from Elvis and Mirriam (my internship supervisors), but what's been on my mind a lot lately is how I'm going to apply the skills I'm learning in America. The thing is, I might not.

Here in Kenya a lot of hospitals are short on staff, so the physical therapy department takes on many roles. As a PT in America I would not be applying and removing casts, building wheelchairs, and I probably wouldn't even be prescribing wheelchairs. What I've noticed is that my favorite parts about my internship are the parts that I wouldn't be doing at home. I love casting; I love watching surgeries; and I love playing with the kids. That's great and all, but that kind of presents a problem because my major is pre-physical therapy and I'm starting to doubt if I actually want to pursue physical therapy. I've prayed a lot about my major and I know that God wants be to pursue a degree in pre-physical therapy, but I still don't know what His big plan is. I also know that God called me to CURE this summer for my internship, and praise Him because this is a good time to figure all of this out. So basically, if you could pray for me as I figure out what I'm really passionate about and seek out God's plan. In the meantime, I'm trying to get my hands on a little bit of everything. 

That's what has been going on lately. Here are some other things I've been doing!

Hanging out with Dr. Theury! He is the medical director here at CURE, and he does a lot of the surgeries for the kids. He was just in the States for meetings at CURE headquarters in Pennsylvania and met my grandfather who is on the board for CURE. He is a great guy and he cares so much about the kids. 

Last Thursday the hospital had a mobile clinic in Thika about 2 hours away from Kijabe. 

They set up little doctors offices at Joy Town school for disabled children.

We saw a bunch of kids from the primary and secondary school. 

And I did more casting! 

Monday, I got into surgery again and I saw Daisy getting a PMR (posterior medial release). Basically, they just cut the tendons and reattach them to straighten out the foot. Follow her story here and please by in prayer for her and the other kids in the ward!

Tomorrow we leave for Jinja, Uganda for a little vacation weekend to raft the Nile! Pray for safe travels, and that we make it out of this alive! :) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlwLRXdcrjM