Case 1
When young Mohamed Jibril Abdi was born through caesarean section on the 26th day of July 2021, he was whole, normal and ready to start the long and torturous journey of life in Kenya. On the second day of his life, the hospital administered an injection on his left thigh, which the mother thought was a normal immunization. He showed no sign of ill health until some strange pain caught up with him within hours of discharge from hospital. The new-born went on to spend his first night at home crying himself hoarse with the equally first time mother discovering a swollen toe on the left leg, which was quickly turning from purple-bluish to black in colour by the fifth day. Upon return to hospital, nothing was found to have been the matter and the poor boy was taken back home still in pain and tears. His refugee mother who neither speaks English nor Swahili – the languages of communication in Kenya – could not interrogate more and explain the situation and happenings to her baby shortly after birth. She could remember though, that the boy had been given an injection in the thigh, reasons for which she could not have prodded due to language barrier. When Safeway Medical Clinic followed up on the matter, the hospital reported that the injection had been for Vitamins which is normally administered to all new born babies.
Hell turned loose on young Mohamed when the supposed edema drastically turned into gangrene within days. Taken back to the hospital yet another time, he was readmitted and finally Safeway took up the matter and referred the case to Kenyatta National Hospital for specialized attention. At the referral facility – Kenyatta being the largest and most equipped hospital in East Africa – due to congestion, young Mohamed did not get his MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) done in good time thus further complicating matters for his aching leg. Nonetheless, when the process was eventually done, the specialist doctors recommended that the leg be amputated. He was thus at the hospital for three months. This was the beginning of another face of life for young Mohamed. Life became especially difficult given that his single mother had no form of employment on which to find survival. In this connection, Safeway Medical Clinic and its sister organization – Safe Womanhood – stepped in to aid the mother. The twin organizations provides for food and shelter as well as necessary medical care for the both the boy and the mother. This is anchored under the Home-based Care program. The organizations have also ensured that the much needed prosthesis has been done and is now complete. Young Mohammed has thus been fitted with a special shoe and can now walk and do all that his age mates can do.
Case 2
With situations till volatile in Somali especially for women and children, Sabrin set out to look for safety elsewhere. Her target was to cross the Somali border into Kenya to escape the war back at home. She was almost nine months gone in her pregnancy. She had to escape to save her unborn baby too!
The journey was painstaking and slow as she was pregnant and escaping on foot. It took her a while to get to the border town of Bullla Hawa. Here, her time was up and she was forced to deliver under extreme and non-medical conditions. The delivery was successful nonetheless and she set to continue with her journey into Kenya. But little did she know that the worst awaited her little one. As she reached a refugee camp in Northern Kenya, the baby had already developed a serious medical problem around the umbilical cord. When she sought help from a medical facility at the camp, it was diagnosed to be ‘umbilicus sepsis’ – infection of the umbilical cord caused by unhygienic treatment of the area. This was caused by the difficult and strenuous situations as she found her way into the camp.
When matters became even worse for the baby, the unregistered refugee mother had to move to Nairobi – Kenya’s capital city – to seek further medical help for her now ailing baby. She got the baby to Kenyatta National Hospital and was immediately admitted and taken to the theatre for deprimentation. On discharge from hospital, the baby and the mother ended up in our care. So far, Safeway Medical Clinic and Safe Womanhood have been providing both medical and non-medical care for the duo. The baby is doing well in terms of recovery.
Case 3
The promise for peace, safety and some education in Nairobi Kenya drove young Muna Hawa – eleven years – to leave Somalia for Nairobi with some relatives. All went well and soon she found herself in the Nairobi she longed for. She was under the absolute care of the said relatives. Nairobi, for her, was serene and very caring in comparison to the hard life she led back in Somalia. She could visualize greater life in future if indeed she was able to join school in Kenya. She dreamt of a better Somalia if she made it through her education and got to serve her motherland. But little did she know that all this would never come to pass.
As time went by, days turning into weeks and even months, life started changing for the worst. She realized that school was just but a dream. Her hosts were never keen or interested at all in taking her to any school. She remained at home performing household chores. She had quickly been converted into a house help under extremely hostile conditions. She was now being abused in the most serious ways. She had to withstand constant beatings and torture by her host mother. In some instances, she was even threatened with death. Being away, far away from home and her people, she had to learn to be as submissive as she could so as to secure a place to lay her head and to eat. That is what her tender life had been reduced to. Her case was that of “jumping from the frying pan into the fire”!
One time when Muna had had enough of the suffering that she had long endured in eerie silence, she opted out. She had no idea where she was going, but she was sure about where she had come from. Too much in pain and with a few cold coins in her hand, she approached Safeway Medical Clinic to purchase any amount of painkiller tablets that her few coins could afford. Hers was to relieve her pain. This encounter brought her face to face with Fardhosa Ali, the Director at Safeway Medical Clinic and Safe Womanhood. As a medic, she quickly discerned that young Muna was in so much pain.
She invited her into the clinic for closer examination and physical assessment. It was then that Fardhosa discovered how much injury had been inflicted on young Muna by her caregiver-hosts.
