Silver Jubilee!

4th Sept 1998

4/9/98 - 25yrs ago! This was the date I got my first job - real job - the one where KRA knows you have been employed and HELB is also aware.

So the year is 1998. I had cleared Moi University and was applying all over the place for all manner of jobs - I really was not choosy. I got this advert from my sisters friend. A local NGO needed an Administrator/Accountant and I applied for it. I was interviewed by women who I would later learn were bigwigs in women's human rights movement but I had no idea who they were! The NGO world was very very new for me and when I got  a call to report on September 1 1998 along Ngong Road near Baptist church; I was excited and was there early enough to start work!. 

I have never looked back after this.

My career has been in non-profits and I really love what I do. I have been schooled on women's human rights, on right based programming etc etc. Even if I am in finance & operations, I find deep satisfaction in knowing the actual impact we have on peoples lives!

I have been part of programs in women's rights, in refugee operations, in education, in disaster risk reduction...so many areas since needs are varied and run deep.

Over the years the most unique project I have been part of was a one year project that was funded by Dutch Post Code Lottery (like Kenya Charity Sweepstake) and it was a 2 page project document and the amount awarded was quite considerable. This is what TRUST looks like! The reporting requirements were quite lenient and basically we had to do what we had to do - and deliver as we had promised.

What I loved most about my first engagement was the way we had interns/volunteers come in and support the projects. The interns were from universities in Nairobi and all manner of personalities came through the doors. Recruiting the volunteers and interns was part of my job and I horned my skills in identifying right energies that we can work with.  The volunteers/interns were not being paid and so the interest really has to be from their end - and for sure kuna wale walijituma and to date I watch them making global waves and I am silently proud that i was part of their amazing journey!

The operating environment has become more and more strict - starting off I have experienced a donor who gave funds..a considerable amount...they were basically up the road from our office...and never once did they visit! and final report they wanted a one page excel!! very strange! Now you have donors who insist on photos having time stamps!

Oh how the landscape has changed!

Anyhoo....some things  I now know for sure (in no particular order):-

1. Passion is very evident - 

2. Money is not the only motivator

3. Don't stay in one place too long..unless your role changes...but doing the exact same thing? naaaa

4. Keep an open mind..learning never ends

5. Go beyond your role..take up that challenge!

6. If it doesn't serve your greater goal, exit!

7. Know what you want..and go for it!

8. No experience is wasted!...learn from each step you take

9. It is work, its not personal...and you are not indispensable!

10. Aim for excellence...that becomes your valuable brand.

11. Hold someone's hand...mentor a willing person

12. Get a passport! the travel opportunities come from the most unimaginable source!

13. Dont burn bridges...your reference is not only your supervisor :)

Here's to many more years of #LeavingNoOneBehind!

Old post alert - https://minkrasi.blogspot.com/2018/09/day-120-years-ago.html

Road to recovery...part 3

So its the evening of d-day Wednesday Aug 9

Back to the hospital bed in Nairobi Hospital HDU 

I am so groggy but can communicate

Then I realize I have tubes running from my sides to the floor and one from my chest to the floor. I think i ask either Getu or Sam to take a photo for me to see what's happening down there

I cant move at all

My hand is swollen.....they remove the line from there

My feet are frozen...I overhear my mum asking the nurse how come they have not yet put on me some compression socks..nurse whispers back...we are trying to get her size (I smile....seems my sizeable mazwembes are causing a problem..hehehehehe)...anyhoo....

I have no appetite..at all

I sleep deeply that night - but propped up in one position

Thursday Aug 10

Mercifully, am more alert...taking in my surroundings...my back is sore..being in one position isn't good for me...even if bed can tilt.  Mid morning, a guy in purple comes up to me and says..he is the physio guy...he says he needs to help me out of the bed so I can try walking and seating up straight...he lifts up the containers and am like woah....what's all that liquid!! I carry one and he carries 2 of them and hoists me out of bed and I can finally ambulate with his steady help. We walk ever so slowly along the corridor...and back. I can even use the loo!! instead of the embarrassing bed pan I had used the night before.

Still no appetite...even the soup has no taste

My two older kids have closed school...they come to visit...and stand far away..i feel for them! this they didnt know...am sure they had so many questions. LO is not allowed to visit HDU so i had to video call him later

8pm two nurses appear on both sides of the bed and say, Hilda...time for a bath! they basically give each other story as they wash me from head to toe, paka me mafuta and change the bedsheets in a swift well rehearsed move..i didn't even have time to gather my dignity and they were all like...done! You will have a good nights sleep now...

the night passes slowly...everytime somone walks by i ask the time...its 1am...its 2.30am...its 4am....weuhhh

am pumped up on meds...

Friday Aug 11

Doctor when doing rounds confirms I can be discharged to general ward on Saturday and home on Sunday...best news ever!

still on pain meds but orally....they have by now stopped meds via drip. Woke up at 3am in pain and had to be given more meds....

Saturday Aug 12

The Chest surgeon comes and finally disconnects me from the tubes! am free!! 

New word for me...sternum...the long flat bone that forms part of the front of the ribcage. That too had to be cut so that the doc can access the excess growth....

Lots of family and friends visit most of Saturday - including my little one - he was so happy (hakuna mambo ya visiting hours limitation...here its free for all...rather the security didn't interrupt us)

Most are amazed that I can talk and seat up...it was an exhausting day I must say

slept deeply and woke up at 4am in blinding pain...was given meds

Sunday Aug 13

HOME

Praise be to GOD Almighty!

May complete healing be my portion in Jesus mighty name.

Thank you family & friends for all the love and prayers for me and my family during this period

Psalm 46- when a verse takes new meaning

 

Psalm 46[a]

1 God is our refuge and strength,
    an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
    and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
    and the mountains quake with their surging.[c]

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
    the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
    God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
    he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

7 The Lord Almighty is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress.

8 Come and see what the Lord has done,
    the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease
    to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
    he burns the shields[d] with fire.
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.”

11 The Lord Almighty is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Road to recovery...part 2

Lets take it back to mid year 2003

I meet a college mate - he is selling Old Mutual Life Insurance policies. At that time its only KES 5323 per month for 15yrs and the promise is a good amount on maturity. Sounds like a plan so i take it on. we sign some documents and one step is to see their doctor some place in Upper Hill. She examines me and then asks me about whether I have ever had my thyroid checked..thyroid checked? me...nope..never

She tells me well please have it checked

The start of the life cover is suspended for one year so it starts in 2004 and matured in 2019

Back to my thyroid in 2003 - I go to see a doctor in MP Shah and they do a whole range of tests Xrays, CT Scans, biopsy tests etc..final verdict...yes its had nodules and its euthyroid  - so not over active (hyper) or underactive (hypo) so iko tuu. Monitor it every 3 months for growth - but just manage your stress levels and you will be fine. If you want to remove it, the decision will be purely on aesthetic purposes...am like...remove for cosmetic purposes? nope not me...hehehehehe..large neck it is...

Armed with this....I went on with my life...even got my kids - first one 2006 and second one 2008. Then in late 2011 my arm was feeling tingly all the time...like I have slept on it...no amount of shaking could remove the feeling. Then the pain started! weuhhhh....I was basically reduced to someone who sleeps like am on a seat...I simply could not lie down. Not sure how we landed on Prof Adwoks clinic in Nairobi hospital....but there we were...one early morning...consulting with him. I admired his very clear desk and cryptic responses. Yes the pain could be linked to your thyroid, but no, no guarantees that you will wake up from the surgery and the arm is not paining. weuhhh...what to do?

On Feb 11 2012 (World Day of the Sick) my husband and I sat quietly at the mass for the sick in Our Lady Queen of Peace South B seeking healing to this pain. One morning, Sam was like..you seem to have slept well...no pain? am like...yeahhhhhhh...joy!!! Went back to Prof Adwok and one of the tests to be done before surgery is pregnancy test...good call because guess what? I was expecting Sifa! Prof was like..oh well...we have to postpone all the plans

Sifa was born October 2012 and we named him Raphael (God the healer)

I continued with tests like annually...but nothing major came from that

Then December 2022 rolled in........I had to sleep in a tent in cold Nyeri with my daughter as part of a rite of passage program

Lets just say, once that ONE night was over,  I knew it was time to get the thyroid out!

Road to recovery...part 1

 ambulate

verb

FORMAL•TECHNICAL

1. walk; move about.

So I have been through an experience and learnt of this word for the first time in my life!!

Tuesday Aug 8 we got me checked into hospital by 4pm as instructed. 

A brown Nil by Mouth sign hang on my room door by midnight that night signaling the start of the process. Troops of well dressed with warm wide smiles nurses had by this time walked in and out of my hospital room introducing themselves as the care team. The aesthetician, a sullen looking man in a sharp suit came in with a nurse in tow and spoke of what he would do and asked the nurse to remind me that I will need at least 2 blood donors by 8am next morning. She rapidly gave list of requirements for blood donation - must say she sounded a bit condescending by repeating the word "viable blood donor" all the time (i wondered why i was not told of this earlier.....)

The night was quiet

I could not even bring myself to journal

6am on Wednesday Aug 9 a nurse walked in...and i immediately woke up... and told me Hilda, time for a shower and dress into the gown i gave you. am like ok. 

It is T I M E...simply no turning back. I was not scared or maybe didn't wanna overthink it so much. I got an update that the ones donating blood had arrived (thanks much!!)

a bed was wheeled in and I was told to hop onto it after removing my wedding ring and confirming that i have no other rings or metallic fillings on my body. 

I lay on my back on the fresh bed and 8am we started the ride through the corridors to the theatre. The lights on the ceiling were passing by pretty fast (like in the movies I tell you!) and the song/ verse in my head was Be Still And Know That I am LORD!!!! My husband was following close behind and was told at some point he cant proceed. I was wheeled to a place that looked like a corridor and nurse asked me to confirm my name as she looked at the name tag on my left hand. A guy in green walked up and started asking me a bunch of questions...where am from, what I do etc basically making conversation and I knew he was the one assigned to distract me so that I could calm down. I was then wheeled in and moved to another bed - it felt colder. The massive light was above me and i scanned the room....looked quite big and mostly white.. the anesthetist (now in theatre gear) came up and took my hand, tapping it so that he can make the line for the anesthesia to pass. At this point the the nurse in green was holding a massive oxygen mask over my head asking me to breath in deeply - I said a prayer (I think...)

next, I see my husband at a distance and I hear him ask... my nyako? and i pass out again..that was 6 hours later

I see my sister, my mum, my other sister, my nephew...so many people...they seem to be coming in one by one...turns out i was in HDU and only limited number of people are allowed at a time. someone tells me the time...its around 5pm...end of day

my thyroid has been removed...and i was not ambulate

to be continued

...part 1