SOLO on Safari Training Emergency Medicine in East Africa

SOLO on SAFARI
Emergency Medicine Training in East Africa
16 March – 5th April 2009

Guarded by an army of heavy wet clouds the dazzling glaciers of Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak, drifted slowly rearwards of our morning flight on Precision Air from Kilimanjaro International in northern Tanzania to Kenya’s Kenyatta International on the outskirts of Nairobi.  “We will reach there within the hour,” I said to Josh, gazing through the small east side window of row five. 

We had just spent a week teaching a SOLO Advanced Wilderness First Aid course to the mountain guides of Tusker Trails, a company specialised in leading adventurous trekkers to the “roof of Africa” – the summit of Kilimanjaro.  With a class of seventeen Swahili men I was privileged to have SOLO Founder Dr. Frank Hubbell and WEMT-Fireman Josh MacMillan join me with the assistance and blessing of Mandate 3 Ministries, as we explored styles and techniques of teaching our courses to people where English is not their first language.  The experience proved invaluable toward developing future materials and coaching for instructors who would come out to teach our Village Medic courses in the developing world, particularly in Africa.

On clearing customs in Nairobi we were met by our host for the next week, Pastor Murray Jackson of Crusade International, a Kingdom-minded missionary whose experience includes 25 years serving in East Africa.  Through Murray’s invitation and coordination the three of us joined him to find ourselves airborne again, this time over the grassy savannahs of the East African Rift Valley.  Descending toward the airstrip of Kitchwa Tembo Lodge on the northern edge of Masai Mara National Park the clusters of coloured dots speckled on the mottled landscape below soon became herds of Masai cattle, with slope-backed wildebeest and stripe-coated zebras running thin dust plumes off the airstrip as they escaped the descent of our approaching thunderbird.  For the next eight days Kitchwa Tembo was to be our home and base of operations as we trained a variety of lodge, safari, security, ranger and medical personnel in the skills of trauma handling as Wilderness First Responders.

Our time in the “Mara” was abundantly blessed.  Our SOLO team taught 17 students for five full days focussing on trauma as could be experienced in this remote wilderness.  We sowed of our knowledge, skills, time and resources, and reaped great satisfaction from the progress made by our students who grasped the hands-on concepts and instruction extremely well.  We also enjoyed the privilege of regular short visits into the National Park through the Oloololo Gate to view amazing wildlife and capture memories on camera (I am sure Josh was military trained in automatic fire, considering the rate at which his cameras shutter was exposing “shots”!)

This Mara Triangle is formed by the western edge of the rift-valley escarpment, the Mara River where it brakes away from the slope to meander in convoluted curves southwards toward Tanzania, and the Tanzanian border, an imaginary line separating it from Kenya and demarcating the crossing from Tanzania’s Serengeti Game Reserve into Kenya’s Masai Mara.  Our memories of the people here and the wildlife experiences set a passion in our hearts to return someday soon.

While Frank and Josh winged it back to the USA after a stormy departure from the Mara, I met up with a ministry and outdoor leadership training group from Nairobi called Dawntreader.  A city-car taxi from the airport to Nairobi’s centre, followed by a Matatu ride (mini-bus shuttle) into the night toward Nakuru, and a further taxi ride (suffering a puncture with no spare or jack!) took me with my hosts to a private farm and the adventure centre, arriving after 10 p.m.  The hot meal was a warm welcome, as was the comfortable bed in my private two-man tent.  The next morning I took a run, hot shower and got into teaching straight after a hearty 3 course breakfast!

The following four days were intense with evenings included as I taught an AWFA alone – but with only 5 students it was a great deal of fun!  We all worked hard and the results paid off.

My thanks to Eddie Frank and Julian of Tusker Trails – we trust we shall further expand our joint influence into Tanzania.  Thanks also to Murray and Ruguru.  I am certain that between Crusade International and Dawntreader with their work in Kenya and East Africa, God has greater outreach in mind for SOLO and Mandate 3 as we continue to advance the Kingdom of God through partnerships.   Asante sana.

Muungu yu mwema!

Karibu,

Bwana Rowan

Rowan teaches African Bites and Stings to Safari guides and staff in Masai Mara

Life-like scenarios reinforce skills for these students in Kenya

Dawntreader Student Rescuers recover a “patient” during a mock rescue near Nakuru, Kenya

Keeping fit at 6000ft Rowan and Josh run with Masai Warriors …and wildlife!

Rising with the dawn, a hot-air baloon fires up above the Masai Mara plains

Carried by aircurrents Rowan and Josh Balloon above the Masai Mara

Josh – glad to be on the ground after Hot-Air Ballooning over the Mara

Dr Frank Hubbell and Pastor Murray Jackson in Masai Mara, Kenya

Asante Sana – Thanks alot! Frank, Rowan, Josh, and Murray

Chanting with the Masai during a cultural dance show!

young Masai Warriors still respect traditions although some things are changing.

Students practice bandaging skills at Kitchwa Tembo Lodge

Resisting Cholera with MSF in Zimbabwe

The dull ebb and flow of the overhead lights in the confinement tent brightened and dimmed to the corresponding surges of the droning petrol generator. In here the only thing more nauseating than the acute smell of faecal waste was the sight of prostrate human bodies upon crude rope beds, covered with only a linen sheet, tubes attached to them replacing lost body fluids with life saving rehydration fluids of Ringer’s Lactate, nurses replacing fresh buckets for spoiled ones full of cholera contaminated diarrhoea. This was an emergency Cholera Treatment Centre (CTU) in remote east Zimbabwe.

The rainy season came at the perfect time in November to complicate the efforts of NGO’s who had responded to the outbreak of cholera in Zimbabwe in September 2008. Without adequate medical resources in the country’s government clinics and hospitals, even before the emergency, it was an effort by the international community through NGO’s such as the UN and MSF that supplied, financed and coordinated the efforts and resources to deal with and bring control over the Zimbabwean Cholera crisis. Expanding their efforts further afield as the bacterium spread, a demand for more manpower and local resources increased accordingly.

Having recently returned from Zambia teaching the first Village Medic course for Overland Missions I was oblivious to these surreptitious efforts of NGOs (as most Zimbabweans were because until that time there was still an official State denial of the existence of cholera in the country). However, compelled by the Holy Spirit I approached MSF (Doctors Without Borders) to explore the possibility of teaching our SOLO Village Medic Courses through the MSF network. Sadly this idea would not fit in with their policy. They were however recruiting staff for the emergency – drivers, nurses, doctors, and logisticians.

I queried if further, hoping to get some use of the EMT training I carry, but unless I was a nurse or a doctor I was not suitable – but what about logistics – could I set up and run a camp? Well of course I could. I hadn’t been there 20 minutes and I was being asked to start the following morning – with suitcase in hand!

Suitably packed and equipped I duly arrived the next morning ready to run a bush-based CTU for the next three months… but plans had changed. The departure was delayed as we needed some essential supplies – how well did I know the city of Harare, I was asked. Knowing it pretty well from previous years of living here I found myself rapidly denied the isolated task of managing a remote emergency Cholera Camp to be given a desk, access to a driver and vehicle, and a shopping list.

So it was that from mid November 2008 till mid February 2009 I served as a volunteer logistician and purchaser for MSF in Harare, Zimbabwe until the cholera was on a decline and we began closing and withdrawing our volunteers and CTUs from the remote regions of the eastern part of the country.

I left MSF on a good note, glad for God’s provision of a place to live and my living expenses taken care of for the past three months. I had gained some new experience, grown in confidence, made some great contacts and friends. Now I focussed on the deeper burning task of my heart – a mission trip to East Africa to teach SOLO Wilderness Emergency Medicine to Mountain Guides of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Parks Service and Safari personnel in the Masai Mara, Kenya, and to a leadership training and ministry team out of Nairobi, Kenya.

(What I did not know for certain was that on my return to Zimbabwe MSF would be looking for me again.)