A Very Merry Christmas

Well, Cathy has her leg! And, she has taken her first steps in over 9 months! I have video galore of her first steps, but it would literally take 7+ hours to upload, based on the last video. All thanks to you guys who assisted with this... While there are finishing touches to be made cosmetically, it is essentially a done deal. Due to her extensive, 9 month stint on crutches, "trusting" her new leg was, and will be difficult to master. After seeing this, it is very apparent where the extra money from your donations will have to go. PT. She needs proper therapy on how to walk again correctly, as she is "afraid" of putting her full weight and trust into this artificial "thing" on her leg. She actually made great strides from day one to day two: needing parallel bars bolted to the floor the first day, to walking with crutches the next. So, this bodes well to her progressing quickly. The therapy is actually quite cheap, but she has to be transported to/from the hospital for each session and that is a few dollars per day, an enormous expense over here. The extra should cover the 2-3 weeks worth of therapy I think she will need, so everything is set up perfectly!

Though the remainder is now allocated to a cause, I thought I should post the results of the vote:

For schooling: 5
For a goat: 2 (though with some stipulations...)
For an LSU hat: 1 (Thanks Nate, I had already thought about it, but they ran out of stock last week...)

Cathy is normally pretty quiet and reserved, but she literally was beaming from ear to ear when she finally stood on both legs again. She is extremely motivated, as she wants to walk back to school next semester without her crutches. She is all of 18, and she definitely has the want to "fit in" visually. Its been a good source of humor between us all, as we have said that the finishing color would be bright green and that this was a smaller version of her leg which hasn't arrived yet. In the end, we assured her this was her leg, and that the colors would be discreet. Everything is being done to progress her as quickly as possible, so that she can walk back to school, unsupported. I have already set her up with a home exercise program to do over the holidays, and as soon as the theraband arrives, she will have even more to do.

Being invited to Christmas dinner feels like such an amazing gift. Being part of their family, even if for a day, will be immensely rewarding and impactful. I will try not to choke on the mala. Mala, somewhat unfortunately for me, is a special drink to Kalenjin's, the tribe of Cathy's family. It comes in two forms: one you buy at the store in a package, and the other is entirely homemade. I will let you guess which one I will be drinking. The processed one is essentially milk with some additives, which makes it slightly curdled. The homemade version is milk, which they let spoil over some undetermined time, and then in which they add some seasonings. Ouch. I'm really just hoping that I don't pull a George H. Bush and puke on the person sitting next to me.

Since all of the clinics are done, the hospital is essentially closed until the new year, and I feel like doing something physical, I am going to be leaving Nakuru on the 28th for Western Kenya province. I will be building mud bricks to be formed into a school for the orphanage that Rose, the country coordinator of Cosmic Volunteers, runs herself. I'll be there about a week, before returning to Nakuru and packing for my tour. So, likely I will have one more post before I head out there to catch everybody up on Cathy's Christmas. Speaking to another volunteer who was at the orphanage, there is no running water, no electricity, etc. Should be interesting.