Mission to Kenya: Cows and CT scans

CT scans and cows were involved in the latest trip to Kenya for Dr. Read and Suzie Vaughan of Kalispell.

The Vaughns have been traveling to Kenya over the past four years, not for leisure but to equip local people with skills in medicine and business — and participate in cow-giving ceremonies.

They recently spent six weeks in Bomet, a rural area of western Kenya.

Read Vaughn, a semi-retired diagnostic radiologist, primarily taught ultrasound and computerized tomography scan techniques to between 30 and 35 medical students completing their residencies at Tenwek Hospital.

Suzie taught sewing skills and English to local women.

Tenwek is a 300-bed mission hospital in Bomet that serves outlying populations.

“There’s about 12 full-time missionary doctors and the hospital has residency training programs for family practice and surgery,” Vaughn said. 

While on a trip to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, he learned about serving Tenwek through Samaritan’s Purse World Medical Mission. He saw a need for radiology training for the recently acquired computerized tomography machine. To have such a machine in a rural hospital is a rarity, Read said.

 “Not many rural mission hospitals in the world that have a CT scan. They are expensive and hard to maintain,” Read said. “Usually rural hospitals might have an old X-ray unit or ultrasound unit.” 

Computerized tomography scans lead to more accurate diagnoses. Scans provide cross-sectional images that show clear pictures of internal organs, tissues, blood vessels and bones and can reveal health problems X-rays cannot.

“We can diagnose a lot of conditions we couldn’t otherwise,” Read said.

Each time the Vaughans return to Kenya, they get a better idea of local needs. One need evident to Suzie Vaughan was keeping girls in school. 

“The first year I went to visit a community school there was a dramatic drop-off of girls in seventh and eighth grade,” Suzie said. “One of the reasons is that they were menstruating and had to stay home for a week every month. In five or six months girls would get behind, give up and drop out.”

The sustainable solution, she said, was to teach women how to sew reusable cloth sanitary pads. She did just that at a local sewing school where 17 women were learning to sew as a vocation. 

“You see a need and figure out, ‘How can I partner with the local community in a way where you don’t have to constantly ship materials over?” Suzie said, adding it also would be an avenue for starting a business.

Under Suzie’s guidance, the women sewed enough sanitary pads to distribute to 50 girls at Kendoiwo Orphanage. 

Since there is no electricity, the women use treadle machines and since money is scarce, the 17 share three machines.  Suzie’s dream is to raise enough money to help the school move to a building with electricity so the students can start up a cooperative business, possibly selling school uniforms or pads.

“The electric machine I took with me to teach on, I left it with a young entrepreneur there — one of the few who have access to electricity. We spent many hours learning to sew, market and practice selling,” Suzie said.

The day Suzie delivered the pads to Kendoiwo, she was surprised to learn girls from area schools had been invited to hear her. Her presentation became a small assembly where she took the opportunity to talk about issues including HIV prevention and delaying marriage to stay in school.

“The product was well received. It’s amazing how something that we take for granted can be life-changing for them,” Suzie said.

Before leaving Kenya, the Vaughans completed their itinerary by attending a cow-giving ceremony. The cow was purchased using $300 raised by Peterson School third-graders in Kalispell. Earlier in the year, Suzie had spoken at Peterson about African culture, food, dress and what a cow would provide a needy family in income and food.

The Vaughans attended the ceremony where the cow was handed over to her new owner, a widow and mother. They estimated 80 to 100 people celebrated as the cow’s rope was passed from the Vaughans and local leaders to the recipient.

The Vaughans plan to keep going back to Kenya to continue their mission work.

“We’ve made a lot of friends and relationships at the hospital,” Read said. Suzie added: “We’re investing in a generation.”

For more information or to donate, call Suzie Vaughan at 752-7222 or email her at vaughan@centurytel.net.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.