By BEN KLEINE

Staff writer

The poverty in Nairobi, Kenya, is staggering. The people of Mathare slum live in small tin houses, tightly packed together in rows. Some of them have electricity, but most don’t.

“A lot of them live on like 80 cents a day,” Becca Erwin said.

Erwin returned from Nairobi July 16 after 12 days on a mission trip through the Wesleyan Christian Church in Wichita. Erwin went with two nurses and an emergency medical technician as part of a program to give children in the slums health care. Even though she has been a veterinarian at Animal Health Center in Marion for over four years, she performed basic dental work on children in Mathare.

“They needed dental stuff really bad,” Erwin said. “Cavities are a big problem.”

On her first day in Kenya, Erwin and the other volunteers handed out 600 toothbrushes to children. They also taught the children how to brush and floss. “Getting 600 done in a day was pretty rewarding,” Erwin said.

Erwin treated several burns from open fires. People in the slums cook with open fires and the fires combine with vehicle emissions to produce smog that constantly lingers over the city. She also saw a few cases of malaria and tuberculosis.

Each day the volunteers would head back to a hotel in the middle of the city, which highlighted the gap between the upper and lower classes.

Although Erwin noticed a lack of general medical knowledge, she said the people generally ate healthy, with lots of fresh vegetables, and were “super fit.” “They walk everywhere,” she said.

Erwin also noticed a certain amount of pride. When she entered small homes in the slums, the homes were clean and the children always had clothes.

“They did the best they could,” Erwin said.