Hi everyone,

Elisabeth Bruckmann here. I am sure I have met many of you before. I created this GoFundMe for our dear friend Ginny who is in a crisis in Kenya. I will paste her message in below. I set a goal of $2,500 as I strongly suspect that Ginny and Moses have understated their need with their request of $1,800 to pay for Glen's hospital fees and any aftercare. I will disburse any funds collected to Ginny's mum to send to her. I hope everyone will consider contributing within their means. No pressure as we all have our own individual circumstances. Anonymous is always a nice option :)

Note that GoFundMe has a "suggested donation" that I can't change. Just ignore it! Also, slide the "tip" amount to $0. GoFundMe does not need a tip. They charge a small percentage overall to run this so there is no need to add anything. It doesn't go to Ginny. I will cover the GoFundMe fees!

So here is Ginny's message:

Dearest friends,

So, lots has been going on in my life lately, and I owe you a substantive update on everything that has happened in the last little while, but for now I am reaching out with an appeal for help. My partner Moses, who himself has just recently returned for a very scary experience (more on that later…we are writing a book about it), is now going through even more trauma…his 16 year old son Glen was in a car accident last Wednesday, when he was riding in a matatu (public transport) on his way to visit his school friend over the current school break.

Glen was initially taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital where he was stabilized, and then he was transferred to another (better) hospital. He suffered a head injury, a back injury, and leg and hand fractures, and was in a coma until Monday. He underwent surgery on his leg Tuesday morning, and a splint put on broken fingers on his hand. The back injury is a deep tissue injury, his back is not broken and he is not paralyzed, thank goodness. He was assessed by a neurosurgeon Tuesday evening, and while he has a bleed in his brain, thankfully it is subarachnoid (between the brain and the skull, not inside the brain) which means surgery is not necessary (and could do more harm than good). The neurosurgeon is returning to assess Glen again on Friday or Saturday and if all is progressing well (which it seems to be, phew!) he should be discharged to continue recovery at home.

We are very relieved and thankful that Glen has been receiving good medical care – hospitals in Kenya are a bit of a crap shoot, especially in remote places like where Moses/Glen’s family are from (Turkana County, in the northwest corner of Kenya, bordering Uganda, South Sudan and Ethiopia). Unfortunately, the so-called “universal health care” scheme is a sham, and despite Moses having paid his premium for this year, Glen’s hospital bill will not be covered by it. Moses has managed to raise and pay 62,000/- Kenyan Shillings (approx. ~$650 CDN) so far (covering the bill for the ambulance and the first hospital, where they put a plaster on Glen’s leg that was removed by the second hospital), though KES 20,000/- of that is a loan (and he is not currently working). The remaining outstanding hospital bill – anticipating that Glen will be cleared for discharge on Friday evening, or Saturday morning – stands at KES 102,500/-, though there will be more expenses as Glen recovers at home (Moses and/or another family member will care for him at the family home, which is otherwise vacant as all the family members live and work elsewhere), and for travel including a taxi to bring Glen home from hospital and Moses’ fare to and from home (Moses also borrowed the fare to get to Turkana from Nairobi when we learned about the accident, and will need to return to Nairobi at some point, at a cost of approximately 10,000/- each way), which we therefore estimate to require another approximately KES 50,000/- , making our fundraising goal (including paying back the loans) a total of KES 170,000/- (approx. ~ $1,800 CDN).

In the spirit of ‘harambee’ – a Swahili term meaning "all pull together," signifying a Kenyan tradition (and the country’s official motto) of community support, unity and collective fundraising (ie., crowdfunding, for millennials/Gen Zs) – we are appealing for assistance for any amount that you may be able to give at this time (every cent/Shilling counts and will be so very much appreciated). Elisabeth has kindly agreed to set up a GoFundMe page to collect contributions, I will share the link as soon as its set up. This appeal is being sent far and wide to everyone we know in the hopes that we can raise enough to get Glen discharged on Friday (hospitals here will not discharge a patient until the bill is fully paid, and any additional stay gets added to the bill), and then cared for at home after that.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts, asanteni sana,

Ginny (and Moses)