Mission Stories

Kiki Always

Marcia Raymond went into labor at 4 a.m. one morning at her home on Onoun Island. She was having serious difficulties, and c

The problem was that Kiki had few medical supplies in his tiny dispensary, not even the I.V. solution that this situation was sure to require. Having no radio to contact nearby islands, Kiki instead climbed into his small skiff and began the 40-mile trip northeast to the nearest island, called Magur.

At 2 p.m., Kiki arrived at Magur, only to learn that they had no I.V. solution either. So he got back into his boat and continued on to the next island.

Several hours later, Kiki at last obtained four bags of 5% dextrose solution from Onno Island. By this time however Kiki did not have enough fuel for the return trip. He considered giving up, but the thought that Marcia might die without his help prompted him to get back in his boat once again. Providentially, a few miles out he met a deacon from Onno going the other way, and he gave Kiki enough fuel to get home.

Finally, around 9 p.m., Kiki hit the beach at Onoun. He had braved stormy weather, towering waves and pounding rain, but he was home. Still wet from the trip, Kiki went to check on his patient. Too late. Marcia had already given birth. She was okay, but her baby had died. Or so he was told...

"I took my stethoscope and listened to his heart," Kiki said. "I heard two weak heartbeats, so I started mouth to mouth resuscitation and CPR." Kiki continued his efforts to save the baby until early morning, when the baby's heart began beating regularly.

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That was in 1989. In 1995, the Canvasback medical ship visited Onoun Island where they met Kiki for the first time. He brought out to the ship a man who had cut his hand with a machete. "Doc, doc, do you have any sutures?" he asked. Dr. Mike Van Valkenberg got out some sutures and started to sew up the wound, then stopped and asked Kiki if he would like to do the job. Kiki did a perfect job of suturing that man's hand. Leaving the boat he said, "If only I had sutures, I could do so much good!"

Kiki met the Canvasback team again when they came ashore. That’s when they learned his story, and they met Tarsisia Raymond, the baby whose life Kiki had saved. Only Tarsisia was now a healthy, happy six-year-old boy.

"Doc," Kiki said to them, "I have many children with ear infections. Can you look at them?" Kiki brought child after child and correctly told the doctors his diagnosis. "Kiki, how do you know these children have ear infections?" they asked him. "I see them pulling their ears; I see pus flowing from their ears; I smell the ears," he said. "Oh, if only I had an otoscope, I could do so much good!"

Of course, the team gave Kiki an otoscope and plenty of sutures. But those weren't the only things that Kiki needed. The team also visited his dispensary and saw the bare cupboards where medical supplies should have been to care for his people.

Later that year, Canvasback sent 17 pallets of donated medical supplies and pharmaceuticals to the outer islands of Chuuk to help Kiki and other island health assistants like him.

"Kiki Always is remarkable--one of the best health assistants we've ever worked with," Canvasback co-founder Jamie Spence said at the time. "His skill and dedication are matched only by his ingenuity in dealing with a tremendous lack of resources."

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We lost track of Kiki until May of 2003, when a Canvasback eye team served in the Chuuk Hospital. Mission co-founder Jacque Spence was working in the eye clinic when the door opened and a nurse said, "Jacque, someone would like to see you." It took her a few seconds to recognize Kiki when he walked through the door.

Kiki had motored his outboard canoe all the way from Namonuito Atoll through a big tropical storm. He had passengers in the boat and a load to taro to bring to relatives. They motored 80 miles through the storm before running out of gasoline. Thankfully, another boat came along and gave them a can of gas. But the waves were so huge that they threw the bags of taro overboard to lighten the load.

Kiki came to the hospital because he needed medicine. On his island, many people had the flu and he didn't have antibiotics or even Tylenol to give them. Kiki had heard that Canvasback was working at the hospital and he came to see Jacque. He told her that he is still using some of the medical supplies that Canvasback sent back in 1995. Then he said to her, "Oh, if only I had antibiotics and Tylenol, I could do so much good!"

Jacque continues: "Kiki told me that there is a new, unpaved coral airstrip on Namonuito. So when he asked me ‘Can you please send a team to help my people?’ you can guess what I told him. ‘Kiki, I'm sure that the Canvasback family of supporters will help us find a way.’

"The Lord is definitely calling us to these forgotten islands."

When the team departed Chuuk, Jacque left a package of medical supplies at the hospital for Kiki to take back to his island. To her surprise and delight, a month after she returned home, she received a handwritten letter from Kiki. It said, in part:

"Thanks a lot for the pack you gave to the chief nurse. As I came back home there were many people suffered from pink eye. I was thinking of you and say to myself that, ‘Oh Jacque knew that the people of Onoun will be suffered from pink eye it is the reason she put [in] a lot of these ointment.’ Praise God, he always work in you.

"I had told the people on Onoun that I met you at the hospital and those meds were from you, and they said ‘Oh, lucky are we that she always remember us and help with those med.’ They asked lots of question and thought you would not come to Chuuk. They ask if you could come on the Canvasback boat. They still remember the good work you had with us."

Note: Canvasback is now collecting medicines to send to Kiki for his island. See how you can help.

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