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Sunday, August 22, 2010
Our more memorable patients - It's About Compassion
5:48 PM | Posted by
Our Mission
Compassion brings us to a stop, and for a moment we rise above ourselves.
- Mason Cooley
Each person on the mission team has patients, children, or just plain Kenyan friends who will always stand out in their minds. However, there were certain patients that will bring a smile to most, if not all, of us. We'd like to share the impact that these precious souls had on us.
After a long and busy first day of clinic and a late dinner (about 9:00pm) we were just beginning to settle in for the night when suddenly Dr Scott burst through the door of the house. "Kathi, we're having a delivery!" We were all pretty sure he didn't mean pizza! Sure enough Irene, a patient Ruth had seen earlier that day was in labor. We took her to an empty school room, where about 1 1/2 hours later, at 12:18am little Wendy (named after one of the team members!) arrived weighing in at about 6lb 12oz with only a candle and flashlights lighting her way! Her entry was a little bumpy and our team was grateful for Dr. Scott's expertise in clearing her airway as she took those first few breaths. Kathi had the privilege of "catching" this precious bundle of joy but the entire team assisted and prayed her into this world! We are all smiles when we think of little Wendy!
Day four of our clinic in Wachara introduced us to 1 year old Dillon and he touched our lives in a profound way. You see, Dillon was dieing of malnutrition. His flaccid little arms and legs and the life-less expression on his face made an impression in each of our hearts and minds that will never be forgotten. Even after a packet of re hydration salts (something most of us would refuse because of its strong briny taste) in 500 ml of water, his little body remained limp. At that point Dr. Scott decided to send Dillon to the hospital and the entire team began to pray that it was not too late, although we feared it was. Praise God, Dillon responded will to the therapy in the hospital and was actually discharged before the team left Nairobi for home! Thoughts of Dillon not only result in smiles, they inspire hope!
There, of course, are others: a little baby with chronic malaria, a child with a severe eye ailment, the elderly with knees swollen from arthritis with an accumulation of fluid, and a heart breaking number of people suffering from HIV infections and related illnesses. These are the dear ones whose faces will be forever imprinted on our hearts. How blessed we were to be a small part of their lives!
And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
Matthew 25: 40
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
The VBS - It's about a loving God!
Epic change moves from the inside out.
-The Perils of Ayden
The message, the Good News, that we wanted to communicate to these precious children and the families who care for them was that we have a loving God who knows them by name and has a great plan for each of their lives. We did not want to tell them about religion. No, our God desires relationship rather than religion. And this God longs to have a personal, intimate relationship with each of them.
What better way to to begin to communicate that than to tell them they are princes and princesses in God's eyes! And God tells us that in Romans 8:17. “If we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.” Due to the generosity of a local Burger King (not a commercial, just the facts!) we were able to illustrate this by giving each child a crown to decorate. Many of the children proudly wore their crowns the rest of the week!
On the second day we shared that we have all sinned, and because God is perfect He cannot have sin in His presence. But He so longs for fellowship with us that He provided a way for us to be reconciled with Him forever through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us this is true in Romans 6:23. "The gift of God is eternal life in Jesus." To help the children remember this important Truth they made multi-colored bracelets. Each color represents a different aspect of this life-changing Message.
The third day brought the invitation God gives us to talk with Him each day. Because of what Christ did for us on the cross God has given us permission to come boldly to the Throne of Grace. (Hebrews 4:16) The children made mosaic crosses to represent this new freedom and privilege. The children learned that “Christ died…to bring you to God.” 1 Peter 3:8
Our desire was to teach the children that we have a God who longs to have a relationship with His "kids." And in the process we built relationships with these little ones that will last a life time and beyond!
Monday, August 9, 2010
Clinic day 2 - It's about the people!
Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted.
-Albert Einstein
The clinic started seeing adults and the VBS began in the afternoon of our first day but day 2 saw our first 9am to 6pm full day of both ministries. On the clinic side of the ministry we were confronted with many of the same health in the adults as we saw with the children: malaria, malnutrition, worms, and pneumonia. But we also saw many who suffered with musculo-sketetal ailments stemming from the tremendously hard work the people of Wachara must do just to stay alive. Dr. Bob kept quite busy draining knees of fluid that had accumulated from years of abuse. And our large stock of anti-imflamatory drugs began to look...well, not so large! One of the elderly mamas who was detemined to be seen by the American doctors actually hired a motorcycle to get to the clinic. Although the more incredible facet of that is, this is not an uncommon practice in their "neck of the woods!"
And of course there were the women's health issues that were addressed by Ruth and Kathi. We had the extreme joy of being able to give out the first of many Birthing Kits this day. In fact, a couple of times Ruth first "diagnosed" the pregnancy, informed the patient that she was a mother-to-be, and then promptly presented her with the Birthing Kit. This was a "full service," not to mention head-spinning clinic!It was not at all unusual for people to wait all day to be seen only to be asked to return tomorrow as the sun was setting and we had no electricity to aid us in continuing the clinic. There is little doubt that, had we the means, the patients would have waited all through the night to be treated.
In coming days I'll share about some of our more memorable patients as well as focus on the fun stuff the children had prepared for them in the VBS. The best is yet to come!
Freely you have received, freely give. Matthew 10:8b
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Clinic day 1 - it's about the children!
If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children.
-Mohandas Gandhi
Our number one priority for the medical camp was that the children of the Wachara orphanage and school would receive the medical attention that they so needed
.
That required that we rise at the crack of dawn to leave time for our Kenyan breakfast which mostly consisted of hard boiled eggs, dry wheat biscuits moistened with packaged and heated milk, bread with peanut butter, freshly made square donuts, and of course Kenyan tea.
Next, we put the "finishing touches" on the physical set up of the clinic. We had to create a "pharmacy," exams rooms for each of the practitioners, a place for people to wait outside the church, a registration/triage area in the church, space for our patients to wait to be seen after registering, and a "staging area" at the front of the church for supplies and where many of us spent hours counting pills into small unit doses to save our trusty "pharmacists" some much needed time. It was a particular blessing to watch the very children we were preparing to see help us in setting the clinic up!
Finally the medical camp began! In spite of the heat, the children waited patiently to first be registered and then to be seen. In about 4 hours time we saw and treated about 150 children. We treated malaria, pneumonia, malnutrition, and worms along with many of the more "normal" childhood illnesses like ear infections, upper respiratory infections, and various bumps and bruises. While we were there we even had an outbreak of mumps.
But the young man we all will remember the most from that first day and continue to pray for had a simple infection on his thigh that had been untreated for so long that the infection worked its way into his bone. His little thigh had ballooned to about 3 times its normal size and he was quite ill. He was sent to the hospital and it is our prayer that by this time he has had surgery on the leg without need for amputation. Please join us in praying for this brave little guy.
After lunch the VBS was all set up and it was time to have some serious fun with the children! The children's ministry team members planned and executed a VBS that was outrageous! On average the children's activities filled the better part of 10 hours each day! Amazingly the team members who worked with the childrenm wanted more when our time in Wachara was done! Their energy and obvious love for the children was a blessing and a wonder. And of course, they children loved them right back!
Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
Matthew 19: 14
Monday, August 2, 2010
Arriving in Kenya
There are only two ways to live your life. One is as if nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is.
-Albert Einstein
We arrived at the Methodist Guest House in Nairobi late Saturday night. I think most of us got to sleep around 1:00am but were up by 5:30 with breakfast at 6:00 and departure for Wachara at 7:00!
As the bus took off we were all wide-eyed, taking in all the sights, sounds, and smells of our new home for the next 2 weeks. At least for the first half of the ride we soaked in all of Kenya that we could.
Our first stop was a look-out point over the Great Rift Valley. What a beautiful site! The Rift Valley goes much further than the eye can see and is a very real reminder of the greatness of our Creator. What a wonderful and wondrous way to start our adventure! 
The hours went on and eyes began to close as the length of our travel from Newark started to take its toll on our bodies. And then the announcement came: "Sammy (our accomplished driver) says that we might see some wild animals in this area!" No more sleepy eyes now! And sure enough we soon spotted zebras about 100 yards off the road. Imagine riding down one of America's large highways and coming across zebras! Sammy even pulled to the side of the road so we could get pictures.
Next came the beautiful tea fields. For miles and miles we were surrounded by lush green fields of ripe tea leaves. And for miles and miles there were Kenyans working out in those fields harvesting the tea. I do believe that now we all have a greater appreciation for the work that goes into making the tea that many of us enjoy at the beginning of each day.
Shortly after the tea fields we stopped for lunch: grilled chicken with cooked spinach and fries. Hmmm, maybe Kenyan food won't be as challenging as we thought! However, the facilities gave us our first "taste" of the challenge of Kenyan restrooms! But alas, we must quickly move on - Wachara is waiting!
We knew that we were getting closer when the nicely paved roads became increasingly more narrow and increasingly more...well, dirt. We began to dodge the rather impressive (if you happen to like craters) holes that peppered the path in front of us. And just when we began to question the ability of our bus to make it on this challenging...ummm..."road," we stopped. To our left was a church and in front of it were about 100 beautiful, uniform clad, brightly smiling children. Approximately 32 hours after leaving the United States we arrived in Wachara, Kenya! As we listened to the musical welcome we received from these precious little ones, any thoughts of the long, bumpy ride were gone. After months of preparation and prayer we had arrived - the adventure had begun!
Father to the fatherless, defender of widows—this is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy. Psalm 68: 5-6a
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