Sunday

Leaving to return to Tenwek. A few last pictures.

Maasai village

We had coffee, tea (Mia) and hot chocolate (Ellie, but Ken took some too!!) this morning and headed out for a short safari. Beautiful sunrise, but not a lot of animal action. The water buffalo picture is from yesterday. He was the old man of the herd.

We returned, had a huge breakfast and went to the Maasai village. Our guide was a neat young man. He is the son of the chief who has 7 wives, 18 sons and 16 daughters. The guide is 17 and his dad is 82! He is a senior in high school (the only one of the 34 who has attended high school) and pays for his school by selling cows, doing carvings and doing the tours between sessions. I am glad we went, but it did overwhelm all of us due to the villagers circling Shelley and the girls and dancing and singing. For those of you who know Mia, situations like that stress her and she almost squeezed Shelley in half!

Wow!

Just spent three hours in the most incredible place!

Maasai Mara

We got up this morning and I went up to hospital for our Friday devotions (2 Peter 1:3-8). While there I rounded on a few patients admitted last night.

We left for our weekend at the game park at 9:30. The last 45 kilometers were over an incredibly bumpy, partly flooded road. Our driver did a great job, even getting out to see how deep the water was at one point. On the drive we saw implalas, wilderbeasts, and zebras. Before lunch, we visited the hippo pool. In 45 mins, we leave on a jeep safari. We are staying in a "tent". More pictures later!

Thursday morning in Bomet

Yeah for sunshine in Florida!  Several people have told us about the sign at San Jose Baptist Church that says, "If you have been praying for rain, you can stop now."  We have been reading about all of the rain and have been worried.  We have also been seeing pictures and reading about the fires in Colorado Springs...tragic.  We are praying for Colorado and hope that they get needed rain.

I think that morning time in Kenya is my favorite.  We have no heat or air conditioning in our house so we can hear what is going on outside.  In the morning I hear the birds chirping and quacking.  I hear the rooster going on and on.  I hear the cows in the field in the front of our house and beside our house mooing.  Occasionally I hear Nala, the german shepherd a few doors up the hill from us, barking at something.  I catch myself staying snuggled in bed just so I can listen to the beautiful sounds.

I woke up quite early this morning.  Until today Ken has gotten up and headed out to the hospital before I have wakened up...yeah!  Ken and I sat and enjoyed a pot of coffee together.  He headed to the hospital and I started working on washing the few white articles of clothing that we brought.  I have to use rain water to wash the whites so I have been procrastinating.  Ken got one pot of rain water for me before he went to work.  I went back and forth and got two more.  Finally I took everything downstairs and rinsed it out in the rain water.  Now it is hanging on the line.  I now have a ban on wearing whites!  Socks get washed in the regular washing machine as they are always brown on the bottom anyway!

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Voila!

The rains seem to start between 3 and 4 in the afternoon so everything sort of stops for us then.  Yesterday Ken got stuck at the hospital because of a deluge.  I think that he is really enjoying the people that he works with and the challenge of some of the things that he is having to do.  He is going to be on call again tonight; his last call while we are here.

We leave to go on our safari on Friday morning at 9 AM.  We are going to be at Masi Mara National Preserve.  We had the option of staying in a hotel or staying in tents.  We opted for the tents.  A family from Pittsburgh who is here working will be going with us.  The brought their 13 year old daughter.  It will be nice to have another family with us.  We had the option of taking a horseback safari.  Somehow sitting or a horse around a bunch of lions or being in the midst of a bunch of zebras stampeding did not appeal to us.  We would rather not be supper or trampled.  

Dr. and Mrs. B, if you happen to be reading this, please call on us whenever you need a vacation! We are so thoroughly enjoying our time here.  Thank you!

Wednesday in Bomet County, Kenya

Corn turning yellow in the fields

Hope to have a bigger harvest

My textbooks at Tenwek
(they actually have a good library, but these are the ones I carry)

So, today I thought I'd share some of the challenges here. It is one of the most beautiful places, I've seen, but it's so important to remember that people are closer to the edge here. It was a little slow this morning so I had time to sit and chat with staff. One staff member related how he, his wife and 5 children sit down every few months to take account of their situation. They pray, read scripture and let each member talk about their accomplishments and goals. The family then takes account of what they have and what they need to live for the next few months. They then decide what they can or cannot do. I think this is a great way for a family to function, but one thing he said a couple of times hit me hard. He said their first concern is "food security".  I know there are also many people in America without food security and I pray that we all try everything we can to help people who are hungry both at home and in Africa. That leads me to another issue that is heavy on my heart. There is a blight in the corn (maize) that apparently has never been seen here before. The best that I can tell, it sounds like there was a shortage of seed and maybe some bad seed showed up with a new disease. They are trying to replant, but fear rough times and many hungry people for the next year. Pray for this as well.




Today and yesterday, I saw more patients with untreatable cancer than I see in perhaps a year at home. The patients are grateful for what we do and much more accepting of their situation than we in the States. I think many of them have strong faith, but also death is much nearer to people here and they don't seem to fear it like we do.




We should be proud of our country's support of HIV treatment in Africa. As Shelley mentioned, most people here with HIV are treated through The United States President's Emergency Fund for AIDs Relief (PEFAR).   The Kenyan government also provides outstanding drugs for TB as well, which is a blessing since almost no one could afford them otherwise.

Wednesday Orphanage Visit

Today the girls and I went to visit one of four orphanages in the area.  As my friends know I am very passionate about orphaned and abandoned children.  Children are the victims of adult decisions.  It is so sad that children have to grow up without the privilege of having a family to love the and care for them.  Orphanages are sad places.  They generally do the best that they can with what they have but the resources are so few.

I was very worried about our girls and how they would react to going back to an orphanage.  We spent quite a bit of time talking about orphanages before we went.  I told them that we were going to visit and that the three of us all would be going back to our house together and would all eat dinner with Daddy tonight.  Our children know that I work with Grace & Hope for Children and serve orphans in China.  They have seen countless pictures of my trips but when you have lived in an orphanage, going to one can be emotionally difficult.

The orphanage that we visited serves 47 children; 27 girls and 20 boys.  The children range from 18 months to 17 years old.  Four of the children have special needs.  The US President's Fund for AIDs Relief provides medications for the children who need medication.  The director was a very kind hearted, gentle man named Joseph.  I asked what his greatest challenges were and he said food and paying school fees for the older children as primary school is free.  Joseph is raising chickens and cows to try to help the orphanage feed the children.  The excess eggs will be sold to the community to help fund food.

I am so very thankful for the people here who are salt and light in the lives of the children living in orphanages.

Beautiful Tuesday

What a glorious day!

The girls and I got up, ate breakfast and headed out to explore a little.  A market was set up for all of the missionaries up the hill so we were trying to head that way to check out the fresh veggies but we got distracted talking and just enjoying the day.  Ken met us at lunchtime to go and explore a little more because typically when he finishes at the hospital the afternoon rains have already blown in and he misses his chance to really see the community.  He finished up a little early this evening and it was not raining so we headed out again.

Enjoy...

Beautiful flowers

Woman walking on the street  

The window over the chapel at Tenwek

Little guy playing while his mama sells veggies

Beans drying in the sun

Humming bird

The girls and one of the many donkeys in the area

Ken and the girls

Humming bird nest

This little fella could not have been three and was already herding the cows.

Monday...life is good

I was back in my GI comfort zone today!  The morning didn't get off to a great start. The alarm on my phone went off.  I got up, made coffee, turned on the shower and went to wake Shelley up.  She got downstairs and started pouring a cup of coffee.  I ran down to get something and realized that it was still dark outside.  I looked at my watch.  It was 4:30 AM, not 7:30 AM.  Despite the coffee, we were able to go back to sleep.  Seems the time zone on my phone changed during the night.  Not sure why, but rest assured that I will set a different alarm tonight.

Seems a normal day is conference from 8-9, endoscopy from 9-1 (with chai at 11), walk home for lunch at 1, back to endoscopy at 2 and home for dinner a little after 5.  Every patient is prayed for before every case. Those with an interest in hearing more are counciled by the staff or the chaplains. We have box of Bibles to give away in both of the common languages for any patient who would like one. 

Ken in the endoscopy lab

Shelley and the girls seem content with having a quiet couple of weeks. They went shopping today and did laundry.  Thanks to Skype they are able to keep up with friends and family at home.  They are reading a lot, taking walks and doing some summer time school work. Shelley is thoroughly enjoying not carpooling!

Basket full of groceries from the pantry

It was laundry day for everyone in our complex today

Who could complain about going to work with this view

Before we left home we heard from another family who had been to Tenwek that many of the patients needed socks.  Our church collected socks and we brought them in a r-e-a-l-l-y big duffle bag.  Today we took them to the social worker at the hospital so that they can be handed out as needed to patients.  I don't think that socks will be needed for quite a while!  Thanks Christ Church!