Londiani Feeding Station and Chesyliot Clinic Day

We started today very early, departing the hotel with the rising sun to get to Londiani in time for a very long day.  My goal was to try to finish both feeding stations at Londiani and Chesyliot today, so that we could have an easy travel day Wednesday.  I knew it would be a stretch but based on what I saw yesterday, I was confident we could do it.

When we arrived, Dr. Cochran got right to work on three orphans from Londiani that he had seen yesterday who needed to have procedures done.  One had an abscess/parasite in a wound on her ankle, another had warts on his face, and the third had an ingrown fingernail.  He was able to successfully operate on all three as the rest of the team ramped up the clinic.

Anington, Susie and I took the vehicles over to Chesyliot to pick up those kids.  Its about 3 miles from Londiani, easy walking distance for Kenyan kids, but we wanted to treat the kids to a vehicle ride, something they seldom get to do.  We piled about 20 n each van and drove back to the orphanage.  As soon as we started rolling, the kids in our van began singing.  “Mrs. Susie, do you know we love you? Sure! We welcome you to our feeding station!”  Susie lost it.  So did I.  If you can’t feel like you are doing the Lord’s work while driving twenty singing orphans to a medical clinic, then you cant feel anything.

The clinic really got rolling then, taking on life like a living thing.  We were teaching, treating, and loving on orphans at warp speed!  When we lookd up, it was lunchtime and only 30 orphans remained to be seen.  We completed those by 2:30, leaving time for treating some of the support staff and their wives and kids.  Several difficult extractions were performed by our dentists, Brad and Bob Sears, including one on our nurse from the Muhoroni Orphanage, Bibiana.  She had a molar taken out and jumped right up to start helping more kids.  Can you say MVP?

As we wound down, Susie and I loaded up the van to take the Chesyliot kids back home.  The singing, crying, and great feelings returned again.  There is something about these kinds of trips, where you can do real, effective, life improving work for those who can do absolutely nothing for you that is just beyond words.  This is how God intended for us to find our true joy in Him.  Serving in His name, bringing glory and honor to him, helping the lost and suffering, this is what we were made to do.

We packed, loaded, said our goodbyes and rolled for Nakuru about 5pm, finishing over 140 patients in 9 hours and earning ourselves an easy day tomorrow.  After dinner, we surprised Ruth Sears, whose 60^th birthday is tomorrow, with a cake and party favors bought at the local Niavas store.  She was (briefly) speechless with joy.  She has been such an important part of organizing many aspects of these mission trips.  I don’t know what we would have done without her.  Another example of God sending just who you need, when you need them.

Tomorrow we will spend a few hours in the Nakuru Game Park, before driving up to Eldoret.  There we will stay the night, preparing for the two day overnight visit to our Feeding Stations amoung the Pokot tribe, Kinyach and Kimnai.  Check out pics from today on Facebook at http:\\www.facebook.com/kwoministries.

Getting Out There and First Clinic Day

What an eventful couple of days!  On Sunday, when I left off writing, Dr Cochran was removing a benign tumor from a MITS student’s shoulder.  I’m happy to report the boy survived!  Seriously, the surgery went well, though they were not able to get all of the tumor, so the boy will keep his appointment with a Nairobi doctor to finish the job.  He was very grateful for their work, and was happy that at least it was reduced in size.

When that work was done, we loaded up our two Land Cruisers and set out for Nakuru, a city in central Kenya that will serve as our base of operations for the next few days.  The trip was easy, though longer than we wanted and it was past dark when we rolled into the Kunste Hotel parking.

This morning, we set out for Londiani Orphanage.  This site was one of the first ones I visited on my very first trip to Kenya in 2008.  John DeFore was coming to negotiate the land deal and agreement with the church here to build what was then our seventh orphanage on this beautiful site.  While we were touring the land on that day, I snapped a picture of kids standing on a ridgeline.  These were the orphans that would later call this place home.  The picture was so memorable that we made it our logo.  You can see the original picture on the KWO facebook page and as an outline on our logo wherever it appears.

We were greeted by singing orphans and widows, just like I have grown accustomed to.  I never tire of watching the new visitors seeing grateful orphans for the first time.  The smiles on all the faces are as genuine as you could hope for.  The orphans are so happy to have visitors from America and the Americans are so happy for the warm reception.  As Ryan and Cherie entertained the kids, the rest of us pitched in and got the clinic set up.  Our good friend Bibiana, who is the nurse at Muhoroni Orphanage was there already and had all the furnishings in place and ready for us.  What a time saver!

Serving the kids went about as smoothly as could be expected for a first day.  Each child was given lessons in tooth brushing, flossing, and hand washing, as well as a vision check, fluoride treatment, medical and dental examination and a visit to our own pharmacy.  We were able to see 79 people in only 5 hours.  After we got back to the Kunste he had a short meeting to recap the day and brainstorm solutions to some people floe challenges we had.  I’m really impressed by the positive attitude of all of our team.

Tomorrow we will be treating the kids from the Chesyliot Feeding Station and possibly some Londiani Feeding Station kids as well.  We will get an early start, leaving the hotel at 6:30 to give us the best chance for a light day on Wednesday, when we must travel to Eldoret in the afternoon to be ready for the great Pokot adventure.  Thanks for reading, and be sure and check out the pictures on our Facebook page here.

Travel and First Day

Our flights through Dallas, London and Nairobi were mostly uneventful.  Everything was on time and there were no mechanical problems.  The only issue we had was kind of bizarre.  Doug Cochran, our physician on this trip was reclined and sleeping in his seat on the London to Nairobi flight, when he was woken by the passenger sitting right behind him.  Apparently the woman was perturbed at his reclining and decided to encourage Doug to move his seat up.  She did it, however, by hitting him very hard on the top of his head and then kicking the seat back with such force that he hit his face on the seat in front of him!  Needless to say, he woke up.

After advising the flight attendant, he expected them to alert the air marshal and have the woman restrained, or something of that nature.  Instead, the flight attendant said to the woman, " Now, that' not nice.  We don't hit people."  Apparently there are no air marshals on that flight.  Doug was reseated and the woman made no further problem.  I've never had that happen before.

At Kamulu, where Francis and Mauryn Mbuvi live, we enjoyed a short night of rest and then went to church with them this morning.  After church, Francis brought a young man to us who is at Made In The Streets, his mission to the street children of the Nairobi slums.  This boy has a large benign tumor on his shoulder.  When they asked Doug if he could do anything, he said, "Sure, et's take it out.  So we are delaying our drive to Nakuru a couple of hours while he operates.  Even as I am writing this, Dr. Cochran is removing the tumor in the upper bedroom of the Mbuvis house.  I am always amazed at how God will use His people to do His good works, wherever they are as long as they are willing.

Later we will drive on to Nakuru to stay at the Kunste before we start clinic (officially) at Londiani tomorrow.  I'll write more later.

Final thoughts

I am sitting in the Nairobi airport waiting to go home, just as I have done 10 times before. This time however, my frequent flyer status has scored us some lounge passes for British Airways. I could get used to this. For starters, the place is air conditioned, unlike the rest of the terminal. It's like a foreshadowing of home, while still here in a foreign land. That would preach, wouldn't it?

That's exactly what we experienced this morning. After breakfast at the Kunste, we rolled out for Kikitemo Feeding Station to see their progress and to visit Grace, my favorite disciple of Jesus. The joy that we always feel with these people is still there, even in their new location. They are just so happy, despite what they have been through. They have first-hand knowledge of how their God can save them from death and pain.

When we met with them in their new dining hall, Grace stood up and said a few words. She told the story of how in the begining, they would look toward the road nearby, certain that their salvation would arrive from the government in Nairobi. Later,when they placed their faith in God to save them, he delivered their salvation from the air, meaning us. She has pledged to serve these people untile she dies. I believe that they are in good hands.

This medical team has been fortunate to see what it feels like to be a part of Gods plan of receipts for this world, and they will forever be changed. Serving others is a great feeling, but serving in the name of Christ is what we were made for.

Thanks for following our adventures is past two weeks. It's been a real privilege to be here.


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Travel Day with a Twist!

The team did so well this week.  We were able to see almost 400 people in three days!  It was an amazing display of Christ’s love poured out through the hands and feet of these great people.  Our Kenyan partners were spectacular as well, chipping in everywhere they could and loving all the kids they saw.

This morning we were able to pack, load and depart the training center before 9:30.  We drove into Kericho, seeing some of the spectacular landscapes that we missed on our dark drive in on Sunday.  Passing through Kericho we met up with Francis Chepkwony, our WBS worker and Feeding Station Director for this area, who had arranged a tour of a local tea factory for us.  Everyone was very excited for this surprise as we drove about 5km down a bad road to the Toror (“higher” in Swahili) Tea Factory.

See the pics at our facebook page, www.facebook.com/kwoministries

Toror is a plant of the Kenya Tea Development Association, a cooperative for small tea farmers in Kenya.  They produce tea for other companies who blend it into finished tea products.  They are different from the multinational corporations in that they are owned by the small farmers.  One of these farmers is on the board of directors for KTDA and also a member of Francis Chepkwony’s church.  That’s how we were able to get this invitation.

The Assistant Production Manager for Toror, who put us in lab coats and hats and handed us off to two supervisors, greeted us.  The supervisors walked us around the plant, showing us how tea leaves went through the various processes to make them ready for use in tea blends.  First they are received, with weights verified from the pickup records. Then they go through a process called wilting, which standardizes their moisture content.  Then the leaves are cut down to a small size, fermented, and dried.  The result is graded by size and shipped off to auction at Mombassa.  They also are sold at the gate of the factory at a greatly reduced price.  We were able to buy some very high grade tea there to take home.

It was a very cool side trip, with no cost and a small time investment.  The team was very grateful; as this is something you would never get to see without some connections.  I really enjoyed it as well, and will always be grateful to Chepkwony for setting it up.  When we had finished, we set out on the long, bad road to Nakuru.

About 25km out from Nakuru, we encountered a new diversion.  We are still not sure why it was there, but they had rerouted all traffic from the highway to a small feeder road and onto a different highway that entered town from the North.  It added almost an hour to our journey, but we made it just fine.  After a brief stop at the Nakumat, we loaded up for the Kunste Hotel.

Now, after a nice dinner and a hot shower, the first one in a while, I feel a lot better.   Tomorrow, we are stopping briefly at the Kikitemo IDP camp and then into Nairobi for shopping and our late night departure for home.  I’ll write some final recollections from the airport, as I always do.  Be blessed.

Clinic Day Three

This morning, we awoke to a changed world.  The rains last night left everything muddy and wet.  We even had a little visit from some mud in the back door of the guest house.  A little problem with the drainage that was easily corrected, but itbrought some drama.  In that kind of downpour, under a metal roof, it was a little scary.  It reminds me of how fragile we really are.  We were never in any danger, but the noise alone can bring apprehension.

 

My apprehension was of a different sort.  Yesterday I promised the widows at Lee McGraw I would come get them in the vehicle for clinic.  I've driven a lot of miles, but not many in mud.  I asked Thomas and Joseph if they thought the road would be ok to travel and they both said yes.  I took Lucas, a local pastor, with me and weset out down the road.  It was slippery for sure, but not as bad as I feared.  There were a couple of spots that were tricky but we made it.

 

The widows and smaller orphans had come up the road past the break to meet us.  When I saw that there were over 25 kids, plus the widows, I locked the wheel hubs and put the vehicle into four-wheel-drive.  We were rolling heavy as we traversed the muddy road, but the Land Cruiser was up to the task.  Breathing easier, we rolled into the Training Center compound to the cheers of the kids.

 

The team had made some changes to the flow of things for this last, heavy day and it was really paying off.  They were able to see 101 kids before a late lunch and then knocked out another 70 this afternoon.  There were some difficult dental extractions, and the sad case of a grandmother, probably 70 years old, trying to care for a baby who was just orphaned by her AIDS infected mother.   We were able to wrap up by 6:30 and begin theinventories and packing we needed to do.

 

Tomorrow we will begin the trip home with the long drive to Nakuru.  We will be able to break it up a little with a possible tour of a tea factory, arranged by our WBS worker inKericho, Francis Chepkwony.  I hope he is able to make it happen, I have never been to a tea factory.  More tomorrow…

 

 

Clinic Day Two

This morning started with an announcement that no one wanted to hear, the water tank is empty.  Seems there was some problem with the pipe that was supposed to be keeping the tank full, so we had to make some adjustments.  Kenyans rapidly brought water from across the compound to fill the tanks, the plumber was dispatched to buy parts, and the local water department guy, a church member, was asked to bring water in his pickup to get the tank up and running.  It was a minor inconvenience, but it reminded me of how many different things it takes to keep Americans satisfied. 

These team members have been real troopers, with very few complaints.  They take the surprises in stride and keep on serving, but Kenyan orphans require a lot less to keep them going.  Running water is not common in this part of Kenya, neither is power or indoor plumbing.  Our place here has them all, even if we are lacking a power company connection.  The new generator has been great at lighting and even making coffee, but it balked at the 5400 watt instant hot water heaters that are used here.  As a result, showers are cold and quick.

Breakfast was bread and butter, with hot chocolate and bananas, and our team eagerly consumed it while preparing for our 9am clinic start.  We had fewer kids to see today, and all the bugs had been worked out of the system.  Kids from Lee McGraw started their walk early, and arrived just as we began clinic.  Everything ran very smoothly.  So much so, in fact that Todd, Susie, and I were able to take a few hours today to walk up to Lee McGraw Orphanage.  

See pics on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/kwominstries

The road was recently damaged by heavy rains, so a vehicle cannot pass.  Three Kenyans accompanied us on the journey.  Dan, the manager at Lee McGraw, Victor, a WBS name-getter, and Washington, a local church member.  Along the 5km long, very hilly road, we took a side trip over to see the Sondu River up close.  It is moving very fast and the sound was awesome.  We were able to reach the orphanage in just over an hour and toured the place with our Kenyan friends and the widows.  The place looks good, but as an experienced overseer I caught a few things for them to correct!

On the way back we found several Kiosks had popped up, no doubt alerted to the presence of mzungu by our earlier passing, and we wereable to buy fresh avocados, bananas, mandazi, and even a stick of sugar cane for Todd.  We also were able to meet a former preacher from the area who had lost his sight.  We met him a few years ago and it was good to see him again.  He has a beautiful, sharp mind but his disability in a place with no "accessability" provisions makes it impossible for him to do the work of spreading the gospel the way he once did.

It was a very interesting, though tiring walk.  I love getting out and moving at a slower pace around these places when I can, it helps to understand the context that they live in.  When we retuned the team was at lunch and we shared our produce bounty with them and enjoy our meal as well. 

The rest of the day went very well. With our Kenyan nurses fully trained, the team hit high gear. We were able to see 125 kids in about 10 hours.  Good thing since tomorrow we will have over 140!  As we finished up, the rains came.  It rained for several hours and then off and on all night.  Being from Midland, it's hard to pray for the rain to end, but since I have to drive the road I justwalked in the mud, I really want it to stop.

Thomas surprised the team tonight with several large jugs of hot water, heated in the kitchen.  We were able to take warm sponge baths for the first time since we arrived.  That was really awesome.  Thomas is still adjusting to being a hotelier.  I'm sure he thinks orphans are easier, too.