Tuesday, May 22, 2012

AND WE'RE OFF.....

Like a herd of turtles! This was a common phrase in my house growing up and I think adequately describes my progress with the LIMBS Knee evaluation.

Last week, I went to Kisumu to oversee the final fitting of the three patients evaluating the LIMBS knee there. This is the first location to complete the fitting. I traveled with another young lady, Faith, who acted as my translator and companion as needed. It took over 8 hours to travel through western Kenya and reach Kisumu. Because of the length of the trip, we traveled on Tuesday, worked on Wednesday, and traveled back on Thursday. It was wonderful to be near the water again. Both nights I ate fresh tilapia for dinner! Yum!

I spent all day Wednesday at Nyanza Provincial General Hospital interviewing the patients, overseeing their gait training (learning to walk with the new leg), and supervising the filling out of forms. Overall, it was a busy day, but also, a productive one. The only downside to the whole trip was that one of the hired cleaning staff went into the Head of Department's (HOD) office and got into my stuff and stole all the cash and receipts in my wallet. I lost over $170 US. It could have been worse, he did not take my ATM card or my Alien ID card. I had been assured beforehand that my stuff would be safe in the office, but sadly it was not. the HOD and I have an idea of who may have stolen it. There is a man who comes with the cleaning crew and then sits outside of the offices and watches TV all day. He had the opportunity and motive. PLEASE pray for this situation! 
1. For the person who stole the money. Pray that he would repent of his crime and return the money if possible.
2. For me, having someone go through my stuff when it was supposedly in a safe place mad me feel violated. Also, since the person stole my receipt for where I was staying that night, I felt very wary about staying in the room. It is scary to know that some thief out there knows where you are staying!

Although it was a lot of money stolen, I know God is in control. He will provide for my needs!

On a lighter note, Kijabe is finally getting some rain. (OK, a lot of rain) Everything is turning green. Church and AWANA are going well and I am enjoying the time I spend with me neighbors.

I am at 20% of my support for September. Please pray that God would provide the other 80%.

My parents are coming over to visit in less than a month. I am so excited! This will be the first time my Dad has been in Africa! I have scheduled everything out for their time with me. I can't wait to show them around Kijabe and introduce them to my neighbors and friends.

Also, my home church in NC is sending a team to Kenya at the end of June to lead some children's programs and I have asked to be part of the team! GOD IS GOOD! The place were the team is staying is outside my budget range and God has provided a way for me to stay with them anyway! GOD IS GOOD! Therefore, I will join the team in their work. The place we are staying will have internet so I can keep up with my work while also serving with the team!

God has also given me the opportunity to serve spiritually. Beth, a Kenyan highschool freshman, accepted the LORD a few weeks ago at a youth camp. She has asked me to disciple her and teach her more about the Bible. I feel so inadequate!  I have studied the Bible almost all my life, but how do I teach it to a 15 year-old girl who knows almost nothing about the Bible? I know God will work through me and that God will show me what to say and how to say it. I'm just nervous! I have mentored young ladies before, but they were in juvenile prison and could not see the mistakes I made in daily life. Beth can. She knows where I live and where I work. My life is a living example for her and I am FAR from perfect in my walk. I get grumpy and moody. I forget to have quiet times. Sometimes I lose my temper. I feel unworthy! Please pray for me and that God would use me even through my faults! Please pray for Beth and that her faith would grow. 

Thank you!

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Meet my friends!

Ok, so I have written my support letter and sent it to the people on my email list and publish a version on FB. If you would like a copy let me know!

Unfortunately, in trying to shorten the length of my letter to 1 page, I had to cut out most of the personal interest stories. Therefore, I decided to post them here.


Over the last several months, I have met many others:
Daisy is a mother of two. She lost her leg during the post-election violence in 2007 and was abandoned by her husband.



















Timothy is a young man whose leg turned black and decayed for unknown reasons when he was 7 years old.



















Risa had an epileptic attack at fell into the cooking fire when he was 14. His left leg (non-prosthetic leg) is fused at the knee.
Cornelius lost his leg in a vehicle accident near Christmas last year. 

Lillian walking with her new leg
 

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Two praises and a Prayer

My last update had some pretty serious prayer requests. I wanted to update you on how God is working in these situations. First, Mary's Father is being discharged from the hospital! However, the hospital bill is over $1,500! For a family whose income has been $50-$100 a month, this bill is HUGE! Also, the hospital will not allow him to go home until the bill is paid. His entire body is still very weak and he has paralysis in his left arm and leg, so he will be confined to a wheelchair for now. PLEASE PRAY that the father, David, will return to full health so he can adequately care for his family. My second praise is more important and exciting than the first! David accepted CHRIST as his PERSONAL SAVIOR! Praise the Lord! Mary called me and asked me to come visit her father in the hospital. When I got there, the family was gathered around the bed with a doctor and two church elders. I was able to witness David turning his life over to the Lord! Mary thought I should be there as part of the family and I felt very honored to be invited!

I would also appreciate it if you could PRAY for Mary. She has epilepsy and had 3 seizures on Monday night. She bit her lip to such an extent that she had to go to the hospital for treatment. I think, though I am not a medical person, that the stress of having her father in the hospital with a debilitating injury, the financial strain it has put on the family, and the stress of caring for her mother, brother, sisters, and daughters alone, are contributing to the frequency of these attacks. She has been having seizures more and more frequently since her father was injured. When I saw her last Saturday, her lip was already pretty cut up and she told me she had had a couple of seizures that week.

PLEASE keep this entire family in your prayers! Mary lives with her two daughters in a single rented room and one bed, which means every time she has a seizure her children have to witness their mother go through it. Also, while David is stable now, he has a long road ahead of him towards recovery. None but God knows if he will ever be able to walk again!

Thank you!

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

What a Friend we have in Jesus!

What can I say? Updating is hard sometimes! So much happens asnd yet when I sit down to write an update, I get writer's block.

The last few weeks have been tough. I am getting frustrated really easily, tasks are not progressing like they should, I keep forgetting things, or becoming overwhelmed by them. I am not exactly sure what is going on. At one point, I thought it was exhaustion. Then, I thought it must be hormones. Maybe, it's the second stage of culture shock. I don't know now! Your prayers are definitely appreciated!

It's not all difficult though! I have had some great times too! I got to return to the Nairobi Safari walk with some friends and this time I paid the resident rate! Some of the animals were easier to see this time and I got to see the cheetah really up close. Also, I travelled to Matuu (about 4 hours away) to visit a man, Peter, wearing the LIMBS knee and meet his family. He has the cutest 2 year old little boy and the sweetest wife. In order to reach his house from the matatu stage I had to take my first piki piki (motorbike)  ride. I spent the night with them since I could not get back to Kijabe before dark. I really enjoyed spending time with them!

I am learning my way around Nairobi so I can travel there alone from Kijabe when I need groceries or need to run an errand. I only travel during daylight hours for two safety reasons. First, it is unsafe for a single woman to travel alone at night. Second, the roads are not well lit and the road down the hill to Kijabe from the main road is treacherous even in the daytime.

The rainy season has finally come, bringing with it colder weather. I am soooooooooo thankful for the down comforter I received at Christmas. I have no heat in my house and minimal insulation. You can call me a wimp but I like to stay warm at night. Therefore, I sleep under a sheet, 2 wool blankets, a spread/bedcover, and my down comforter. The boots I received at Christmas have also come into regular use in this weather. It rains almost everyday and therefore, there is a lot of water and mud on the ground. The rubber toes and soles that rise over an inch up the side of the boots prevent my feet from getting wet and muddy. Due to the amount of rain, there is a lot of moisture in the air. As a result, my laundry and washed shoes don't dry and even some of my dry clothes have become damp!

While the rain is VERY MUCH needed, the massive deforestation around Kijabe has caused flooding in the valley below. A matatu  (public transportation vehicle) was swept away by flooding, killing at least 6 people. Also, one of my co-workers (Francis) lost a sister-in-law last weekend when she was swept away by the water. PLEASE PRAY for this family as they also lost a brother in law to illness last weekend as well. The burials are happening the end of this week.

I am not the only one who has been struggling this last week. The AIC-Cure Children's Hospital (Abbreviated Cure) staff have had a hard week as well. Two Saturdays ago, one of the staff members at Cure lost 6 family members (2 sisters and their children, and a niece and her child) in a tragic vehicle collision where the matatu they were ridning in was hit by an oncoming 18-wheeler truck. Out of the 18 people riding in the matatu, only 3 survived. The Cure staff are like family, so they also mourned for this man's loss. To make things even worse, the administration decided to lay-off a bunch of staff members on Friday, including one from the department where I am stationed. He will be sorely missed! He was also the main person who made the locally produced LIMBS knee. His loss really cripples the LIMBS International program here in Kenya. Plus, he was easy to get along with, took correction well, and didn't mind my constant curious questions. The staff had been told a little over a week ago that the hospital was losing money. Upon hearing this, I began re-evaluating what the Orthopedic Department (where I am stationed)was charging patients for appliances. I found out that the department was making a large loss on every orthotic appliance they made. Since teh department has become like family to me, I offered to update the price list to reflect the increases in material cost and labor. Anyone who knows me knows I enjoy solving puzzles and working with numbers. Some of the appliances have gone up in price as much as 700%, others only a little. The important thing is that the hospital is not losing money on account of the orthopedic department! I presented the new list to the powers that be and after a few minor adjustments, it was approved. The new list officially went into effect yesterday (May 1st), though May 1st is a national holiday and the department was closed so the prices come into effect today.

My computer is broken again and this time things was no quick fix. It was working last Wednesday when I left work, but by the time I reached home, it wouldn't even turn on. Now, I have been told that it will take at least until next week for the IT department to find out what is wrong with it. Being without a computer is tough, partly because so much of my work is on the computer and internet and partly because the internet (and therefore the computer) is my main connection to family and friends! PLEASE PRAY the computer will start working again soon!!!!!!!!!!

Also, PLEASE PRAY for my house helper/friend's family. Their father (and sole wage earner for the family) had a bad accident on Saturday and had to be rushed to the hospital in Nairobi for assessment. He is now in the ICU at Kijabe Hospital (right next to Cure). He went to surgery yesterday, but remains in critical condition. When he is working, the father earns a meager salary as a gate guard for one of the high schools in Kijabe. When he is not working, there is no income! The family already has a huge debt (over $200) to pay for his treatment already and it doesn't look like he will be getting out of the hospital soon.

I am still working on writing my support letter for the coming year. As I mentioned in a previous update, I have been offered an extension for another year if I can raise the funds. However, just like I mentioned with the updates, as soon as I sit down to write and work on the letter, I get writer's block and can't think of how to start or what to put in it. PLEASE PRAY that I will be able to compose the letter soon and that I would receive adaquate financial support to stay here in Kenya.

Also, if you wouldn't mind, I would love to hear or get an email from you! Even if it is just to say that you are thinking of me or praying for me! These notes mean a lot to me! Case in point: The RVA student came up to me two weeks ago and gave me a small folded up piece of paper. After I unfolded it and began to read, tears came to my eyes. As you already know, I am part of the praise team during the english church service on Sundays. I had been getting discouraged about whether I should really continue to be part of it since their are so many other ladies in it already. Well, this young lady wrote me a note to encourage me to keep it up and telling me how much she liked my voice. She included several verses that i really needed to hear at that time. We had never met before, but she felt called to write me a very sweet, long, two-sided note to encourage me. I cried.

Praises
  • I have friends and family that care about me. (even sometimes strangers!)
  • I am healthy
  • I just found out my parents are coming to visit me next month! PTL!!!!!
  • Praise God for RAIN!

Prayer Requests:
  • Pray for Francis' Family as they bury 2 loved ones.
  • Pray for more rain, but also safety for those in areas of flooding
  • Pray for the CURE Staff and the hospital as they try to stop losing money
  • Pray that my computer would come back to life.
  • Pray for my friend's family and especially the father.
  • Pray for my assessment. Things are not going according to schedule.
  • Pray for my attitude and emotions
  • Please pray for wisdom about staying a second year. Pray that I will be able to raise the support for a second year. Also, my US insurance runs out this year so I also have to consider how to handle this. 
           I would love to stay. My work here is so fulfilling and I can see Christ working.
  • Please pray for relationships. 
  • Please pray for the coming elections in Kenya. This will be the first presidential election since 2007 when there was so much post-election violence. Pray for peace!
  • I have been getting lonely. Please pray for friends, emails from supporters, etc!

Thank you for your prayers and support!!