God is Faithful!

So much has happened during the last 2 weeks! There was thanksgiving, a wedding, travel, rain, and more.

I have finished all the documents needed to run the evaluation/testing of the LIMBS low-cost M1 Polycentric Prosthetic Knee. 5 locations have been selected to participate in the trial. Now, I just have to GET it running at these locations. Overseeing and ensuring the success and completion of this evaluation is one of the reasons I am here.

But on to more interesting things!

God has blessed me so much. The week of Thanksgiving (last week) was very busy. The internet being very unreliable as usual, Alex (the Head of the Orthopedic department at CURE-Kenya) and I decided to purchased an unlimited week of internet.   He needed to make a Skype call on Tuesday and I needed to use Skype Wednesday (or so I thought) and Thursday evenings, so getting unlimited data for the week made sense. As it turned out the meeting I thought I needed Skype for on Wednesday was cancelled because of Thanksgiving. (Duh, I know, but the thought that it was the day before Thanksgiving never even crossed my mind!) Instead, I got to talk to a friend of mine in Korea.

Since Thanksgiving is an American Holiday, it is not celebrated in Kenya. This means business as usual. However, for me, it was not business as usual. I had the opportunity to join the CURE team for my first mobile clinic experience. We had to leave by 6am to get to the clinic site in Nakuru, about 2 hours away. I overslept, but everyone was gracious and picked me up on the way out. (They pass my road on the way to the Highway) This was not just an experience trip for me though, I had business to conduct with the head Orthopedic Technologist at the hospital in Nakuru. This hospital is going to be one of the testing centers of the LIMBS knee and I needed to discuss the details with him. Meeting with the head of a department (HOD) can be a challenge, especially during a clinic day, so I helped my co-worker (a Orthopedic Technologist) from CURE in the clinic. Mostly by handing him wet Plaster of Paris bandages and recording patient details. During mobile clinics, the rehab department and the orthopedic department work together. The rehab department mostly removes and reapplies casts and the Ortho department fits orthoses and measure patients for new ones. However, when there are an overwhelming number of patients waiting for measurement, the rehab department steps in to help. It was really encouraging to see everyone works together so well!

Anyway, back to my meeting with the HOD. The meeting went well and I am hoping to get the evaluation/testing started soon. Praise the Lord!

We (the CURE team and I ) got back late (8 pm-ish) from Nakuru. Overall, it was a good trip!

Then I got to get on Skype and SEE my family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This was the highlight of my day/night! For those of you who don't know, Skype has a video feature that enables the caller and recipient to see each other. Therefore I got to "attend" Thanksgiving lunch with my Mom's side of the family (10pm my time)and "visit" after Thanksgiving Supper with my Dad's side of the family (5am my time). =)  I slept between visits. It was wonderful to actually see all my extended relatives even if i wasn't able to be there in person. My great-uncle even tried to offer me so food through the computer!

AND SINCE I WAS ALREADY AWAKE, I went Black Friday shopping online! hehe! I have never been Black Friday shopping before, but being up while normal Americans are asleep has its advantages. Amazon.com had some really great deals if you could catch them. What fun! So what if I was exhausted when I got to work, at least until I drank some coffee. (Yeah, you heard right, I drank some instant coffee diluted with chai for milk. I was wired after that!)

I took half a day off on Friday to celebrate Thanksgiving with some other American ex-pats. We had turkey, potato gunk (cubed scalloped potatoes), green beans, rolls, cornbread (made with maizemeal), and pickled mango (a substitution for cranberry sauce). Yumm!

For dessert there was cheesecake topped with Mangoes and Mango-Rhubarb crisp! Both were absolutely delicious!!

 This past Saturday I got to attend a Kenyan Catholic Wedding. It was bittersweet. On the one hand, it was an interesting experience and the bride was gorgeous! On the other hand, my friend joined the Catholic church. This saddened me because there is so much in the Catholic church that I disagree with and I thought she believed the same way. =(  Its in God's hands now!

The ceremony was long and beautiful. Most of the service was in Swahili, so I understood only a little of what was said. The preacher gave a charge to the bride, the groom, the groom's parents, and the bride's parents. The whole service was about three hours. I was one of 5 white people at the wedding. My friend, Nancy, works at Moffat Bible College which is mostly taught by foreigners (ie. white people). Therefore, I was not the only American in attendance. 

It rained off and on during the outdoor reception. We were served a full meal of traditional Kikuyu foods. Most of it was good. I'm not sure how this happened, but I got seated in an honored seat where they brought us food instead of us standing in line to get it.When the bridal party arrived, all the women went out to meet the bride and dance back to where the rest of the guests were. 

There were some speeches (in Swahili), then presentation of gifts, and finally they cut the cake.

Some of the gifts

Cutting the cake

One thing that is done differently in Kenya than in the US is how they serve the cake. In Kenya, the pieces of cake put in a baskets and the guests take one bite-sized piece of cake as the brides maids bring around the baskets. The special guests are fed their pieces by the bride and groom.

Basket that used to contain pieces of cake

Feeding the marriage counselor . I love Moses' (the groom) face!

In other news, I has been raining  here in Kijabe every day for the last week and a half! Some have said they have never seen a greener November. This has been great for the gardens and nature, however, sometimes its not so good for me! I am a klutz and therefore find every chance to fall in the mud. My shoes WERE silver/gray at some point, now they are a bronze/brown color. Also, perpetual rain means no drying clothes. My clothes had to be re-washed last Saturday because they were starting to smell of mildew. But PRAISE THE LORD! Today has been sunny, so I will have dry, clean clothes again! (OR NOT. It just started raining again!)

Also, there is a chance I may be able to come to the US for Christmas! My aunt is playing travel agent. We'll see how everything goes. 

I have really been blessed to have such a wonderful prayer and support team! Everyone of you make a difference to me!

Praises:

• I got to see my family for Thanksgiving. Praise that the internet worked here AND there. Praise that I did not break down upon seeing everyone. 
• We have rain. Kenya has been going through a severe drought, so the rain is a blessing. 
•  I found my small Bible. It had been missing. Apparently, I left it at the church during the choir competition. 
•  No more uninvited guests!
• I have a wonderful, loving family and support team (both financial and prayer)
• I have my health
• I have cooking gas

Prayer Requests:

• Please pray for Trevor. He is a 4 year-old boy in the CURE Hospital ward right now. I first met him in Nakuru during the mobile clinic. He came to have his casted leg (he had surgery at CURE November 9th)  checked out by the doctors because it was causing him pain. It turns out there was a major infection INSIDE the wound. His Mother was told to bring him to Kijabe so they could clean it out. (Pus was continually oozing out of the opening in the skin after the initial spurt upon removing the cast HE was screaming bloody murder.) According to another person at the hospital, this is not the first time this wound has been infected. Please pray that he will make a full and rapid recovery! He has been in so much pain already. 
• God's Will be done in regards to my Christmas holiday.
• The evaluation will start running smoothly and that I can (with God's help) get it running in all the clinics before December 16th. (when CURE closes and many people all over the country begin travel for the holidays)
• Nancy. That she will look into what the Catholic Church really believes and if she really believes that as well. Prayer that God's Will be done. 
• There is a natural gas (or whatever is used to cook here) shortage in Kenya. Please pray that this gets resolved quickly.  
• Please pray that my ankle heals completely.
• Good nights sleep
• Reliable internet
• Patience under pressure!