Best day ever PICTURES...

Here's all the meds we brought...


Here's Phanice with her Ibuprofen!


Tobias with his asthma medication. Look at that smile!


John pouring out the childrens vitamins for the families...

John, Jane, and Michael handing out vitamin bottles to the mothers of Obunga

Jane is explaining the purpose of the parasite medication and who it's for...

Michael, Erick, and I handing out the medication

Ashley and Tobias handing out parasite pills

Here is sweet Shadrack and his amazing dad. Love this sweet family!

Best day ever... Part 2

Okay. So here's the afternoon story!

We headed out to Obunga. The rain had stopped, but some of the roads were still a muddy lake. We avoided the lakes as best we could, and arrived at the point where we must walk the rest of the way. Thankfully, the walking path was dryer and the dirty ditches had not overflowed.
We met up wit Erick, Michael, and Jane at the church and began to prepare everything. Children came in - and we sent them to find their families and come back. Before long, we had a church full of mothers and families and children. I passed out the medicines to the children from Monday. Jane and Michael helped me translate the instructions to their mothers. As we passed out the medicines, another 15-20 mothers came in asking for me to see their children.

It was a bit chaotic in the church, but in a cool, God filled way. I told them to wait until the end, and I would see everyone as best I could. We passed out the medicines we already had. Jane taught the mothers how to give their children the vitamins - we passed out bottles for all the families. And then we sat everyone down in the pews of the church ... and walked down the aisles handing out parasite medications to each of them - adults and children alike. We gave out about 125 of our parasite pills.

After that, I tried to see the other ill children. The first was not a child at all - but an older woman, Pamela, brought in by her daughter. She has gone blind since January and was asking for help. I took her number down and told her I would see what could be arranged. I think she left doubting I would do anything; I'm sure she is used to empty promises or things not coming to fruition.

After I finished with Pamela, I walked outside and a man came up to me. He explained to Erick that he had a prescription for his son that he could not afford. I looked at the prescription - about to tell him we weren't going back to the chemist. But the weight caught my eye. 7 kg. Meaning 14 pounds. Little. I asked the dad how old and he told me one year. TINY for a one year old, so I knew something was wrong. I asked the dad to bring me the baby and he did. And he was right; Rincon was a sick little baby. Skinny and dehyrdated and feeling pretty crummy by the looks of it. I was worried. I found the others and explained that this baby needed medicines immediately. Due to the way things work in the slum, the best we could arrange was the next morning. I was not happy with that answer, but I had to accept the limitations of my location.

I then saw about 20 kids in the next 45 minutes. I had not brought my stethoscope or anything, so it was an interesting exam. But I wrote down names and problems and medicines they needed. I quickly realized that we would have to go back to the chemist. There was no way I could leave Kenya without addressing all of these issues.

As we walked out of Obunga, we carried the extra parasite medication and passed them out to anyone who asked. They took them gratefully for their families. The medication is not a permanent solution to parasites with their contaminated water and inadequate sanitation - but it will clean their stomachs for a few months. And this will allow them improved nutrition for those few months. Kenya recommends that its people take the medication once every 3 months to prevent and/or treat any parasite infections - and my hope is to provide these medications for them.

On our way home, we went back to the pharmacy to get the new medicines. Rincon's little medicines cost $3. That was the price beyond his worried parents capabilities to buy his 4 prescriptions including malaria medicine...

Best day ever... Part 1

Today was the best day yet! And to think it started so discouraging...
This morning we woke to rain...and lots of it! This was our last day in Kisumu and our first day of rain - so we were thankful for that. But rain had a lot of implications. It meant muddy roads and difficult transportation to Obunga. It might mean overflowing dirty ditches and jumping over rivers of sewage. It meant possible flooding within the homes we were to visit that day.
So breakfast was a bit gloomy. We decided to hang out at the hotel for the morning and pack and hope for sunshine in the afternoon.
We decided to use this time to take a trip to the chemist (aka pharmacist). I had the list of medicines that I needed to buy for the children from Monday...and a few ideas for the others of Obunga. So after breakfast, John, Ashley and I headed into town to buy some medicine. We got there with our long list, so they escorted us to the back to meet with the manager, Monica.
I would tell them the American medicine I wanted and we would see how close we could get to it. At one point, John told me how fun it was to listen to the chemist and I speak "medicine-ese." I have to admit, it was pretty fun for me to. We talked medications, and good generics, and prices, and recommended treatments for malaria. And our little pile got bigger and bigger. As we finished what I needed plus a little extra, we had spent less than $100. So I looked to John - my payment source - and asked if I could keep going. He said yes. He gave me the limit of 10,000 shillings (about $135) - and I found a way to spend every shilling.
And so we added 200 parasite tablets and 5 liters of childrens vitamins to the order to hand out to the people of Obunga.
Monica helped too. She was a very sweet and compassionate manager. When she found out who we were buying the medicines for, she began to give us discounts. She dropped the price of the parasite pills; she threw in free small bottles for the vitamins, extra creams. She was great.
Two hours later, we left with exactly 10,000 shillings worth of medicine in a cardboard box wrapped with twine.
Then we headed to the eye doctor to arrange for Shadrack's eye appointment. We paid the charge of $8 and got him an appointment for Friday morning. That's right - $8 for an appointment with the ophthalmogolist!
From there, we went to meet the rest of the group for lunch. The rain had stopped, and we were able to head to Obunga after lunch. Through some extenuating circumstances, it ended up being just me, Ashley, and John that went to Obunga with Erick and Michael - two of the older sponsored kids. We also invited Jane, one of the area community health workers to help us.
Who knew that I was about to have the best afternoon in all of Africa???

Asking God to do the Doctoring...

So Tuesday was full of medicine too. After breakfast, we went to visit two of the childrens' wards in town. First we went to Russia - which is the private hospital in Kisumu. We hung out in the Michelle Obama Children's Hospital for a few hours.
We talked to four different people who sent us in four different directions to talk to four different people to try to gain access to the ward. But finally, we were directed to the doctor on duty. (Jeanna used me as the trump card - "We have an AMERICAN doctor with us who would like to meet the pediatrician on duty.")
He was on rounds with his intern and invited the group to attend rounds. The medical jargon was too much for the majority so they went to the wards to see the children. But Jeanna, Ashley, and I stayed to attend rounds. Wow! So similar and yet so very very different!!

He started with the child he was caring for - a very sick baby fighting for his life. A baby of about 2 years in shock, in a coma, fighting an overwhelming infection. A baby that without doubt would be quickly whisked to one of our ICUs was laying on a bed in the corner of a room. He had just a small tube for oxygen near his nose and an IV in his arm for antibiotics. An ICU was out of the question for this poor family - and there wasn't one in town anyway. So, he was getting antibiotics - but the doctors were struggling to determine why they weren't working. Did he need different antibiotics or were their cheap generics lacking real efficacy? This doctor told me everything he would do if he had proper equipment, proper medications, proper funding. For now, he did what he could and hoped for the best.

We made our way through the little room of sick children and learned their stories. I was suprised how much of the medicine was the same, but how limited their resources were. I feel like I work with limited resources everyday at Los Barrios...but it did not compare to what I witnessed at the hospital.

After the acute ward, we went to visit with the children and their families in the two pediatric rooms. We went around and encouraged them and prayed for them. It was an interesting experience. I found myself praying in a way I never have before. Overwhelmed with their lack of resources, I found myself praying over the physiology within their bodies. It was such an interesting and incredible integration of my faith and my medical knowledge. I prayed over septic babies that their veins would stay strong and that God would cleanse the infection from their bloodstream. I prayed for Him to help deliver life saving oxygen to all the cells of their body. I prayed healing over kidneys and glomeruli; I asked God to restore blood volumes for the anemic. I rejoiced with those that took antibiotics and healed quickly - praising God for the mysteries of medicine and healing that He has revealed to us. I prayed that God would do the work of the antibiotics that were lacking. For a sweet girl, Josephine, unconscious and severely dehydrated, I prayed restoration. I prayed that the IV fluid would restore her to good health. I prayed strength for her mother.

After a few hours at Russia, we went to the City hospital (think Parkland or LBJ x 1000!) 2-3 children per bed. Measles. Malaria. Meningitis. Pneumonia. Again we prayed for the women and children - asking for God's healing and provision.

In both places, I met kind doctors who were trying to help their patients as best they could. And we discussed our faith and the comfort that God was the Great Physician. We also discussed vaccines and prevention. It was eye opening to see nearly half of the patients suffering from diseases that we prevent in America with immunizations. And impacting to hear that the other half were suffering from malaria - that can be easily treated if caught early and even prevented with minimal measures. It gave me a glimpse into American medicine a century ago - before vaccines, before goverment efforts to eradicate malaria. It was not that long ago that we were in the same place...

Oh Father - can we say the same a century from now? Can you make that a reality? May the people of Africa only read about meningitis and pneumonia and malaria in books or hear about the rare case. May it be far from their daily lives... I pray that You would help them to that end...

And now...Let the doctoring begin...

So...after He and I had been through all of that arguing, I finally let go of my agenda and signed on to His. I agreed to love on His precious children in Obunga. I enjoyed it. And I gave up my dreams to doing lots of doctoring and healing lots of people...

And then, after a week in Africa and after I had let go of my own agenda ... God gave it back to me. The second week had medicine in almost everyday. And every day just got better and better...

On Monday, we went back to Obunga to spend time with the kids. That morning, Allison asked me to bring my stethoscope and stuff to see a few of the kids there. We had our own mental list of some of the kids we had seen the week before that we wanted to take a closer look at. And so we did. Ashley helped me; we were a great team.

We started with Phanice, one of the high schoolers sponsored by Ndoto. She was having trouble getting to school because of a painful limp and an hour long commute on foot each way. So I took a look at her leg. It was MUCH smaller than the other leg - a sure sign of a neurological issue. It turns out that when she was a little girl, she got very sick with malaria and went to the hospital. They gave her a shot for her malaria (which must have hit her sciatic nerve in her leg) ... and that ever since then her leg began to hurt and tingle and grow weaker. As she was dealing with that hurdle, a little boy fell from a tree one day and landed on top of her - breaking that same weakened leg. It was a bad break - and after those two events, she has had a painful limp ever since. Well, I couldn't do much to help her leg work well again. But we could get her some ibuprofen to take for the painful walks to and from school. (And I happen to know a great physical therapist to consult back home!)

Next came Nicholas, a sweet little boy with a thick rash on his face, neck, and arms. It was like horrible eczema. I wasn't sure what to do...but I took pictures to bring home to show my friend, who is a dermatologist. And I thought that creams and lotions to calm and moisturize his skin would be a good place to start.

I saw Elizabeth Awino and Tobias - and listened to their wheezing lungs. Likely from the open fires they have in their homes and from sleeping on the dirt floors. Asthma inhalers and medicines would be a great place to start for both of them!

And then I got to see sweet Shadrack. He is a sweet little boy with a clouded eye. I spoke with him and he told me he had been struck with something in his eye a few years earlier. He had lost his vision in that eye. Not much I can do to restore his vision, but I thought a visit to an eye doctor would be wise to assure that he could see well out of the other eye.

I saw a few other children, and thought of medicines to bring back for everyone. I was excited. I may not be able to cure them completely of their problems, but I could help in small ways. Overall, a super successful day of medicine!

Put in my place...

So, a little backstory here to set the scene. I hope this makes sense...because I find it a bit hard to explain.

I had high hopes of doing medicine in Obunga. That was my idea from the beginning. That is what I told all of you! And so, I struggled a bit the first days of this trip as I sat in the sun and played with the children. The photographers were completing their mission, using their skills to help. Well, I had skills too! And I wanted to get started doing MY thing. I wanted to see the sick, help heal them, make a difference in their lives. And so I struggled just talking to the children. I felt like there was so much more that I could be doing. I could be MAKING a difference. I could be USING my skills.

And God took my thoughts and convicted me mightily. I felt like He slammed me to the ground and broke me to pieces. He HUMBLED me over and over and over again. I felt like He kept telling me, "Who do you think you are to call the shots? What are your skills to me? Who gave you those skills? Who gave you the mind and the knowledge to be the doctor that you are? Can you really heal better than ME?" He made it very clear that He did not NEED my doctoring skills at all. He was the Great Physician and the Great I Am. He could heal anything that needed healing. His skills and His power are far greater than mine. And so He reminded me that He had brought me to this place...for HIS purpose. And He would tell me what to do and when to do it. And I would be wise to obey His direction...

And oh how I fought Him! "Really God? You just want me to talk to the kids? You just want me to sit here so they can stare all day? But I can be curing their diseases. I can heal their bodies... This sitting and doing nothing does not seem productive, does not seem like the best use of my skills..."

And so He reminded me again that He had a plan for them and for me. And what a perfect plan it was. He showed me so much about how I approach the world. I had asked Him to take me to a place where I would need to rely on Him. In my head, that meant a non-Spanish speaking place where I would have to rely on Him.

But Our Lord knows what we need so much better than our best plans. And so He answered my prayer just as I asked...but in a completely different way than I ever imagined. Instead of the language and communication, He took away my medicine.

And I was lost without it. I realized how much I rely on that for my identity, for the structure of my world. I am a doctor. I love to heal. That is who I am. And when I am in an upsetting or chaotic situation...when I am confronted by the world's brokenness and pain, I have a way to fight back. Because I have the knowledge to heal bodies and to mend hurts. I realized in Africa that this skill is also a crutch. Because in a chaotic situation, I can use my medicine to right a few wrongs - to fight back against the brokenness or the pain that I see. My identity is tied up in medicine. And with that skillset, I am able to exert a small semblance of control over my environment and the things that I see.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that it is bad that I am a doctor. I'm not even saying it is bad that it is a huge PART of who I am. But God showed me that I use it to try and regain control in out of control situations. When He took it away from me the first week of the trip, I felt like I was falling. I felt VERY out of sorts with my environment. I felt almost useless. I was nothing without my medicine. And so I realized that I also find value in that. I derive value for myself in who I am, in my capabilities as a doctor, and the good that I can do through that.

But the fact that I use that to derive value is not a good thing. My value comes through Christ alone! I have value because He made me. Period. And the good I do as a doctor does not make me more valuable or more worthy of His love. I do not need to earn His love. And though it was so frustrating at first, He showed me that about myself and freed me from that for a few days. He reminded me that I have other skills and other dimensions. He had other ways that He wanted me to help Him. It doesn't always have to be doctoring.

So I tried really hard to be okay with His plan. Even though the days seemed almost wasted at first...I sat and talked and laughed and hugged the kids of Obunga. I learned some Luo. I let little kids touch my red and white skin for hours. I smiled and held hands. I just sat and let them stare at me. And when I calmed down and stopped fighting the medicine thing, I started to see what He was trying to show me.

He kept telling me, "They don't want your medicine. They just want you. Just love them." And I started to see. These kids were STARVING for love and affection. They needed my hugs and my smiles and my conversation more than they needed me to get rid of their coughs and rashes. Truly. They needed to see and believe that they had value. And even in my staring and my talking, I could show them that they are valuable in the eyes of God. That they are PRECIOUS to Him and to me.

And once I finally saw it His way, I didn't want to do any medicine at all. It seemed so minor, so temporary in comparison. And all I wanted to do was pour love and importance and acceptance and hugs into them for the days that I had. I sought them out. I tried to encourage them. I loved them and remembered them and smiled and laughed with them. And I prayed that in every gesture, every word, they would hear the message underneath. "YOU HAVE VALUE! YOU ARE PRECIOUS! YOU ARE A CHILD OF GOD!"

Praise God that He pushes our buttons and pushes us from our comfort zones and refuses to let us remain in one place too long. How wonderful that He loves me enough to let me help Him with His work. How gracious that He loves me enough to continue to show me where I try to earn my salvation, where I try to build up enough 'value points' ... and that He loves me enough to dash those ideas to pieces and show me that He is all that I need...

The Arms of God...

Last night might be counted as one of the saddest moments of my trip so far...but also one of the greatest.

I got back late that night from dinner. Some of the others had headed home earlier, so I was catching up with them. While we were talking, Nancy (one of the older sponsored students) came to get us. She told me that Eddy was crying in his room and she couldn't get him to stop. So I headed over with her to see what was going on.

Eddy is 11 years old. His dad was killed when he was very little and he was raised by his mother. She died last year of a sudden illness and so he was left with no one to take care of him. Allison added him to her program and had him placed in boarding school with a few of the other children from Obunga. He has had a rough year, but is slowly starting to come to terms with all the tragedy he has seen in his short life. But some days, he is overwhelmed by his sadness. Last night was one of those nights. In addition to all of that, he was not feeling very well. The first or second day we were there, he came down with malaria.

I went to see him and talk to him. I don't actually know him that well, but some of the team that were closer to him were already asleep. So I was it. Another girl, Ashley, came a few minutes later. He was in bed sobbing. He didn't want to leave the next day. He was happy to be among people that cared for him, and didn't want to go back to school and away from the closest thing he had to family. We tried to talk to him and calm him down, but it did no good. So we just let him cry. Ashley has a BEAUTIFUL voice, so I asked her to sing for him. While she sang, I just laid down with him and held him in my arms as he cried. His sobs turned to quiet tears and finally his breathing slowed and he fell asleep in my arms while Ashley sung beautifully about the love of God. If that was the only thing I did in the entire 2 weeks, I would consider the trip a success. It was worth it to come halfway around the world...and hold a sweet little boy as he cried for his family. THAT is the need that is so great there. That words cannot fully express...

So much sorrow for such a little boy. But he's not alone. So many of them have the same stories. Details changed slightly, but with the same ending. Loss of parents. Loss of loved ones. Feeling all alone in this big world. Truly BEING all alone. It put my life and my troubles in perspective quickly.

I feel as if God let me be HIS arms that night. I am honored beyond description.

Lord, please be with sweet Eddy. Heal His heart, give Him a peace that passes all understanding. Let him KNOW without a doubt that YOU are His Heavenly Father. And that You will NEVER leave him nor forsake him. That you love him immensely and intensely. Let him feel that love. Let him find Your arms in the people around him. His teachers, his house mother, his friends and classmates.

Such a Sunday...

What a busy day! After breakfast, we headed to church at Prince of Peace Obunga. They were very welcoming and excited to see us. I got to share my bench with so many of my girls. If only I had more sides for them to sit next to me... I sat with Julian, Mary, Christine, and Cinthia. Everyone wanted to hold my hand...so we had a bit of a communal hand holding. We sang a lot of songs. They sounded pretty, even though I didn't know what they were saying. How cool to think that God understands their words...
Feny and her little sister Linett were sitting behind us. Feny is about 6 years old and her sister is less than 2. But I never saw Feny without her little sister. I reached my hand back and motioned for her to come up front and sit with me. Feny apparently misunderstood, and so she gave me Linett to hold. I went with the flow and took the baby. I figured that Feny could use an hour or so just being 6 and not taking care of such a little one. Linett was half asleep...and who doesn't like to hold precious little munchkins?
Well...this precious munchkin was soaking wet! Well, then I felt even worse giving her back to her sister, so I held her for an hour or so...trying to position her just right to not get me soaked and smelly. I failed miserably. By the end, I was a mess. But it was worth it to see Feny sit there by herself and be her own little person and worry just about herself. Linett was content to sleep in my arms and snore throughout the service. Until the last 20 minutes or so. Once she woke up, she wanted to have nothing to do with me and quickly went back to her sister's arms.
After church, things suddenly became very hectic. Everyone wanted to meet and greet us. The kids wanted us to play outside with them. Allison and crew were passing out applications for sponsorship for the next school year...and I was trying to get all of my new friends an application. When Allison said they needed to have a parent with them, Maureen turned and ran. She was out of the churchyard before Allison had finished her sentence. And back within 5 minutes with her mom. Talk about a girl who knows how to seize an opportunity. I was impressed!
May they all turn in applications and all find sponsors to send them to school and encourage them to know the love of Jesus and dream of the future. Work in the hearts of those at home...that You might stir the hearts of those You would have sponsor these children. I dream of the day when they will ALL have sponsors, all get quality schooling, all have enough to eat. May that day come soon, Sweet Jesus...

Prayers...

Continue to be with us, Lord, on this journey. Please continue to sow seeds of peace and joy and hope and light. Thank you for another day to love on the childrens of Obunga and of Kenya. Help me continue to give 110% for these children. Please pour into me that I might pour You into them. Help me to encourage, uplift, and love on these kids. Heal their bodies, their hearts, their souls.


Today, we were invited to a talent show at the church. So precious! The youth group of the church (Young Stars for Christ) held a talent show for us. They performed 5 different routines to the same song. At the end, we had time to hang out with the kids and pass out star stickers. At the end of the afternoon, the 4-5 year olds took to the stage for an impromptu dance. HILARIOUS! They can dance WAY better than I can.

Now back to St Anna's to get ready for the Retreat that starts tonight...

Please give me wisdom and direction for tomorrow's retreat. Help me find ways to reach them and teach them. Help us to make a difference on their lives, to make an impact on them, O Lord.

Perspective...

Yesterday was a success with picture taking. Almost done with all 26 kids! So today we started on the stories. We sat down with a few kids at a time and asked them to tell their stories. I got to sit in on one of the first groups - two high school guys. I was not at all prepared for their stories.

We got situated and asked the first boy to start at the beginning...
"When I was really little, too young to remember exactly, I lost both of my parents. So I went to live with my grandparents. But they died too when I was about 12 years old. We had no one to take care of us. My sister was already 13 so she got married. And I found a friend of my parents to let me stay with him for some time."

Then the second boy told his story. It sounded similar...
"I am one of 6 children. I lived with my parents when I was little. However, they both passed away when I was about 5 years old. So then I went to live with my oldest sister and her husband. When I was about 13 years old, my sister and her husband passed away as well. It was then that I went to live with my 2nd oldest sister - which is where I live today."

So matter of fact. Just details in their story. And so many of them have the same story. Moving time and time again. Loss of family members. Loss of parents. Seeking for consistency and stability in their ever changing lives.

Lord, won't you please be that stability they seek! Will you help them find that? Will you be with them? Bind up their hearts, bind up their hurts. Remind them that they still have a loving Father in Heaven. And that You promise to NEVER leave us nor forsake your children.