Amazing Protection

February 6, 2014 (Thursday) After visiting and checking with the children’s homes in the area we still have not found a place for the children that lost their mother.  Most children’s homes will not take the teenage children as they find that children of the age are very often a bad influence to the younger children.  We are also finding that these homes are completely full with a waiting list. Children are taken off the streets, placed in a home by a sponsor and four or five more take their place. Orphans, street children, run a ways continue to flow into Kitale from the mountain and the villages. They often leave in search of a better life or because of continued abuse at home. Placing and caring for the children in a home, including medical care and putting them in school,is also very costly.

We are trying to keep the children together as a family unit so we have waited to see what doors God will open.  Today that prayer has been answered.  A pastor that I know to be a man of integrity has offered to take all of the children into his home.  Knowing that he has four children of his own my first concern was his wife’s thoughts on his kind offer.  They are both in agreement and I’ve been told that throughout their married life they have housed many orphans.  They have already started to look into ways of adding on to their traditional mud house.  The children will be in a different village but will grow up in a family unit that loves the Lord.  There will be much we can do to help this family get ready for the new arrivals!

February 8, 2014 (Saturday) Last night I received a call from another missionary and a great friend of mine.  Joni and I have taught and worked together for a few years in western Kenya.  She had called to tell me she was very sick and felt like passing out.  When I arrived at her place and saw her I knew she could not make it through the night by herself.  We called a driver and took her to Cherangani Nursing Home, the best hospital in this area.  She was diagnosed with high levels of malaria and food poisoning.  They gave her on injections immediately and the process of healing started.

We have children coming to school from three villages and one of them is Makoi.  We have been out visiting each of the children’s homes in all of the villages.  Today we are going to try and finish up the last few homes in Makoi.  Knowing that the terrain we will be walking in can be challenging at times I make sure that I wear my sneakers.

Our walk into Makoi starts from a dirt road which is traveled on by donkeys, motorbikes, people, cows, and a few bicycles but we quickly leave the road and step into the fields and foot paths that lead us into the hills. The ground is dry but there are places where the water flows that we must jump across.  I usually jump successfully but today I landed on the other side then slipped back and landed in muddy dark water. When I pulled one foot out it had something dark wrapped around the ankle. My heart stopped but my ankle went into this panic type of shake as I thought it was a snake.  It came off and it turned out to be a deteriorating piece of a corn stalk. 

 

The challenges within the hills are great and the people don’t always see the need for schooling.  We are working new ground and it is not always easy. As we walk together the headmaster informs me that he is realizing that this is not a good area. He goes on to say that even his animals appreciate him but here the people don’t.  When he goes home at night his animals are happy to see him.  They are very happy when he gives them food.  They appreciate him!  Here in the villages the people are set in their ways, they have a mindset that is hard to change but one day the walls will come down!

At the end of an eight hour day of walking through open land, thorn bushes and being covered with burs we can say that we have visited all the children in Makoi.  We have seen those that prefer to teach their children to steal from the school instead of encouraging them to learn.  We have heard far out stories of how we have come to make money off their children. There is even a rumor that we are devil worshipers and people have been advised to stay away from us.  There are small and silly excuses as to why they won’t let their children come to school. The area is under such dark control and the people lack an education that would help them see the light.  Even though we face conflict before us and around us there are those that are excelling in the education offered to them.  Their eyes are shining as they are opened to a new and wonderful world.  Little Abbie scored the highest on her year end test. Her eyes are big and bright and she glows as we walk down the path to her house.  There are children running barefoot around the mud hut and their dirty little faces are in awe as they see the white woman.   

Little Sammy lives with his grandmother. He sees us coming and runs to greet us. He shows his love for the headmaster with a great big hug and a huge smile!  His grandmother is thankful for the school and says they can’t eat a meal now unless he prays first!  As we listen Sammy counts to thirty it is something that he is very proud to do for us. As we leave and walk back to our starting point we meet others along the way that are so excited to see us in their area. The sun has been very hot today and we carry layers of dust on our tired bodies.

Saturday is also wash day at the school. Uniforms, sweaters and socks are all washed by hand and then placed in the sun the dry. 

It's a long tedious process but it gives a couple mothers money to help with their school fees. 

Not only are the clothes washed but the shoes are cleaned as well. On  Monday morning everyone will be looking their best!

February 10, 2014 (Monday) Yesterday after the morning service the pastor asked me to check on a sick visitor from the states. He was very worried about her as she had gone for medical help and was not getting better.  She had been sick for two weeks now and her request was to be sent home.  We took her to the hospital and they ran some blood work and gave her meds but this morning she was still in pain and she was not able to hold any food down.  She packed and arrangements were made for her to go home but first we stopped in a hospital in Eldoret which is a two hour drive away.

Traveling in Kenya is always risky as the potholes can be severe and everyone is winding around them so they won’t ruin their car. They are traveling at high speeds on the wrong side of the road most of the time. Then there is an issue with animals not knowing where the road starts and stops.  Motorbikes used as moving vans or to carry three or four people at once are not an uncommon sight on the roads either. We can’t forget the bicycles and donkey carts that slow down the process of travel just a bit too! Today as our driver tried to pass a much overloaded bus the bus pushed us off the road.  The thought process here is “I’m bigger and have more rights to the road than you!” It was a few anxious moments but our driver managed very well and kept us upright with clouds of dust swirling around us.  As close to an accident as this was I will never forget what happened to us on January 16, 2014.

Joni and I were traveling to visit a home for street girls in Malisaba. This home is teaching the girls a trade so that they are equipped to take care of themselves when they leave.  On our way we went to pass a truck and out of nowhere we were faced with a car at high speed in our lane and inches from us. All I had time to do was gasp it was a sure hit and probably a sure fatality for everyone involved.  I don’t know how it happened but within the blink of the eye we were removed from the situation and safely put on the other side of the car coming straight at us. What happened to us was impossible in the natural, it was God, and it was the angels of the Lord watching over us.  It was a sure head on high speed collision with no way to avoid it but God took over and removed us from sure death.  We were there and then we were not.

Eldoret is a hospital that is more advanced than what we have here in Kitale. However, it is still not like our hospitals at home. When I went to wash my hands the dirty water flowed directly into a bucket under the sink. It is not always easy to place yourself in the hands of doctors and lab techs so far from home. More tests were run on this girl and she really didn’t know who to believe anymore.  This would be the third place that has tested her for various things. She has been told that she has brucellosis, typhoid, ecoli and possibly appendicitis or gallstones.  Here they ruled out everything except typhoid.  They gave her an IV drip to hydrate her, meds to ease the pain and calm the stomach and then set her free to travel.  She was very happy to finally be on her way home where she had a doctor waiting for her.

 

February 11, 2014(Tuesday) The sun was already hot and it was only early morning. Theresa had received a call that there were some emergency needs in Kipsongo slums. As we traveled into the area there were piles of garbage beside the road with both humans and animals feeding from the waste. 

 

Inside one of the buildings adults and children sat while they were being treated for jiggers, a parasite, that is found in their feet because they don’t wear shoes.  Many will sit and have a friend dig them out with a needle; others will try to smoother then with Vaseline because the medicine is too costly for them to buy. 

The little children are brought before us and Patricia, a woman who lives in Kipsongo, tells us their story one by one.  There are many needs here and today we are only hearing those that call for immediate help.  The two and half year old little boy she holds in her arms doesn’t offer to move.  He is lethargic and obviously in a serious condition. 

Another little one has a severe infection in both eyes.  These two little guys are taken to the hospital without delay.   

 

The doctor exams the two and half year old and says that he is at death’s door because of lack of food.  He is perfect in every other way. He has an older sibling and a younger sibling but they have been fed and cared for by their mother. It is hard to understand how one child can be so neglected and rejected by his own mother.

February 12, 2014 (Wednesday) A special day for a special boy!  Rehan is celebrating his first birthday. Theresa has made a big chocolate cake and has ice cream to go with it. It is a big treat for everyone! Rehan loves it and decides to make sure he gets it all...even lapping the bottom of the bowl.

He comes up out of bowl with a great big smile! Rehan’s mother, a very young girl, died from complications at child birth.  His tribe believes that a baby coming from such a tragedy can only be cursed so they would not want him around.  This two week old little baby was very weak and frail when Theresa took him in.  Without her love and attention he probably would not be with us today.

Psalm 91:11-14 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.  You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

Exodus 23:20 “See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.