Polio Outbreak

January 11, 2014 (Saturday) It has been a week of making house visits and sitting under the shade tree near the church as parents and guardians of the school children come to visit. They come to share their troubles and the unending list of reasons they cannot reach the requirements set for school enrollment. They are to bring fees which are very low and tins of maize and beans to help with the feeding program.  We are trying to encourage the village to work together and to stand with their children as they go to school. 

Many parents have died because of HIV.  It is rampant in this area and there is a generation missing because of it. The many deaths of this terrible disease has left so many grandmothers with numerous children to raise.  The grandmothers sit before me with lines of distress in their faces.  Their hearts want the best for their grandchildren but they lack the funds. Time and time again the story is the same. Their children have passed away or they have not been seen and grandma is left with the children.  She lacks an education and she lacks skills.  The only way she has of feeding the children is working in maize fields and planting will not start until the rains come.  One father, who is also positive, sat and cried as he shared how he was without a job and because of his illness he did not have the strength to work a full day. The village is full of people in despair and they can’t seem to see their way out.

January 13, 2014 (Monday) Mama Rhoda’s real name is “Dorcas” and she truly is a Dorcas. Her heart is extra big and full of love that spills out on those around her. Her hands are always busy helping in any way that she can.  She has a well in her back yard that is available for us to use. She also allows others in the village to come and gather water too.  She freely gives.  It takes a lot of buckets of water to take care of the school children and she has never complained.  Today we want to make it easier for her and those in the community by putting in one of the latest inventions!   

Everyone is amazed at this new way of bringing the water up from the well and word is spreading fast throughout the village.  Many are coming just to see how it works!  It will make Mama Rhoda’s job easier and it will also keep the water cleaner as the cover to the well can now be locked shut.

January 14, 2014 (Tuesday) There is a list of things that we must comply with to register the school. The Education Officer wants to see “toys” for the children to play with during recess.  We’ll start with a few soccer balls and jump ropes and add to them in the future.  It was one happy morning when the children saw what I had with me!  The teachers released the children immediately so that they could play with the soccer balls.

 

The Turkana live in an area known as the Kipsongo slums. Years back some of the Turkana left their land and traveled to find food.  When they arrived in this area they were not accepted so they settled on a piece of land on the outskirts of town.  They pawed through the garbage for pieces of plastic and things that were thrown away so that they could make their homes.  Kipsongo means “The Place of the Dogs.”  Young girls start to prostitute their bodies at a very young age.  More than one mothers or aunt has been known for selling their young girls to older men.  They have even tied them inside a room as men line up outside.  Food to eat is found in the garbage piles or by capturing a wandering cat or dog.  It is a place where home brew is widely used and the children suffer.   

One older mama sits outside with a wrap around her body. She is covering up the scars that she wears from the time her hut, made of things from the garbage, caught on fire.  The children run around bare foot and so do a lot of the adults. Their feet are infested with jiggers. Jiggers are a sand flea or parasite that borrows their way into the human body.  There are ways to remove them that are too costly for most of the people so they will sit and dig them out with a needle. This leaves them with many open wounds and the potential for infection. The needle which is most likely used by many is just another way of passing AIDS.  The oppression over this land is heavy and they are locked in spiritual chains.

January 17, 2014 (Friday) The week comes to a close but the work continues.  In Kenya school children must have a uniform, sweater, socks and shoes.  Our children are in need of new sweaters and a lot of the uniforms need mending.  I’m directed to a shop on Line Moja to find sweaters of good quality and price. This is one of the busiest streets in the area.  It is lined with motorbikes, matatus, cars, street vendors and people coming and going. It is an area where you can find just about anything from a wooden spoon to a tomato.  Produce and goods line the roads and booths are set up for shade.  Bundles and piles of clothes are set beside the road for anyone who wants to spend the time searching for their treasure.  

 The little woolen shop is mobbed with people as everyone is trying to meet the school requirements so that their child can start class.  They have sweaters in abundance here and the color is striking!  They look so “smart” in their new royal blue sweaters.

With the new feeding program we are in need of bigger serving spoons and cooking pans. These items will make the job of cooking a meal for the children so much easier.  Mama Rhoda does a lot of the cooking for us and she has happily used the utensils and pans that she had available.  When we came with the new cooking pans she looked very pleased.  She put them safely away and we went about our business.  Later on, when she didn’t think I was around, she pulled out one of the big metal serving spoons.  She held it up to the light and looked at it with awe.  She turned it this way and that way and admired every part of it. It brought joy to my heart as I watched this dear woman rejoice over a new serving spoon. 

We have a precious older couple that lives close to the church. I’ve been told that Festus who was born in 1924 isn’t feeling well.  When the church was being built Festus was there ready to be of help.  They welcome me into their home and Festus insists on leaving his bed and joining us in the main room of the house.  He and his wife were married in 1948 and have had 9 children together.  We visit for a while and then I ask them if they have any specific needs we can pray for.  This ninety year old man in a weak but serious tone of voice says “I’ve walked for a long time - now I need a car.”       I must have looked stunned because he immediately started laughing.  I love this man’s sense of humor :)

There has been an outbreak of polio in the area.  A medical team is going door to door with an oral vaccine for anyone who has not received it.  It is good to see that they have not forgotten the children and people in the villages.  They are walking the hills and making themselves known so that everyone will have an opportunity to receive this free vaccine.  Children will not be allowed in school without it.

The life of a missionary is not glamorous and your name is not lit up with big lights. It is living with a heart that has been torn and it bleeds for the many needs around you. It is seeing so much suffering and knowing that you cannot help them all. It is looking into the eyes of pain and hurt knowing that the unspoken plead you see is real and coming from the depths of their heart. It is knowing that if you do nothing they might not see tomorrow. It is going back to your room at night and sitting alone and crying out to God because everyone hurts around you. It is feeling overwhelmed with needs you saw just in that day alone. It is knowing you can't help them all. It is knowing that you don't have the answers for everyone's problems. It is knowing that God is greater than all that you are dealing with. His mighty hand holds my small insignificant hand with such love and guides me into the field another day.

Proverbs 21:13 If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered.