Hello…everything in Kenya is starting to feel normal again! Some of the head ‘people’ in Kenya have agreed to share equal power (I really do hope that works).  It could lead to peace or just the opposite. Yesterday we had a huge soccer game, everyone played! And after that we played a football game. That was so much fun! Oh my goodness we had a blast. At 6:30 we started to head over to Dr. Russ and Mrs. Beth’s house. There we had a Friday fun day. We ate pizza (homemade) and played Apples to Apples.

It is so different to have my dad come home at an unpredictable time everyday. I feel almost overwhelmed sometimes, because I am so happy for my dad. He is doing what he loves to do and I get to be apart of that. I’ve never seen this side of my dad before…I am so proud of him. And not to mention my mom, she has been incredibly patient with us! At times it gets hard we have to make due with what we have…and what we have isn’t much.  But we are making it anyway- just fine!

~Georgia Grace

Hello America!

I hope all is well in the US.

You have heard, I am sure, of some division over here in Kenya. Yes, it’s true…but you have only had an adult’s perspective of the situation.

Here is mine:

At times I feel a bit frightened about all that is going on around here. It truly amazes me how people can hate one another. They destroy things, kill others, but what they don’t realize is that they are hurting themselves too! It isn’t safe to go down to the waterfall by yourself anymore, or for that matter to go to Bomet which is the city closest to the hospital. It is CRAZY!

Well, let’s get on a good note, a night ago at two o’clock in the morning we went to another doctor’s house to watch the Super Bowl! Okay…stop and think…Super Bowl…Africa….does that make sense to you? It didn’t to me at first. After the first two quarters I started feeling really sick, so my dad took me back to the house. And today I am still feeling a little sick. Please pray that I would get better! We have been praying for God to touch my health and He is.

~Georgia Grace

The hospital we are at is very resourceful and careful with literally every bandage that is used. Things are not as disposable here in Kenya because things are not as accessible. If, you will notice in one of the photos all the ambu bags and oxygen tubing have been washed and hung out to dry and these are used over and over, in America these are used one time. Gloves and masks are reused if possible. Paul uses a mask a day instead of one per case in surgery.

In the U.S. things for surgery are often packed in bundles (with most everything being disposable by our standards), the O.R. opens it but may only use one item and the rest is thrown away. Those thrown away items are just what this mission hospital desperately needs. We brought several duffels of suture with us when we arrived. We purchased some as a gift and one large duffle was given to us by a physician friend (Thanks Dr. Todd) who collected suture that was going to be thrown away.

If you can see any IVs hanging by the patients in the pictures- those are glass bottles. Every IV solution is made by the hospital staff and put in glass bottles that are sterilized and reused, no plastic IVs here.

I think we have grown to appreciate even seemingly small conveniences at home, like clean running water, so much more. Here we are gathering rain water, boiling it for ten minutes and then waiting for it to run thru a filter before we can have water to drink and it makes me conserve every drop! Water bottles are coveted; we have refilled ours a hundred times already!

I spent this afternoon in the grassy yard of Mrs. Linda, where some of the women who attend the village Bible study walked (many for hours) to recite their scriptures as a requirement to get a new Bible. There was a good turnout, about 20 women, considering what this area has gone through over the last few weeks. I sat for about an hour and half and listened as each woman one by one recited all 16 scriptures in Kipsigis. Many sat resting in the sun, some prayed, others whispered quietly and a few tended to the babies on their backs waiting until every lady there was finished. I am honored they allowed me to join them and humbled at the same time.
I celebrate their accomplishment and am happy each will receive a new Kipsigis Bible!

As I looked up the scriptures to make a list for myself, none were new to me and many I have memorized, but each one has taken on a new meaning as I read them through the eyes of these Kenyan women and the life they lead.

Thought you might like a list of the scriptures they recited from heart:

Luke (Luka)1:37 Mark(Mariko) 8: 34
Philippians (Philipik) 4:6, 7 I John(1 Johana) 1:9
Luke 2:52 Luke 6:22, 23
Isaiah (Isaia) 43:4 Luke 6:27
I Corinthians(1 Korintoek) 10:13 Hebrew (Hebranik)11:1
Galatians (Galatiek)5:1 Romans(Roamnik) 5:8
Mark (Mariko) 8:34 Luke 8:15
Psalms (Tienwogikab Kalosunet) 46:1 Psalms 145:8

~Jennifer

Last night at 1:57am I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock named Trusty Pinky. I made some coffee and then woke Dad up. Me, Dad, Georgia and Sophie were going to The NFL Super BOwl in Africa! As we walked through the starry night to a friend’s house we told each other how awesome it was that we were in Africa and were about to go to the Super Bowl party. A party we have every year in Houston but never thought we would have in Kenya! When we Got there, Dad and I were welcomed by a pack of Patriots when he and I were the only Giants’ fans.  Sophie was for the Patriots like the rest of the people at the party)! (Georgia got tired and left before halftime. As we quarreled about who was really going to win the Super Bowl, we watched intensely at the projector waiting for kickoff.

In Africa they don’t have the same commercials as we do in America, So we watched some of the most bizarre commercials I have ever seen in-between plays! We had tons of homemade popcorn, cookie cake, cookies, salsa and chips and Coke non- stop until we couldn’t bear them any longer, Although, both The Patriots and Giants played amazingly… the Giants scored a touchdown in the last 20+ seconds and WON the Super Bowl!!!!

GO GIANTS!
~Liv