Karibu, Mama! (Welcome, Mom!)

My mom is here in Kenya! She arrived yesterday afternoon, and it's been so much fun to show her around. We took a walking tour of the hospital in the middle of a rainstorm, but I was able to show her all of the different departments and where I have been working. It was really cool to show her the general medical wards area, which is the department Mom works in at home; hopefully this week, we'll be able to go on rounds through that area and a few others. We've taken a few walks to the river and dam, and around the farms nearby, and between the rainstorms, the weather has been beautifully breezy and cool. Today, we also went to the small tent church I attended previously, and it was wonderful to share part of my family with the families I had already met there. It means so much to be able to share my experiences with someone else in person!

This week, I ventured out with Hospice for the first time, and absolutely loved it! It sounds a bit depressing: you go to dying individuals' homes and check up with them, even though there's usually nothing you can do to help them improve, but it ended up being so much more than that. We packed five of us into a jeep: our driver, a super joyful and helpful nurse (Fredrick), a chaplain (Jane), a visiting family doctor's wife (Barbara), and me, and visited three different homes that day. Hospice is so neat because you get to enter into the patients' daily life and living circumstances, meet their families, and intentionally love on them and pour into them spiritually. The first patient had extensive thyroid cancer, and her husband had dementia, so he apparently continues to struggle with his wife's illness, even after the nurse and his family have explained it to him several times. The second had esophageal cancer, which is one of the most common diseases seen here for some reason (I'm actually helping with a research project on this here as well). Both families were incredibly hospitable: always offering to make us chai and lunch, pulling out chairs for us, and continually thanking us for our help. And I got to share a few verses and pray with the patients too, which is one of the most special things you can ever do with a person. One of the verses sets that I memorized this year was perfect for our second patient:

Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes, not on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. ~2 Cor 4:16-18

Fredrick with our first patient, examining the extent of her thyroid cancer. In the background is the family chicken coop!

Barbara and Jane sharing some encouragement with our second patient.

We discovered, upon arrival, that our last patient had actually just passed away; her granddaughter was having trouble staying in the same room as us because she kept breaking down in tears. Hospice usually holds a bereavement service for these families, but when we discovered her church was coming that afternoon to hold one (it's so awesome to see the body of Christ caring for each other!), we decided to just pray with them. Before I left, I reached over to the granddaughter and hugged her...and she absolutely broke down in tears, clinging to me. So I held her while she sobbed and all I could do was pray for her as I realized that there are some things, like grief, that the entire human race can relate to, and nothing on this world can help such an emotion as well as the companionship and compassion of another. That's part of why Christ built us for community. And it was such a blessing to look down at that young woman as we both wiped away our tears and hear her whisper, "Thank you."

Friday, I had the chance to go to a school to hold a mini-devotion time with the kids and do a few routine health-checks. We first divided up into groups, and I got to talk to the kids about what it means to be a Christian, how to grow in your faith, and why we pray and read the Bible: simple yet vital principles. I kept telling the kids one of my favorite verses for youth, and one of the prayers for my heart:

Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but be an example for other 

believers in your speech, behavior, love, faithfulness, and purity. ~2 Timothy 4:12

Then we lined the kids up and handed out de-worming pills, which can be really common from the water here. One of the pediatricians taught me how to perform tinia capitus (head fungus) and skin disease checks, so I got to look through a classroom and do mini-physicals on them, which was so fun! The kids are so adorable and fun-loving, despite the fact that many are sick, filthy, and wearing rags for clothes; it just makes you so grateful and eager to simplify your life and re-examine your priorities. I'm continually amazed at how much the people and culture are teaching me here!

Passing out the de-worming pills to all of the school kids.

Performing tinia capitus and skin checks on "class 1" kids.

Then this weekend, right before my mom arrived, I hiked Mount Motigo again with a few other visitors; it's the highest elevation in the Tenwek area (which is saying something because Tenwek is at 6700 feet above sea level). It takes about three hours to complete, but the view at the very top of the hill is absolutely spectacular; you have a 360-view of the entire area, including Tenwek and a couple nearby towns. There is also a family who owns the land on the top of the hill, and both times I've gone, they've completely opened up their home for us to see and have persistently invited us inside for chai (tea) or a meal. The hospitality and community-focused attitude here is so wonderful and inviting, and I've really enjoyed all of the hiking and walking I've been able to do in the beautiful terrain here.

Almost to the top of Mount Motigo!