Last Kenya Blog!

Sadly, our time at Tenwek is at an end. Shay, Andrew, and I (along with a few others) are leaving to Nairobi tomorrow. It has been an amazing adventure – one of which I will never forget. Overall, it was a very pleasant stay. Although pretty different, it was not scary to come to Africa. Kenyans are very welcoming, especially around Tenwek. Last weekend we went on Safari at Maasai Mara Safari Club. We were told by other people that it was a five-star resort, but we weren’t expecting it to be quite as amazing as it was! It was gorgeous!! The rooms were literally five-star tents with running water, huge beds with awesome mosquito nets and hot water bottles inside the sheets at the foot of the bed! The hippo lagoon was right outside our tent and we could hear them at 5am. Our morning wake-up call was a guy bringing us coffee saying “Jambo! Your coffee’s ready!” So, we arrived (after a very bumpy ride) in time for one game drive Friday afternoon. Saturday, we went on a 6am game drive, went back for lunch and then another in the afternoon. Sunday we had one more 6am game drive before we left. We saw a ton of animals – cheetah, lions (from 10 feet away!! We could hear the “crunch, crunch, crunch” on the bone of their breakfast!), wildebeest, ostriches, dik diks, vultures, hyenas, zebras, giraffes, elephants, gazelles, hippos, antelopes, jackals, cape buffalo, water buffalo. It was also some of the most fun I’ve had off-roading. I don’t think Matt knows what off-roading really is! Haha And inevitably one of our cars got stuck in the mud – took about an hour to finally get them out! The group of people we got to go with was awesome, too. I’ve made some really good friends here that I hope I’ll get to see again!

Last night, we went out to eat at a restaurant in Bomet with Chris Huff’s friends (Internal Medicine Attending at Tenwek from North Carolina). It was a nice hoorah outing before we leave. We had to walk a ways because they didn’t want to get their car stuck on the muddy hill outside the Tenwek gates. And of course, in true Laura style – I fell in the mud…straight on my butt. LoL The guys felt bad (and everyone else had muddy feet) so they got a bucket of water for us to wash ourselves off)

Shay and I have been preparing to leave. We’ve gotten most of our stuff packed. We pulled aside some of our clothes and shoes we wanted to leave here and let the interns pick what they wanted. They pretty much took everything, which helps us have room to bring back more gifts :o) We’ve also been saying our goodbyes and playing wolleyball one last time before we leave – I’ll have the bruises to show my fun times haha. I also did some last minute finishing of my marketing/PR work for the hospital.

Schedule: Thursday and Friday in Nairobi, Saturday and Sunday in London, arrive Monday in Dallas, leave Tuesday for St. Louis – then finally back to Denver May 2nd! Please pray for our safe travels!! :o) Love y’all and I’ll see y’all soon!

Kenya Blogpost #6B

Sorry I did not get a chance to blog last week. Not everyday was very exciting, although I got to do a couple things. I went to Tirgaga, a tea factory. Since it is government owned, pictures are not allowed. It was fun to see how they make tea out of the leaves, though. Kenya is one of the largest exporters of tea, so that is much of their livelihood. We will be bringing lots of tea back with us for those of you who would like a taste :o) I also went back up to the nursery, not to feed, but just to hold the babies whose mothers are sick. It was easy to stay for a very long time, just holding them in my arms.

Like Shay previously said – it’s hard to see visitors come and go. So far, I’ve had to deal with it 3 different times; when the Jarrett twins left, when Dr. and Mrs. Miedema left, and also when Sarah Wisner left. It kind of makes you want to close yourself off so you don’t get too close when you know everyone will just leave. But then you realize that you’re also a visitor, and everyone has been so welcoming to you when they, as I’m sure, have had the same thoughts. It’s amazing the friendships that develop when God allows you to open your heart.

This week, I got to see my first vaginal delivery while I was shadowing Shay in the hospital. I wasn’t feeling 100% to begin with and Shay assured me she would just be working in the clinic, not doing much…then 10 minutes later… “Do you wanna see a delivery?” LoL I said sure, knowing I probably wouldn’t be able to handle it if I already wasn’t feeling well. I did better than I thought I would especially with it being a difficult delivery. Her rectum was bleeding and they had to cut her vagina. When the baby came out, it was totally blue b/c it had been stuck in the birth canal with no oxygen. I really believe it’s not the actual procedures that make me woozy…I think it’s more-so the atmosphere…the heat, the smell, etc. And possibly when they only have local anesthesia, and you know they’re in pain!

I also spent one day at the Manchester’s house with Theresa Manchester. She is the missionary who runs the Duka La Baraka (“Store of Blessings”) that is located in the guesthouse. Many locals including men, women and orphans make things that visitors can buy. She wanted me to take pictures of and write bios for the artists so that visitors will know who they are when they buy their items. We hope this will serve as a marketing tool. She also said if I have time, she thinks it would be a cool idea to interview and write a story on this Kenyan lady who owns a duka around Tenwek where she trains locals how to sew so that they have a trade. Sadly, our time here is running out. So hopefully I will have the chance.

Friday, I went out with Community Health & Development. Philip’s father is here from North Carolina, and he is a vet. So I went with him and his daughter, and two Kenyans from the clinic. We went to three different rural farms about 30 minutes away to check on their goats. The clinic has this program where they sell 10 goats (9 female, 1 male) to a group of locals (families get together and decide to be in groups together. The group we visited today has about 50 members, 30 farms). They take care of the goats as a group, and breed them until every family has 1 goat. They are not native goats, and are more expensive b/c they are full-bred. They are supposed to keep the goats in little huts that are off the ground, and bring food to them. They also have to make sure the goat feces can drop under the hut, and that the goats do not get around the feces. This is b/c there are MANY MANY worms in the feces that suck the blood from the goats and will eventually kill them. So they have a “zero-grazing” policy, and feed the goats special food. Mr. Hoover was making sure they are actually doing this (they weren’t) so they won’t have to spend so much money on de-worming medicine for the goats that will eventually stop working anyway when they build up a tolerance. Around noon, we went to a food storage that the group has built. Apparently, this particular group is much ahead of other groups they have seen. However, there is not much food left in their food storage. They have made their own b/c of the supposed corruption in the Kenyan government. The government has food storages for when crops are scarce, but last year the food storages ran out early which is supposedly not supposed to be able to happen. The government officials were illegally selling food to neighboring countries and keeping the money for themselves, hence the self-started food storages. The Nyaururu food storage is where this group has their meetings, and during their meeting, we were expected to introduce ourselves and make a little speech. So since Shay wasn’t with me, I couldn’t pawn off that responsibility Haha. Then we went to this “restaurant,” or “hotel,” as they call them. I was told I was expected to eat yamachama…goat meat. I tried to get out of having to order it, but they brought it to me anyway. I ate around it until I was told I have to clear my plate. Not knowing if Wesley was joking or not, and not wanting to offend anyone, I took a few bites. Then I decided to put some in a napkin and slyly sneak it into my backpack. Lessons learned from childhood :o)

This morning, I hiked Motigo at 5am with a big group of visitors! I finally got to see the amazing view at sunrise. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything quite so breathtaking! I tried to get good pictures (and some turned out really well), but it still does not do it justice. We also want to climb one more time before we leave, this time at sunset.

A group of guesthouse visitors are thinking about taking a trip to Uganda to raft the Nile, including Andrew. I was contemplating trying to change my flights back home in order to go with them (they are going after we leave). I don’t think it’s feasible this time around. However, I plan on coming back sometime in the future. Then I can raft the Nile, climb Kilimanjaro and go to Mombasa and/or Malindi (the coast)!!

Until next time…which might only be once more till we’re home!

Kenya blogpost #6

Shay's Week 6 Post

I can't believe we've been here 6 weeks! It's sad to say goodbye to friends who have made our time here so enjoyable - and so many new people have come in the last week or so too! The guesthouse is FULL of people now and at first it's hard to welcome new folks but then I quickly remember that it wasn't so long ago that we were so warmly welcomed too. I came home one night while I was on call and the whole table had people around it -- "hello family!" It's amazing how sharing meals daily really gives a sense of community! I hope I can remember this when I have my own family someday.

This week was a good one. I saw my first tubal ligation under only local anesthesia (ouch!) and did my first vaginal delivery here. I managed to admit 7 patients by myself from clinic when the interns left me there alone, and they marched all of them up to the labor ward and sat them on the same bench. When I come up I saw all my patients sitting there practically on top of each other (there's always room for one more in Kenya!) and it made me feel like I was finally serving a good purpose. Twice this week I walked patients straight from clinic myself to get an idea of what was going on and I had to tell one family that the baby was no longer living but she would still have to go through labor normally since it was almost 38 weeks gestation. The family was so stoic and the Kenyans just seem to accept their fate in a way that helps them move on. In the US we would visibly mourn a long time but here they have to just get back to work. Either they do a better job accepting loss or they hide it better. Other cases from this week: thyroid storm in a 36-wk pregnant woman who is doing ok after a stint in the ICU (pray for that baby and mom!), bilateral breast fibroadenomas that were each the size of bowling balls - she had a c-section and will now be breastfeeding!, a criminal abortion where someone cut the arm of a baby off in order to deliver it (the chaplain note said that mom later accepted Christ), a c-section on a breech second twin.

At morning report there was a surgery case where a guy was walking down the street and was passed by a man who was being chased by two guys. He thought the two were thugs and hit them with a rungu (a club) and it turned out those two were the cops chasing the other dude. The cops pulled out a gun and shot the guy in the chest! It apparently missed all vital organs and the guy is stable -- all for trying to help out the wrong party!

I went for a hike today and ran into my new friends Ednah and Violet. Violet is Ednah's mother in law and they walk a loop every day up near our guesthouse. Ednah carries a stool for Violet to sit on when she's tired - she's in her 70's. They do this for exercise daily and I was so impressed that I stopped to make friends the third time I passed them. Ednah told me, "you steered her actually! When she saw you go by so fast she got encouraged to keep going!" Really, I told her it was the other way around. I went back to the guesthouse for my camera b/c they were so darn cute! I told Violet she reminded me of my grandma :) I'll post their picture.

Tonight we'll have a Good Friday service and then watch The Passion of the Christ. Then I'll take call Saturday and go to the sunrise service at 6am Sunday before having Easter lunch with Drs. Crognale and their daughters. Next weekend we go on safari and then we'll be headed to Nairobi shortly after that and on toward home via London! What an exciting trip! I must say, though, I'm not exactly home sick as much as excited to give several people some big hugs! And there's one in particular that I didn't anticipate missing so much when we planned this trip a year ago...

One miraculous story revisited: I believe I wrote about Cherotich, the 3 year old who had bacterial meningitis resistant to all the drugs in the pharmacy. During her stay, I would go to check on her and find her father with Bible open, sharing with the terminally sick kids in the beds next to them. In case you have a hard time believing God answers prayers, it was a miracle that the CSF culture actually grew out to tell us what we were dealing with! Then we managed to find some vancomycin on the superintendant's desk which saved her life! I was walking out of the hospital yesterday and her sweet father stopped me (they were back for a visit after being discharged) --- I took her from him and felt like I was holding an entirely different child! Praise the LORD for Cherotich -- I'm convinced God has a sweet plan for her life! She's the one in the picture posted here.

I hope Laura posts about her first experience with a vaginal delivery yesterday :)

Praises:
for community and new friends, Kenyan and American and Canadian and Irish!
for the miraculous recoveries that help make the sad cases bearable
for the faith of the people here who encourage me to trust God
for the Son of God choosing to "drink the cup" that was before Him some 2000 yrs ago
for the gift of eternal life we are privileged to share because He defeated death once and for all!

Prayer requests: that we would continue to see God at work here and know His will for the times of transition before us. We're praying Laura can find a job once she gets back to the states with the economy in such bad times. I'm thinking about buying a house in St Louis when I get back too but I'll be crunched for time, so please pray that the details will all be worked out! Also please pray for Brian and me, that we would submit to God's will in all He has for each of us.

It's Friday.... But Sunday's coming!

Love, Shay

Kenya blogpost #5

Shay's Week 5

"Hey Sha-y, you want to come to prayer time?" my intern named Purity asked me at about 10:15 this morning after we had finished rounding. I said "sure..." as I find myself doing often - never quite knowing what lies ahead. I went with her and one of the OB nurses to the chapel on campus and we walked right up on stage to sing. I was like, wait a minute! Do I have to?? I feared we were going to be breaking out in kiswahili hymns, thinking to myself, I did it again! I can't even READ in swahili, much less try to read music and sing at the same time! Luckily we sang "How Great Thou Art" in English, along with the entire OB team -- the interns (Hillary, Anthony, Ronald, and Purity), about 10 nurses I met this week, and Dr. Sara Cichowski -- another blonde mzungu -- on the piano. And today, for the first time, I felt like I belonged.

I started on the OB service on Monday. I was a little anxious with the new environment, having gotten to know pediatrics and the NICU very well last month. Every morning the whole residency starts with a meeting of sorts -- patient check-out or grand rounds or M&M (doctor-speak for morbidity and mortality, or "what we can do better next time"). After the meeting Monday morning I grabbed Purity b/c I knew I should just stick to her side so she could show me the OB ropes. As soon as I got upstairs, Dr. Sarah told me there was a cesarean section that needed to be done down in theater and I should scrub in. The nurse anesthetist said the prayer (a routine thing before each surgery here, which I LOVE), then Dr. Sarah made the first skin incision and handed me the knife....

It was the sort of "take a deep breath and get over it -- you're doing your first c-section today!" feeling. She showed me how to dissect down the muscle and then pull apart the peritoneum to expose the uterus. Slice, slice slice...fluid! She guided my hand into the uterus, instructing me to keep the head flexed while she provided the fundal pressure, and then baby! Someone suctioned, someone clamped, someone cut the cord, the little boy cried vigorously and a happy birthday was had by all. She left me to close skin and it's nice that each of the last 3 I've sewn up since then looks better than the previous one...

I've seen some crazy anomalies in the last week. One anencephalic fetus, born without a closed spine at the neck; one with a huge omphalocoele plus meningocoele; one incredibly huge hydrocephalus (fluid instead of brain) that I couldn't believe came out by c-section at a nearby hospital. I think in the states we don't see these things as much because we know they're coming and since they're not compatible with life we don't let them carry to term. In addition, most ladies deliver at home here so if they do come to the hospital they usually have a reason to do so. I found myself wondering how it would feel to have a life growing inside you for 40 weeks that had no chance of living its first day outside the womb -- would I rather know what was coming or be like these ladies who found out the same day they gave birth? Is it ethical to do what we do in the states and terminate a pregnancy like that? Sometimes ignorance seems easier.

I did one lady's VERY FIRST pelvic exam yesterday to investigate possible cervical cancer... She was afraid of and ultimately refused the speculum despite having given birth NINE TIMES previously -- at home. Imagine! I tried to reason with her in good humor through a translator, comparing the size of the speculum to the size of her children but she really didn't want anything to do with those stirrups! At the end of it, I just had to say ok and hope she'll let us do a biopsy under anesthesia, submitting to the tenet of patient autonomy, even though the likelihood of her having cervical cancer is high.

I struggle some with the gap in calling things what they are here. In the US we usually work very hard to know what it is we're trying to treat. Given this expectation and common practice, it's difficult for a western-trained physician to work here because the diagnostic capabilities and screening techniques are so limited. There's no CT scan, no MRI, no interventional radiologist, no quantifiable blood tests for pregnancy (urine only), no G/C probes, no pap smears, very few positive cultures... The reagents constantly run out for routine blood tests like PTT, AST, BUN, to name a few. Antibiotics are limited, and there's no way to test for resistance to HIV drugs. The surgeons become the CT scan and as a result, your clinical skills have to make up the difference. Here at Tenwek, it's "typhoid versus malaria versus tuberculosis" --- and with no way to really disprove any, many patients get treatment for all. This will make internship interesting, when I don't have these to fall back on when we otherwise have no clue what's going on! Instead of Dr. Thal's "appendicities versus the field" it has become "TB versus the field." Ah, and no one here says HIV... it's "ISS" or immune suppression syndrome, or it's referred to circumferentially as "this disease" -- interesting.

I'm grateful for your prayers. I've just been incredibly blessed to be in such a community of God-fearing believers and new friends! I've heard testimonies that make my jaw drop at how people really let go of being in control, choosing instead to place their faith in God. I'm also grateful that even the last 5 days have served to make me more confident both in the OR and in the labor ward. I kind of love working here where the standard is not "do everything irregardless of the cost or get sued" but instead the motivation is "we treat; Jesus heals" -- even recognizing our human limitations from the motto of the hospital. It's true! There are a lot of limitations here! But the limited resources serve to remind me that we're never in charge -- even when we think we are with all our technology. We don't desperately try to save every life, either, if the outcome won't ever be good... you quickly realize the importance of weighing cost/benefit in terms of quality of life -- not just for the patient, but for the family and their livelihood. It doesn't make sense to start someone on a ventilator who is never likely to come off and the family literally has to sell the farm to pay for it.

Other crazy cases we've heard about since being here - please lift their families up to God, trusting that He will hold them in His hands... A single mom of three who in a psychotic episode drenched herself with kerosene and set herself on fire - leaving 3 more orphans in Kenya. A family of 3 kids who recently lost both parents and an older sibling to HIV, who just found out that all 3 of them are positive as well. An elderly lady who was mauled by a water buffalo and died a few days later. A young Christian girl who was raped by a drunk man who then shot her in the face at point-blank range with a bow and arrow -- and lived. A young guy in his 20s who was assaulted and somehow ended up with a total transection of his spinal cord at C4, leaving him a quadriplegic. A mother who had quadruplets a month ago and then watched as each one died from severe prematurity and complications. And all the mothers who constantly give birth to babies with neural tube defects like above (probably due to their folate-deficient diets)...

I hope these things don't depress you! They're just some of the things God is using to teach me not to take any day for granted. As I read through the old testament right now I'm amazed at God's heart for the poor, the widows, and the orphans all through scripture! I'm reminded of James 1:27, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

As the Kenyans say, let us pray "believing and trusting in Jesus' name", remembering the Truth we are told in Psalms 118:5 "In my anguish I cried to the Lord and He answered by setting me free."

May you know in your heart the Truth that sets us free!

Kenya Blogpost #4

Laura’s week #4

Monday: Christy and I continued our work in radiology. We’re trying to get as much done as possible with the two of us, before she leaves next week. The power went out a couple times in the hospital during the afternoon, which made the machine finicky and stopped producing decent scans. So, we were forced to quit early that day. We decided to go shopping at the dukas (“stores”) outside the hospital. We went around and bought some congas, a scarf and some fabric. We got the tailor to sew the outsides of our congas b/c Christy found out the hard way once you wash them, they start to ravel if they are not sewn. The tailor cost 10 KSH, which is like 12 cents!

Tuesday: Tuesday, I did not work in radiology. Instead, Laura Jarrett and I went to the primary school near Tenwek. We visited a class of about 60 students. They were SO cute! We sang a couple songs with them, read the story of the “wordless book” of Christ and made bracelets with them based on the meaningful colors in the book. After lunch, I did some reading, cleaned up the room a bit, and applied to some jobs online. Shay and I finally decided to push our beds together so we could both have a mosquito net b/c the mosquitoes are getting worse – apparently all over the compound. We have 2 separate ones but just use the same hook since mine didn’t have a hook.

Wednesday: Wednesdays are orthopedic clinic, so radiology is usually very busy. We decided we would go to work a bit early and get some work done before they got too busy. We had about an hour and a half before we had to leave b/c it got too busy. (The scanner is in the same room where they develop the x-rays which is like a darkroom…so every time they take an x-ray, we have to stop scanning and turn off the lights.) Something encouraging, though, was that Alice, one of the Kenyans who works in radiology, said she had scanned about 10 x-rays yesterday after we left – Something we felt really pleased to hear b/c we weren’t sure if our work would even mean anything to them and if they would continue after we’re gone. I don’t think they are really taught organization and importance of protocol in their culture. In the afternoon, I took a nap and read. I was also supposed to stand in on a c-section this week, but had a meeting with Dr. Spears, so I had to miss it. Sara, the OB doctor, said there would be plenty more opportunities. I want to do it before I leave (and possibly witness more surgeries) b/c I would NEVER be able to do that in the states.

Thursday: Thursday was another radiology day; we got a lot done!

Friday: Today, Christy and I stood in on a few different surgeries. We got to see a urethroplasty on a grown man, some sort of throat abcess, and a skin graft on a 5-month-old burn victim’s skull. The latter was the coolest one so far – albeit very sad. I felt a little woozy on the urethroplasty and had to sit out in the hall for a bit, afterwards I watched from the window of the OR. We also got a detailed explanation from the anesthesiologist about what drugs/equipment he uses. I was totally fine on the other surgeries and did not feel sick at all. The skin graft procedure was by far the most interesting, and it’s fairly common to see burn victims apparently. This one was laid by the fire by her mother, and her mother fell asleep while the baby rolled into the fire. I want to see a c-section as well, but Sara had the day off today and was not doing any. But she has assured me that there would be plenty of opportunities. We looked at the OR board and did not see any interesting surgeries planned for this afternoon, so I walked to Silibwet with Sonja and Bob to go shopping at the outdoor “market.” Then we played “wollyball” and “bodyball” and called it a night.

Saturday: Today we climbed Mt. Motigo – a great hike despite the fact that it was mid-day and kinda hot. On the way down, the HUGEST grasshopper I have ever seen in my life flew into my mouth!!! Talk about gross! I also realized my wollyball-induced injuries on my arms…massive bruises and hematoma haha. Hopefully it will heal soon enough. After the hike, Shay and I read and took a nap. Then we woke up and made our very first meal on our own here – pizza from scratch! It turned out really well, and we had game night with Phil, Chris, Dr. Dan, Sonja, Bob, Andrew, Shay and I. We played spades in 2 groups and Dr. Dan brought dessert – m&ms and snickers! Lol Then, more reading before bed.

Sunday: Saturday night I had insomnia, so I stayed up till about 4 am applying for various jobs online back in the states. Needless to say, I was not up in time to make it to church service. I slept till about 10:30, and did some more work on the computer and read a bit. Then Shay and I agreed to take over bible quizzing for Christy and Ed after they leave this week, so we helped them today in order to get a sense of what they’re doing – the kids have to memorize 75 bible verses and next week they have a tournament against the other teams. Our team is currently in 2nd place. Then they had a party; Shay and I manned the volleyball station until it was time for us to go home. The rest of the night, we just hung out. I played Hold ‘em with Andrew and Phil – and won, of course :o) Then I read some more and went to bed. (Although I’m reading a bunch of books at once – the one I can’t put down is Twilight. I didn’t know what everyone was raving about, but it really is a good book.)

Kenya blogpost #3b

Shay's post --

Thank you all for your prayers! I reminded our friends at Daniel's church today that "the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective" (James 5) and I do believe that yours are working in our favor.

I started work in the nursery on Monday, which is really the NICU here, as the well babies don't actually get admitted to the hospital. It has been interesting! I'm dealing with a whole different set of pathology now, including birth asphyxia (where the babies don't have oxygen to the brain for some time -- devastating), necrotizing enterocolitis (where the baby's premature bowel dies and becomes toxic), ISS (immune suppression syndrome, or HIV), and congenital defects. We lose probably a baby a day to these things, which somehow doesn't surprise me given the inadequate prenatal care. But I think I'm getting used to letting people go...

I think it was on Monday that two of the patients I had been following in the ward passed away. In retrospect, it was the mercy of God to bring them both to Him. The one that made me saddest was the 4 year old with leukemia, whose family I had really gotten to know a bit. I walked out of the hospital and saw her father standing with the chaplain. He told me she was with the Lord and I did my best to demonstrate sympathy. I walked down the sidewalk and shook hands with her mother, who said, "she's gone..." and that got to me a bit. It was a sad time but I realized that they were supposed to leave for Eldoret that day, which would have been very expensive and she was so sick it probably wouldn't have saved her. In God's sweet provision, my Bible reading plan included Psalm 116 (please read it!) -- "precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." I want this psalm read at my funeral, please.

This is also what I shared with the friends at church today when we were asked to stand up and share something with the congregation. We read this psalm and thanked God for the gift HE gives us of eternal life with him. He has set us free from the fear of death by sending us Jesus, and in knowing Jesus we have confidence that we will someday find a peaceful rest that none of us has ever known! Praise to Him.

I've also been learning more about the culture, especially in comparison to ours. Where we value productivity and efficiency, they value relationship and trust. We place our priority on TIMELINESS and they take chai every morning no matter what! We value our privacy, they line up and clap to contribute their offerings at church. We want a week's notice for visitors; they have neighbors over daily to share in their meals. We have a hard time accepting death; they seem to see it as part of life. We like to be called "skinny" and "young" while these things mean you're sick and lack wisdom here. We spend what we do not have; they save for months to send their kids to school. It's funny how we best understand other cultures by comparing them to our own...

One thing that does not change is God -- He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He is constant across cultures, across language, across our limitations of understanding. Because of this, Daniel, Shadrack, Laura, and I can have conversations about what He has saved us out of that strangely mirror each other's stories. Daniel talked a lot about struggling with his family, growing up one of 9 children with divorced parents, which is a very rare thing here. He talked about how he came to know the Lord and realized that maybe a wife would be a good thing after all. Previously, he had been "tortured by fear" that his family would hurt the way he had suffered. It reminded me of Proverbs 17:1, "Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife." I thank God for the sweet home he has allowed Daniel and Anna to build together.

It's funny, I told Laura I would climb Mount Motigo with her (she didn't go last week) in exchange for coming with me to Daniel's church today. When we ended up taking lunch again, she was like, "YOU OWE ME BIG TIME!!!" We'll have to see what that means, as I'm pretty sure she's set on cashing that one in at some point...

One more week of nursery, then off to OB. Hard to believe we've been here 3 weeks! Prayer Requests: For comfort for the families of patients who die. Praise that I'm more comfortable here than I was a week ago! Pray for Daniel's church, that they would continue to be a light to the people of the community and that they would grow in the ways they think the Lord is leading them. Pray for Laura and me, to continue learning about God's faithfulness and provision, even in times of suffering.

Please let us know how we can pray for you!
Love, Shay

Kenya blogpost #3

Laura's post:
Ohhh, where do I start writing about this week? So, last Sunday as we already told you, we went to church and “lunch” at Daniel’s house. Well, as it was authentic Kenyan food, of course one of us was bound to get sick. I was the lucky one. I spent the first part of the week taking it easy. Then, Shay told me I should take CIPRO to get rid of any GI bug I might have....only to realize I’m ALLERGIC to the drug! I have never been allergic to anything in my life, but I started itching ALL over, scratching frantically. And of course this was when Shay was at work, so she didn’t even know about it till I went up to the hospital to tell her what happened. Then, Sara, the OB resident took me to the pharmacy and prescribed me some stuff to help. LoL The itching was the worst part of it, too. It was worse than the actual sickness :o( So, after a few days of that...I started work again up at the hospital. Christy and I started a new project that hopefully the Kenyans will continue with after we leave. We are scanning all the x-rays into a computer database. We hope to finish all of 2009 x-rays up to the current date, and have them continue with the older ones after we’re gone. Christy also informed me that she calculated all the x-rays that we had re-filed from the other week. It was a total of 35,699 x-rays. And that wasn’t even half of all of them that they have.

Thursday night was Match night (for all the med students to figure out where they will be for residency – Andrew found he will be in Denver!) so we had game night at the guesthouse. All the people our age (and even Christy and Ed) came and we played Apples to Apples and spoons. We also had desserts that people had brought—and Shay’s failed watery Jell-o. haha

Friday night, Shay was on call, so I just rested and hung out with the girls.

Saturday, I went hiking with the Jarrett twins, Sonja, Sarah, Jessica, Christy and Ed. That was nice just to get off the compound. We had to cross the river, so we took our shoes off and crossed, while the locals who were washing their clothes in the river watched us and smiled. Later, Daniel took us to Bomet to go fabric shopping. It was fun to just go galavanting around the “city” and see all the locals. There was a guy on a microphone standing on some stairs with a bunch of people gathered to listen to him. As we passed by (in front of the crowd), he said “Welcome, you are very welcome, our visitors from America.” Then he said something in Kipsigis and everyone laughed. We figured it was about us, so we asked Daniel what he had just said. And he told us that the guy said “See, I understand English, so they understand me.” After some bargaining which Daniel later told us the vendors told him to “stay out of our business” in order for them to charge us a higher price...which of course Daniel did not let them, we sat down to have a coke in a local “hotel” which means restaurant. Then our driver picked us up and we headed home. That night, we had a girls’ movie night at Dr. Carol Spears’ house. We had chicken pot pie and pizza and watched No Reservations...of course we had to choose a chick flick! :o)

Okay...so then it’s Sunday. And Shay...not really consulting with me beforehand...volunteered us to go back to Daniel’s church and house so his wife can teach us how to cook ugali, sikuma wiki, and chai tea. All of which I wanted to do, but not this weekend, especially after getting sick last weekend. So, since Shay could not get anyone else to go with her, I told her I would do it (but she owed me). lol Then she said she would tell Daniel that we had to be back after church – which is a 3-4 hour commitment in itself – but before she got a chance to...he said “I hope you have not forgotten your promise that you would come to my house and learn to cook from Anna.” He said that she was at home preparing. So obviously, I could not say no! So accepting now that it was going to be an ALL day affair, I told Shay she owes me even more big time, especially b/c that meant I would have to eat again...We sat in church, being able to understand every now and then when they translated for us, and sang Kipsigis hymns. Then we had to stand up in front of everyone and introduce ourselves, and were even expected to either sing or give a sermon!! So...haha I obviously made Shay think of something to say. She did, and Daniel translated in Kipsigis for us. Then we sat down and continued. After service, there was a traditional auction in which several people brought offerings to be auctioned off including eggs, onions, and a pumpkin. (Apparently, when Dr. Kydee Sheetz was once there, they brought a donkey and she ended up buying it). Everyone gets in a circle with the assistant pastor in the middle with the offerings. We bought the onions, and then stayed around to talk for a little bit after the auction. Then we headed to Daniel’s house, where we talked and Anna (his wife) showed us how to make the traditional Kenyan food over a traditional “fireplace.” Then we ate and visited some more. It is possible that we could have been there for hours later, but I had told Shay that I needed to meet with Carol Spears about some PR work I was doing for her. So we politely said we needed to be heading home (which sometimes it’s hard to know if we’re being polite or rude b/c they think Americans are so direct and well, rude.) lol Daniel and Shadrack walked us back to the compound, and we gave them our email addresses. We plan to get their address so we can send them copies of the pictures we have taken.

Prayer requests –
*That neither of us get sick this week :o)
*That I will hear good news from Burson-Marsteller about a summer internship in Dallas which I REALLY want.
*That our work here will continue to do good.
*That God will guide me to make decisions for my future and where/what I will be doing.
*For all the patients in need of care at the hospital.

Love and Miss you guys very much!