I was never quick enough to catch it on camera,
but Mary was so happy and smiling the whole time we were at the house today.

          Yesterday Catherine took Mary to a clinic so that the doctors could check on her. The doctors measured her head and there has been no change in the size. The bad thing is that the weight in her head is shifting towards the back of her head and because of this the doctors said that she needs another surgery as soon as possible. Her surgery is scheduled for Monday morning. 

When I first started talking to Catherine she told us that the husband left her when Mary was born, then later on she told us that she lived with Mary’s father. We decided to leave the issue alone and not pry into her personal business and focus on caring for Mary. Today the issue came up again and we asked her why she told us previously that the father left. Catherine told us that someone was going to help them pay for the first surgery, but when they found out that she was married they backed out because they thought that the husband should pay for the surgery. So she told us she was alone because she was afraid that we would do the same thing if we knew about her husband. Regardless of the fact that he is around, this family is still struggling to afford rent and food, let alone surgery. This is apparent from where they live and the state of things in their house. 

Today when we were at their home, I got to meet Mary’s father for the first time. They were speaking in Swahili, and I could only understand bits and pieces of the conversation, but I could tell that he was so thankful and appreciative of the help that we were providing him and his family. He was so grateful and more than willing to work to pay the cost of transporting Mary and Catherine to and from Nairobi. On Sunday we are picking them up and driving them to the bus station to send them on their way. I am so thankful for my friends at home so are so willing to help and support what I am doing here. 

Our team has been spending a lot of time in Shimo La Tewa. At the Bible Study that we have on Fridays the sweetest little boy caught my eye. His name was Franco. He was so sweet and had a huge smile on his face the whole time, but he looked so skinny and malnourished. We talked to the mother and saw that she had a little baby girl, named Rael, on her back who also didn’t look healthy. We asked the mother where they lived and told her that we could come visit them soon. 

Franco

On Monday we set off to find their home. They told us they lived at crossroads, which turned out to be very vague directions. We got to that point and started asking kids if they knew Franco and Rael, but nobody knew them. Then we saw sweet little Franco walking towards us. His mother was not around, but we asked him to show us where he lived so we could come back and talk to the mother a different day. We walked over towards his house and met his four sisters. It was interesting because two of them looked healthy and like they were getting enough food to eat. Then there’s Franco and his twin sisters, Rael and Rosie, who are three years old. Rosie was walking around wearing an outfit that was so tattered and torn. Her skin was covered with skin lice that comes from not being bathed and she also is malnourished. Rael can’t walk and is severely malnourished. 

Rael was not happy to pose for the camera

Rosie, Franco and Rael sitting right outside their home

We are going back to Shimo on Thursday to talk to the mother. It is an interesting situation because two of the kids look healthy and the other three do not. We are trying to find some sort solution, but its difficult. We have a supplement called Plumpy Nut that is meant to be given to people who are malnourished and after two weeks great improvements can be seen. The only problem is, if there is not going to be any change with the food situation in the home the Plumpy Nut is only a temporary solution. Keep Franco and his family in your prayers this week and pray that God will give us the knowledge to find a more permanent solution to the challenges they face. 

Jade and I with Franco

      I’d like to start off by thanking Allison Hibbard for teaching me a life altering skill that will allow for me to post more pictures than anyone could ever imagine.  Other than that, I just wanted to give a little update on some of the things that I’ve blogged about in the past.  

     First of all Baby Mary is doing great. When I met her I was scrambling to find some sort of way to help her in any way that I could. My mother, being the angel that she is, scrambled to send a neck pillow to me with some people that were flying out here. Yesterday, I met Mary and Catherine at Bible study and gave the pillow to them. We put the pillow around her neck and for the first time she was sitting up with only a little support to keep her head up. Within three minutes, she was fast asleep for the entire two hours of Bible Study. We kept the baby outside with us and gave Catherine a little break. Afterwards, she was talking and socializing with the other women, which is something that she normally doesn't get to do because she always has Mary with her. It is great that such a simple thing could make such a big difference. I am looking forward to seeing how much progress she makes over the time that I am here.  

Here is Baby Mary sitting up almost completely on her own with her new neck pillow.

Leila and Mary

Mary sound asleep.

       Today I picked up the kids from Purpose Driven Academy and took them into town to get new uniforms and some other things that they need. We went into a shoe store and sweet little Marvelous sat and looked at herself in the mirror and was doing cute little dances the whole time we were there. After we got all the shopping stuff done we took them to eat in town and they were all so happy and excited. They chose whatever they wanted off of the menu. Junior, Allan and Stella all wanted  and a soda, chicken and french fries then went for seconds. Marvelous ordered beef stew and chipati then went for a second round of beef stew. They all ate more food than I even thought was humanly possible. It was great to see their smiling faces and how happy they were to take a trip into town. It was great to see them in a completely opposite mood from the last time I saw them.  They were so happy and precious so we took lots of pictures. Enjoy!

Junior eating his chicken and chips

Allan with his lunch

Stella

Marvelous eating her beef stew and chipati

Me with Stella and Marvelous

Allan!

Junior!

Today was  challenging day, but I was able to feel God’s comfort and be given a chance to trust that his plan will work out perfectly in the end.I went to Purpose Driven Academy to meet, Pamela, the mother of Allan, Stella, Junior and Allan because she came to the school to visit them. When I got there I greeted her and all of her kids were sitting with her except for Junior. 

Stella, Marvelous and Pamela

So after I talked for the mother for a little while I went to find him. He was serving his classmates porridge for breakfast and looking down trying to hide his tears. His classmates had noticed he was crying and began chanting and making fun of him. So I grabbed his hand and pulled him around the corner and he just broke down. I sat with him for almost and hour. I had been struggling with the fact that I didn’t feel like I was getting much accomplished in the time that I have been here. In this moment I felt overwhelming peace and it was confirmed to me once again that simply being present is the most important thing.There was no way for me to communicate with him except to show him that I love him and care about him. Junior is normally such a happy child and it was heartbreaking to see him so upset.

Sweet Junior on a day when he was taking pictures with my camera. 

        After a while, he went back to class then at the next break, Pamela asked me to bring him over so that she could talk with him. So I went over and grabbed his hand and led him over to her. When Junior got over there he wouldn’t even look at her. I couldn’t understand everything she was saying to him, but I heard her ask why he wouldn’t talk to her, why he was scared of her and why he refused to sit with her. It was heartbreaking to see how much pain he was holding on to because he is fully unable to cope with it. 

Later, I brought Pamela into Margaret’s office and we talked with her about if she would be willing to talk to her children and be more honest about her health. It was a tough and frustrating conversation. She  is afraid of telling her kids because she doesn’t want them to treat her with the same stigma that the rest of her community treat people who are HIV+. We explained to her that the whole reason we found her was because her oldest child, Protenciana, who is now in high school, was able to connect the dots and find out that what she was learning about in school and the symptoms her mother was having coincided with the symptoms that come with having AIDS. Margaret told her that by second grade both the boys will have learned enough to suspect, but not to know for sure.

We also talked about how it might ease some of their pain and sadness if they knew what was going on with their mother. Pamela explained that when the kids are home for break, Allan doesn’t let any of the other children eat until she has eaten more than enough because he knows that she needs to have good meal before she takes her medicine. She also told us that all of the kids are curious, but she thinks its better to leave them wondering. Pamela told us that her mother didn’t tell her until she was on her death bed and she plans on doing the same. 

It was frustrating to have three people telling Pamela that they thought it would be best if her children were told a little about what was going on and her refusing to bend. It puts me in a bad place of wanting to be there for the kids to have someone they can talk to and not being able to answer their questions because we have to honor what the mother says. All we can do is assure them that regardless of what happens they will always be taken care of and be there for them to have someone to listen to what they have to say. Sorry this blog is a little long. Thanks for reading!

Just to end this blog on a bit of a happier note. Pamela noticed how much happier  and healthier  Marvelous is  now. Here is a picture of her doing a dance during PE class.

       There are many people that I’ve met on this trip, but God makes some people really stand out to me. There are so many huge problems that we see everyday and everyone has so much that they need. All we can do is take the people God puts on our hearts and help them one at a time. Two people in particular that have been on my mind a lot are a lady named Catherine and her little baby named Mary who live in Shimo la Tewa. Mary was born with hydrocephalus, which means that she has water on her brain. Her mother had to have a C-section because the hydrocephalus has caused her head to expand. When her father saw Mary he left, so now Catherine is on her own to raise Mary and provide for both of them. When Mary was four months old she had a surgery to place a shunt in her head to try to relieve some of the pressure on her brain and allow some of the fluid to drain. The surgery was expensive, but the clinic allowed the mother to make payments so that Mary could still get the help she needs. Sadly, because Mary needs a lot of extra care and attention it puts a huge strain on her mother. Catherine is only able to leave the house for a short while to collect water and wash laundry because she can’t leave the child at home alone for long and she can’t carry Mary and what she needs at the same time. Catherine’s neighbors also support her by giving her some food because she is unable to work. 

            Despite her tough situation Catherine is a great, loving mother to her daughter. She wants to provide for her the best way that she can. She needs so much, but doesn’t ask for a single thing. Mary is unable to hold up her head because of its size. She needs to do exercises to help strengthen her neck, but her mother does not have any spare time to work on that with her. I will be working on spending some time with Mary working on strengthening her neck while giving her mother some time to have a little break and get some things done. Keep her in your prayers. We are taking her to a clinic on the 27th and if her head has not gotten any smaller she will have to have another operation. 

Mary was sleeping when we came to visit.

Catherine and Mary inside their home.

Another week in Kitale has come and gone. This week I have been settling into the routine that I will be doing for the rest of the summer. God is showing me how important it is just to show the people that I come in contact with everyday how much I love them. The team and I have been working on getting the stories of all of the kids that live at Discover to Recover. It has been great to get to know the kids at a more personal level and I am looking forward to talking to the rest of them. 

One child’s story in particular has been on my mind all week. Leila couldn’t come with us to translate so we asked one of the older boys to help us out. We were interviewing one of my favorite kids, Silvia. We were asking her about her life before she got to the center and she was talking about when she was living with her aunt and she broke down in tears. A lot of the story was lost in translation so we couldn’t really get the whole story. After she was done answering questions we went outside and she just held onto me and cried. When she calmed down a little bit I told her that I would bring Leila back so that we can talk to her. Then she looked up and me and said “Please don’t ever leave me” and started sobbing again. It was so hard because I couldn’t communicate to her all that I wanted to say so I just did all I could by sitting with her and letting her know that she is loved. 

      I got to go back this weekend with Leila so that we could all talk. Silvia told us that her father died so she was taken to live with her aunt because her mother was not well enough to care for her. Her aunt treated her terribly by not sending her to school, beating her and throwing her out of the house and making her sleep outside. Her mother is still alive, but Silvia has no idea where her or the rest of her siblings are. It is heartbreaking to see a child who has gone so much pain and has no way of dealing with it. It makes it even harder when all you want to do is make them feel better and there is little you can do to make it better. All  could do was tell her how much I love her and how much God loves her.  

Silvia 

 We have had a busy week starting up our new schedules serving at the different ministries around Kitale. My highlight this week was getting to spend a lot of time in Shimo la Tewa. Shimo is the slum that is nearest to the compound where we stay. It’s great to be able to walk down the road for a few minutes and spend time serving and loving our closest neighbors who are also in need. The story is the same there as it is in many places around Kitale. Some of the parents work hard to provide for their families and still struggle to get enough money and food to support them. Others become discouraged by the challenges that come with living in poverty and fall into drinking the local brew. Throughout the week members of the team have been walking around the neighborhood getting to know the people who live there. There is so much need all around so we do what we can to serve even in small ways.

Outside of John and Sammy's houses

When I first saw Micah, he was walking around barefoot only putting pressure on his heel. I walked over and looked at the bottom of his foot and saw a huge cut with mud caked over the top of it. I bought him some shoes and socks for help keep his foot clean and we have been changing his bandage every three days and it’s getting better every day. 

John is a sweet little boy who live in Shimo. He isn’t old enough to come to Oasis of Hope but over the years I have been able to spend some time with his three older sisters to attend school there. It has been great being able to walk around the area and get to know the siblings and mothers of many of the children from Oasis. 

Sammy lives a few doors down from John. He is almost a year and a half. His family has had a rough year and his parents are struggling with their marriage as well as trying to provide for their family. We have been bringing Sammy plumpy nut, a supplement used for treating malnourishment, for a few weeks and he is looking better every day.