Chosen by God

During the fews years that I’ve spent here living in Kitale I’ve learned that God works in very interesting ways. People who come to visit the house often ask how we find and choose the kids who come to the house. I struggle to answer that question, but this week I know the answer. It’s not me who chooses them, it’s God. Just as God chose me to do this work here, He also leads me to children and shows me my next steps forward with each and every one. There’s no explanation why some kids are at the house when we know so many others who are also in need who are still living with their parents and struggling to survive. There is so much need and God knows exactly who we can handle taking in. This week three very special children have been put on my heart. 

The first is Emmanuel. He is eleven years old and has epilepsy. His parents don’t know how to handle him and send him out to collect grass for their cows on a bicycle. When he has a seizure he falls down where ever he is and takes time to regain consciousness. This is especially dangerous because he comes from an area of town called Birunda where during rainy season there is water all over the sides of the roads that he could easily fall into. He was found in the road at night and some strangers walking home brought him to Sister Freda’s Hospital. That has happened eight times this year alone. Willy was admitted there when Emmanuel was brought in and nobody came to visit him for three days. I was telling Willy that he would be coming home soon and Emmanuel said he was coming with us. 

I don’t know why, but at that moment, I felt God tugging on my heart. I went and talked to his parents and brought him home to stay at the house. We were leaving the hospital and I asked him if he even knew my name. He just smiled because that was one little detail that we’d left out. I can’t imagine home being so terrible that I would just agree to pack up and leave with a total stranger. Emmanuel is very quiet and reserved, so we don’t know that much about his home life yet, but from his interactions with his father we can tell that it is not the most safe or accepting environment. Manu is adjusting well and loves hanging out with his new friends at the house. He is excited to be going back to school next year. We are thankful that God put him on our hearts and allowed us to be the ones to give him the chance to thrive and have the freedom and support to develop into the person God made him to be.

We also met little Michelle at the District Hospital. We went to the hospital with a different plan, but God had his own plans in mind. One of the nurses came up to us and asked if we could give them money to get home because they had been discharged. We asked Michelle’s grandmother where they lived and she said Endebes, which isn’t far from town. Michelle became sick with Tuberculosis and Meningitis so her grandmother rushed her to the hospital. Her illnesses left her with some permanent disabilities so we decided to drive them home so we could know where there house was so we could keep visiting and checking up on her. 

On the way there we found out more about the sad situation that they were living in. Michelle and her grandmother had been admitted to the District Hospital for three months. During this time one of their neighbors came to the hospital and told them that there was so much rain and their house got carried away by water. So we started on this journey and the grandmother didn’t even know if they had a house to stay at the end of the road. Long story short we drove and drove until there was literally no more road and we couldn’t go any further. Two hours into the journey we ended up on beautiful Mount Elgon, but we were still far from their home. 

The view from Mount Elgon

It was getting late, so we found a man who knew where their home was who agreed to carry Michelle because her grandmother was too weak to carry her. Michelle was shivering and cold and still very sick. We had done all we could, gotten them as far as we could and had to say goodbye and leave the rest to God. We are praying that she is safe, being well taken care of and that her health is improving and that if it is in God’s plan He will bring her back into our lives again. 

We met Japheth a few weeks ago when we were checking up on a call that we got to go see a potential kid for the house. We knew Japheth’s situation wasn’t a good one. His step sister was healthy and happy and he was trapped behind a curtain in the living room. It was a tricky situation. We didn’t want to take Japheth immediately because his parents are able to care for him, they are just not willing. His stepmother does not want anything to do with him. His father has to come home from work just to feed him or he goes hungry, but he can’t do it all on his own. Japheth’s stepmother started telling her friends and neighbors that she wanted to kill him. Shortly after that she fed him hot porridge and burned the inside of his mouth so that he would starve because the burns prevented him from eating well. 

His father brought him to the Kitale District hospital to get treatment. Japheth’s aunt is staying with him and he is improving every day. We reported the stepmother to the police and the children’s office so that she knows what she did to him is not an acceptable way to treat any child. After Japheth fully recovers he will come to stay at the house. Like any other child he deserves a loving home and we now know that it is impossible for him to get the care that he needs at home. Pray that he will have a quick recovery so that we can bring him home soon.

Some make it to the house and some we help to a point and have to let them go and leave the rest in God’s able hands. It’s never an easy decision leaving some in a situation where you know the need is great, but there’s nothing more we can do to help them right now. On the other side there is the joy of being able to serve and provide for those that God hands over to us. Regardless of what we can or can’t do we know that God cares about them infinitely more than we do and will see them through from wherever they are. 

Reaching Out

Typically people in Kenya are not used to dealing with people with disabilities. Although I know they are kids that want to be loved and cared for, many view them as a curse. It’s always encouraging to find people with the heart to reach out to parents of people with disabilities and try to find a way to help them. This week Lucy stopped by my house and told me that she knew of a few children in need. It is great to see her heart that is broken by children who aren’t getting the proper love and care that they need and deserve. We met her today and she took us to meet two new friends. 

Gracious is a sweet two year old boy who has cerebral palsy. He can’t sit on his own, but his smile lights up the room. His mother is young and doing her best to care for him on her own. Her own mother said that she couldn’t stay in her house with Gracious and that she could come back if she threw him away. He is happy and healthy, his mother tries her best to take him to get therapy once a week and even had a chair constructed to help him with learn to sit and stand. She said that she hopes that one day he will walk. She loves her son and is doing her best with the little resources she has. 

We also met Faith. It’s interesting how God brings kids back into my life. I met Faith and her mother before we even opened the home, when we were still looking for the first children to move into the house. We dropped her at home after the meeting and I tried to go back and find her twice and I never did. 

Then today we walk into the home and I see Faith. She is seventeen years old and has cerebral palsy. She can’t sit, walk, or talk. Her father left the family and her mother is left with three children to support on her own. Faith is a happy girl with a great smile. It was good to see them again and know that they are doing well. 

The children’s office also called us to go meet a new kid and see how we can help. Four years ago she was found by the police abandoned in town. She couldn’t talk so nobody knew her name, where she came from or who her parents were. The children’s officer who came to handle the case gave her the name Hope. The children’s office had trouble placing her. Now she is staying with a family in a loving home. She is being well cared for, but they are looking for a way for her to continue to improve. They want her a way to get some sort of basic education and learn a vocational skill. 

Once again I pray that God will give me direction and guide my next steps with these children. The house is full to the brim, yet there are so many children in need. We try our best to help where we can. For now the best way forward is to keep them in our prayers and stop by regularly to make sure that they are doing alright. I want to bring them to the house to do physical therapy and have the doctor teach these mothers how to do simple exercises at home to help their children continue improving. I also would like to see if we can get Gracious a sitting aide and Faith a wheelchair to help them gain strength and mobility and Hope a teacher to help her mind continue to grow. Please keep these precious children and their families in your prayers. 

Building Progress

I am happy to say that with your help and God’s blessings on Precious Kids Center we are continuing to make progress at the property. This week we started two building projects. 

The front gate is nearly complete and we glad that the compound is now more secure and it will be easier to get in and out. 

Day one of construction:
Sinking the metal posts into the ground to get the gate standing.

The wall around the outside of the gate. Almost complete. 

We also constructed a small structure that will house the power until we have a permanent building. We needed a structure to be able to get the power connected and if we didn’t do it before the end of this year the price will double. We hope the wiring will be complete by the end of this week so the people from the power company can come to do the final inspection of the property before returning to connect power. This will make it easy to bring power to the other buildings once construction is completed. 

Starting the frame of the structure to house the power until the buildings are up.

We also ordered a truck load of sand to use for the current projects and to give us a head start when we start building the foundation. The sand will be mixed with gravel and cement when the building begins. 

Unloading the sand.

We also are trying to finish going from office to office getting all the paperwork approved and signed for building. It’s been a long process, but we so close to getting all of the plans approved. Now we are just waiting on God’s perfect timing for the funds to come in so that we can continue our building projects and get these kids moved into their new home! Thanks again for your continued generousity, support and prayers. 

Chris

Chris is a little boy from a family that I’ve known for a long time. 

He lives in a slum area called Shimo near the kids house. The oldest four children in the family are all sponsored to go to school and their mother struggles to make ends meet on her own. Last week he was sick and his mother took him to the hospital. I stopped by to visit and they told me that he had all the symptoms of heart and renal failure. His whole body was swollen and he was having difficulty breathing. The tests that they needed to know exactly what the problem was not available in Kitale, so we took a little road trip with him to Eldoret. 

Chris in the car on the way to Eldoret

The doctor did a cardiogram and found out that the right side of Chris’s heart is larger than the left, which is the opposite of what it should be. This is causing strain on his lungs because his body is not getting the oxygen it needs. So they ordered for him to be on oxygen 24 hours until they find the exact problem and they admitted him to the hospital there so that they could perform more tests to be sure of exactly where the problem is coming from. He stayed at the hospital for a week and they diagnosed him with pulmonary hypertension. 

His mother has six children total. She raises them on her own and since she has to stay at the hospital with Chris, the other ones are left at home alone. We have been having them over for lunch and sending them home with some food so that they can eat dinner. When the girls and John head to school, they drop JayJay by the kids house for the day and then come back in the afternoon to take him home. 

Sweet Jay Jay hanging out at the house

Please keep this family in your prayers. Chris is home now and doing much better and will be going back to the hospital in two weeks for a check up. From what I’ve read about pulmonary hypertension it looks like Chris’s condition will have to be managed rather than cured. Please pray for healing on his tiny little body and that his health continues to improve. 

Chris a week after coming home from the hospital.
We are grateful to see his sweet little smile again.

Kitale District Hospital

Yet another busy week in Kitale. We’ve been making visits once a week to the back room of the Children’s Ward at the District Hospital. The back room is reserved for children who are malnourished. Since there families can’t even afford food, they don’t charge them for being cared for there. The problem is since the staff knows that these people can’t afford to pay, they are often neglected and just left to sit in this back room. 

It’s easy to think that I’ve seen enough stuff that nothing will shock me or break my heart, but I am rarely prepared for what I see when I walk into that back room. I am comforted by the fact that our God is huge and has each and every one of these children in his loving arms, even though their situations may seem helpless. Sometimes I am reluctant to go there. I don’t want the heartbreak of seeing children suffering in ways that no human should, but I know that God is calling me there for a reason. 

We’ve met so many precious children on our visits. All we bring is a small carton of milk and one banana for each kid and their faces light up. Even the parents are excited to see us. It’s a simple act of kindness that let’s these people know that they are not totally forgotten and abandoned and provide a tangible way to remind them of God’s great love for them. 

Here are some of the faces we’ve met on our first few visits. 

Ebenezer is doing much better now. He came in with TB and
meningitis on top of being malnourished.

Sweet little Isaac with his sweet little smile

Sandra is six months old and lack of food has made her very small for her age.

Ian's legs are swollen as a side effect of malnutrition.

Theo is also malnourished, but such a sweet little guy.

Sweet Imelda.

Faith is malnourished and also has cerebral palsy. She can't
sit on her own, but she has the best smile.

All Manu needs is his milk and banana and he is good to go. 

Please keep these children and their families in your prayers. Pray for healing on their little bodies and for their parents to find a way to support and care for their children. Pray that they feel God’s love and know that they are not alone in their struggles. 

Meet Trina

Another new blessing has fallen into the care of Precious Kids Center. Meet Trina. 

She is four years old and was born with mild cerebral palsy. Only her right side is affected. She is an active, sassy little girl who is shy at first, but quickly warms up. It’s interesting the way that God works. I met Trina years ago on my third trip to Kitale. She was living with her father in an area of town called Kipsongo. So many people had told me about her case and it was never the right time to take her into the home until now. 

Trina’s father has been sick for a long time and is no longer able to give her the care that she needs. He had Tuberculosis of the spine years ago and it left him with some very severe spinal issues. He can't bend well and if he sits down he needs someone to pull him up into the standing position. He is getting weaker and it is hard for him to care for such an active little one. 

Trina and her father, Peter.

Her right hand has less strength than the left and is a little difficult for her to move. However, it doesn’t slow her down a bit. She works to use both hands which is great because she will continue to gain strength. The physical therapist at the house will be making her a splint for her hand to help it stay in the position that it needs to be in for her to continue improving and will continue doing therapy on her leg to ensure that her gait continues to improve. We had an extra leg splint at the house that is the perfect size and bought her a new pair of shoes that fit the splint perfectly. The splint is working great and helping her balance and gait improve.

The search for the perfect pair of shoes. 

She is fitting into the house great and loves having so many other kids around to play with. She is such a joyful little girl and we are blessed and excited to have her as a part of her group. Please keep her father, Peter in your prayers and pray that his health improves. Also pray for Trina to continue making a smooth adjustment to living at the house.

Trina and all of her new friends!

Back to Our Roots

In times when I feel like my house is too full or I have too much on my plate, God always finds a way to bring my focus back to him. He humbles me by showing me why I came here in the first place and brings children into my life that are living in situations harder than I could ever imagine. This week, I’ve been going around town with friends, focussing on doing day to day activities the way we did when I first came, going back to our roots. We’ve been going into areas where people rarely go to help and meeting new faces at every corner. Not knowing who we will find that day that will break our hearts and leave us not knowing what our next step will be. We take comfort in the fact that God put them in our paths for a reason and will show us the way forward. 

One new face we met this week was Japheth. We  got a call from his neighbor a couple weeks back and had so many other things going on that we never made it out there. Today we went to meet him. When we walked into the house we saw a cute, healthy 6 month old baby named Joy sitting with her father. Then we heard another child screaming behind a curtain in the living room. They brought him over to see us and we began to talk to the family. Japheth’s father recently married and had a new baby with his wife. He had previously been with another woman, who had Japheth and he left the baby with her. Japheth had been staying with the grandmother, who brought him to their house and left him when she heard that his father was now starting a new family and neglecting his old one. 

Here in Kenya life is difficult when you are a child living with your stepmother. The child from another mother is never treated the same as the other kids and always feels a little left out. When the child has a disability the situation is so much worse. We were asking the parents questions about things that any one should know about a child that they are living with and they couldn’t give us any answers. Japheth’s stepmother even threatened to leave her husband because they both have no idea how to handle him. The family is well off. They live in a nice house, with electricity and a television. Joy is well taken care of and Japheth is totally neglected and ignored. Japheth is malnourished and it is clear that he is not receiving the care he needs. He is three years old and does not walk or talk and is not receiving physical therapy. He stays on the bed, behind the curtain, hidden from the world all day and night. He is a sweet little boy who just wants to be loved like every child does. Please keep this sweet little boy in your prayers and pray that God shows us what our next step for him should be. 

Today we also met Samuel. His family lives in a slum area called Crossroads where we pass frequently. Today we felt a little tug on our hearts to slow down and say hi to them on our way home. His father sits at the corner everyday repairing people’s shoes to earn a few shillings to try to feed his family. 

He has three sons Kemboi, Patrick and Samuel. The older two boys are fairly healthy and were playing and running around with their friends. 

Patrick

Kemboi

Then we saw Samuel, sitting on a little piece of plastic next to his father. He is two and a half years old and doesn’t walk or talk. It doesn’t seem like he has any disability, but he is just so malnourished that he doesn’t have the strength or energy to place with the other kids. His legs are red and swollen so even if he could walk it would be painful. He doesn’t smile or show any emotion, but just sits and stares. 

Samuel

Once again I will say that God put this family in our path for a reason and He will show us the way forward. When we view things from our human perspective things seems impossible, but God’s perspective shows us all the possibilities and options that we have in and through Him. I know that God will continue His work that he started in our hearts and I pray that we will cling to him as we wait for his answers on how to help these two children who the world may overlook, but God holds them close.