The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

The Good

Last Wednesday I spent the afternoon at the hospital with Jabali, and Tracy (HCO’s social worker). Jabali was born with Hydroenchepalitis caused by meningitis (so the doctor said). He has a shunt in his head that is supposed to drain fluid into his stomach. It took him a long time to walk because he has problems balancing due to his larger than normal head. Over the last several months he’s become quite a good walker even on un-level ground. We were concerned because for about a week his balance seemed way off and he was falling a lot more than normal. So we took him to the local public hospital just for a check up. We arrived and we were #34 in line. Luckily we found a bench to sit on amongst all the other people waiting. People stared as we were waiting. Possibly because Jabali’s head attracts attention, possibly they were wondering why this mzungu was sitting in the public hospital with a “handicapped” child and another African woman, or possibly because Jabali cried the whole time we waited, even in his sleep. Thankfully we weren’t all waiting to see the same doctor so it didn’t take as long as it could have. We were waiting on one of several rotating doctors that could check the shunt, and who are only at the hospital on Wednesday afternoons. We waited about an hour and a half. Eventually a man and woman who were filthy arrived in the waiting room escorted by 2 nicely dressed women and a man. I could smell them from down the hall before they even turned the corner. The stench of body odor and urine was so potent it filled the small waiting area. Their clothes were tattered and torn, barely covering enough of their bodies to provide any kind of modesty. They were without shoes. I saw dry, cracked, dirty feet. I stared at them to keep from staring in general like everyone else was doing. The woman had clubbed feet, and was signing to one of the well-dressed ladies who didn’t seem to understand her. They tried to force her to sit on one of the benches. Everyone who was occupying that bench immediately scooted in the opposite direction or turned their backs. They did the same as the man, who was handcuffed, sat on another bench not too far away. I wondered if they were coherent enough to register how the people around them reacted. I wondered if they had come from jail, and why they were there. To everyone’s relief, a doctor saw them rather quickly. While they were in the examination room Tracy asked one of the women who they where, and why they were there. She said she was a social worker and the man and women lived on the street and had been found doing “odd things” so they were picked up for a psych evaluation. I wondered what would happen to them next.

We were called into the examination room and the doctor was very pleasant. Jabali was scared of him, but he was good with him even though he cried. He said he thought his shunt was functioning properly and showed us how to check and see if it was clogged. I still wondered how he could know without any real medical records, and just by touching the shunt at the base of his skull. He said to come back in 3 months for a check up.

The Bad

As we waited on the bench before we saw the doctor I asked Tracy more about Jabali’s story. Most of our babies have been abandoned, but I didn’t know the specifics of his story. She told me he had been born here in this hospital, but that they “lost” his medical records. She was anticipating having a hard time with the nurse who checks people in before seeing the doctor because neither the hospital nor Tracy had his medical records. Jabali’s mother left him at the nursery of this same hospital about a week after he was born. All of his official papers have his mother’s name on them because she never named him. Until he is adopted and they officially change his name it will officially remain the same as his mothers. Tracy said the name is probably also fake. She said mother’s who know from the beginning that they will abandon their child give a fake name so they can’t be traced and go to jail for abandoning their child. If she hadn’t been planning on abandoning him from the beginning, she definitely would have once she realized he had a problem and wouldn’t be able to pay for the medical care he needed. That is where HCO came into the picture. Originally it was just to put up the money for the shunt surgery he needed. Eventually Jabali came to call HCO home. Apparently the hospital doesn’t bother to keep medical records for babies that have been abandoned. Even though he was born there, and had his surgery for the shunt there, they have no medical records for him beyond the paperwork HCO has. What a sad example of how babies are not valued by their own families, and the system at large. What a blessing it is that there are organizations like HCO, and many others, who value those babies because they were created by God, and give them not only a home, but families who will cherish them the way God intended.

The Ugly

I can definitely say this past week has not been my cleanest or most beautiful. I’ve been having a battle with the shower. While not unusual, it has been especially unreliable this week. Monday we had no water, which means no shower, no bath, no brushing teeth, washing hands or flushing the toilet. It was a great opportunity to wear this really cute hat my mom gave me for Christmas! Tuesday and Wednesday the water was back, but we lacked enough pressure to activate the heating mechanism in the showerhead so it was bucket baths in lieu of a cold shower. Thursday to my surprise the water in the shower was warm! To my dismay the water ran out in the middle of my shower. Luckily I had water in a bucket in my shower I used to get the shampoo out of my hair. Friday was back to bucket baths. Monday seemed promising with a warm shower on an unusually chilly day, until the power went out in the middle of my shower. Now it is Tuesday. I spent the early morning mopping up water from the kitchen floor because the refrigerator has started to thaw. Finally, this afternoon the power is back on!

 I tell you these stories not to complain, or wrench you heart, but to give you a glimpse of what everyday life is really like. There are days that are wonderful filled with laughing babies, sunshine and seeing people’s lives being redeemed. There are other days where it’s not so fun or easy. Where you see and experience hard things, boring things, annoying things. But, we take the good with the bad, and the ugly, and it is worth it.

Everything you see as broken and rejected, He sees as redeemed and lovely. Psalm 139

Little Moments

I’ve been back in Kenya for 1 week. Just one. That is hard for me to believe when I sit and reflect on moments from the last 7 days.

I’d traveled for over 36 hours, slept maybe 3. Stood in line for almost 2 hours for my visa and then finally made it out of the airport to start the 2.5 hour drive to Nakuru. I was exhausted. I drifted in and out of consciousness as we drove. Finally we pulled through our gate and around to the side of the house to unload at the door closest to my room. All of the sudden my car door is flung open and one tiny body is jumping on top of me while two others are simultaneously trying to pull me out of the car while still buckled into my seatbelt. After I disentangle myself from small bodies and seatbelts and go inside to my room. It’s been cleaned with fresh sheets on my bed and flowers waiting for me.  Hope has found my travel neck pillow and is now wearing it on her head like a green lion mane. I make it down the hall to the babies’ playroom and peek my head in. I’m greeted with delighted squeals, Jabali, Sandra, Joy and Benji all yelling “nenny, nenny, nenny” and running toward me. I remember why I am here.

I’m sitting on a hard wooden bench in New Life preschool. It is nestled on top of a hill in a neighborhood on the edge of Kyoto, Nakuru’s trash dump. From here you can’t see it, but it isn’t very far. Each child & mom sitting in the room with us is a resident of Kyoto.  We listen as the Pastor who has come to commission this new school talks of how aptly named the school is. New life. New hope for these little ones, who come from a neighborhood where hope is hard to find. He reminds us who the giver of new life is, who it is that our hope comes from, that without God in this place, our efforts are wasted. It is He that gives the hope of a better future to come. One of the Mamas goes up to sing. Kenyan and American voices join as we sing and it is beautiful and I remember why I am here.

My face is burning with the heat from the large fire in our outside fire pit. I sit amidst a team from California as they debrief their time here in Kenya.  The air is cool, and the night is clear as the stars twinkle brightly from above reminding me of how small we are in comparison to the universe. How many millions of others have looked up at this same sky over the last hundreds of years? I am in awe of the grandness of God’s master plan taking place since time began and that even this tiny seemingly insignificant moment was included in His perfect plan. I’m humbled by the wisdom beyond their short years of some high schoolers as they share what they’ve been learning.  “ I don’t want to get to the end of my life having completed my personal bucket list of things to do. When I get to the end I want to know that I did and accomplished everything God set out for me to do.” I wish I had learned that at such a young age, and I remember why I’m here.

The sun is hot, the sky is clear. There are 7 kids piled in the back of the Sammon’s Land Rover singing hymns and worship songs as 6 adults and 1 baby are squeezed into the front. We are on our way to visit our friends from Wednesday Bible Study, Chris and Faith. Over the Christmas holidays they moved far out of the city to serve with a project their church founded. They are now house parents to at least 20 boys. We pull up in their driveway and there are several boys combatting a swarm of bees with a burning rubber boot. Chris greets us warmly “Karibuni! Welcome!” We get a tour, we meet the boys, we sit in their hall and listen and sing as one boy leads us in worship. We move into Chris and Faith’s house for Chai and snacks. There’s lots of talking and laughter. The kids go outside to play soccer with the boys, the men outside to talk business, and the women stay inside out of the searing hot sun. A wasp flies in. I run away from it back and forth in and out of the house as everyone else is sitting calmly on the couch. “ Hakuna Matata KaJenny.” Faith says. It is funny to me that this is the only time I’ve ever heard anyone use that phrase in Kenya. Everyone comes back inside and we pray for our sweet Kenyan friends and their daughter MaKenna. We pray for them to have impact on these boys, that God would give them wisdom and strength to help them. I remember why I am here.

So it is hard to believe I have been back for just 1 week. Each of these moments could easily go on my top 10 moments of my time in Kenya so far, and I look forward to many more.

Faith Lessons From a Seven Year Old

It has been a really long time since I have written on here. Most of the time I don’t know what to write, or it seems as if I write what I’m thinking it won’t come across the right way. It is so hard to put into words what it is like to be here day in and day out. Some days are great, full of laughing babies, parents coming to adopt and babies learning to walk. Other days are incredibly frustrating for many reasons or no reason at all.  So here is a glimpse into one of the good days and what God has been teaching me lately.

During Bible time we’ve been reading the Old Testament. We had recently read about the Israelites wandering in the desert for 40 years and how God provided manna and quail from heaven. We had also been praying for the girls’ dad, Troy, who had been on a short- term mission trip to South Sudan. (How’s that for a challenge? A full time missionary who goes on a short- term mission trip!) . We prayed for his safety, and a lot about snakes, and we prayed for the people of South Sudan to know Jesus. One day as the girls were praying one of them said “Jesus please let the South Sudan people have Bibles so they can know you better. Please even let Bibles fall from the sky so they can have them.” Now I have to admit I had to hold back a chuckle because it was just so cute and sweet. But as the week went on I began to wonder why I laughed. The truth is that God has shown over an over in His word that he provides every need of His people.  After all didn’t the manna fall from the sky each day? I realized how weak my faith is sometimes. I don’t pray for God to make Bibles fall from the sky because I don’t truly believe it will happen. Instead I might pray for God to send a person to bring Bibles, because that is more logical and makes more sense in today’s world. We can even justify those circumstances in our own human strength. But Bibles falling from the sky, that we can’t justify. That can only be God. In His word God says “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” Matthew 21:22. Somewhere in South Sudan Bibles could literally be falling from the sky because a little girl prayed for it to happen believing that God would do it. I wonder if we don’t see more of these miracles from God because we don’t ask for them. Not that what we do pray for is wrong, but I know I definitely don’t pray big enough most of the time.

We have also been memorizing a verse a week, one for each letter of the Alphabet. It “just so happens” that the verse for this week is “For nothing is impossible with God” Luke 1:37 I think I need to re-learn the definition of nothing. There are a lot of things I act like are impossible for God. There are a lot of things that this world makes seem impossible, joy in the midst of suffering, a lasting faithful marriage, healing for those who are sick or hurt, families for millions of orphaned babies and children and the list goes on and on. But the more I think about these things the more I remember that there is an example of God working in almost every imaginable situation written out for us in the Bible. In each instance the people have incredible faith that God can and will do what they are asking, and God does.

So I have hope that the things I have been praying for will happen in God’s way in His timing, and I pray with more faith knowing nothing is impossible for Him.

                                                Believing there are Bibles falling in Sudan,

                                                                                    Jenny

Goldilocks and the three beds...and the human car seat.

Well it is official.. I live in Africa now! It may seem strange to you, but it actually seems normal to me.

            On Sunday I moved from Little Eden in Kinangop to His Cherished Ones in Nakuru. They are about 2 hours apart and very different. Little Eden is very rural. In that part of Kenya there are many people who live without power or running water. We’re still praying that Kenya Power will hurry up and connect the lines near the new Boy’s Dormitory and Yanga school so the boys can move in and both Yanga and Cheese Primary schools will have access to water. The wells that have been drilled cannot pump the water without electricity.  His Cherished Ones is situated on the outskirts of Nakuru, the 3^rd largest city in Kenya. The property borders an amazingly beautiful cornfield dotted every so often with the quintessential African tree.  At Eden all that you can see for miles is farmland, in Nakuru there is a mixture of suburban development, farmland and the city dump. At Eden I shared a bedroom, bathroom and kitchen with 3-12 other people. At HCO I have a huge room all to myself complete with 3 beds. Of course the first three nights I tried out each bed in turn trying to determine which was the best. One was too soft, one too hard and one just right. Included in my very important bed decision was consideration for the amount of cracks in the molding at the ceiling above each bed. Those cracks make great hideouts for all kids of spiders and other crawly things. Although in this area they are harmless I’ve been told, I’d still prefer they didn’t crawl on me while I’m sleeping.  Today I officially crowned my new bed by putting real American sheets on it!  At Eden as I laid awake in bed early in the morning there was a cacophony of noise from the multiple roosters, donkeys, birds, dogs, children heading off to school (at 6am!) and Peter trying to start the Land Rover or tractor. At HCO as I drift into consciousness I am greeted by birds, dogs and babies. Sometimes crying and being soothed by Aunties singing various children’s worship songs and sometimes laughing and saying “Auntie, Auntie!”

In both places I wake up incredibly in awe that my heavenly father would bestow this amazing gift upon me to have the privilege to spend this time here. In both places I have seen the love of Christ being lived out and displayed by both the staff and Americans living here to children who are so dearly loved. I am so thankful to be a part of it.

Since arriving in Nakuru I have had 2 pretty interesting experiences…

The first day I was here an adopting couple was able to take their new son Tate home with them. For the last 2 years I have spent weeks in Kenya working with and loving on orphans, and months at home praying for them and missing my sweet kids, but for the first time I was witnessing the completion of the adoption process.  I honestly do not even have words to describe the joy on the faces of this sweet Dutch couples face as the loaded up their son into their car and prepared to take him home as their own for the first time. All the aunties and babies and staff lined the driveway with balloons and sang as they drove off to start their new life as a family. I was trying so hard not to cry. I felt silly. I didn’t even know this baby or really know this couple at all. What gets me is that this is such a perfect tangible picture of the way God loves us. In John 14:18 the word says “ I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” In the same way these parents came for Tate, Christ comes for us. He comes to bring us into relationship with him to eventually bring us home as his sons and daughters.  As Tate will receive a new last name and become part of a family, when we join the family of God we also receive a new name. Our old identity as an “orphan” of this world is washed away and we are given a new identity. I don’t think there is anything more beautiful than this truth in life.

      My second interesting experience for the week was taking 3 babies to the hospital to get their 9-month and 18-month immunizations. Brie (an HCO intern), Susan one of the Aunties and Tracy the social worker and I loaded up the 3 babies into Brie’s car. Brie driving, every other adult served as a human car seat. We arrived at the hospital, which opens at 8 around 9:15.  We sat in the waiting area for at least 30 minutes because the Doctors or nurses had yet to open the clinics. 3 people with their babies were allowed into the room with the nurses at a time. Brie Susan and I took in 2 babies along with another mother with her son. They were weighed and measured, then back to the waiting room. Finally we were called in to a different room (still 3 at a time) where we held the babies as they got their injections. The thing that shocked me the most about this whole experience was as I was sitting in the waiting area there were sign after sign about precautions to take not to spread HIV to your partner, to your child during childbirth etc., but as the babies were getting their shots the nurse wore no gloves and never swiped them with an alcohol swab before giving their shot. I’m sure my mother who is a nurse for a pediatrician is having a panic attack as she is reading this.  All in all getting vaccinations is a huge blessing to these kids who might not get them otherwise. Hopefully it will keep them healthy and happy.  As I rode home I became a human car seat again bottle-feeding one of the babies who promptly fell asleep. I was covered in baby slobber, and have formula on my shirt, but what a peaceful feeling knowing that this one I held in my arms was safe, and cared for.

Galatians 5:6 “ The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”

 

I am sure the days to come will hold many more interesting Kenyan experiences. I’ll try to update more often as long as the Internet cooperates. Thanks for reading!