Two days at Beacon of Hope

BEACON OF HOPE

Yesterday and today was spent at Beacon of Hope.  We all went our various ways to experience the daily functioning of BOH.   Some shadowed providers in the medical clinic, others sat with the grandmas watching them knit, some did interviews with the weavers in production, others sorted and inventoried medications. Jess went out with Humphrey each day in the "mobilization van" speaking Swahili through a megaphone inviting everyone to the free clinic.  She was awesome!

Amy interviewing one of the ladies

that weaves rugs in the production room.

Jane is just about done with this rug.

It took her a day and a half to make.

Some of us went on home visits to check in on current patients or ladies that work in the production rooms at Beacon. Some had to take “Matatu’s” to visit the ladies; others walked in the areas close to Beacon.

Definition of a Matatu: 1) suicide on wheels, 2) 12 passenger van with too many seats and is a pseudo taxi, 3) disco taxi with adult size seats in a "Little Tykes" van, 4) a rolling vehicle precariously weaving in and out of traffic, frequently with the side door open.

**Picture coming Soon**

Today was the first day of rain since we arrived.  The dirt streets quickly turned to mud and became very slippery as we plodded along to the home visits.  It sure made us appreciate the cement streets and sidewalks in America.

Four of us walked within the area today to visit a couple of families that have applied for help through Beacon of Hope.  We went with two of the Social Development directors to see the assessment process.  It was very eye opening. Both families had homes that consisted of only two rooms. One paid $35/month, the other $40/month. One had cement walls the other corrugated steel walls. There was a living room no larger than 9x7 and an additional room that was divided into the kitchen and sleeping quarters.

The first family was affected by HIV/AIDS. The father's first wife died of AIDS 5 years ago...only one year following the birth of their son, who also has HIV.  He remarried and they have a 3 year old son as well. They are seeking help from Beacon of Hope.

The pre-school that Beacon supports was celebrating all the May birthdays today so we made all the birthday hats and cards for them. Or should I say..."the boys" (Andy & Tony) made the hats.  The balance of the afternoon was spent celebrating with the school children. There were 16 kids with May birthdays.  Each received a colorful hat to wear and sat at a table of honor.

Jody, Andy, Larry, Kortney, Paul, Jess, Tony & Pam

The crew making the birthday hats and cards.

Andrea and Kortney really enjoying making cards.

Is that a Hippo you're drawing, Kortney?

Be sure to look for the hippo in one of the next pictures.

One of the birthday girls all dressed up for the big day.

She was waiting for her yellow hat.

Then, much to my surprise, as I was busy documenting the event with pictures, my name was called and it became evident that my team members had schemed behind my back and arranged for me to join the children (my birthday is on Sunday).  It was a birthday celebration never to be forgotten.

Jody receiving her hat.

All standing for the birthday song.

Jody's friend, Tyrone, celebrating together.

Jody getting her piece of cake from Cecilia.

It's tradition here for each child to feed

the piece of cake to the next person.

Each child does a "catwalk" as part of

their special recognition.

Of course, they made Jody do it, too!

The group "catwalk."

Andy giving one of the birthday girls her card.

Tony taking his turn :)

Is that the hippo??

Kortney and friends :)

The children are so fascinated with our hair.

We had our usual 4:00 tea...which on Kenyan time is usually anywhere from 4:15-4:30 pm...then packed up and headed back to the hotel and to our routine dining experience at the Prestige Mall food court.

Prestige food court. Our nightly place to hang out.

Brenda, Ben and Christine.

Ben was our regular waiter each night.

Yes...here in Nairobi there are waiters at the food court!

Ali, Andrea, Kortney and Leslie...well...being silly.

We have a very busy day tomorrow at the Beacon Medical clinic.  We expect to see 2000 patients.  We're very thankful to have the help from the staff at Gertrude's Teaching Hospital.

We're winding down after tomorrow and will take a few days to de-brief before heading home.  I'm sure all of you are anxiously awaiting to see more pictures and hear more stories upon our return.

God's blessings,
Jody Nibbe
on behalf of the entire Kenya team

Machakos Medical Clinic

MACHAKOS CLINIC

PREPARATION DAY

We began the day with devotions at 8:00 am at Beacon of Hope.  In the 2 hour wait prior to leaving for Machakos, we sorted out and inventoried school supplies we brought from home - they will be used at BOH.

We departed for Machakos at 11:00 AM - loaded up all our overnight gear once again and headed for the mountains (elevation: 6000 FT - does that count as a mountain??).  Machakos is a 2-3 hour drive south east of Nairobi.  The views were beautiful as we headed up the mountainside.  It certainly isn't the vision we think of as Americans when we think of Aftrica.  But then again, Africa is a very large continent with many different terrains.  This area of Kenya is breathtaking.

This side trip, in particular, is a special treat as we are staying with Ken Wathome's mother at his childhood home. She has been so gracious to take 30 people into her home and not only feed us but provide a place to sleep under the heavens in the mountains of Machakos. We praise God for the provisions and fellowship at the Wathome home.

The Wathome Home

See that black "tank" on the left?

That's what supplies the clean water to the house.

Sleeping quarters for "the boys."

There were quite a few boys!

A huge lunch was prepared for us upon arrival.  We find it amazing the amount of food that is prepared with so few resources - no kitchen - just a charcoal firepit to cook on.  Kortney, Jody and Christine spent some time out back with the cooks and tried our hand at peeling potatoes.

Hangin' with the cooks :)

Jody peeling potatos

Soon after lunch Mama Wathome invited Maggie, Kortney, Jody & Christine to go for a ride and visit her sister. Everyone in the village knows when Mama Wathome emerges from home...she is the only person up here who has a car.  Cute as can be, Mama Wathome sat behind the wheel of her Toyota all wheel drive and headed down the rain gutted dirt road to our destination.  Like a boat parting a path amongst a swarm of water bugs, pedestrians would part to the sides of the road as Mama honked her horn, not slowing down for anything.

Mama Wathome driving :)

What a treat to meet Mama's sister.  Everywhere we go we are greated with pure joy.  Terasea (tear-ah-see-ah) lives just up the road from Mama Wathome on the mountainside.  After enjoying some oranges together, Kortney and I (Jody) were invited to walk down into the valley to harvest some sugar cane to bring back with us. Terasea's helper made Kortney and I look like "white city folk" as, at 50-60 years old, she walked down into the valley as though she were a 6 year old bouncing down the hillside.  Meanwhile...we were slipping and sliding doing everything we could to stay upright!

"Mama" and Maggie

View outside Terasea's front door.

We harvested six 10 foot stalks of sugar cane to bring back up.  Terasea's helper also showed us a papaya tree and guava tree...as well as some banana plants. These were beautiful.  The flowers on the banana plants were HUGE - at least 12-18 inches in length.  Time to head back up the hillside...we each carried two sugar cane stalks - one on each shoulder, making sure the back ends criss-crossed to help them stay steady.  Kortney and I were huffing and puffing and dripping with sweat by the time we got up there and Terasea's helper wasn't even tired!!  She definitely made us look whimpy!

Cutting down the sugar cane

Banana plant.

The purple thing is the flower.

Look closely at the top of the flower....

The bananas are just starting to grow.

They're growing.....

Ready to be picked!

Kortney showing off her prize sugar cane :)

Walking back up the hillside

We made it!!

After another great dinner, we sat around a fire singing songs and fellowshipping together.  Well into the evening, as the singing began to feed our hearts, the dancing began.  Kenyans teaching Americans dances and Americans teaching Kenyans dances.  Much laughter filled the night air as 8 people cramed into a space no larger than 8x6 and attempted to do an American dance to a Kenyan beat.  Music and dance is a language that has no boundaries and there certainly weren't any on this night as a group of Kenyans and Americans joined together for a night never to be forgotten.

Andrea, Kortney & Amy singing

Dennis trying his hand at the guitar.

Everyone loves Dennis!

Jess must be saying something pretty interesting!

Just how many people are you going to try and fit in there??

Amy showing off her dancing skills :)

CLINIC DAY

The waiting line at Bisil pales in comparison to the line here at Machakos.  We were expecting 7 providers (doctors & nurses) and ended up with only our six for the first hour. However, when the local providers from the Machakos hospital joined us, patients were being shuffled through the lines in warp speed sending the pharmacy into overdrive!  Even though the pharmacy had 4 people dispensing medications along with 3 people filling the prescriptions, they struggled to keep up with the pace.

Looonnnnnnggggg waiting line!

Kayla taking a blood pressure

Allison waiting for her next injection or wound care patient.

Pam at the weigh in station.

One of the sick children treated today.

Maggie tending to the last wound of the day.

The VCT (Voluntary Counseling Therapy) lines were much longer here than at Bisil.  VCT is counseling given to those patients that are HIV positive and teaches them about healthy living and eliminating as much of the stigma and myths as possible.  They are so grateful for the information they learn here.

VCT Tents

By 1:00 PM the pharmacy was starting to run out of many medications.  Mostly pain and fever reducers and antibiotics.  Many substitutions had to be made.  Just before 4:00 PM the last of the Ibuprofen and Tylenol was dispensed, the tent for the waiting line was taken down and we packed up the remaining medications to return to BOH.  Final count for patients seen was 797 Adults and 289 Children for a grand total of 1086!! Today was a good day.  Praise God for providing all the doctors, nurses, pharmacists, medications and all the behind the scenes support personal for a very triumphant day.

Saying our goodbyes....

Beacon of Hope - Monday

Beacon of Hope Administrative building.

We arrived at Beacon of Hope (BOH) this morning at 8:00 AM to gather for worship. The people here are so gracious and genuinely excited to welcome us.  Grace and Merab gave us their time and gave us a tour of the Beacon of Hope complex - a complex comprised of several buildings for various different uses.

The Medical Clinic is a walk-in clinic that sees approximately 1500 patience a month - a figure up 100% from last year’s count of 750 per month. God is doing great things here at BOH.  Many more buildings are yet to be added to the complex.  Plans to add an inpatient care center is the next exciting addition scheduled for  sometime in the near future.

The vocational buildings were home to people weaving, sewing and doing beadwork.  The weaving looms were so intricate it was difficult to conceive how they knew what strings went where. Preparation for scarves takes about 8 hours.  Once the preparation is done, the women can begin the weaving.  Apprentice weavers complete 1 scarf in a day compared to the 2 completed scarves the more experienced weavers finish.

A beginning weaver

An apprentice weaver producing 1 scarf a day.

We were all amazed at how they know

exactly where every string is supposed to be.

An experienced weaver - weaving heavy rugs.

The sewing room consisted of three rows of sewing machines – all of them powered by human footwork.  Various different projects were going at once from sewing clothing to sewing tags on scarves.

Amy with one of the seamstresses.

Next we were introduced to the beadwork room.  While they make beautiful designs with small tiny glass beads, it’s the paper beads that are most impressive.  The Kenyan culture is very conscientious about not wasting anything.  We were shown how they make beads out of posters and magazine pages that would have otherwise been thrown away.  The paper is cut into a narrow triangle then rolled from the fat end to the narrow end.  The narrow end is glued down and after drying the beads are thrown into varnish to hold their shape.  Once dried, they are strung and made into necklaces.

If you look closely you can see the

piece of paper hanging from her hands.

Finished bead.

Right now we’re back at the main building for our morning tea.  Kenyan tea times are at 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM.  These times are very important to the Kenyan people – especially when showing hospitality to their guests.  We have all come to look forward to our tea times as a way to relax and get to know the people we're with.

Now we’re off to home visits, visiting with the grandma’s in the weaving house, sitting in classrooms to observe the children, packing up medications for the clinic tomorrow and heading off to the slums to announce the upcoming BOH clinic on Saturday where we expect to see around 2000 patients!

A Kenyan scarecrow watching over the gardens.

A note from Jody:

I'm currently sitting in a classroom of 4 and 5 year olds studying English by copying the sentences the teacher has written on the chalkboard then reading them outloud.  As I observe, each child has their own unique way of  carrying out their work. Some are very serious making it obvious they take pride in what they are doing.  Others continuously look over at me and give me a great big hand wave and smile. Then - with obvious joy, a precious little girl picks up her school book, waves it in the air for me to see her finished work.  As a gave her a big thumbs up, her face errupted in pure satisfaction and joy. What a privilege it is to share these moments with these children.

Then the most precious of things to watch...the children lined up at the door for lunch and all folded their hands and errupted in song and prayer thanking God for the food they were about to recieve.  They are so happy and so grateful for what they have.  May it be a lesson to us all to be thankful for the little blessings in life and not worry about what we don't have.

The children singing us a song.

The playground.

A note from Kayla:

This morning a few people woke up not feeling so well. I don't know if it was the breakfast, the lack of sleep, or the unclean water we may have had while brushing our teeth. Regardless, when we got to Beacon of Hope and started touring the grounds, some of us just felt sick. However, around 12:30pm I got to go into the kindergarten classroom. When I walked in the door the kids immediately started shouting. "Muzungu, Muzungu!" In English, "White person, white person!" The kids had just finished a lesson and so the teacher told me I was free to play with them. I kneeled down by the children and they started pulling my hands, my hair, my earrings, and most of all... my camera. They absolutely love taking pictures! They kept saying "picture, picture!" We played for about a half hour and then I helped serve lunch, which consisted of "ugali," which is corn flour and cabbage soup. One of the 3-year-olds, Dorcas, grabbed my hand and made me sit down right next to her. When I got up, she put her hand on my seat to make sure no one but me could sit there. It was so cute!

When leaving the classroom, I felt 10 times better than I had in the morning. Those kids are so free-spirited and loving of everyone. Being around them just made me feel better. Kids of all nationalities have that ability, but there's something extra special about the kids in Kenya. Most live in challenging home situations, yet they always have a smile on their face... it doesn't get much better than that.

Kayla sitting with "her kids" at the lunch table.

Home Visits:

Some of our group members headed out to visit BOH patients to check in with their progress since beginning HIV treatment.  The patients all were very willing to share their stories and extremely grateful for the care and treatment that BOH offered.  Their lives are healthier and much more productive since beginning the HIV drug therapy.  Our team members spent time encouraging the patients and praying with them.

 
A note from Ali on the Mobilization Unit:

Hey friends and family!  A little FYI: The mobilization unit is the way to get the word about the free medical clinics out to the Kenyan people along the dirt roads and slums which many of them reside.  It is heartbreaking, yet hopeful.  It is difficult to face the realities of their life and lack of medical care, but hopeful as we will be able to help combat this deprivation in only a few short days.  Praise God for giving us this opportunity.  The mobilization involves snagging a bunch of flyers, a microphone, speakers, a smile, some swahili words (ie Matibabu ya bure Jumamosi = free medical clinic on Saturday) and jumping in the van to spread the word via microphone through the streets.  We drive slow, speak loudly and kindly, and hand out the info flyers.  The people are incredibly receptive.  If you simply make eye contact with anyone sitting even twenty yards off the street they will come (even run) right up to the bus to receive the info.  It is so evident how in need these people are of even the most basic medical care!  (..as do many people in the States, but it is an honor to be a part of, no matter where on earth the Lord is working in this way.) 

A song we sing may not perfectly correlate to this siutation in your perspective, but it has very much touched my heart today:  "We are one in the spirit, we are one in the Lord, we are one in the spirit, we are one.  And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love."  It has been amazing showing these people the true love of our amazing Lord. 

Wiith much love,
ali