Quotable quotes.....

Rick and I borrowed a car on Friday and drove into Nairobi to pick up a used refrigerator that we bought from someone in the British Air Force.  Rick drove into town, while I navigated using the oh-so-valuable iphone Maps app.  Many areas do not have street signs, and most of those are probably not the best places to get out and ask directions!  I was amused that sprinkled all over that section of Nairobi on Maps were little lines labeled "Dirt Road" and "Foot path!" 

Quotes from the drive in:

"Is this a one way road?"
"No."
"Oh, yes, it is!!"    

"Turn right after that shop....don't hit the donkey!"

I actually drove home from Nairobi - my first time driving on a road in Kenya, my first time driving in almost 3 months, my first time ever driving on the wrong side of the road/right hand steering wheel, and my first time driving a manual transmission (with the left hand, no less!) in several years.  Oh, and with a big refrigerator in the back.  It was fun....for me.  You'll have to ask Rick yourself!  Actually, we laughed a lot - here are a few quotable quotes from the drive home:

"Drifting, drifting..... "

"Was that a speed bump?"

"What is the purpose of rumble strips in Kenya?!  You can't tell them apart from all the potholes!"

"I AM on the road - no, I am not on the shoulder - it is paved!"

"Can you keep that fridge from bouncing?"

"Should I err on the side of hitting that truck in my lane or running off the side of the road?"

And, the loudest thing Rick said on the way home was his silence - lol!! ;)

We ended up on this new bypass after a wrong turn - this is, by far, the nicest road I have been on or seen in Kenya.  In fact, it may be the first guard rail that I have seen....

This tree has been trimmed (I think) to look 2D - very cool!

In the US, the word "processed" is synonymous with unhealthy, but I guess here it is a plus.

Rick found this one - can potato chips be soft and crispy at the same time?

Definitely the most fun flavor of potato chip that I have ever seen!

Would you buy this game for your child?  He looks so bored, that he is almost comatose!!

• 

I didn't buy the Ufos with chocolate beans, but they looked interesting.  Cookies and crackers are both called biscuits here - biskuti in Kiswahili.

Not that I plan on getting any, actually....

The hot dogs and buns are long and skinny here.

Here is a pretty little path through a garden area in the yard. :)

Love,
Sarah
Proverbs 17:22





       

People in our lives....

Hamjambo!  Habari zanu?  (Basically...Hi!  How are you?)

I want to introduce you to some new people in our lives.  We have Kiswahili lessons 3 times per week and our teacher is named Edward (Anaitwa Edward).  He is a very good teacher and a wealth of knowledge on Kenyan culture, history, and current events.  He is helping us learn Kiswahili "pole pole" (slowly, slowly) and helping us understand the people and culture here, which is invaluable.  My least favorite thing he says?  "We will come to that."  This is his polite way of telling me that he is not going to answer my question yet!  Haha.  I have never been much of a language person and sometimes want to put the cart before the horse.  He is good about introducing things at the right time.

Edward, our very knowledgeable Kiswahili teacher

Oh, and Kiswahili is a very fun language!  For instance, a motorbike is called a "piki piki" because of the sound the engine makes.  They call soccer/football "mpira wa mguu," which means ball of legs.  The Kiswahili word for donkey is "punda," and the word for striped is "milia."  So, they call a zebra a "punda milia"...for striped donkey!  And email is referred to as "barua pepe," or flying letter!

Another new person in our lives is Penninah - she is a woman who we have hired to help in our house 3 days per week.  It is culturally expected that Westerners who come to live in Kenya will hire house workers - and many Kenyans hire people as well.   She has just started a couple of weeks ago, and she is becoming a part of our lives here. :)  She is outgoing, always smiling, and such a hard worker!  And, she is trying to help me with Kiswahili, too.  Whew, everyone is trying to help me, and I need it!! :)

Penninah!

Sammy is a little boy who has been coming around for a few weeks now.  He comes to our door and asks for a variety of things from water and food, to soccer balls, belts, pants, shoes, and money.  He is quiet and slow to open up to us.  Sammy is a good example of the difficulty in knowing how to help people in the way they need to be helped.  We want to be a blessing in the name of Christ to each person we meet.  Just giving people things is not a blessing, but only leads to dependency.  However, showing trust in a little boy may be an avenue to him gaining confidence in his abilities and worth as a person.  He has borrowed our soccer ball a few times and brought it back, and we have been pleased to share with him.  We have not given him money and clothes (okay-money once, but it was a good story...that probably was not true, in the end).  We love to support people in the area that are working to sell either homemade food items or produce, and we are trying to figure out the best way to do even that, through seeking wise counsel and through prayer.  Scripture tells us over and over to be generous and, that by doing so, we are both showing Christ's love and honoring God.  

I John 3:17-18  But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?  Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.

Proverbs 3:9  Honor the Lord from your wealth 
                      And from the first of all your produce.

Proverbs 3:27-28  Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
                             When it is in your power to do it. 
                             Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come back,
                             And tomorrow I will give it,”
                             When you have it with you. 

Applying scripture in real life can be messy sometimes, which is why we need to continually seek direction through prayer.  Please pray that we would be a blessing to each person, in Christ's name, and not just a rich Westerner or a stingy Westerner or a busy Westerner, etc.  Please let us see each person as God sees them, and to be generous in a context that shows love and preserves dignity.  I think this issue applies all over the world, even in the affluent West, but manifests differently in the various contexts.

Sammy

 Some of you may recognize these people....

 A group from our church, Bayleaf Baptist Church, who have been working in Kenya for 2 weeks, came out of their way to see us on their way back to Nairobi.  What a wonderful, refreshing visit to be able to see them and hear about their lives. :)  We get so little news from home, and it is wonderful to feel connected.  They brought many things to us, for which we are grateful.  In fact, here are our children enjoying some of the things they brought that first night....

Clubhouse Magazine, Em hugging her beloved Wheat Thins, and Sports Illustrated!

Next time....more adventures from driving into Nairobi! :)  Mungu akipenda. (God willing.)

Love,
Sarah
I John 3:17-18
Proverbs 3:9 
Proverbs 3:27-28 

The closet in the bathroom where we let bread rise above the hot water heater!  Necessity is the mother of invention....

A botany challenge:  a huge tree on the school campus with roots hanging down from a height of 15 or 20 feet.

      

The road of life

On Monday, we were able to borrow a car and drive to Nairobi to get supplies and look at some used furniture.  We are trying to find the most economical furniture, appliances, house furnishings, and car possible.  It is coming "pole pole,"  which is the Kiswahili phrase for "slowly, slowly."  Rick drove, which I was thankful for!  The car was typical for people in Kijabe - a late 1990's Land Cruiser....a manual, right hand drive.  So, not only is the steering wheel on the "wrong" side, but the gear shift is on the left side AND all the controls are backwards.  Only a couple of times  did he try to change lanes and turn on the windshield wipers! :)  We have only driven on the left side of the road one other time in our marriage, and that was in Ireland many, long years ago.  Here are some sights of our trip to town....

Typical market scene on the side of the road.

A lot of furniture is made and sold on the side of the road - it is more affordable, but you have to be cautious because a lot of the wood is "green" and will warp over time.

This is a common sight - the cars and trucks share the road with carts pulled by men or donkeys.

It sure helps to have a crowd when going uphill!!

The highway to Kijabe is divided for part of the way and "recently" paved, but the marginal construction and overloaded trucks have already created these deep ruts in the lanes.

Can you see the sign on this truck?  "Danger. Abnormal Load." I cannot fathom what....

Herman or Hellman's?  A small jar of American style mayo is $5-7.

The gourmet butcher in town sells large beef bones and hearts...and cases of Dr. Pepper for about $30!!  They also sell ham for 1950/= per kg ($23) and turkey for 2200/= per kg ($26).  Don't know what we'll do at Thanksgiving - which is a normal work/school day here.

This is a typical scene in town (except that somehow there are no matatus in this photo!) - notice that no one is really in a "lane" and the silver SUV on the left is on the shoulder.

This is what the light switches look like here - down is "on" and up is "off."  There is a switch with each electrical outlet, so you can turn the whole outlet on and off.

 Rick worked on the pediatric ward this week and I worked in the nursery.  With the ongoing doctors' (and teachers') strike, the patient load has ballooned.  Not only are there more patients that are seeking care from Nairobi and the surrounding areas because those hospitals aren't staffed, but the patients are in such bad shape on arrival because it has taken them so long to reach Kijabe.  For instance, one woman arrived in labor with a prolapsed umbilical cord (so the blood supply to the baby was severely compromised), and this was the THIRD hospital she had gone to!!  The baby was delivered but was asphyxiated and exhibited seizure activity early on...not sure how that baby will do over time.   There is no reason that baby should not have been born healthy.  The outpatient clinic on one particular day this week had 50 people triaged that had not yet been seen, in addition to the ones already being cared for, and not even counting all the people sitting on the grass or waiting in their cars to check in.  There was a real fear that people would die in their cars!  In such a resource poor setting, where do you start to address the issues?   

One surprisingly available resource is a Kenyan pediatric cardiologist who will sometimes come to Kijabe to perform echocardiograms on our babies and children.  On Thursday, she did 5 echoes in the nursery (census of 29 at the time) - this saves the parents a lot of money, because an ambulance ride to Nairobi to have it done is $50-100.  One baby had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, another had complete AV canal, another had pulmonary hypertension due to meconium aspiration, and the last two each had a patent ductus arteriosus (for you medical types...).  Last week, there was a complete transposition of the great vessels and a baby with coarctation of the aorta.  There are an astonishing number of cardiac defects here.  The question after diagnosis then becomes:  how do we help these kids and help the family care for them in a sustainable way?  The families have to pay for all the treatment up front, unless they are helped by the Needy Children's Fund here or something similar.  They also have to be able to afford ongoing medications.  There are so many issues to consider.....can the family afford the surgery?  Can the family afford the medications?  Can the family afford to care for the extremely premature baby that we keep alive but who now has many medical and developmental issues?  What if they subsequently abandon the baby...have we helped that baby or family?  I hate thinking about money when it comes to medical care!  What is a life worth?  A life is priceless - there is no way to put a finite number on any life, but what if caring for one life makes it impossible for a family to care for the rest of the ones at home?  Please pray for us that we approach each child, each family with love, compassion, and great wisdom.  Please pray that we are ministers of God's great love for them - that they will be pointed to Christ's saving love and compassion, even in difficult situations where there is no easy way to completely remove the pain.

Portable echocardiogram on a premie.

Love,
Sarah
Matthew 5:4 
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Clinging to...what?

Yesterday, Anna celebrated the first family birthday in Kenya!  She had 3 friends sleep over, and what is commonly eaten at a sleepover?  You're right!  Pizza!  So, my Kenyan friend Elizabeth who sells various foods supplied me with a pizza crust for each person.  (Here is a mini econ lesson, for those so inclined....The crusts are 80/= apiece.  /= is the symbol for Kenyan shillings, which are in the range of 82-84 per US Dollar.)  I got tomatoes, a green pepper, onions, and garlic plus pineapple and bananas from the women at the market.  Then, I found strawberries from Iris, who gets them from somewhere near Kijabe and sells them (usually) on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.  Those were for a fruit salad with half the pineapple and some bananas.  Let's see....then I ordered some mozzarella cheese for the topping from a woman named Njoki who gets it from the Happy Cow cheese factory (?) and delivers it to people's homes.  It arrived quite warm, but it is less expensive than getting it in the store in Nairobi.  No one is sick yet!  I tried to get some pepperoni this week, but I was unsuccessful in finding any.  No worries, because the girls wanted Hawaiian pizza anyway (the other half of the pineapple). :)  I found chocolate ice cream (definitely not Blue Bell, but it is a frozen dairy concoction nonetheless!) at the school store (called the arcade) after 3 trips to the Supaduka turned up only vanilla.  And we made the cupcakes and homemade icing (of course!).  That is sort of typical for collecting items for a meal. :)  It is quite an adventure! 

Making pizza!

Anna was serenaded by the 2 children in the other half of our duplex - Happy Birthday on violins! :)  Okay, here is another one of my new joys....Daniel (the boy in the photo) practicing his violin every afternoon.  He is amazing!

The girls decorated cupcakes...yum!  Rick found birthday candles at the Supaduka. Duka is the Kiswahili word for shop, and supa is a nod toward American slang...not really, but it sounds like it!

Here is the famous Supaduka (the door on the left), which stocks so many staples.  It is Kijabe's MiniMart!  Just like if you forget ketchup on a camping trip, you will generally pay more for it at the MiniMart, but at least you can get it.  By the way, Ketchup is called Tomato Sauce here and "tomato sauce" (as we know it) does not exist!

This photo simply illustrates some of the very minor annoyances that come with moving to a new country/system/I'm not sure of the category....but I know what kind of paper towels, and napkins, and TP and such that I like at home.  Here, we have to try several kinds (yes, there are several brands)  to find the ones that don't tear like this, for instance.  These paper towels  are perforated, but I am not sure why they bothered!!!

Bobby Johnson, one of our friends from our home church, came through Kijabe on his way to M'fangano Island in Lake Victoria on Friday!!  It was great to see him and show him where we live.  He has been to Kenya numerous times, and he and his wife recently started a ministry named Interlocking Ministries.  Read about it at http://www.interlockingministries.org/

The flower above is taken in our "new yard."  I may have mentioned that we are being moved to a different house and have just been waiting for it to be ready (maybe soon!).  Since we can only rent furniture from the hospital for a few months, we have spent a lot of time trying to find affordable or used furniture/appliances/linens/kitchen stuff or find where to have it made (which is often less expensive but also poorer quality).  Finding things is a giant challenge without a car!  At any rate, we are looking forward  to being settled into a more permanent place where we can unpack our things, stop shopping, and devote more time to the hospital.  I was emailing a friend last night, and I mentioned to her that I was so ready to be settled....that even getting some kitchen items that are ours makes me feel more settled.  Not having a good way to explain that feeling, I mused that I guessed it was because it was something that wouldn't change.  What?!  We brought our family halfway across the world, leaving people/jobs/schools/church/etc that we love dearly...and I am clinging to used kitchen pots??!!  I know I am being a little dramatic, but I do long to cling to something permanent, stable, constant, unwavering - do you?  Our God is all of those things!  He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)  And He loves us!   (John 3:16)   He will go before us and never forsake us. (Joshua 1:5)  And He has proven it in countless stories throughout the Bible, and in numerous ways in my own life.  I do not need to cling to used kitchen pots, money, airtime/scratch cards, chocolate, my passport, or anything else but the God of the universe who loves you and me and is watching over all of us.

Love,
Sarah
Hebrews 13

Doctor Hat, Mom Hat

Many of you have asked what types of illnesses and diseases we will see here in Kenya.  In the little time that we have spent in the hospital thus far, I have been astounded at the significant and varied pathology...and the high level of care these kids receive despite very limited resources.

View of the hospital from the road behind our house - the children's ward is on the side facing the picture.

4 wheel drive ambulance - one big hurdle to getting a patient here is the road down to Kijabe from the main highway. It is very rutted and washed out.  I can't imagine traveling that road with appendicitis or broken bones.  Ow, ow, ow - each pothole another experience in raw misery.

We will be covering the pediatric ward (paediatric, due to the leftover British influence from colonization!), the kids in the ICU (5 ICU beds for entire hospital - babies, kids, and adults), nursery (more like a NICU, since "well-babies" are often seen by the midwives and then discharged), outpatient clinic, and Emergency Dept (called Casualty here).  The work is divided between 2 pediatricians during the day, and one person covers on call during nights and weekends. 

Let me give you a snapshot of a few patients that have been here over the last few days....

On the ward, there was a child with miliary tuberculosis, a 6 month old infant with worsening jaundice (screened for TORCH and found to have congenital CMV), another with a neck mass who was scheduled to have a biopsy the next day to determine if it was inflammatory or malignant, a couple of kids with diarrhea/dehydration/pneumonia, and then there was "John."  John is a 12 year old boy who came in for scoliosis repair, but was found to be in congestive heart failure with pulmnonary hypertension likely due to pneumonia.  He required treatment in the ICU with mechanical ventilation but still suffered anoxic brain injury.  You medical people know what this means, but - to spell it out - he went from being a normal 12 year old boy to a boy who will probably never be able to go to school again and may be wheelchair bound.  His is not a happy ending.

In the nursery, there is a baby with coarcation of the aorta who was SGA (small for gestational age) and, therefore, too little to repair at the moment; a baby with tracheoesophageal fistula AND transposition of the great vessels (with large ASD and VSD); one whose mom abrupted during labor and was rushed here (still wet and not stabilized) from a facility 45 minutes away; a couple of preterm babies with feeding issues; an 8 week old with hydrocephalus/hypernatremia/malnutrition.  I can share a very happy ending from last week...I am told that Kijabe Hospital has never been able to celebrate a successful tracheoesophageal fistula repair, but one was repaired a week or two ago (another one besides the one with transposition) that was feeding well and discharged home!!  He still has a long road to full recovery, but what a joy to celebrate new successes amid the sadness.

The entrance to the children's ward.

This is on the wall outside of the children's ward - what if this charge were followed everywhere!  Hospitals, schools, homes....and we are ALL God's children, so if you follow that logic.....

Wednesday morning chapel at the hospital.

Now for a break from the medical report.....I will put on my Mom Hat. :)

Ted made the JV soccer team at RVA, and started in his first game on Saturday! :)  They played Moffat Bible College, also here in Kijabe, so their opponents were in their early 20's.  They played well as a team, after only a handful of practices together, and won with a score of 3-2.

Go Ted! :)

You may be wondering if we forgot to pack shin guards - no, we didn't.  Most of the team did not wear shin guards.  I'll post pictures of the first round of bruises.....nuff said.  I told you I was wearing my Mom Hat! ;)

The soccer game was a nice chance to visit with people we have met and meet some new people.

Note to self:  white clothes do not work here...even just for a day at Titchie Swot.

If it has been raining on your laundry for 5 minutes, do you leave it out or bring it in?  We left it out....

I hope you can see these men cutting the grass with machetes.  That is the norm here - most of the work from "mowing" to edging to digging ditches is done by hand.

Tutaonana (we will see each other)!

Love,
Sarah
Galatians 5:22-23

Singin' the blues

This morning started out with the girls singing various songs while getting their shoes on to walk to school.  It digressed from the theme from Sleeping Beauty to a type of "Blues" about having a backpack that was "too stinking heavy!" haha!  In truth, the girls' backpacks are on the heavy side, and I have tried to help them carry them or lift up on them while they walk.  The source of the weight is this:

Well-supplied Titchie Library-I think the girls are racing to see who will read them all first!

Have I told you what a Titchie is?  I don't know.  ;)  The lower school is named Titchie Swot and, evidently, the origin and/or meaning of the name has been lost in history.  It is a funny name, though, and Rick has made good use of a play on words and likes to give the girls their own "Titchie swat" daily. :)

Lower school = Titchie Swot

So, back to the walk up the hill....how far is it?  I walked it today and counted my steps between my huffing and puffing.  It is 1,392  of my size steps from our walkway to the top of the Titchie steps, and that includes 113 stairs. Many of them are here...

This is a nice place to stop and chat with someone - time to catch your breath! :)

Is this climb worth 'singing the blues' about?  Not really.  Think about all the health benefits of the exercise and fresh air, the emotional benefits of spending time with each other on the way and seeing new friends on campus or in passing, and the spiritual aspect of enjoying God's breathtaking creation....the greatest show on earth!

View of the Rift Valley from  behind the Arcade (student store).

These are geraniums - planted as hedges!!

I'd have to consult Guinness, but this may be the world's largest cactus.

These are my favorite 2 photos, but I have to confess that I took them from my doorway...not walking to school.  This bird (help me with the name, bird people!) worked his way around and around the flower, putting his beak into each trumpet to get the nectar.  You can see his beak up inside one trumpet.

See the drop of nectar on the tip of his beak?

I'll tell you what makes me want to sing the blues.  There is a tribe that lives several hours northwest of here in East Pokot.  The AIC Kijabe church sent a group to work among them at the end of August.  My understanding is that the church is especially worried about the situation of the women and young girls there.  In this tribe, the woman's job is to build the house (yes, you read that correctly), raise the kids, and provide the meals.  The women feed the men, and then the women and children eat what is left.  If it rains at night and the roof is leaking, she is expected to stand over her husband and shield him from the rain while he sleeps.  There is no education for the girls, so they have no chance to escape their plight.  Poverty is rampant and ancient customs of mutilation are still in practice that bring more sorrow to these girls and women.   The group from the church here wants to teach the community about God's love for all people - Jesus set a new standard for respecting and caring for women, even in his days on earth.  The Bible is clear about honoring men and women as equal in God's sight, and think of the refreshing goodness that would come to a community such as that if they turned toward God and His plan for His creation.  Like He does for each believer, He can "make all things new."  (Revelation 21:5).  Please pray with me for the people, and especially the women and girls, of East Pokot and countless communities like them.

Love,
Sarah
Revelation 21:3-5
“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”