Dreaming of Africa

Please forgive the length of this entry.  I having been dreaming of Africa, both at night and during the day. Here are some of my reflections.  **7-30-10 Updated with a few photos**

Back from Africa and yet not all here...  I dream of Africa.  Of the faces of the children; the patients; the nurses and doctors; the heat and humidity; the lack of running water...and soap.

I dream of green grams (“dengu”), chapati and talapia;  half cakes and mandazi at the Daga Hotel; stealthy monkeys racing across tabletops to steal bread from your plate...

I dream of hippos gracefully maneuvering their enormous bodies outside the water; lion cubs and moms playfully rolling in the tall golden grass - then vigorously feasting on a newly killed wildebeest.  I dream of giraffes slowly and gracefully walking through the savannah...babies hiding in the bushes...popping just their heads out to have a look around, safely covered by the foliage.  I dream of elephants casually grazing on grass...families of them...communities.

I remember the zebras - strikingly beautiful in their contrasted stripes, wandering comfortably in the Masai Mara and then in an instant they break into a full sprint, running beside topi, wildebeest, gazelles and more.  The wildebeest on their annual migration from Tanzania to the Masai Mara where grass is plentiful...thousands and thousands of them...lines in the distance like safari ants - until you get closer.  I remember the warthogs with their babies...mom first, followed by two to three young: they march into the tall grasses where all you can see is the top of mom’s tail as it points skyward.  The hyenas...more attractive than portrayed in the Lion King...mouths bloody from a recent meal and then a smile breaks out and you see their white teeth.  It does look like they are about to laugh!  Jackals small enough to hide in your backpack (but never get through customs!)... and tree tops filled with vultures waiting and watching for their next meal.

I am drawn back to the people.  Children in white shirts with bright white teeth smiling against their dark brown skin running alongside our vehicle, pointing and smiling as they sing out, “Mzungu, mzungu - How are you?”  It is very endearing.  They are always happy to see us.  Children carrying heavy loads of sticks or grain or gallons of water on their heads...walking long distances between home or market and school...yet never complaining.  Always offering a smile and an enthusiastic greeting:  “Mzungu, mzungu, how are you?”

There are so many orphans and vulnerable children.  They don’t seem to know what they don’t have and so they are grateful for any act of kindness.  We organized a birthday party for a group of 21 children around the theme, “You are Special”.  Reading and acting out the story of the same name by Max Lucado, the children were completely attentive...not a sound was made aside from the occasional giggle when our acting seemed silly.  We distributed colorful gift bags of clothes and shoes, handpicked with each child in mind.  As the children went into a classroom and changed into their new clothes, they came out with new spirits as well as new clothes.  Their smiles were ear to ear and they walked with their heads higher and their shoulders back.  It was beautiful.  

Esther, Juliana, Geoffrey, Steven, Little George, Agnes, Anna and her sister, Asha, Bob, Charles, Daniel, Elizabeth, Emmanuel, Evans, Faith, Fred, Geoffrey O, Gloria, Ida, Jeremiah, Kristine, Marvel, Maurine, Michael, Robert, Roselyne, Timothy, Vivian, Clare... and many more. 

I go through my day...back to work at AT&T.  I am grateful for my job as I know many who are unemployed, and yet my mind wanders with the seeming irrelevance of this world.  Parallel universes...

I am constantly praying.  Thinking of those I met and loved.  The national volunteers are amazing.  These are men and women, many of whom are former patients of Care & Compassion...risen from the bed, as we often say...who are now giving back the gift of life they received.  They work very hard, for little or no compensation other than the knowledge that they are making a difference in the lives of their neighbors.  I lift them up in prayer...

Julie, Lillian, Margaret, George, Don, another George, Paul, Lydia, Washington, another George, Eunice, Ruth, and more...

I think of Desmond, driving the Land Cruiser over pot-holed dirt roads (cow trails really) to get to the homes of patients and check on their well being.  We nick-named the Land Cruiser, “Mr Toad’s Wild Ride” for good reason.

Marieke and Anne...two dear young women from Holland who stole my heart.  They came to Kisumu to volunteer for CHI about ten months ago and are still at it.  I was privileged to join Marieke, a registered nurse, on many visits to Russia Hospital and several homes in the village of Manyatta.  She is a quiet, beautiful woman, whose heart for God and those who are sick radiates all around her.

Anne is Marieke’s cousin.  Except for their love for God and passion to do His work, they are as different as night and day.  Anne is playful and outgoing.  She’s been working to add more schools to those in which CHI can minister to orphans and vulnerable children.  Anne shares her love and bright spirit everywhere she goes, whether ministering to children or adults...  We had great fun as she tried to teach us the Dutch way to say common phrases.  This inevitably led to hilarious laughter as we failed hopelessly!

I pray for the patients, all of whom are HIV positive... Robert (teetering on the brink of life and death), Arthur (Kaposi’s Sarcoma throughout his body), Joseph (suffered a stroke; risen from the bed...and getting stronger by the day), Claudia (a new believer), Mildred (a young girl who could barely breathe...risen from the bed!), Maureen (four year old orphan living with her aunt), Fiona and her son, Robert, Jane (suffering from TB and neuropathy), Pamela (bed ridden with shingles when I saw her, now risen), Lawrence, Veronica, Frederick (now home with the Lord), Samuel, Christine (and her daughter, Lucy), Beatrice, Lillian (and her 2 year old son, Timothy), Rosemary (with huge bed sores that are down to the bone...risen from the bed!), David (risen from the bed!), Anna (Pamela’s mother), Eunice (a young girl and new believer), Elizabeth (a new believer), Mary (a new believer), another Pamela (a new believer), another David, Alice, Rosalyn (now home with the Lord), another Jane (now home with the Lord), Grace (now home with the Lord), Paul (arms covered with ulcerous spots), George (a young boy at Russia Hospital), Dennis, another David (at Maseno Hospital), another Rosemary, Salome, Kennedy (severely anemic...blessed with blood donated by a CHI volunteer - and amazingly turned out to be HIV negative!), another George (father of six; deceased since I came home...), Margaret, another Lillian, Rose and Little George, Richard (with a severe skin condition - also amazingly turned out to be HIV negative!), Phoebe and her son, Zedediah, another George (a new believer with Kaposi’s Sarcoma and debilitating neuropathy), another George (from Ohero...recently had his leg amputated), Mary Jocinta, and all their families...

I cannot forget Denise, Mama Joskey, Pastor Martin, Mama Phillister, and all the staff of CHI.  Or the other new believers, like Edwin Omondi the tuk-tuk driver, or Catherine, a teenaged girl who accepted Christ after Sunday services at the Christ Church of Kisumu.  And of course our special “stars”...Mary and Jessica who are staying in Kisumu through August.  Bless and protect them all.

I love the way the names of the Luo tell something about their birth.  Here are some examples...  You will notice baby girls start with “A” and baby boys with “B”.

Amondi: Baby girl born in the morning 

Achieng: Baby girl born in the day time 

Adhiambo: Baby girl born in the evening

Atieno: Baby girl born at night

Awuor: Baby girl born to a glutton  (who would admit to that?)

Awino: Baby girl born wrapped in cord

Omondi: Baby boy born in the morning 

Ochieng: Baby boy born in the day time

Odhiambo: Baby boy born in the evening

Otieno: Baby boy born at night

Obilo: Baby boy born to craving

The children from the Manyatta Ministry Care Point...

Pamela is HIV positive and had a bad case of shingles on her leg when I saw her.  She could hardly move.  Her children are Macrine Adhiambo, Lavende Atieno, Christopher Ochieng, and Beckam Odhiambo.  Thaddeus Otieno is an orphan who lives with his Aunt Pamela in Manyatta.

Lillian is HIV positive, with osteoporosis in her hip; she needs a hip replacement that she will never get and she is grateful for the crutches CHI provided so she can move about.  Her children are Aphline Amondi and Brigit Awuor.

Jane is HIV positive and was suffering from TB when I met her.  Worse than that, the medicine she was taking for TB resulted in severe neuropathy in her feet.  Fortunately we were able to provide her with vitamin B-6, which relieved the neuropathy and the firey burning sensation in her feet.  Now she can tend to her children: Jackline Achieng, Hilda Awino, and Diona Adhiambo.

Margaret is Aunt and “Mama” to Maurine Achieng, Faith Obilo, and Neema (which means grace) Angeline.  Maurine is 4 years old and HIV positive.

Elizabeth’s children...Lamech Ochieng, and Emmanuel Ochieng.

Susan’s children... Jeremiah Otieno, and Agnes Adhiambo.  Agnes is a sweet young girl who is HIV positive and a CHI Care & Compassion patient. 

Joseph had a stroke.  The mother ran away.  The vulnerable children left behind are Stacy Atieno and George Omondi.

And Kevin Echagwe...parents / caregivers unknown.

I remember the rhythmic sound of whack, whack, whack, whack... as the gardener, folded at the waist, cut the grass each morning with a machete.  And the crunch of gravel as the guard walked around the property at night...

I am so grateful...

Maseno Hospital - Women's Ward

Here are some photos that go along with these memories:

Pamela, Nathaniel & Kennedy

George and Rosemary

Nurses at Maseno Hospital

Transporting a patient

Laundry & garden at Maseno

                        

In Christ's love,

Pamela