Before I begin let me say asante sana (thank you very much!) to all who have supported our team, and continue to do so with prayer, so that we are able to be here in Kisumu to share God's love. Your thoughtful gifts and contributions are making a definite impact to the people here.
It has been a learning process to determine how much to share of our daily ministry. We've discovered that sometimes it takes a while to process what we do in a day before we can find the words to share.
That said, here is what I have been doing...
Yesterday I went to the village of Manyatta and visited five families who are part of the Care and Compassion ministry. I was accompanied by Marieke, a long term volunteer from the Netherlands and Julie, an African national volunteer who works for CHI. The first patient I saw was a 4 year old girl named Melinda. She lost both her mother and father to AIDS. She now lives with her aunt and is not unlike many four year olds. When we arrived she was playing outside with her best friend. Melinda is HIV positive but her aunt does not believe in using medicine. We were disappointed to find Melinda had a bad ear infection (this was Tuesday) and her aunt did not plan to take her to the hospital for (free) antibiotics until Friday. Please pray for this little girl that God would continue to cover and protect her.
We also visited Pamela, Fiona and Jane...3 other single women who are HIV positive. Each of them have children to care for and work very hard. I read scripture from the bible for each of the families we visited and Julie translated into the local language of Luo. Then we prayed for each one and always left food for them.
The last family we saw was Lawrence and Veronica. They are both HIV positive and have a 2 month old baby (see picture). Like all the others they work very hard and appreciate being cared for by this ministry. They will not know if the baby is HIV positive until after the mother has stopped breastfeeding (usually at 6 months). They will continue to test the child periodically until they are sure she is free of the disease.
I finished my day of ministry at a Russia hospital in Kisumu. Again with Marieke and Julie we visited several wards of patients. We read the bible and prayed for many. Perhaps the most meaningful to me was when we went to the men's surgery ward. There was a 28 year old man, named Frederick, whose bed sores were so bad his hip bone was now fully exposed. He was very thin and in a lot of pain but he knows Jesus and loves him! When I read from the bible for this man, even though he understood English quite well, Julie translated into Luo for the benefit of the other men in the room (about 6 men in a room approximately 12x25 feet). It was a beautiful and powerful experience. Each man listed intently and the Spirit of God was noticeably present in the room with us.
I could say so much more but I know my team-mates have a lot to share also, so I will stop here. Just know that we are being blessed to be a blessing in ways you cannot imagine! I am overflowing with the love of God. He is so good!
Until next time... kwaheri! (good bye!)
Love,
Pamela
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