Generations Part 1

    Returning to Kenya year after year has been such an interesting blessing.  My first trip was in 1992 with my parents, sister, and her future husband.  It was as far out of my comfort zone that 13 year old me had ever been.  I didn't particularly "enjoy" it at the time, yet upon arriving back home, I was keenly aware that I missed it already.  It was as though the first little bit of my heart was divided and deposited for future interest.  In a beautiful coming-around saga, the now 18-year-old daughter of my sister and her husband was able to join us for her first visit to Kenya this summer.  She did much better getting out of her comfort zone than I did on my first round.  She brought her guitar and led us all in singing praises to God (and a little Taylor Swift sometimes too). 

    We also were honored with the gift of another family member on this trip- Michael's dad! Someone graciously pointed out the unique situation of us having 3 generations together.  We are grateful and encouraged by his willingness to go and endure with us.  

    The first 2 weeks, Michael and his medical resident were working at several rural Maasai clinics he had never been to before.  The director of these clinics is a wonderful Maasai friend named John Sankok. He told us that they were able to serve 334 people in that time.  One patient in particular stands out as a case to share.  She was a girl with Rheumatic Heart Disease.  The early diagnosis at the rural clinic will afford her the opportunity to treat this disease with medicine monthly.  The treatment does not just affect her heart for now, but Lord willing, it will allow her heart to function properly when it is time for her to have children of her own.  Too many young women go untreated for RHD in Sub-Saharan Africa and the loss of life is often doubled in pregnancy.  Simple penicillin might allow this girl and a future generation of her future family to praise God too.

                                        below: the clinic staff at Mara Rianta CMF health clinic

                                

              below: a realistic danger for the clinic staff walking home from work here- a resident elephant is the evening traffic jam you don't want to get caught in

(she makes it very difficult for farms and gardens to keep fresh vegetables growing)

The Mara River:

 

 Below:: Daktari's one medical lecture if he could give just one to the Tenwek trainees-         Antibiotic Stewardship

   I arrived in Narok with the family for one week and then we migrated to the next county to visit Tenwek Mission Hospital for only a few days of inpatient hospital rounding and teaching.  Mainly we just wanted to reconnect and visit.  In just a few short days, we felt so very blessed by the old friends there who welcomed us back "home" and made us feel so much seen and loved.  Someone once said, "We all enter the world looking for someone who is looking for us".  Here at Tenwek we feel very much "looked at" by our community ("seen" is a better way of saying that, but it depends on the day if we feel looked at or seen) Sometimes we wish that nobody was looking at us or for us, for that matter.  But for this time it was a big blessing.  We not only felt seen but felt like we can also see things more clearly here.  

    The girls called their experiences "eye opening".  I was delighted to have open eyes for some of the generations of new medical staff that have risen up in the past 10 years.  We had Kenyan medical students and interns in 2013 and 2014 who are now bearing so much fruit at Tenwek by heading up the new oncology department, now practicing daktaris, training in surgical residency, neuro-surgery even, and carrying on as the attending medicine consultant for the inpatient medical wards.  We have no words but thanksgiving and praise to God for all the evidence of His faithfulness to all generations, especially to our 3 generations this summer.         

                                               

       

Generations part 2

    The Maasai people have been fiercely traditional for centuries.  They are noble and unique among African tribes, an iconic symbol of Kenyan culture and vitality. They resisted colonization by the British and continued their way of life in nomadic pastoring of cattle, sheep and goats.  We just learned at a campfire culture talk this week that the word "Maasai" comes from Maa meaning the people and sai  meaning to pray to Enkai (their name for God).  So they are "the people who pray to Enkai".   In the late 1970's and early 80's a young Maasai man named Timothy heard a word from the Bible which said "Whoever has the Son of God has life and whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life" (I John 5:12).  He began to ask himself "Am I not alive? Then, what does this mean?" and he went to find someone who would teach him what the Word of God meant.  He heard of a missionary with a big beard that hid his mouth and white skin and was widely feared. He was also known as one who taught the Words of God.  So Timothy walked about 30 kilometers to sit under the meeting tree with him and hear about the Son of God who offers life.

   God is moving in big ways among the Maasai today.  From the seeds that were planted in the hard dry ground of Maasailand in the '80s up until today, the number of believers is really growing.  They are communal people and like to make community decisions.  The Good News of the Kingdom of God is for communities too.  God wants us to be in community with Himself.  That is why the Son of God became one of us, to bring us back to God.  

    The missionaries of just one or two generations ago shared the Word of God with today's Maasai elders who are continuing the work of the Kingdom of God.  Today, our friend Timothy has a Masters degree in Disaster Management and is director of the ministries at Africa Hope.  They are pushing back the edges of extreme poverty through holistic outreach with water security and sanitation, children's camps and family sponsorship, all in the name of Jesus.  The same bearded white missionary recruited me to be part of the work back when I was a college student and I came to Kenya to help with the start of Africa Hope in 2003. A year later, we broke ground on a conference center for Africa Hope and my mom and dad came to help mix concrete and lay blocks for that building.

     This year, our kids and our sweet niece came and mixed concrete to help make some sidewalks that people use when coming for training and programs. The center is so big now.  I was asked to do some staff development this time and it was marvelous to see a whole new generation of community health workers and pastors growing in their understanding of the Word of God!  I and they together told the story of the whole Bible about 7 times over with a different theme each time. It offers a 35,000 foot view on how much God relentlessly loves and pursues His children to bring them back into his family through restoring life, rest, rule, friendship, and salvation.  It was 3 days of Bible stories that weave together like an epic movie trilogy.  Most people read one verse or passage at a time and miss the big picture.  Imagine watching your favorite movie in 5- 10 minute increments over a period of a year versus a binging the whole story at once and getting swept up in the drama!  The staff was so encouraging in their joy at the Word of God!  It was like medicine to my soul to be part of this.  As we left from Africa Hope, they offered a beautiful send off with prayers, singing and adorning us with Maasai blankets and beads.  The girls and I were wrapped in Kenyan flags and I felt like a marathon winner!  Then it came to me "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith".  

    

     Girls fetching water from a secure source- a bore hole that Africa Hope helped to bring the community:

below: Some Maasai grandmothers worshipping God in the church 

A new generation paving the way:

The AH staff development learning Seven Streams of Grace Bible study:

Campfire cultural talk

Tim and Michael at the AH dormitories

AH staff and send-off time:

So much to give thanks for!  God has brought us a long, long way from where we started.

    

20 years ago

A long time ago in a land far away, a young missionary woman lived in Kenya's bustling wild-west town of Narok.  It might have looked slightly like Dr. Quinn Medicine woman's setting. I wore long skirts and was a bit "out of pocket".  (slang translator: unexpected) I was one of the only or occasionally the only white resident in town.  Though it was easy to be noticeable, it was still lonesome at times.  Kenyan friends would often ensure I was kept company. But the company most enjoyed was when was a certain strapping young hero with messy curly hair would make his way across the world to come visit. Whenever he had to fly away home thegoodbyes and long-distance agonized my 23 year old heart.  We wrote actual paper letters every week for 2 years while he was still in school back in Georgia.  I would walk a dusty mile each way every day to the post office until that week's letter arrived.  Our love story was built on mission and calling in spite of distance and difficulties. The Lord was our shepherd.  He called me to follow his lead and I knew that was where I had to be.  Airport goodbyes were the hardest part for me.  I hated the scrolling escalators ascending up with his feet fading from view into the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport terminal. Why must it be called a "terminal"?

Thankfully the terminal also allows for a continuation of stories beyond what is visible to the eye.  I returned home and our story continued up the chapel stairs to a blissful wedding at the Berry College on New Year's Day 2005. We promptly entered a new phase of life with his first-year medical school resuming on Monday after the wedding.  People said medical school years are hard on relationships, but I was just glad we were finally in the same county!  In 18.5 years of marriage now we have seldom let much time or distance get between us again.  

The path God led us on as a family then went through 4 years of med-school, 3 years of internal medicine residency,  2 years of Infectious Disease fellowship, seminary, a bouncing baby boy, and a gorgeous girl born, a few graduations, and then all four of us got on a big metal bird to fly away to Kenya all together in 2013.  The mission and calling were still active and the story line was filling out in new dimensions.

That was where the Daktari-Life stories come from. We had 2.5 year old Little Miss and 5 year old Man-Cub 10 years ago. You do the math.  Those were some happy golden years we poured out at Tenwek Mission Hospital in Bomet, Kenya.  Sometimes we were living like sheep in green grass beside quiet waters, other times it was a darkest valley. U usually it was a little bit of both at the same time.  But the Lord was our Shepherd continually. 

We moved to Chattanooga in July 2015 and have never fully collected all the scattered parts of our heart that remained behind.  Amazingly, Michael has the chance with his job to go back for medical work in Kenya every year. And it's time for our annual migration now. Like the African Wildebeast who cross the Mara River in July or August to find greener grass too, we get to experience some challenges and some blessings through adventuring to Kenya. Theirs is a migration of survival instinct.  Maybe ours is similar...

 Note: When the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence, it's usually just because of lighting or maybe because of yard chemicals.  But for us and the migratory wildebeasts, it's more like a visceral response or a calling to just up and go not because we can see greener grass with our eyes or a better deal on the horizon, but because the Lord is our Shepherd and he is authoring our story.

We are doing our Kenya-venturing in a new way this year.  Michael went ahead without me this week.  I rode with him to our quaint little Chattanooga airport and he asked if I wanted to drop him off at the curb or go inside. A rush of sadness barraged my thoughts.  I couldn't think straight.   Kiss goodbye, and up the escalator he went, and out the door I went.  It was a bit  disorienting for me at first. So I have cracked open the old blog to reorient myself and my friends on our story.  

It's going to be a good chapter coming this month, so stay tuned!  

Michael and a resident are working in Masai clinics this week. Our family will travel to meet up with them later in a few days.  Check out the link to where they are in the world!

We are still happy. I hope the next update won't be so sappy.  For now, here's a little mappy!