Prague

Greetings friends,
Just a brief posting to let you know that we are safely home from Kenya and Prague.  Marilyn and I got in late last night (Tuesday), and have spent most of today catching up our household.  We enjoyed the beautiful city of Prague on our way home this year, and spent some wonderful time with our dear friends from the Netherlands (Peter and Petra Axt).  Thanks to all who have been praying for our time at Tenwek, and for our safe travels.  Looking forward to being together again soon!
With love,
Randy and Marilyn.

4th Kenyan birthday party!

Hard to figure out my age this week.....I DO believe I am 63 yrs old, HOWEVER-----At a morning report conference an intern presented a patient as 'elderly' who was 44 yrs old (!!! I MIGHT accept 'appears older than stated age', but 'elderly' ----they clearly do NOT know my mother who is still NOT elderly!) and then the 4th b'day party ------It doesn't matter----I am 63 yrs old and feel invigorated by the energy, stamina and faith of the Kenyan people ---it is contagious (but hopefully NOT their diseases!!!--especially the pregnant  "conditions"---I gladly leave that to Natalia and Brad!)

We're packing up to leave---almost assuredly to return next September! 

Marilyn

A birthday party hosted by Joy...longterm OB/GYN missionary at Tenwek...and friend!

Shortage of candles in Kenya...thank goodness!

Celebrating with old and new friends...

Preparing to leave

Greetings friends,
Our time at Tenwek is nearing an end and we are once again ambivalent about our upcoming return to “the world”.  We have made so many friends here – both old and new.  To think about leaving produces sadness about those we will be leaving behind, but also anticipation and excitement about what lies ahead.  This year we had the pleasure of spending time with short-term volunteers from Michigan, North Carolina, South Carolina, Massachusetts, Florida, Pennsylvania, Montana, Texas (San Antonio!), and Toronto… brothers and sisters brought together out of our mutual love for the people of Kenya and our love for Jesus.  What an amazing experience it has been to share time, work, meals, and worship with this community.  “It’s nearly impossible to express with words the feeling of being here” is how one of our new friends, a thoracic surgeon from S. Carolina, puts it…and we couldn’t agree more.  We have come to love the warmth, friendliness, stoicism, and simple faith of the rural population of Kenya.  It is both a joy and a privilege to join in the good work that the long-term missionaries are doing here, and to try to help bring some small measure of comfort and relief to the incredible suffering that occurs.  Since my last communication, both of the young men mentioned in my previous post have passed away, and now their families are left to grieve, and to try to put their lives back together.  It’s difficult for us to imagine what that experience must be like.  We feel so blessed to have our health, and to have ready access to healthcare for our loved ones and ourselves…something that we will not likely ever again take for granted.  As we get ready to depart Kenya, we are looking forward to reconnecting with some dear friends from the Netherlands – Peter and Petra Axt, a physician couple that we met several years ago while serving together in Guatemala.  We are planning to meet in Prague for a few days and “catch up” with them on happenings in our lives and families.  This will be our third annual “after Kenya” meeting, and we are very excited to see them.  In addition, we are very much looking forward to the upcoming arrival of our first grandchild later this year (sometime in early November)!  We are anxiously awaiting his arrival, and the chance to meet him when we travel to Minnesota to see Brad and Natalia at Thanksgiving.  So, in spite of the sadness that we feel about getting ready to leave this place, there is much that we are looking forward to as well...the chance to reconnect with many of you!  Hoping to see you soon…
With love,
Randy and Marilyn

Prayers for 2 young men and their families

Life in Africa can be very difficult for those who live here.  Even the young and vigorous are not immune, as evidenced by the following case histories.

Joshua N. is an 18 year old, previously healthy male, who had just recently finished 4^th form school, when he began to feel ill with 3-4 days of headaches and fever with malaise.  He presented to the local hospital for evaluation on Wednesday of last week, but unfortunately, had just missed seeing the doctor on duty for that day.  He was admitted to the local hospital and was told that he would need to wait till the next day to be seen and evaluated.  Over the course of that evening he began to feel worse, and called his mother, asking that she please come and get him and take him somewhere else to be seen.  His family arrived the following day (Thursday) and noted that he was becoming confused and agitated, and had yet to be seen by any physician, or started on any treatment.  They took him out of that facility and transported him several hours by car to Tenwek Hospital where he was seen in casualty (the equivalent of a U.S. emergency department).  By this time, he had become quite agitated and combative, was no longer talking or communicating, and was not following any commands.  He had a lumbar puncture done and was confirmed to have findings compatible with acute meningitis.  He was started on treatment for suspected bacterial meningitis and admitted to the hospital for further care.  By the next morning, he was obtunded and noted to be experiencing seizures.  Because he was deteriorating, he was also started on coverage for TB meningitis and transferred into the intensive care unit.  Shortly thereafter, he began having problems with his breathing, and was intubated and placed on a ventilator for suspected aspiration pneumonia.  Later that evening, he was having problems with persistent fevers as high as 106 degrees, and was also having problems with low blood pressure.  In the early morning hours of Sunday, he experienced a cardiac arrest, but was successfully resuscitated and was noted to be in septic shock (an overwhelming infection with associated collapse of circulation and very low BP’s).  On Monday morning rounds, he was found to have no identifiable brainstem function and was pronounced brain dead.  Throughout this ordeal, his family has been steadfastly at his bedside and earnestly beseeching God to spare his life.  They are not yet convinced that their prayers will not be answered, and are holding out hope that God will grant them a miracle.  Their church family is gathering for one last prayer vigil tonight before an attempt is made to withdraw his ventilator support.  Please pray with them… and ask God for one more “miracle at Tenwek”.

Naurori K. is a 16yo previously healthy male who was admitted on the same day as Joshua N.  Naurori had also been quite healthy and vigorous with no past medical history until he became ill with an itchy vesicular rash on his chest and face.  Over 3-4 days time, he also began having fever, headaches, confusion and drowsiness.  He was brought into Tenwek hospital by his family, and was initially admitted to the pediatric service with suspected Varicella Zoster Virus infection (chicken pox).  By the next morning, he was more obtunded, and had a CT scan of the head, followed by lumbar puncture.  He was then transferred to our medical team with a diagnosis of suspected Varicella Zoster viral meningoencephalitis (viral infection of the brain and fluid surrounding the brain).  In the west, this condition has about a 10% expected mortality and is treated with IV antiviral medication (Acyclovir).  In Africa, IV acyclovir is not readily available, and is quite expensive and unaffordable for most families (including this family).  As a result, Naurori was treated with oral Acyclovir, in lieu of doing nothing other than supportive care (which was our other option).  He also started having problems breathing and oxygenating and needed to be intubated and placed on a ventilator to help support his breathing.  He also has been steadily deteriorating despite our prayers and best efforts.  He is no longer responsive, but still has some evidence of brain function at this time.  He and his family are also desperate, and are in need of your prayers.

Indeed life is harsh and tenuous in this place, yet the Kenyan people are resilient and strong in their faith.   Joshua’s mother has continued to praise God and does not question His goodness or sovereignty, yet through her tears, cries out…”my God, my God, how am I to live?... I will continue to trust you, but please, take me and spare my son”.  Yet, we know that God Himself understands her suffering…that He also knows what it is to lose a Son…

I can’t help but wonder if these 2 young men would have had different outcomes had they had the good fortune of being born in the US…perhaps…but one can never know.  All I know for sure is that God is loving and merciful, and that I too, will continue to trust Him and to praise Him…even when I don’t understand His plans for us.

Contentment

Greetings friends,

Some lessons in life are just difficult to learn.  Since we arrived here I have been mildly disgruntled about not having my luggage and having to make due with just 2 changes of clothing.  In addition, Marilyn has been mildly disappointed about our not being housed in the guesthouse this year, and thus somewhat separated from the main group of short-term volunteers who are visiting this year.   We still share meals with the group, and have plenty of interaction with them, but are living in one of the long-term missionary apartments in the lower compound (due to some plumbing issues which occurred in our room at the guesthouse prior to our arrival).  As a result, we are having to “suffer” in a very comfortable 4-bedroom apartment with good water pressure, and plentiful warm water!  On the day after our arrival, we were invited to dinner with the long-term OB/GYN missionary doctor and her pastor husband.  We enjoyed a wonderful meal and some great fellowship time, but near the end of the meal, our host indicated that she was in charge of scheduling devotions for the next morning, and had overlooked an open slot in the schedule.  She somewhat sheepishly asked if we might be able to “fill in” on short notice.  As some of you may, or may not know, Marilyn and I did a devotional for the Tenwek Hospital staff 2 years ago while we were here.  The title of the devotional was “Contentment” based upon a book written by Richard Swenson M.D.  We had prepared for weeks, and had even created a Power Point presentation which I “just happened” to have on my laptop.  With great reluctance and trepidation, we agreed to fill in.  We returned to our apartment and furiously “dusted off” our prior presentation and began to tweak it somewhat.  The following morning, we walked up to the guesthouse to have breakfast with the rest of the short-term staff, and to fortify ourselves for the ordeal ahead.  No one else was in the dining area, and we set about preparing breakfast for ourselves.  As I turned on the cold water faucet to rinse out the coffee filter, out came a blast of scalding hot water and steam, followed by a small “explosion” in the cabinet below, and a stream of equally hot water streaming out into the dining area floor.  Within a few minutes, a short-term guest from the room over the kitchen popped his head in to see what was happening.  He reported that his wife had flushed the toilet upstairs and had experienced a similar blast of steam and a geyser of hot water pouring into their toilet, followed by flooding of the apartment floor (fortunately she had not been sitting on the toilet at the time)!  I was able to find a valve outside the kitchen/dining area, and shut down the water going to the kitchen and guest apartment.  We proceeded to finish preparing and consuming our meal, while standing in a pool of water, then headed up to the hospital where, a short time later we were standing in front of all the Kenyan residents, short term volunteers, and long term missionaries to talk to them about “contentment”.  One of the scripture passages in our presentation was from Matthew 6:25-34:
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?  And why do you worry about clothes?  See how the lilies of the field grow.  They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying, “what shall we eat?” or “what shall we drink?” or “what shall we wear?”  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do no worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

All I can say is that God certainly has a sense of humor, and that Marilyn and I apparently needed to RELEARN how to be content, and how to trust in Him, and seek first His kingdom.  Fortunately, no one was injured in the above fiasco, and the “plumbers” were able to get the hot water reconnected to the hot water line rather than the cold water line, and all leaks repaired.  Later that same day my luggage arrived (hallelujah!) and we had a new appreciation for our apartment, located a safe distance from the guesthouse.  I suspect that we will be practicing more thankfulness and contentment in the days ahead.

Love to all,
Randy and Marilyn

Greetings from Tenwek!  We have safely arrived at the hospital complex after a long couple of days of travel.  I am happy to report that we had no missed connections, cancelled flights due to lightning strikes, or unplanned re-routing to other parts of the globe!  We arrived in Nairobi on schedule, and all seemed to be going as planned.  While waiting for our luggage to come off the belt, I was engaged in checking off my mental to-do list: exchange some U.S. dollars for Kenyan shillings, head through customs, locate our driver, and on to the guest house in Nairobi for a shower, a shave, and then sleep (in a supine position!).  We were so close to the finish line, I could almost taste sweet travel -victory…however, it was not to be!  Out of the 300# of luggage, all arrived with us…EXCEPT for my 35# of personal belongings, and one 50# bag of supplies for donation.  Consequently, all of my clothing is in Paris, while I’m in Nairobi, watching an empty luggage carousel go round and round… fortunately, we have always been cautioned to take an extra change of clothing, and any supplies that we might need to be able to work, in our carry-on bags.  As a result, I am good for about 2 days before becoming revolting.  One of our first stops today (Monday) was to purchase a couple of extra pairs of underwear, just in case!  If all goes as planned, my luggage should catch up with me sometime Wednesday afternoon.  On a more positive note, we DID make our hoped for connection with Matilda this morning.  She was able to come by the guesthouse and visit with us before heading off to her busy day at clinic.  She sends her love to all her San Antonio friends and family…and special hugs to the Tuesday night bible study group!  Marilyn and I spent the afternoon lunching with Barbara Pinkley (a long-term Tenwek missionary of 30+ years), and a new Ophthalmologist, just out of training, who is preparing to go serve with her husband (an orthopedic surgeon) at a mission hospital in Zimbabwe.  We were also able to connect with the IT people at the hospital and get our ID and passwords for accessing the Internet…and the electronic medical record! (what joy!).  We were both able to meet our respective medical teams and start preparing for the days ahead.  As we get ready to settle into our Tenwek “home” for the next couple of weeks, we are reminded how blessed we are to live in the U.S…. where one can drink from the tap with careless abandon, have warm showers on demand, and make a short journey to the “corner store” for any forgotten, but needed supplies.  Not so here…but very livable nonetheless.  Thanks to all of you who have been praying for us…we are very much looking forward to seeing what God has in store for us here, and will keep you posted on our journey.

Good night and love to all,

Randy and Marilyn.

With Matilda at the Nairobi guesthouse

And so it begins...

And so it begins…. another cross-Atlantic journey is underway!  It hardly seems a year since we were last in Kenya.  It is with a mixture of excitement and trepidation that we head out again…excitement at reconnecting with our friends, and the warm and gracious people of Kenya, and trepidation about the yet to be experienced, seemingly inevitable difficulties of getting there.  Hopefully, this year’s journey will not involve any unexpected stays in Istanbul (or any other unplanned connecting cities)!  Pray that our 300 pounds of luggage makes it along with us, and that the custom agents in Nairobi are generous and trusting.  The good news is that Marilyn and I have survived yet another marriage stress test…. packing!  We are getting to be experts at preparation now, but still struggle with achieving a balance between our needed personal items and donated items…. the donated items continue to win the battle!  Hopefully we have enough clothing to get us through.  It’s amazing however,  how little one really needs when “push comes to shove”.  Thankfully, we will have some eager Kenyan women looking for work, and happy to do some laundry and cleaning for us.  Among the donated supplies, we have an ample supply of chocolate chips, nuts, and pepperoni…we are looking forward to seeing what Livingston (our guesthouse cook) can create for us!  Many of these individuals associated with the guesthouse have begun to feel like extended family…. and will undoubtedly be waiting to greet us with big warm smiles, and hugs all around.  In addition to the local Kenyan staff, we will also be reconnecting with some long-term missionaries and their families….also “extended family”.  An added bonus this year will be the chance to connect with our dear friend and sister-in-Christ, Matilda Ongondi.  Many of you had the chance to meet her while she stayed with us for a few months last year, so you understand the reason for the fondness and love that we feel for her.  She was supposed to be gone this year when we arrived, but her plans to go to Australia to train in Hematology/Oncology have been stalled…as a result, we should be able to get together with her somewhere along our trek to Bomet and Tenwek Hospital!  I hope to get some great pictures, and will definitely send them along to everyone who knows her.  Keep us in your prayers…we would appreciate prayers for safety, for preparation of our hearts, and for the skills to help the patients that we will encounter over the next several weeks.  I will keep you posted on our travel progress.  With love, Randy