It has been an amazing experience being back in Kenya at Bethany Kids in Kijabe and Joytown in Thika. The purpose of this journey was to further connect our communities and continue our relationship with the doctors, nurses, administrators, counsellors, therapists, teachers, and most importantly; the children at both. Bethany Kids is expanding its reach throughout Eastern Africa and its capacity at Bethany Kids at Kijabe Hospital.
So much has changed since my last visit at both Joytown and Bethany. Let's look at Bethany first, and then Joytown.
Bethany Kids - A little over a year ago, the board of Bethany Kids was in a very different and worrisome situation than they are now. Dr. Pineiro was heading home to Canada for a year for furlough (a Missionary term meaning heading home to raise funds and support to continue the mission) and Dr. Bransford was retiring as he turns 70. After starting Bethany Kids to continue to care for the children of east Africa - Bethany is the name of Dr. Bransford's oldest daughter - he is retiring from his hands-on work at Bethany. They were facing a crisis in terms of surgeons. What a difference a year has made however. Since then, 5 surgeons have committed themselves to Bethany as mission work because they have felt called to get involved, with another newly graduated surgeon about to join in the summer! It is amazing to have so many talented physicians commit themselves to the work at Bethany.
Bethany Kids continues as a teaching institution for pediatric surgery and two current residents who are completing their work at Bethany will be heading home t0 Ethiopia and Madagascar respectively (as mentioned in a prior post) where they will be tasked with continuing Bethany's mission to serve the medical needs of children in those areas. Bethany Kids is partnering with a hospital in Ethiopia and Madagascar to allow these surgeons to set up new locations for Bethany Kids and hopefully to grow what is happening at Kijabe to other locations. Also, because of the new surgeons who are now at Bethany Kids at Kijabe, Dr. Pineiro finds himself more available and willing to assist with the start up in Ethiopia. It is staggering to think that in Ethiopia there are currently only 2 pediatric surgeons for the entire population of 80 million according to Dr. Pineiro. Their plans to expand to Ethiopia is obviously very needed as their work continues to reach more children.
At Kijabe, plans for expansion of the existing facility are well underway. I was fortunate to be part of the meeting with the architects recently and it was interesting to see the plans for the new facility. You have seen the photos of beds in the hallway and placed side by side throughout the hospital. This new facility will increase the bed capacity from 68 beds to over 100. As Mercy mentioned to me when I was there - that may not be enough! The needs are obviously enormous.
Medical teams continue to serve throughout Kenya, Tanzania, and Somaliland as mentioned in a previous post as they get out to places where there is little to no medical care.
So Bethany Kids is in the midst of expansion to other parts of eastern Africa, renovation and expansion of the exisiting facility at Kijabe, teaching of pediatric surgery at Kijabe, and supporting remote clinics throughout east Africa.
Joytown - The increase in therapists was enormously important at Joytown as they were without for a year and now have 5 qualified therapists, 3 assistants, and a counselor/mentor in Francisca. This has been the biggest change from a staffing perspective. From a facilities perspective, the laundry is being renovated right now increasing the capacity for maintaining cleanliness for all students to maintain dignity and the library has been updated. More books are needed for the library and they will continue to require things such as playdough, crayons, colouring books, lego blocks, etc. for play therapy. Plans to renovate the current dormatories and washroom facilities are next on the list.
I kept writing the same thing over and over again with these posts: there has been so much progress over the past two years to recognize and celebrate, but there is so much that remains to be done. I hope you have read these posts each day and felt a sense of pride in yourselves and your accomplishments which have helped to make these changes happen. Financial support is so necessary to make any changes. The fact that you have done what you have done these past few years has also provided such encouragement to everyone as you have placed the needs of others before your own and lived out your responsibilty to serve and sacrifice for others.
I write this from London this morning and am now half way home. I look forward to seeing you all soon and appreciate your support while I have been away.
I had an amazing day yesterday in Kibera, the world's most famous slum in Nairobi. I posted about it below. I also posted videos from Joytown, videos from Kibera, and photos and stories from Kibera - 5 posts in total. I encourage you to read on below...
See you all soon!
So much has changed since my last visit at both Joytown and Bethany. Let's look at Bethany first, and then Joytown.
Bethany Kids - A little over a year ago, the board of Bethany Kids was in a very different and worrisome situation than they are now. Dr. Pineiro was heading home to Canada for a year for furlough (a Missionary term meaning heading home to raise funds and support to continue the mission) and Dr. Bransford was retiring as he turns 70. After starting Bethany Kids to continue to care for the children of east Africa - Bethany is the name of Dr. Bransford's oldest daughter - he is retiring from his hands-on work at Bethany. They were facing a crisis in terms of surgeons. What a difference a year has made however. Since then, 5 surgeons have committed themselves to Bethany as mission work because they have felt called to get involved, with another newly graduated surgeon about to join in the summer! It is amazing to have so many talented physicians commit themselves to the work at Bethany.
Bethany Kids continues as a teaching institution for pediatric surgery and two current residents who are completing their work at Bethany will be heading home t0 Ethiopia and Madagascar respectively (as mentioned in a prior post) where they will be tasked with continuing Bethany's mission to serve the medical needs of children in those areas. Bethany Kids is partnering with a hospital in Ethiopia and Madagascar to allow these surgeons to set up new locations for Bethany Kids and hopefully to grow what is happening at Kijabe to other locations. Also, because of the new surgeons who are now at Bethany Kids at Kijabe, Dr. Pineiro finds himself more available and willing to assist with the start up in Ethiopia. It is staggering to think that in Ethiopia there are currently only 2 pediatric surgeons for the entire population of 80 million according to Dr. Pineiro. Their plans to expand to Ethiopia is obviously very needed as their work continues to reach more children.
At Kijabe, plans for expansion of the existing facility are well underway. I was fortunate to be part of the meeting with the architects recently and it was interesting to see the plans for the new facility. You have seen the photos of beds in the hallway and placed side by side throughout the hospital. This new facility will increase the bed capacity from 68 beds to over 100. As Mercy mentioned to me when I was there - that may not be enough! The needs are obviously enormous.
Medical teams continue to serve throughout Kenya, Tanzania, and Somaliland as mentioned in a previous post as they get out to places where there is little to no medical care.
So Bethany Kids is in the midst of expansion to other parts of eastern Africa, renovation and expansion of the exisiting facility at Kijabe, teaching of pediatric surgery at Kijabe, and supporting remote clinics throughout east Africa.
Joytown - The increase in therapists was enormously important at Joytown as they were without for a year and now have 5 qualified therapists, 3 assistants, and a counselor/mentor in Francisca. This has been the biggest change from a staffing perspective. From a facilities perspective, the laundry is being renovated right now increasing the capacity for maintaining cleanliness for all students to maintain dignity and the library has been updated. More books are needed for the library and they will continue to require things such as playdough, crayons, colouring books, lego blocks, etc. for play therapy. Plans to renovate the current dormatories and washroom facilities are next on the list.
I kept writing the same thing over and over again with these posts: there has been so much progress over the past two years to recognize and celebrate, but there is so much that remains to be done. I hope you have read these posts each day and felt a sense of pride in yourselves and your accomplishments which have helped to make these changes happen. Financial support is so necessary to make any changes. The fact that you have done what you have done these past few years has also provided such encouragement to everyone as you have placed the needs of others before your own and lived out your responsibilty to serve and sacrifice for others.
I write this from London this morning and am now half way home. I look forward to seeing you all soon and appreciate your support while I have been away.
I had an amazing day yesterday in Kibera, the world's most famous slum in Nairobi. I posted about it below. I also posted videos from Joytown, videos from Kibera, and photos and stories from Kibera - 5 posts in total. I encourage you to read on below...
See you all soon!
2 comments:
I hope you had a good time in Kenya Mr.Browne, I enjoyed reading the blogs, and seeing the pictures you blogged, it was very intresting! Thank you!
From Aidon and Danny T.
Grade 7
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