So Where Do We Go From Here...?

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!

Joytown Videos

I promised to put up some videos from Joytown earlier am have done so with this post. If you click on the link, you will find 7 short videos taken from Joytown when I was there on Thursday the 4th. The first is of Dr. Bransford checking out a student's gait after he worked on adjusting his brace and special shoe. The other videos are of the children gathering in front of the cafeteria for lunch time. I hope you find all of the videos interesting. Pay special attention to the last of the 7 videos - something I found amazing was how they helped one another. Students who are not in wheelchairs assist their classmates who are. Some of those pusing chairs have significant difficulty walking themselves, but they help one another as friends and classmates.

More Photos from Inside Kibera

Two Quick Videos of Driving Through Kibera

I took these while we were driving through Kibera in order to give you an idea of what it is like from the inside. Click on the photos and they will take you to another site on which you will be able to view these videos.

A Day in Kibera

Speaking of working in dangerous and difficult places...

I spent a portion of the day on Tuesday in Kibera in Nairobi. Kibera is perhaps the most famous slum in the world - over 1100 acres in the middle of Nairobi. It is nearly impossible to get an accurate account of how many people live there - unoffically 1million, though census reports say closer to 200,000 (difficult to get a census report in there).

We were in Nairobi on Tuesday meeting with the director of Afria Inland Mission who wanted to ask for help from Bethany Kids to set up a medical clinic on the Ngong road. I went with Dr. Stewart to the meeting to talk about details, whether or not it was feasible, and how it might work. The most interesting part was that the clinic would be serving the Kibera slum.

I have included a few photos from our time inside Kibera. I also have some video as well. I have seen poverty in Africa but I can honestly say Kibera was like nothing I have ever seen before. Houses are built on top of rubbish and mud and are made of tree trunks, odd lumber, and corrugated tin roofs. When the rains come, the makeshaft houses can be swept away in rivers of mud. Sewage runs along the streets outside of the markets and houses in open trenches. We had to be escorted through the slum as it would be far too dangerous for us to be inside Kibera unescorted. Crime, gangs, and extreme poverty are the reality in Kibera.

Tiny shops sell everything from illiegal videos to clothing to meat. As I showed you from my last visit, it is not like going to the grocery store to buy food. However, Kibera was something else entirely.

The needs inside Kibera are tremendous and I am posting about it because it was such a different experience, far beyond anything I had imagined I would experience in Kenya - since most of my time was in the mountains in Kijabe. There is a lot of interest in Kibera internationally as such a recognizable slum. The United Nations operates from within Kibera to try to help provide adequate sanitation. The government is also building affordable housing nearby with the hope of eventually clearing Kibera entirely. It has existed, however, since after the second World War when British soldiers where given vast amounts of land nearby and their servants began squatting at Kibera. Speaking of the land given to the British, there are huge houses literally two or three blocks away from Kibera and is perhaps the most glaring example of the difference between extreme poverty and incredible wealth that I have ever seen.

I will share more about this experience when I get back, but for now, here are a few photos from inside the Kibera slum in Nairobi and one looking down at the tin roofs from above.

Working in Difficult Places

One of the great things about being over here besides being at Bethany and Joytown with the children is meeting some amazing people doing incredible, if not dangerous things in order to serve others. They feel that they have been called to get involved with people no one wants to work with and in places no one wants to be. Still, they realize there are tremdous needs to they go anyway and serve.

Dr. Bransford left over the weekend to bring a team up to Somaliland for a week-long medical clinic. If you look on the map above, Somaliland is the small country sandwiched in between Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritria right across the water from Yemen. On this map is says "Dijbouti" (have you ever seen that Coke Zero commercial where the grandfather tries to prove he's still got his wits about him and says "What's the capital of Dijbouti? The capital of Dijbouti is Dijbouti!"? Well, it turns out he's no longer correct). Dijouti is now Somaliland - since 2007. It is considered a "closed" country as it is very volatile and especially closed non-muslims or westerners. Dr. Bransford has a team of physicians working up there this week at a clinic seeing anyone in need.

Dr. Bransford shared a story about their first time up there. They landed in Dijbouti and decided to take a bus to the clinic location (a university hospital) well outside of town. The bus driver asked where their guards were and they said they didn't have any. The driver almost refused to take them because he was fearful in case they were stopped. Dr. Bransford told him they were doctors and what they were doing and the driver only agreed if they would pull their jackets over their heads if the bus was stopped and hide behind the seats. If they were found by a gang or rebel group at one of the many checkpoints, they may have been killed. They made it to the clinic (after having to hide on several occasions as the bus was indeed stopped a few times). When they arrived, they didn't know who would be there but found hundreds if not a thousand people waiting for them. Word had gotten out that doctors would be performing a clinic and people came from all over Somaliland, Somalia, and Eritria. It was an enormous success.

They brought some medical residents with them and one person introduced Dr. Bransford to a made who had two club feet - significantly deformed feet - and was seeking attention. Dr. Bransford says that the needs were so overwhelming he suggested putting off any surgery for the man until the next time they arrived. The medical resident said "Dr. Bransford, this man has been walking on these feet for 10 days to be here. You can see him now." The man was treated immediately.

When they go up on these trips now, they no longer take the bus and do indeed have to employ armed guards to make it there. However, everytime they arrive, the needs are overwhelming. They have worked out a deal with Safaricom - the largest cell phone and internet provider in east Africa - which sends out an automatic SMS text to all Safaricom users letting them know about an upcoming clinic. The word that used to travel by mouth, now gets around via mobile phones!

The trip each time is extremely dangerous as Somalia and Somaliland are two of the most lawless countries on the planet. Still, they go. They go because they are needed. Every time they go the numbers tell them so. They serve as many as they can and as Mercy shared with me the last time I was here - they leave knowing simply that the Christian doctors loved and cared for them.

I have had dinner with some people working up the Sudan also (see the map above) who are in dangerous places. One doctor was working up in the middle of the Sudan - what is now the disputed area - setting up a clinic. The area is disputed between Northern Sudan and Southern Sudan. In January there is going to be a referendum about the south breaking away and becoming independent from the north. The north is governed from Khartoum and the south from Juba. The difficulty is that most of the oil in the country which has been making the north very wealthy is in the disputed area which is technically the south. The feeling is that if the south vote to become independent, which they will almost inevitably do, the north will go to war to keep the oil rich disputed area. If the south does not vote to become independent (highly unlikely) groups will likely declare war on the north to do so militarily. This is looking like a very, very disturbing situation that is unfolding there. I'm sure many of you have heard of the Darfur region of Sudan which is in the north east part of the country. I'm sure you've heard of it because of the terrible things that happened in Darfur. One man we were having dinner with yesterday was working for Samaritan's Purse up in the area (Samaritan's Purse being the group we parnter with along with the Knight's of Columbus for the Christmas boxes) until Samaritan's Purse closed up shop up there in anticipation of the violence that is to come in the new year. He has picked up a new position now with the UN in Juba so despite being warned out of Sudan, he simply moved locations and stayed knowing there is a lot of work to be done. In fact, the new gig with the UN is in disaster relief so he will no doubt be busy. There were three abductions of westerners over this past weekend where he used to be in the north. It can be a very dangerous place, but those places are the most in need and it takes brave people to be there and serve despite the costs.

Please keep these workers in your thoughts and prayers, especially in the new year, that they will be safe during difficult times. Please also pray for the people of Sudan, that they might be spared from entering into a very bloody and costly civil war.

If they can do the things they are doing in these difficult places, I hope it inspires you to do what you can where you are. We don't have to go to places like that to serve. There are ways we can do that where you are as you have proven over the last three Lenten projects.

I posted 5 entries on my visit to Joytown yesterday as there were so many photos I wanted to share with you. I posted around midnight Kenyan time so it was about 4pm in Oakville. If you haven't read them, please read all five below now that you've finished this one. We are packing up and heading into Nairobi today. Please pray for a safe journey for Dr. Stewart and I. I am looking forward to seeing you all and I am especially looking forward to getting home to Sarah and Fiona!

I will post one more time for tomorrow (Wednesday morning - don't forget to check one more time tomorrow!) regarding next steps and where we go from here. Until then, have a great Tuesday everyone!

Joytown Team and Next Steps

It has been an amazing experience re-connecting here and seeing the changes that have occured in the past two years. The new library, renovated laundry facilities, and the revamping of the entire therapy unit are truly amazing accomplishments. As you can see from the photos however, there is still a lot of work to do. Part of today was strategizing and brainstorming next steps.

The tree you see is a view from just outside of the Joytown campus. The Salvation Army, who originally stated Joytown in the 1960s but no longer has anything to do with the school, still owns most of the land that you can see in the photograph. We had a walk around today to see what is possible in terms of additions to the facilities, improvements, or expansion. It was fun to simply throw ideas around based on all the information we have.

We were joined today by James, a representative from Joni and Friends, a Christian organization who run a program called "Wheels for the World". We had met with him on Friday as well and did a tour of Bethany with him. The organization was looking to support the work Bethany Kids is doing at Joytown. Through the Wheels for the World program, they provide wheelchairs for those who need them. We did an quick assessment of the needs today with him while walking around and while many of the wheelchairs need to be updated as you know well from the past few years, an even bigger need is working with the therapists and mechanics on fitting the wheelchairs appropriately for each child so it is supporting their needs in the best possible way. We have worked on a plan that will have a team come to Joytown through the Wheels for the World program and work with the team here at Joytown fitting, fixing, and updating the current wheelchair situation. While simply bringing over new wheelchairs may sound great, it is more important to work on fitting them well and learning how to properly maintain and adjust them. This connection to Wheels for the World was made through Bethany Kids and is another way in which we are trying to support the students at Joytown. We hope this team provides knowledge and skills as well as equipment and perhaps an on-going relationship.

The second photo is one of the students - a Gr. 2 student - working on his new colouring book. This student was quite a bright light and we had a great conversation about how his studies are going this year at Joytown.

The third photo is of the deputy headmistress at Joytown. I brought two bibles in Swahili over with me and gave one to Mercy at Bethany Kids and one to Joytown on behalf of the staff, students, and parents of St. Vincent. This bible, along with many of the other books we have contributed to the school, will be housed in the refurbished library for student use.
This last photo is of the team at Joytown today - the therapists and assistants, the headmistress of Joytown, Nial, Dr. Stewart, David from Bethany Kids and Justice - the new director of Bethany Kids Africa, James from Joni and Friends on the far right, and I'm in the back in the brown shirt just above Dr. Stewart's shoulder. It was a great group of people to get to know and we are optimistic about the future at Joytown with our partnership.

There were a lot of photos I wanted to share with you about Joytown so it has resulted in 5 posts this evening! Read on below...