Till The Stars Appear

So, I have one week left and this past week there has not been much for us to do-so very frustrating. I hate slow days because I get bored really easily. I was able to convince one of my teammates and an intern from Ghana to go on a walk at night....we were out too late and the intern got in trouble. Ugh! I'm dying staying in one place and not being able to go and explore. Since being out here I've realized how independent I really am. I am looking forward to going off to places on my own once back home.
I don't have much else to share....sorry!

As I've said before I've read many books while out here, and I just finished a book on Amy Carmichael who was a missionary to India. She wrote a poem that I really wanted to share.

MAKE US THY LABOURERS,
LET US NOT DREAM OF EVER LOOKING BACK,
LET NOT OUR KNEES BE FEEBLE, HANDS BE SLACK,
O MAKE US STRONG TO LABOUR, STRONG TO BEAR,
FROM THE RISING OF THE MORNING TILL THE STARS APPEAR.

MAKE US THY WARRIORS,
ON WHOM THOU CANST DEFEND TO STAND THE BRUNT
OF ANY PERILOUS CHARGE ON ANY FRONT,
GIVE TO US SKILL TO HANDLE SWORD AND SPEAR
FROM THE RISING OF THE MORNING TILL THE STARS APPEAR.

NOT FAR FROM US, THOSE STARS,
UNSEEN AS ANGELS AND YET LOOKING THROUGH
THE QUIET AIR, THE DAY'S TRANSPARENT BLUE.
WHAT SHALL WE KNOW, AND FEEL, AND SEE, AND HEAR
WHEN THE SUNSET COLOURS KINDLE AND THE STARS APPEAR?

-AMY CARMICHAEL

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Tenwek

Journal Entry 7-13-10

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Visiting Tenwek Hospital

Today we left for Tenwek, we got to see the hospital here and it was amazing! We had to wait for around 30mins for a Doctor to show us around the facilities. He came and told us the history of the hospital and shared some of his experiences working; he was a great man. As we were walking around I was thinking if I could be able to work in a setting such as this-it would take some transitioning but I think I could adjust. The hospital is one of the best clinics around and they have so many wards compared to all the other places. The hospital really encourages praying with each of the patients, there motto is: "We Treat, Jesus Heals." Each doctor and nurse does the best they can do in treating the patients but sometimes all the best medicine and knowledge are still not enough. The doctor explained to us that this is a compassion hospital, "We don't just take care of their physical needs but there spiritual as well." "We prepare individuals for heaven while working here," said the doctor.

"We Treat, Jesus Heals"

The boys grabbed lunch while me and MB headed out to the yard to journal. While we were waiting for the guys to finish up a young boy who was sunning himself next to his father on the grass came over to us. The father kept redirecting his frail and sick son away from us, the father assumed we didn't want anything to do with his child. He was wrong. I noticed this boy a few times throughout our tour of the hospital and I wondered what sickness he had. I motioned for the boy to come over and sit next to us and he marched on over. His father started laughing and took a seat next to his son.The boy was extremely malnourished and had sores around his mouth and neck. The boy was so content in sitting next to me, it was great! I wanted to communicate so bad with this boy and his father but because of the language difference we couldn't. Luckily, a random man stopped by who knew English and he was able to translate a little of the boys story for us. The man told us that the boy was 8 yrs old (he looked as if he was 4 yrs of age) and had been at Tenwek hospital for an entire year. All he could say about his condition was that he had stomach problems and was not able to eat for some period of time before his admittance. This poor child looked like he was in so much pain-luckily, they said he had improved immensely since being at the hospital. Thank goodness!

We got to hike down to their waterfall which generates all of their electricity, I was glad for the chance to be outside around trees and water. It was my highlight for the week.

Some kids we found while hiking to the waterfall-
They loved holding our hands while we walked.

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