The Blind Shall See

Here is the second of Dave's two God Stories from his time in Kenya (once again in his own words).

"The blind receive sight,
the lame walk,
those that have leprosy are cured,
the deaf hear,
the dead are raised,
and the good news is preached to the poor."
Matthew 11:5

I went to the first day of clinic and there were maybe one or two people with the complaint of not seeing very well, but I didn't realize that we had brought any glasses along. At the end of the first day, I walked through the little pharmacy area to see what medications we had a lot left of and review the medicines we had left to give out for the following days. It was then that I discovered we had brought five pairs of glasses. Two of them were prescription glasses, two of them were sunglasses, and the final pair was a thick pair of coke bottle looking glasses with weird yellow writing all over them. There was an L on the left and an R on the right and there were circles and lines on both lenses. The lines could not be removed. I remember making fun of the glasses and putting them on. Others laughed at how funny they looked on me. I didn't think there was any chance that anyone could possibly use them or even more so be caught wearing them. I wondered what kind of joke it was that these had been sent along. I put them back in their case not thinking much more of them.

Late in the afternoon the following day I had a patient come to me with the complaint of not being able to see further than a foot past her face. I didn't notice it at first but when I put my penlight up to examine her eyes I was surprised to see that her left eye did not have a pupil. She told me she had surgery many years ago and she had lost her sight in that eye. The eye was left deviated inward slightly. Her right eye was normal on exam but had minimal vision. So I told her we had five pairs of glasses and I would go get them to see if any of them would improve her vision. To my disappointment when I found the glasses there were only two pairs remaining. One pair of sunglasses and the bizarre coke bottle spectacles. I picked up both pairs and then had a glimmer of hope. This lady had terrible vision and this funky pair of glasses was nearly a centimeter thick. This could work!

I had her put on the crazy glasses and instantly she swung her arms out to the side and said, "I can see!" My translator, Joy, and I sat there somewhat stunned and quizzical thinking in our minds that this couldn't really be true. Joy even grabbed a box of gloves that were sitting on my exam table and held the box about three feet away from the patient and had her try to read the writing on the box. I didn't understand her words as they were spoken in Kiswahili but Joy could understand them and excitedly exclaimed, "She can see!"God can do miraculous things in hopeless situations!

Upon returning home, I received an e-mail from one of the SC teammates. It told the rest of the story. She told me that a patient of hers had given her the glasses to take along. When she saw her patient upon returning to the states she told him the story of the young woman who was in desperate need of glasses and the whole story about me and her and how she praised God when she could see. He then proceeded to tell her the story behind those glasses. The glasses had belonged to his severely mentally handicapped 46 year old sister. He said he did Google earth, got out this big map of Kenya, zoomed in on Mbita, explained to her what a missionary is, and what we were doing there. She wanted to be a part of it so she donated her glasses! The markings were all done by the Optometrist to help communicate to her while he was trying to figure out if her vision was changed and to assess if they were working because it is so difficult to communicate with her. The man said his sister would be thrilled to hear that she had helped in her small way by donating her glasses.

Once again, I am speechless and humbled. All praise, glory, and honor be to our God!

The Deaf Shall Hear

My best friend from college, Dave Brost, served on the medical team that visited CGA a few weeks ago. This is a post from his blog...

Have you ever just stood in awe of how mighty God is and proclaimed that it could only be God alone who works all things out in His way? Every now and then we get to be participants in these stories.

"The blind receive sight,
the lame walk,
those that have leprosy are cured,
the deaf hear,
the dead are raised,
and the good news is preached to the poor."
Matthew 11:5

This is the story of my favorite patient during my time in Kenya. Her name is Anna.

I first met Anna at the end of the first day of clinic. She was my second to last patient. Her triage sheet showed that her chief complaint was, "Not being able to hear out of the right ear since she was two years old." Anna was now seven. She couldn't speak English nor could her mother. So through the interpreter her mother explained that she could hear good out of her left ear but not the right. She had no pain or drainage from the ear. Looking through my otoscope I examined the ear and could immediately tell that something was wrong. My initial impression was that there was a beetle like bug in the ear canal. Usually I don't clean the wax out of patients' ears because it can be a long process and we didn't have the best equipment available. However, since she seemed to have a foreign body in the ear I thought there was a better chance for removal. I had her lay down and I placed ear wax removal drops in her ear for about 15 minutes while I saw my last patient. I returned and flushed her ear with water using a suction bulb. I also had a small soft tool for wax removal. Unfortunately after about 20 minutes of working there wasn't any change in how her ear looked and nothing was able to be removed. Fortunately it didn't cause her any discomfort. I had her go home with an ear wax removal kit and instructions to put the drops in her ear 4 times a day. She was to return in two days.

That night I thought about Anna and the other possibilities about what might be going on in her ear. I wondered if this could be some type of tumor such as a cholesteatoma. If that were the case it would probably not be advisable to be digging in her ear.

Anna returned to the clinic two days later. I put the drops in her ear again and had her lay down just as the time before. This time when I first examined her ear I could tell that there was something black at the very entrance of her ear canal. Excitedly I scooped it out and recognized it as some type of small black seed. Immediately I was relieved that this was a foreign body and not a tumor! After a few more ear washes a second seed came sliding out.

I hoped that this would have solved the problem. However, when I re-examined the ear I could tell that it was still abnormal. I could not distinguish if there were more foreign bodies or if she had a very abnormal eardrum. I flushed several more times with no success and most disappointing was the fact that she could not hear any better. At this point I was discouraged but did not want to give up hope. I had her leave again with the same instructions to come back on our last day in clinic. I kept thinking about Anna through the next couple of days wondering even if I could remove all of the material from her ear canal if she would be able to hear anyway. The thought came up that this could have possibly been some type of witch doctor treatment to put seeds in the ear. Maybe she couldn't hear to begin with and this was suggested as a possible treatment. If that was the case, all of this work would have been in vain.

Anna returned as the last patient on our last day of clinic. The ear had not changed upon examination. I flushed the ear several times and attempted to remove material from the ear with my tool again. After another 15 minutes there were no results and I had resigned to the fact that I wasn't going to be able to fix her hearing. I was more convinced that this was a much bigger problem than just some seeds in the ear. I discussed with her and her mother the possibility of being able to see an ENT doctor at one of the larger cities in the area in hopes that they might offer some further insight. Just prior to leaving we decided to flush the ear one last time. To my utter amazement and only by the grace of God this time it worked! A small piece of brown material began to exit the ear canal. I scooped it out and recognized it was half of a bean. Amazing!

I looked in the ear canal and saw it to be completely clear. I could see the ear drum completely and it looked relatively normal. I began to test her hearing by rubbing my fingers together near her ear and she pulled her head away as it seemed incredibly loud to her. She and her mother confirmed that she could hear and were overwhelmed with joy.

What an amazing God we serve!

A Whole New World

My friend Jenny in Nairobi alerted me a few days ago that there was a team of ear doctors coming to Kisumu this week. One of our teachers at CGA has a nephew named Ian who contracted meningitis before the age of one and hasn't been able to hear anything since that time. He is now eight and in 1st grade at a special school for deaf and mute children. Along with Ian, there is a 15 year old girl from Mfangano Island who is in our football club. I have coached Dorothy for around three years now. She is not totally deaf because she can hear some sounds like when I clap at her, but she is severely hearing impaired.

We were able to get Dorothy to travel by boat to Mbita this week. So this morning we went across on the ferry with both of them and travelled to Kisumu. We met a team of 16 ear doctors who greeted us with warm smiles and began examining the kids immediatley. Within an hour, they were both fitted with new hearing aides! When Dorothy first arrived, she was amazed to see hundreds of school children who had trouble hearing. Being from the island, she had only met a couple of people in her whole life who had hearing problems like her. She felt good to know that she wasn't so different!

The minute that they fitted Ian's ear with a hearing aide and someone stood behind him and spoke, the little boy's face just lit up with a smile from ear to ear. A few minutes after getting her aides, Dorothy commented that she could hear what everyone around her was saying. When she walked into the supermarket she started complaining that the noises were too loud and had to turn the hearing aides down.

It was a whole new world that neither of them had ever experienced! What a blessing to be able to be with them during this special day.

October Update

This past month has been consumed with helping secondary students, preaching in church, spending time with friends on a visiting medical team, a safari in the Masai Mara, time in Nairobi, coaching football and … house shopping. Yes, after six years of living in an apartment in an International Insect Research compound (ICIPE), I am looking for a new place. The management was forced to raise the rent again, but this time it was a 50% increase. It has surpassed a reasonable threshold in a rural place like Mbita which has forced me to begin hunting for a good rental. I am a little excited about the change, though also hesitant at the same time. My current place has 24 hour security and electricity, running water and indoor plumbing and it is also furnished (including a refrigerator). I have looked at several options and found three reasonable ones but each has its issues. The one house has no electricity and would take a major investment in solar power right off the bat. Another place has everything except a reasonable landlord. He doubled his rent when he saw my white face come through the gate, assuming I am filthy rich. The third place is great except it is so tiny and has no running water. So I still don’t know where I am moving to, but I am preparing by getting some furniture made, buying a mobile internet modem and researching alternate power sources. I don’t enjoy the process very much, but it is a good faith building experience as I learn to trust God more and know that he will meet all my needs according to His glorious riches.

For those of you who have not read my blog or the CGA website, one of our students passed away this past month. Barak Ochieng had been in the hospital battling stomach cancer for the past four months. Six chemo treatments helped to clear the cancer from his stomach, but it had already started to spread to his spine. In the seven years of life that God gave him, he impacted many others in a positive way with his infectious smile and servant’s heart. Barak will be dearly missed by his family and the entire CGA community.

Our 8th grade class at CGA is focused on their National Exams coming up on November 10-12. The teachers squeeze every free moment to provide extra help for them or assign them practice exams. Exam fever is a very real thing that affects students all across the country because of the huge amount of pressure on this one exam that will determine if they can go to secondary school and what kind of secondary school they will go to. I was pleased to resume teaching the 8th grade class this term in Bible. As their focus is directed almost entirely to the exam and themselves, we decided to study the book Purpose Driven Life. I love teaching the book and helping the kids to understand the purpose that God created them for, especially during a very stressful and difficult time in their lives. The students have responded well, particularly in the area of forgiveness. That is difficult for all of us, but in their culture it is rare. They have shown an openness and sincerity about forgiving some of their classmates, teachers and family for things that happened a long time ago. These students are at a very critical time in their lives and it is exciting to see the Holy Spirit working in their hearts.

Please pray for:

1) Pray for a good place for me to move to. Pray for a place that will be a blessing to me and that I can use to bless others.

2) Pray for our 8th graders as they sit their National Exams on November 10-12. Pray against anxiety and sickness and pray for them to be bold and confident in what they have learned and how hard they have worked while in Primary school. Also, pray for their success.

3) Pray for my old vehicle to sell quickly and for a good price

4) Pray for God’s word to continue to take root deep in our student’s lives. Pray that they would be growing to become more like Christ daily and impact the world around them for His kingdom.

Playing Football in Africa

These are some reflections from a visitor that visited CGA on the medical team that came in October. Carissa Rowe is a nurse from Charleston, South Carolina...

One of my favorite memories during our medical mission’s trip was the time I was able to spend with the children at Christ Gift Academy. Some of us had the honor of playing sports with the older children. I was able to play soccer with them- my favorite sport! It was an amazing experience and I had so much fun! One of the boys, Caltrex, really impressed me. He just looks like a soccer player, and his amazing speed did not impact his control of the soccer ball. He was aware of his skills yet used his teammates instead of hogging the ball and showing off. His maturity and leadership on the field stretched far beyond his actual age.

The most impressive part was how the kids were able to play on such rough terrain…barefoot! Most of the kids didn’t own cleats or shoes to protect their feet from the dirt, rocks and uneven ground. One of the luckier kids had a cleat on one foot and a flip flip on the other yet he still played awesome! It just shows how good soccer players can play anywhere and in any condition! These kids were so much fun to play with and I learned so much from them!

It’s such a blessing that these kids have the opportunity to share their God-given talents. Some barriers that they overcome daily are the lack of transportation, finances and equipment. When I heard of the Suba Lakers Football Club I got excited. This is a club for girls that provides them with the opportunity to share and grow in their soccer skills. I know that God will do great things through this program and I hope to help it grow and allow as many girls as possible to shine and develop their God-given talents through the wonderful sport of soccer!