Some exciting breakthroughs!

Hi all!

Hope you all are doing well! I'm doing fabulously here - thanks to some exciting breakthroughs today! :)

Last friday we wrapped up the training of 54 community health workers and 12 community health committee members! it was exciting to see them complete their training, as that is what almost all of our funding was going to. we will continue to work with them to see the ongoing support and continued training of these people on a monthly basis.

In the time that I've been here in Kenya, we have had many meetings and phone calls with the Municipality and with other potential stake holders who can help the ober kamoth health center where we are working. many of these meetings have not come to any fruition, and left us with more frusteration than hope. we have received requests for funds from GIVE, our organization, repeatedly, and again and again, we tell people that GIVE does not have that kind of money! However, we also in the midst of this frusteration, encountered some amazing Kenyans whom we are honored to work with! One of those is Maurice, our GIVE rep on the ground. He is a man who works tirelessly for give, and has been absolutely invaluable. another is Patrick, another kenyan who works for a couple ngos here, including an ngo that supports community strategy in a nearby region, and an ngo that provides comprehensive HIV services. he has helped us implement community strategy (CS) here in kanyawegi, and has been beyond invaluable! we have been in several meetings where i've seriously wanted to throw my arms around him and hug him! (don't worry, he's happily married.. :) )

One of the biggest concerns for us is that even though we have implemented Community Strategy in kanyawegi, if there is no health center for the workers to refer patients to, CS will fail. the health center here in kanyawegi, ober kamoth, is in a terrible state of disrepair. many of the rooms lie abandonded, the staff are sparse, although those who are there are wonderful, and there are no drugs. i just brought the drug order form to the municipality today, and looking at it makes me laugh! it is a 5-6 pg document, with a column for supplies available, and supplies needed, and 90% of the supplies available are out of stock. the last time they received a drug shipment was 5 months ago. so our big focus has been working wtih various stakeholders to see how we can get better services at OK! Today was an incredible day for us, because Patrick, the fellow I mentioned above, had a meeting with the Medical Officer of health on behalf of ober kamoth, and he made progress with her like nothing else! there are now promises of drugs within 2 weeks, funds for repairs, extra staffing, it's absolutely incredible! so we will see how things progress in the next week.
i love seeing how God provides!

On a personal note, this last weekend we took some time off to enjoy ourselves! we went to town on sunday and took a lovely boat ride on lake victoria, seeing the natural wildlife, the human wildlife (bathers and laundriers and fishers), and saw hippos in the water! they come up every 3-5 minutes for air, and then you can see their funny heads and ears. then they submerge again. we also went to the Masai market to do some bartering and get some fun things from the market! I think my bartering skills were decent! I tried to push people pretty hard! :)

then today, i had a fun experience. probably won't have anothe rlike it :) we take these 14 passenger vans to town (they manage to squeeze upwards of 20-22 in the vans, with sometimes 2-3 people hanging from the rails out the open door. so when we needed to go to town, a matatu stopped for us, and i saw that they were completely full!!! i was a bit confused where they were going to stash us... they said - just get in! hold on! you will get a seat at Kissian! (kissian is just 5-7 minutes away by car). so Beth and I held onto the rails of the van and planted our feet on the foot step just outside the door of the van and had one other kenyan outside of us even trying to hold on and we wizzed down the road! the kenyan inside the van thought this was hilarious that 2 mizungus (white people) were doing this - so did we! so we had a great laugh with our fellow riders, before we got to Kissian safely and then got a seat. it was a blast, and I even felt safe doing it!

I'm waffling on whether or not do do a safari before i go home. part of it depends on the referendum that is supposed to take place on Aug 4. it is unclear whether or not things will be unstable following that referendum, and the region where the safari would take place (masai mara) is in the area that is populated by the "no" minority. if the referendum is passed, then things might be unstable. in that case, I would obviously not go, and would just stay in kanyawegi. i will keep track on the radio and newspapers. the other component is cost, and it just went up in price! it would now be 400$ for a full day safari and 2 nights accomodation with 2 short safari trips (morning/evening). so we'll see if I can get anything for cheaper than that.

would appreciate prayer for this country as they prepare for the referendum. the no campaign is being led by church leaders, of all things, and there is some talk of "western influence". pray that the referendum will go smoothly, that there will be no rigging and that there will be peace! I think we are safe where we are, because it's all yes in our area, and the constitution will likely pass according to what we hear now.

thank you all for reading this long note! partly i'm just excited about the events of today and wanted to share with you!

love to all! let me know how I can pray for you. would love to hear from you!