Back home again

This is Sue, Keith's wife, writing now. Returned this past Sunday and still waking at 4 in the morning. Don't know how others shift so quickly back to local time!

I wanted to also blog during our stay but internet was just so spotty. Then, grand hopes of sharing pictures and stories upon our my return only to find that in all our camera swoping/sharing with others, I didn't come home with the right camera card. So, pictures of my outings will have to wait.

This picture was taken in the church on the hospital grounds. Keith had run up to check on a patient at night and quickly came back to get me. Being the only white people sitting in the back of the church experiencing the praise and worship music and then the preaching in both English and Kipsigis was awesome. This little girl kept running back to me.

This is my second trip to Africa with Keith. Our first one in Feb of 2010 we visited 3 different hospitals in Kenya and Ethiopia. While I loved that, we didn't get an intimate look at any given place. This trip was a bit different. While I was only there for two weeks, I got to know the surroundings and some of the locals more. Not being medical and confined to the hospital, I sought after experiences that Keith never got to experience....

....helping to weigh babies in a village from a scale hung from a tree

....being in a vehicle that is constantly dodging donkeys, cows and people along the rough roads

....going on followup bio sand filtration visits into mud and stick constructed homes

....being serenaded by little preschools singing Jesus songs

....visiting 2 orphanges and witnessing the love the caretakers extend to these kids who have nothing

....seeing the scared look of little ones who had never seen a white person before, let alone a blond

....testing the drinking water from several sources with a testing kit I obtained from Edge Outreach http://www.edgeoutreach.com/  before going . Most disturbing was a spring that the locals said was "clean water" only to find it has all kinds of bad things in it

....going into some of the local churches with dirt floors, rough wooden benches, & open windows

....being invited as the first white person into a teachers home (by our standards a shack really) who insisted on having us talk via cell phone to her father, mother, fiance' and friend

I found these people who have materially practically nothing, live to survive, but many have the faith as big as the plant from a mustard seed. A great challenge to my faith.

Hope to share more upon Keith's return.