It is Tuesday, June 7, 2016 and our mission team has been very busy. We are all experiencing amazing things in our work here. We will share some of the highlights so far. Internet access is spotty and we are often without it for long stretches of time so the Facebook addicts among us are constantly going through withdrawal.
Sunday we attended Maua Methodist Church. It is beside the hospital and has a rather large sanctuary as well as a Sunday School building. The original Chapel was built by missionaries in 1947 and it sits on the hospital grounds. The congregation outgrew that building and it is now used for daily services for the staff each morning. Sunday School is attended by a large number of young children. It was enchanting to watch these adorable children singing .We are all in love with them. Kenyan people are so extremely friendly and welcoming. It is such a pleasure to interact with them.
In total we spent three hours at church. The service was two hours long but it was so energetic with all the singing and dancing that the time passed very quickly. We were able to record some of the singing before the service but were told that it would be disrepectiful to photograph or record anything during the service. Similarly, we are not taking pictures of the children because that is considered disrepectiful. But occasionally we have requests to do so and we will be able to post some pictures.
Monday our entire team toured the hospital campus. It is a rather large area with lots of buildings including homes and apartments for all of the medical staff, interns, nursing students, and administration. After the grand tour we were given "tea" and introduced to some of the senior administrators in the hospital.
After all of that different teams departed for their projects of the day. Those of us with medical training stayed at the hospital and got involved professionally.
-Our nurses, Jan and Kim assisted in the delivery of a child...always a very special experience.
-Our psychologist, Shirley, did a psychotherapeutic intervention with a woman in emotional distress and spent time developing a coaching relationship with the Administrator that will continue for the remainder of the week.
-Our teacher, Rachael and interior designer, Doreen, crushed rocks for an important passageway that will be paved to give patients better access to the maternity wards.
-Pastor Lisa, Bob (our construction manager), Josie, our artist, Beth from FUMC and Kathy from Naperville, worked on building the AIDS orphan house that will be dedicated by the Bishop on Thursday afternoon.
It is wonderful to be able to use our individual talents as well as our team's hard work to serve the Kenyans here in Maua. There is so much that we have to offer above and beyond all of the supplies that we have brought from the U.S.
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