How are we doing mentally?
How are you do physically?
How are we doing spiritually, emotionally, financially?
Really how are we doing in our everyday life?
I find that the journey we went on has changed me, and will forever mold me into who I will become. This new journey is an adventure which I am happily embracing and cherishing.
Life in the States as we know it is at times mundane and boring. While at times life is filled with great joy, excitement, passion, and love.
We have no regrets going across "the pond" to share with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
The only question is, Will we go again?
Keep the Faith.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Updates from America
I would like to like thank everyone that has been praying for this trip. I was certainly one of the best mission trips I've ever been a part of. Obviously, everyone made it back safely with only small hiccup in Amsterdam (I thought we lost Kristi at the hotel). But other than that everyone has made it back to the US safe and sound.
Here is a quick overview of what happened in Kenya:
- We treated over 300 adults in Mitumba and provided medicine to all in need.
- We treated over 300 children in the school for worms along with a standard checkup and medicine for all in need.
- We provided a brand new pair of shoes for over 250 children in the school. They have never worn a brand new pair of shoes before.
- We left funds to purchase new shoes for the children who needed a shoes size other than what we had available.
- 15 people came into a relationship with Christ throughout the first ever GOYA Medical Clinic.
- At least 1 miracle happened...a child with several third degree burns came to us after falling into a pot of boiling water. The wounds covered about 5% of his body (mostly the left arm)...we took the boy to the hospital and everyone assumed a skin graft would be required...but incredible after only 4 days the wounds almost completely cleared up, the infection is nearly gone, the color is coming back to his arm and he is regaining feeling and movement in his arm. I will load photos later...it was truly unbelievable!
- We helped a recovering alcoholic start her own business to escape her current living situation and setup daily accountability for her so she can continue to know Christ and recover from alcoholism. We will treat the financing as a micro-finance loan that will be able to start other businesses for others in need in Mitumba once 50% of it is paid back.
- We purchased 40 beds for the orphans that will be living in the new orphanage.
- We opened the new orphanage.
- The new two-story dining hall is nearly complete.
- We significantly expanded on a medicine cabinet that was started by an Italian doctor to include enough medicine to treat everyone from the common cold to Malaria and there is about a 6 - 9 month supply of medicine now.
- We also built relationships with he Pharmacist that is giving us medicine at 1/2 price and Dr Elizabeth and Dr. Charles, who are planning to visit Mitumba 3 days a week to treat the students and adults with all of the medicine that we left.
And here a few things just for fun:
- A baboon jumped in our van, sat on the seat next to us and quickly stole a jar of peanut butter and bananas from our lunch stockpile. :)
- We slept in huts made of cow dung and dirt one night in a Maasai village (Chief John's village).
- We watched a Maasai ceremony where a goat was slaughtered to introduce a boy into manhood.
- We went on Safari to Lake Nakuru and saw: Zebra, Lion, Rhino, Giraffe, Warthog, 2 different kinds of monkey, Baboon, Water Buffalo, and a number of other animals. ...awesome!
- Jim saw the Lost Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, while the rest of of got our flight plans rerouted direct to Amsterdam, put up in two 5 star hotels, and received $500 flight vouchers for Northwest Air. Chad, Kim and Amy actually ended up with $800 in flight vouchers because our Bloomington to Detriot flight was rerouted on the way there.
Praise God for an absolutely INCREDIBLE trip! I will do my best to post some photos and videos to the blog soon!
Thanks again for all of your prayers!!
Dr. Chad 'Lamaiyian' Parker
Monday, January 12, 2009
Updates!!
It wouldn't be a trip if something didn't go wrong! This time it is more of a disappoint than frustrating...or it could be the other way around! The airlines did not allow them (Chad, April, Kristi, Kim and Amy) to go to Cairo so the team (minus Jim) all stayed in a 5 star hotel in Nairobi, left for Amsterdam and stayed in another 5 star hotel, so the team did not have the opportunity to go to Egypt. Please pray for their travel and be excited to see your loved ones changed for the better.
Joe (April's Husband)
Joe (April's Husband)
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Lake Nakuru
Lions, and Tigers and Bears oh my!
We went to a HUGE reserve for animals in their natural environment. We were fortunate enough to see a male lion when we first drove into the park. Not everyone sees one.
To set you up with how this park is setup....There is an electrical fence along the outside so the animals cannot escape. Its just like Jurassic Park, where there are all these wild animals in the park, and there is a compound in the center with even more fencing and protection. People can stay there and camp! (why?, we have not figured that out yet!). The one day we needed our cameras 3 of the batteries had died and that left Chad's and April's camera...which means April gave up and Chad was deemed the photographer b/c his pictures are amazing!!! They can all be postcards, the Dr. sure has a talent and the patience for photography.
The greatest moment yesterday was when we were breaking for lunch. We are in a van that the roof extends from the top, like a convertible of sorts. This is so you can stand during the trip, yet you are still covered. Anyway we arrive at the baboon point. There is a group of people videotaping us. Chad and I waved to the camera and asked each other, why are they taping us?
Here are the seat arrangements in the van:
Peter (our wonderful guide in the front by himself)
Row 1 Jim (by the door) and Kristi
Row 2 Amy and Kim
Row 3 April and Chad
All of a sudden the door opens, Jim proceeds to get out..... Literally .2 seconds later the biggest Baboon jumps, and we mean jumps into the van. Sits there on the seat, and goes through our lunch bag, grabs all of the bananas and our peanut butter. He then runs off. All of this was within 15 seconds. So what are we all thinking you ask???
Let me tell you..
Peter...I told the Mzungus (white people) to shut the door, I am okay up here in the front b/c there are bars separating me from the baboon. I was really hungry!
Jim....HAHAHAHA....I hope Kristi doesn't hate me...
Kristi.....I hate Jim...If I sit here and not move, maybe he won't notice me
Amy.....If I crouch any lower in my seat, I won't be able to get up....She curled into a ball.
Kim....What am going to do if he jumps back here, can I fit through the ceiling without him pulling my leg off?
Chad....holy crap, holy crap, holy crap....
April....wow, that is a huge baboon. I have to study the animal and be an eye witness. Don't blink April, don't blink....I don't want to get rabies....chad and I are trapped back here, I might use chad as my protection...This is funny, its not so bad, this baboon has not looked at me yet!
That was truly how the moment went. None of us screamed, we all just dropped our mouths and laughed incredibly hard. There was a group from Croatia who had gotten their lunch stolen 5 minutes before and they videotaped the whole thing. She zoomed the footage of the baboon from sitting on the bench, going straight for the door, getting our food, sitting there, and running out! It was incredibly hilarious to watch. We asked her to put it on U-Tube when she gets home.
We saw lions, hippos, zebras, water buffalo, wort hogs, antelopes, and so much more. The rhinos were quite impressive. There were so many animals to look for.
We are off to Masai Land today. Please pray for us. We are all battling sickness from: colds, coughs, sore wrists, and stomach problems. Please Keep us in your prayers.
Thanks for following all of us along our journey!
GOYA Medicals.
We went to a HUGE reserve for animals in their natural environment. We were fortunate enough to see a male lion when we first drove into the park. Not everyone sees one.
To set you up with how this park is setup....There is an electrical fence along the outside so the animals cannot escape. Its just like Jurassic Park, where there are all these wild animals in the park, and there is a compound in the center with even more fencing and protection. People can stay there and camp! (why?, we have not figured that out yet!). The one day we needed our cameras 3 of the batteries had died and that left Chad's and April's camera...which means April gave up and Chad was deemed the photographer b/c his pictures are amazing!!! They can all be postcards, the Dr. sure has a talent and the patience for photography.
The greatest moment yesterday was when we were breaking for lunch. We are in a van that the roof extends from the top, like a convertible of sorts. This is so you can stand during the trip, yet you are still covered. Anyway we arrive at the baboon point. There is a group of people videotaping us. Chad and I waved to the camera and asked each other, why are they taping us?
Here are the seat arrangements in the van:
Peter (our wonderful guide in the front by himself)
Row 1 Jim (by the door) and Kristi
Row 2 Amy and Kim
Row 3 April and Chad
All of a sudden the door opens, Jim proceeds to get out..... Literally .2 seconds later the biggest Baboon jumps, and we mean jumps into the van. Sits there on the seat, and goes through our lunch bag, grabs all of the bananas and our peanut butter. He then runs off. All of this was within 15 seconds. So what are we all thinking you ask???
Let me tell you..
Peter...I told the Mzungus (white people) to shut the door, I am okay up here in the front b/c there are bars separating me from the baboon. I was really hungry!
Jim....HAHAHAHA....I hope Kristi doesn't hate me...
Kristi.....I hate Jim...If I sit here and not move, maybe he won't notice me
Amy.....If I crouch any lower in my seat, I won't be able to get up....She curled into a ball.
Kim....What am going to do if he jumps back here, can I fit through the ceiling without him pulling my leg off?
Chad....holy crap, holy crap, holy crap....
April....wow, that is a huge baboon. I have to study the animal and be an eye witness. Don't blink April, don't blink....I don't want to get rabies....chad and I are trapped back here, I might use chad as my protection...This is funny, its not so bad, this baboon has not looked at me yet!
That was truly how the moment went. None of us screamed, we all just dropped our mouths and laughed incredibly hard. There was a group from Croatia who had gotten their lunch stolen 5 minutes before and they videotaped the whole thing. She zoomed the footage of the baboon from sitting on the bench, going straight for the door, getting our food, sitting there, and running out! It was incredibly hilarious to watch. We asked her to put it on U-Tube when she gets home.
We saw lions, hippos, zebras, water buffalo, wort hogs, antelopes, and so much more. The rhinos were quite impressive. There were so many animals to look for.
We are off to Masai Land today. Please pray for us. We are all battling sickness from: colds, coughs, sore wrists, and stomach problems. Please Keep us in your prayers.
Thanks for following all of us along our journey!
GOYA Medicals.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
The medical clinic has come to an end....we think!
Greetings-
People keep coming, and coming, and coming....They would not stop. The clinic was to end everyday at 3:30 p.m which in African time means 7:30pm. We ended at that time. We had to pack up our supplies with flashlights (torches). We were walked home with our bodyguards, b/c it was late at night! We feel very safe with the group of helpers, who are teachers in Mitumba, and friends of Pastor Shadrack.
In total we saw 363 people in the clinic. We did this without Chad or Jim. They were busy getting supplies we needed for the orphanage beds. We saw a child who was 3rd degree burned b/c he fell in a pot of boiling water. Chad took him and his mother to the hospital to get checked out. We did not want to handle this case, b/c of the environment we were in, and our Dr's were in agreement with us. We have some amazing pictures of this little boy. His name is Kevin and he is 1year and 8 months old. (totally violated HIPPA-no such thing here, so I don't feel bad!) Please pray for him and his mother.
Today we were able to hand out 179 pairs of shoes. This took several hours. We were told there were going to be 250 kids. Mothers and fathers who had not registered their kids early heard that kids were getting shoes at the REM School, they soon registered their kids so they could get new shoes for the first time ever! There were over 300 kids registered for classes on the first day of school. We have to buy even more b/c there are 31 kids who didn't get shoes today. The Dr. saw all 179 kids today and we gave them de-worming medicine. It was great.
We are all in a pre-burn out state. We have not had a day off since we arrived. Please pray for our strength to get through the rest of this trip. We are doing well as a team, we have learned when our blood sugars are getting low. Thank God for cliff bars, and gum!
We have accomplished more than expected, and the experience has been amazing and more exciting than we could have ever imagined. The work we are doing now is what Chad had envisioned for 2 years from now. We have been tackling so much. God keeps giving us strength to keep pouring ourselves, and our energy to the residents of Mitumba.
We are going to the mother-land for the next couple of days. I hope we don't get eaten!
Keep the Faith-
GOYA Medicals :)
People keep coming, and coming, and coming....They would not stop. The clinic was to end everyday at 3:30 p.m which in African time means 7:30pm. We ended at that time. We had to pack up our supplies with flashlights (torches). We were walked home with our bodyguards, b/c it was late at night! We feel very safe with the group of helpers, who are teachers in Mitumba, and friends of Pastor Shadrack.
In total we saw 363 people in the clinic. We did this without Chad or Jim. They were busy getting supplies we needed for the orphanage beds. We saw a child who was 3rd degree burned b/c he fell in a pot of boiling water. Chad took him and his mother to the hospital to get checked out. We did not want to handle this case, b/c of the environment we were in, and our Dr's were in agreement with us. We have some amazing pictures of this little boy. His name is Kevin and he is 1year and 8 months old. (totally violated HIPPA-no such thing here, so I don't feel bad!) Please pray for him and his mother.
Today we were able to hand out 179 pairs of shoes. This took several hours. We were told there were going to be 250 kids. Mothers and fathers who had not registered their kids early heard that kids were getting shoes at the REM School, they soon registered their kids so they could get new shoes for the first time ever! There were over 300 kids registered for classes on the first day of school. We have to buy even more b/c there are 31 kids who didn't get shoes today. The Dr. saw all 179 kids today and we gave them de-worming medicine. It was great.
We are all in a pre-burn out state. We have not had a day off since we arrived. Please pray for our strength to get through the rest of this trip. We are doing well as a team, we have learned when our blood sugars are getting low. Thank God for cliff bars, and gum!
We have accomplished more than expected, and the experience has been amazing and more exciting than we could have ever imagined. The work we are doing now is what Chad had envisioned for 2 years from now. We have been tackling so much. God keeps giving us strength to keep pouring ourselves, and our energy to the residents of Mitumba.
We are going to the mother-land for the next couple of days. I hope we don't get eaten!
Keep the Faith-
GOYA Medicals :)
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Update from Sunny Kenya
Jambo (Hello) Americans and beyond-
We are doing very well here in the mid 80's and bright sunny day! A couple of us may come home with a slight tan!
Jim is feeling much better, he thanks everyone for their prayers.
The rest of us have been able to not get his sickness. We are taking a lot of Claritin for the allergies to not flare up.
Day one of the medical clinic was amazing. We were able to see 60 patients. They have a lot of the same problems. The sun is frying, literally frying their eyes. They are getting cataracts, and they need to wear sunglasses. Most of the guys say they do not look smart (our way of saying "cool"). We are giving out 400 pairs of reading glasses. This has been so fun to see the people able to see for the first time in years with a simple pair of glasses. Dr. Parker's amazing moment was when he was helping a woman and she was not able to read her Bible for years and he fitted her with glasses and she began crying, so Dr. Parker was also overcome with emotion and cried and hugged her as well. These people are so grateful for the care they are receiving. WE worked out some kinks from the first day. We had the help of a wonderful woman, Dr. Elizabeth. She goes from traveling clinic to traveling clinic. She is friends with Pastor Shadrack and we are fortunate enough to have her help for 3 days! She is truly a God send.
Day two of the clinic was much much much better. We had a system and we had fun. Things ran smoothly, and the Chemist was our friend. They would see the Mzungu's (white people) walk in and know we wanted to place a 35000 KSH order. (Julie from FRH-you would love the quantities we were ordering :) ) We were able to see 80 patients on the second day. Kim has mastered blood pressures, and identifying worms, malaria, dehydration, and ameba's. She will make an excellent nurse. Dr. Jim is great with the children, a huge clown! Dr. Kristi is doing terrific at her Pharmacist knowledge, very helpful when we are wanting to order Tylenol and all they have is Paracetamol. Dr. Amy and I (Dr. Marz) have been helping with the check-in and triage. We have been having a great time. We had two girls from the local Chemist come and help us dispense the meds. Dr. Elizabeth (really a Dr) has been valuable beyond belief for us. Dr. Parker has loved every minute of wearing a stethoscope around his neck! He is learning how to take blood pressures. He even bought an Otoscope for future medical trips! Such a humble man Dr. Parker is...we must now refer to him as Dr. Parker all the time! We have given up trying to tell the people what we do in the states, we are all Dr's to them!
Please continue to pray for us. We are all doing well and loving it here, at times we miss you all, but realize we are living for today! We have to help these people who have so little and yet are so happy!
We are 9 hours ahead of you, right now it is 6pm here, and 3am at home. You are soon starting a new day, and we are ending one. We are off to have the same meal for dinner 5/6 nights! Gotta love the options. We are usually not hungry so we share our plates!
Please keep us in your prayers...
We will update you later.
Asanti Sana (Thank You)
Keep the Faith-
April
We are doing very well here in the mid 80's and bright sunny day! A couple of us may come home with a slight tan!
Jim is feeling much better, he thanks everyone for their prayers.
The rest of us have been able to not get his sickness. We are taking a lot of Claritin for the allergies to not flare up.
Day one of the medical clinic was amazing. We were able to see 60 patients. They have a lot of the same problems. The sun is frying, literally frying their eyes. They are getting cataracts, and they need to wear sunglasses. Most of the guys say they do not look smart (our way of saying "cool"). We are giving out 400 pairs of reading glasses. This has been so fun to see the people able to see for the first time in years with a simple pair of glasses. Dr. Parker's amazing moment was when he was helping a woman and she was not able to read her Bible for years and he fitted her with glasses and she began crying, so Dr. Parker was also overcome with emotion and cried and hugged her as well. These people are so grateful for the care they are receiving. WE worked out some kinks from the first day. We had the help of a wonderful woman, Dr. Elizabeth. She goes from traveling clinic to traveling clinic. She is friends with Pastor Shadrack and we are fortunate enough to have her help for 3 days! She is truly a God send.
Day two of the clinic was much much much better. We had a system and we had fun. Things ran smoothly, and the Chemist was our friend. They would see the Mzungu's (white people) walk in and know we wanted to place a 35000 KSH order. (Julie from FRH-you would love the quantities we were ordering :) ) We were able to see 80 patients on the second day. Kim has mastered blood pressures, and identifying worms, malaria, dehydration, and ameba's. She will make an excellent nurse. Dr. Jim is great with the children, a huge clown! Dr. Kristi is doing terrific at her Pharmacist knowledge, very helpful when we are wanting to order Tylenol and all they have is Paracetamol. Dr. Amy and I (Dr. Marz) have been helping with the check-in and triage. We have been having a great time. We had two girls from the local Chemist come and help us dispense the meds. Dr. Elizabeth (really a Dr) has been valuable beyond belief for us. Dr. Parker has loved every minute of wearing a stethoscope around his neck! He is learning how to take blood pressures. He even bought an Otoscope for future medical trips! Such a humble man Dr. Parker is...we must now refer to him as Dr. Parker all the time! We have given up trying to tell the people what we do in the states, we are all Dr's to them!
Please continue to pray for us. We are all doing well and loving it here, at times we miss you all, but realize we are living for today! We have to help these people who have so little and yet are so happy!
We are 9 hours ahead of you, right now it is 6pm here, and 3am at home. You are soon starting a new day, and we are ending one. We are off to have the same meal for dinner 5/6 nights! Gotta love the options. We are usually not hungry so we share our plates!
Please keep us in your prayers...
We will update you later.
Asanti Sana (Thank You)
Keep the Faith-
April
Thursday, January 1, 2009
First Update From Kenya!
Hey everyone,
I'm sorry it took us a little longer than expected to send a text message back to the US. We has some problems getting the cell phone to work. But obviously we are here and we are safe. We spent the day yesterday with Shadrack doing orientation, exchanging money, gathering supplies and preparing for the work ahead. Last night for New Years we went to the REM center around 8pm for something called Kesha. Kesha is an all-night prayer service that churches in Kenya do for their New Year's celebration. It was a blast! Even though he was not feeling well Jim delivered a great sermon. I (chad) gave the closing prayer for the church to end 2008 and we danced and sang songs to ring in the new year.
Today we got our first real dose of Mitumba Slum. The team split up into two groups. Group One was Chad, Kristi and April. We went with Shadrack to meet with the Chemist (Phamacist) about gathering medical supplies. This was a very fruitful meeting. We are purchasing nearly $1000 in medicine for the clinic and the phamacy is going to provide us with a pharmacy worker to help us with the clinic. Group Two was Jim, Kim and Amy. They went into Mitumba to tour the slum, play soccer with the children and see all of the projects that REM is working on in the community. After converging for lunch we took a quick walk around to recap the REM projects as a team. For those of you that have contributed funding for the new orphanage...you will be shocked. It is incredible! It is quite possibly the most impressive building in Mitumba. We were able to see the new well that was dug for the orphanage. Shadrack showed us an incredible new technique they've employed for recycling plastic bottles and purifying water by using solar energy. It works so well and is so cheap that they've found a way to obtain custom labels so they can sell the clean water as "REM WATER" to citizens of Mitumba at a reduced rate. The Italians have been working hard on a recylcing program. Andrew, an Italian dentist leaves tomorrow, but he has been a pleasure to work with. He and his wife were married in Mitumba in December. Nika, his wife is a doctor and she has layed the groundwork for the medical work we are doing. She saw many children and even prepared a medicine cabinet that we will put to use and hopefully build onto before we leave.
There are many new buildings that have been built since 2006. Shadrack would like us to help finish the orphanage as well as build a new 2-story dining hall. That's right, we've found a way to build two story buildings are of steel gurders and rods.
We're rounding out the day at the at the cyber cafe and planning out how our medical clinic will go.
Shadrack is expecting 2000 people to be served at the medical clinic before we leave. That's a lot more than we think we can handle...so we're praying, and we hope you do too.
Please also keep Jim in your prayers, he was not feeling well on the flight over and he is still not feeling well. He took part of the day off today to rest and he claims to be feeling better, but we still need to continue praying for his health. There is so much that needs to be done and Jim can be an integral part of that work if his health improves.
I'll try to keep everyone posted regularly, but we have to go to a cyber cafe for updates...there is no internet at the YMCA.
May God Bless You Big!
Dr. Kenyan Chad
I'm sorry it took us a little longer than expected to send a text message back to the US. We has some problems getting the cell phone to work. But obviously we are here and we are safe. We spent the day yesterday with Shadrack doing orientation, exchanging money, gathering supplies and preparing for the work ahead. Last night for New Years we went to the REM center around 8pm for something called Kesha. Kesha is an all-night prayer service that churches in Kenya do for their New Year's celebration. It was a blast! Even though he was not feeling well Jim delivered a great sermon. I (chad) gave the closing prayer for the church to end 2008 and we danced and sang songs to ring in the new year.
Today we got our first real dose of Mitumba Slum. The team split up into two groups. Group One was Chad, Kristi and April. We went with Shadrack to meet with the Chemist (Phamacist) about gathering medical supplies. This was a very fruitful meeting. We are purchasing nearly $1000 in medicine for the clinic and the phamacy is going to provide us with a pharmacy worker to help us with the clinic. Group Two was Jim, Kim and Amy. They went into Mitumba to tour the slum, play soccer with the children and see all of the projects that REM is working on in the community. After converging for lunch we took a quick walk around to recap the REM projects as a team. For those of you that have contributed funding for the new orphanage...you will be shocked. It is incredible! It is quite possibly the most impressive building in Mitumba. We were able to see the new well that was dug for the orphanage. Shadrack showed us an incredible new technique they've employed for recycling plastic bottles and purifying water by using solar energy. It works so well and is so cheap that they've found a way to obtain custom labels so they can sell the clean water as "REM WATER" to citizens of Mitumba at a reduced rate. The Italians have been working hard on a recylcing program. Andrew, an Italian dentist leaves tomorrow, but he has been a pleasure to work with. He and his wife were married in Mitumba in December. Nika, his wife is a doctor and she has layed the groundwork for the medical work we are doing. She saw many children and even prepared a medicine cabinet that we will put to use and hopefully build onto before we leave.
There are many new buildings that have been built since 2006. Shadrack would like us to help finish the orphanage as well as build a new 2-story dining hall. That's right, we've found a way to build two story buildings are of steel gurders and rods.
We're rounding out the day at the at the cyber cafe and planning out how our medical clinic will go.
Shadrack is expecting 2000 people to be served at the medical clinic before we leave. That's a lot more than we think we can handle...so we're praying, and we hope you do too.
Please also keep Jim in your prayers, he was not feeling well on the flight over and he is still not feeling well. He took part of the day off today to rest and he claims to be feeling better, but we still need to continue praying for his health. There is so much that needs to be done and Jim can be an integral part of that work if his health improves.
I'll try to keep everyone posted regularly, but we have to go to a cyber cafe for updates...there is no internet at the YMCA.
May God Bless You Big!
Dr. Kenyan Chad
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