Tale of Two Gardeners

A wise person once told me that the Christians who are truly living their faith are those who have invested in someone and then seen that person grow and flourish in their faith…yet have also invested in someone and been disappointed when he/she turns their back on you and rejects what you taught.  This is not to say that I’m the model Christian, but I’m definitely learning.

Aaron (name changed) is a young man who we met when we first arrived here at Tenwek.  At the time, he had a new wife and young child and needed a job.  He had been an apprentice to the neighbor’s gardener and was ready to start working for us once we got settled in.  (Being a gardener at the Mitchell's isn’t hard.  Our garden is small and basic, our yard just needs the leaves raked, and we aren’t picky. A perfect job.)  It was great to get to know Aaron and we even spent some time sitting and chatting about life, reading the Bible together, and praying. He proclaimed that he was a Christian and was trying his best despite his struggles in the past.  (Aaron could relate well to the story of the prodigal son.  He really did ask his dad for his inheritance early, his share of the family land, and then sold it…using the money in not so productive ways.  However, unlike the prodigal son he wasn’t welcomed back into his family.)  Although I never felt like Aaron and I were close buddies, I tried to disciple him the best I knew how.  Unfortunately, Aaron slipped back into destructive patterns of behavior and we had no choice but to let him go as our gardener.  Even though he wasn’t working for us any longer, he would still come by the house on Sunday afternoons to chat, and ask for ways he could earn some money. The discipleship continued.  He wanted to start up a small business selling eggs, so we worked out a business model that would allow him to cover his costs and make some profit.  He saved up some money and I matched it so he could buy six chickens.  After that day Aaron stopped coming by the house.  I heard from one of his relatives that he has fallen off the wagon again.  I haven’t seen Aaron in months.

We needed a new gardener.  A long time missionary family recommended another young man to us and said, “He might not be a seasoned gardener, but his is a great guy and will love your kids.” Adison started working for us, and over the weeks I got to know his story.  At age ten his mother died and his alcoholic father took him out into the forest and abandoned him.  By God’s grace he found his way to help and ended up in a children’s home that was started by Tenwek missionaries. He eventually went away to boarding school for high school (almost all Kenyans go to a boarding high school) and he graduated last year with less than stellar grades.  Through connections, he found his way to Tenwek and eventually to our garden.

The relationship started out similar to the one I had with Aaron; we spent some time sitting and chatting about life, reading the Bible together, and praying.  However, Adison really soaked up what we talked about.  Our relationship grew and he became more than a gardener, he became part of our family.  We shared meals together, he played with the boys, and he got to know Erin’s parents when they came to visit.  We joked that he was my oldest son, and I was the mzee (Swahili for “old man”).
When not working for us (our yard is only big enough to warrant two days a week of work), Adison found his way over to our neighbor’s, the Espy’s, where he developed an equally good relationship with their family.  Instead of having no family, he now has two.

Adison decided that he didn’t want to be a gardener for life (I didn’t blame him) and wanted to go to nursing school, but his high school grades weren’t good enough to get in.  However, he was humble enough to re-enroll into boarding school to redo his senior year and improve his scores.   So, we lost another gardener.  But…the story doesn’t end there.

About a month ago Adison came back to Tenwek during a short break and spent some time with us and the Espy's.  He told us that school had been going well, and he was trying to be a light to the 1100 students there.  He had purposefully made friends with “the bad crowd” because he wanted to have a positive influence on them.  “It isn’t the healthy people who go see you at the hospital,” he told me.   Adison told us one of his new friends, Isaac, had been a repeat offender at school and was inches away from being expelled.  However, his latest suspension had caused an awakening, and Isaac realized his pattern of poor behavior needed to change.  He turned to Adison for prayer and advice, and Adison led him to Christ.  The next week, when Isaac gave his testimony during a chapel service, Adison said “The students were in shock that Isaac, the worst behaved kid in school, had been changed by God’s grace.  Sixteen other students have since become Christian’s because of Isaac’s testimony.”

Adison, now elected as student body president, invited me to speak at his school’s chapel service last Sunday.  I got to set aside my scrubs and venture away from the hospital to speak to a “congregation” of 1100 high school students.

Dr. Mitchell a Pastor?

I talked about the parable of the four soils found in Luke 8.  I knew that some of the students had hearts like the soil found on the beaten path, and that the gospel would not grow in them until the soil had been tilled.  I knew that some were like the rocky soil, that their faith was shallow and without root.  I knew that some were like the soil that contained thorns; the seed was trying to grow and mature but was choked by the worries and pleasures of this life.  I also knew that there were some students who were like the fertile soil, with the seed of the gospel maturing within them and yielding a crop 100 times more than was sown.  I knew this because I saw Adison there in the audience as well as the 16 new Christians that were a product of his ministry.  Most importantly, I was encouraged because I got to meet Isaac.

Isaac, Me, and Adison

Isaac is a Christian because of Adison's deep faith put into practice.  Adison's faith is maturing partly because of our relationship.  We are here in Kenya because of all of you back home who support us both financially and prayerfully.  Thank you!

A typical day?

Someone recently asked me to blog about a typical day for me. So, let's take Wednesday.

5:45 a.m   Alarm goes off and I drag myself out of bed to go running. It is really the only time of day that works, and thankfully this time of the year it is actually light outside by 6:00 a.m.!

6:45 a.m.  Come home: shower, dress, read Tucker approximately 13 books, make breakfast, eat with the boys, get everyone dressed, clear table, read Tucker 14 more books, tidy up a smidge (ok, who am I kidding, I trip over a book and it flies under the couch), look for lost shoes for 15 minutes, gather 3 out of 4 children and head up the hill to school.

9:00 a.m.     Teach 4 fidgety delightful 1st graders the joys of reading, the consonant blends -st and -cl, parts of a flower, and how to subtract.

11:55 a.m.   Dismiss class and quickly try to get prepped for tomorrow. Then, collect Tucker, run around doing a few errands, and head home at 12:30 to try to get lunch ready for guests.

12:30 p.m.   Arrive home to electricity- score! (This week they have been working on the hydroelectric turbine so we have had very inconsistent electricity) Run around setting the table, taking Tucker potty, etc. My househelper has gone to a funeral so I am reheating something made yesterday for my family and 4 guests. Tell Tucker I cannot possibly read him the 6 books he is holding right at this moment.

12:50 p.m. Power out- drat! Right as I am about to use the microwave! Go to back-up plan of heating lentils and rice on the stove. Rice does not reheat well on the stove-akk! Burning rice aroma lofting through the house. Stir, stir, stir.

12:55 p.m. Guests start arriving. Tell Tucker to let them in and try to finish lunch prep, stirring burning rice, etc.

12:59 p.m. Electricity comes back on! Saved~ throw rice in microwave. Hear screaming coming from outside. Tell guests to make themselves comfy, head out to see what is going on.

1:02 p.m. Alex and Cooper arrive home. Cooper is screaming at the top of his lungs b/c he slipped and fell in cow poop on the way home. Arms, shirt covered. However, he cares not about this. Apparently he cut his toe as well b/c the only pair of Crocs he owns have two worn holes in both big toes, but refuses to wear anything else. Mental note: find a way to get this child new shoes. Back to reality: I have a kid covered in cow poop, 4 guests in my living room, no food on the table.....where is Eric??? Why can he never come for lunch on the days that my life is in ruins?? Murphy's law I suppose.

Try to talk Cooper down from hysteria. Not succeeding. Rip cow poop shirt off of him, try to get him to go into the bathroom, but he doesn't want the guests to see him without a shirt, and mom, didn't you see my toe is bleeding?!?!!? Drag kicking and screaming modest child through living room to bathroom while apologizing to guests.

Wait, where are AJ and Tucker? Steal a glance out the window in time to see them and their partner in crime, Ivey, using the hose to make a mud pit in the garden. Did I mention I had already washed them up and they were ready to eat? No more, my friends, no more.
Why am I all alone in the world with these 4 savage beasts children???

Throw Cooper in the tub, bandage his wounds, round up other children, clean them, throw not-quite-warm food on the table, manage to eat with guests while we are serenaded by the still crying Cooper, finish the meal.

2:30 p.m.-  get littles down for nap, help a friend with a project after nap, try to throw together something for dinner in the no-more-electricity kitchen.

5:30 p.m.- Eric gets home, saves me from the children (read: myself), eat dinner.

6:45 p.m. - Head to parent teacher conferences where I am the parent in some and the teacher in others.

9:00- p.m.  Crawl home and collapse on the couch.

So, maybe this isn't quite typical, but you never know when a day like this will pop up. I'm sure all moms of small savage beasts can relate!

An evening at the Brevan

Last weekend we were able to take our Kenyan friends David and Joann and their 4 kids out to dinner.  David and Joann have become good friends to us as we have spent quite a bit of time together. They used to live right near us, but recently moved to a new place about a 15 min. walk away. We were happy that they were able to upgrade to a new house with electricity, but we miss having them closer. The have been great cultural mentors for us, and their kids Kevin (13), Collins (11ish), Immanuel (5) and Precious (2) are really good kids and were nice neighbors for the boys to play with.

We occasionally go to David and Joann’s house for lunch or chai and they have been guests in our house as well. The tricky part about having them over is that they really prefer Kenyan food to American, and I am no expert in making ugali and sukuma wiki! So, we thought this would be a fun way to “have them over for dinner” and yet not have to cook. There is a new-ish hotel in Bomet (5 min drive from Tenwek) that has decent food, both Kenyan fare and some American. 

David drives a matatu as a job so he borrowed a bigger van that could fit all of us. We told him to come pick us up at 5:00 p.m., and if you know ANYTHING about Kenyan culture, you should have assumed they would be here around 6:00 to pick us up. However at 4:15 when we were running up the hill for a quick errand, they were pulling up to get us. Unheard of! They were so excited! Their boys had on 3 piece suits and Precious had on her frilly Sunday dress!! We told them that we would be back by 5 from our errand and decided as we walked we better change our boys out of their mud-stained shorts and tee shirts! We don’t have any 3-piece suits, but we figured they could wear their Sunday clothes ;)

Alex, Kevin and Collins playing with a bottle cap while waiting for the food.

David and Eric

Precious and her "chips"

Sweet Immanuel

We traveled to the Brevan and we all ordered. My kids like the fish and chips (fries) there, or the breakfast platter, but I was curious as to what David and his family would order. My favorite part of the whole evening was that Joann ordered Uglali and Sakuma wiki, what she eats for every.single.meal. Bless her heart.

Joann and her ugali! (with a little chicken!)

We had a nice meal with only one major spill, good food and nice conversation. On the way home we drove through Bomet, got gas, and randomly met David’s sister who happened to be out in Bomet that night. :)

We are blessed to be able to develop relationships with some sweet Kenyans!

Cultural Lessons

Here are some cultural lessons lately....

*Our missionary neighbors were hosting a large going-away party in which many people were supposed to come. Our homes are not large, especially not to hold the 60 people that were expected, so the plan was to have it in the yard. Unfortunately, the afternoon of the party it started raining (hard) and did not let up throughout the party. Someone commented about what a bummer it was that it was raining and our Kenyan neighbor made a statement that stuck with me.  She said, “rain is a blessing”. I am so “American” in my thinking sometimes. I think of rain mostly as an inconvenience, but to our Kenyan friends, their livelihood, their food supply depends on rain.

*We went to visit and share a meal with some of our Kenyan friends. They used to live right near us but in the past months have been able to move to a different home with electricity and more than 2 tiny rooms. Along with this electricity, they got a TV! They seem to have it on all the time when we are there. Near the end of our visit with them, I found it very ironic that the show that they had on was a home remodeling show. They were taking a studio apartment and giving it a make-over. As we watched about 5 minutes of it, they asked me if I understood what was happening. I tried to explain to my friends that don’t have running water, just got electricity, and eat with no “dining room table” why these folks needed their very functional apartment “remodeled”.

*For many years in Kenya, a way to discourage crime in the village is a process called mob justice.  When a criminal is caught, a mob of locals will severely injure or even kill the offender.  Mob justice is supposed to be a thing of the past, but we realized this week that it is alive and happening in Kenya.  Just yesterday Eric had a patient that was burned over 40% of his body as a result of mob justice. This man was known to be a thief and so a group of people set a trap for him to catch him in the act. When he fell for the trap and went to steal the item, the mob grabbed him, doused him in gasoline and set him on fire. He was burned badly but is still alive. In modern day Kenya the ideal mob justice would be a mob catching a criminal and taking this person to the authorities, but as you can see, it doesn’t always work that way. I have also heard of mobs stoning criminals.   

*When in Ethiopia we had a househelper that worked for the people whose house we were staying in. She was good at what she did, but she spoke very little English and cooked virtually no American food. As we were talking with some other missionaries we learned an interesting characteristic about some Ethiopians. If you compliment them too much about what a good job they are doing, they stop doing a good job and slack off. They may even be found taking a nap on your bed! So strange.

*We have some Kenyan friends who recently asked us for a significant amount of money to finance a business venture they wanted to persue. It is such a cultural difference, and we were very uncomfortable with this at first. Americans don’t ask their friends for money! We were unsure how to respond to such an “awkward” request.  However upon asking around, we learned that it is not at all uncomfortable for Africans to make requests like this to friends and family. In fact, by giving our friends money (but not giving to just any person who asks at our door, we have a relationship with these people) it strengthens our relationship in their mind. A really good and informative book on this topic is African Friends and Money Matters. Talk about  different ways of thinking!

*We’ve had a situation that is perfectly illustrated in the book When Helping Hurts (I HIGHLY recommend this book if you work with people in poverty, in the US or abroad).  There is a young man (around age 16) who comes around selling vegetables to make money for his family. He walk 1 ½ hours to come sell to the missionaries. When we first met him, we felt compassion toward him and his story and wanted to buy his wares to help him out (his father has died and his mother has many children including a special needs child to take care of). We admired his hard work to try to take care of his family.  However, over time (and with the help of Tenwek social workers and more veteran missionaries) we’ve learned more about his story and realized that our act of kindness might be hurting him and his family more than we were helping.  We realized that we may have been creating a dependence on “missionary money” and preventing his family from having a stable, independent livlihood.  When this young man goes away to school in a few months, he will not be able to sell vegetables to us and will leave his non-working mom alone to take care of his younger siblings.  We realized that right now, we needed to change how we invest in this family.  Our goal now is to assist his handicapped sibling to free up his mom, help his mom start a small business, and assist the local church in helping the family.  This will allow our young man to concentrate on his studies. It is a long complicated story, but a great example that you need to invest deeply in people and their entire situation, not just throw money at them.

* Kenyans love ugali! (their staple food, made of cornmeal, the consistency of mashed potatoes) It cracks me up because they could come to our house and have a meal, but if we didn’t serve ugali, they consider it a snack, no matter how big of a meal it was. Our neighbor went to Ethiopia for 6 days and she said by the 6^th day she was feeling weak and tired because she hadn’t had ugali! She came home and had it for every meal for days till her son said he was leaving if he had to eat it one more time! Ha! 

My kids love Sakuma Wiki and Ugali too!

*Church this past Sunday was Children’s Sunday. The local children had VBS this week and they used the service to share what they had learned. It was precious. There was even a sermon by a 12ish year old boy! I was quite impressed. Children shared verses, sang songs and led prayer. One thing that really hit home to me was when a small boy stood up and asked prayer for the mothers of their country because many die in childbirth. I really imagine that coming out of my child’s mouth, but that is not a huge reality for Americans. (though it was almost my story!)

First Days of School!

          Well, school has officially started for the Tenwek MK community. Wednesday was our first day! We have a LOT of MK’s this year, so we have set our homeschooling co-op up to look more like a “school”. There is a pre-school class, 1^st grade, 2/3^rd grade, 4/5^th grade and middle school class.

The MK school 2014-2015

Whose kids are these?

        Cole is in 3^rd grade this year. We had hoped to have a teacher come to teach this grade but that didn’t happen, so we have four different moms teaching different subjects! Way to go, moms. These kids should learn some flexibility! They will be learning about Creation to Egyptians in history, anatomy in science and studying a few novels like Stuart Little, Charlotte’s Web and Misty of Chincoteague. Cole has always loved school, so he’s all on board!

      Cooper is in 1^st grade this year! He has the best teacher of all- me! I am commited to teaching the 4 first graders this year. They are hard lookin bunch of kids, let me tell you! 

My classroom

Since we don’t have an actual school, the different classes meet wherever we can find a place- which usually means an extra room in someone’s house! (Cole’s class meets in our actual “school room”)

      There are certain challenges and advantages that come with teaching in someone’s house. (the people’s who’s house it is have been super gracious-they are great!)

*We can walk to school

*We have a “class dog” Bailey, that occasionally joins us

*We hear the washing machine and vacuum a various times in the day

*We have sometimes have to yell at the kids playing outside our window to be quiet (they happen to be our siblings as well)

*The power goes out on certain days and we have to get creative about light sources

*If one of my students forgets something, she can just run upstairs and get it!

       Nothing we can’t handle! I am a few days into it and already enjoying being back to teaching- and it’s all done in 3 hours a day!

We are learning about world history this year, improving our beginning reading skills, having our first spelling tests (!), and doing lots of different science.

     Alex is doing a little pre-school class 3 mornings a week! He loves it! 

We're very thankful to be part of this community and have help in schooling our kids!

Soddo Summary

   
   We returned earlier this week from Soddo Hospital in Ethiopia, where we spent two weeks filling in, as they are without a surgeon right now. I know many are interested in knowing if this is where we will end up after our ministry in Kenya, but we don't know yet! It had pros and cons and is still on our potential list. Our last blog entry was some of Eric's experiences at the hospital, so I'll share a little of what I did for the two weeks.
    Soddo's missionary community is much smaller than Tenwek's. There was one family there during our stay, with a 6 year old and a 3 year old. We were very happy they were there! They were very kind and hospitable to us.

The boys with their friend Taylor

    The boys and I mainly did 3 things during out two weeks: jumped on an in-the-ground trampoline, climbed trees, and read lots of books.

The boys with their friend Nate (upside down)

Other than that we:
-discovered that our kids now get carsick. Two pukers= gross.
-ran into a fellow Cedarville graduate at a guest house in Addis Ababa
- learned that Ethiopians riot when their plane has been delayed for 8 hours
-discovered that Ethiopia doesn't have piki-piki's (motorbikes) like Kenya, instead they have tuk-tuks!

A tuk-tuk!

-housesat 2 dogs (I am the biggest dog-NOT-lover that ever lived)
-were woken throughout the night by said dogs and calls to prayer over the town's loudspeaker
-burned/destroyed half the things I tried to make while figuring out (another!) new oven
-went to a local church and were ushered to the very front (think 2000 people) to sit right next to the stage. We also understood nothing b/c it was in Amharic. We made it for over an hour with 4 kids though= success. That hour included the longest choir song I have ever heard and a very interesting drama including a huge gun and a sword.
-we had high-speed internet= awesome
-had meals at two missionaries' homes
-Alex fell 6 feet off a slide platform. Good thing that one's tough!
-we had a first- we got on the wrong airplane! We just followed the people in front of us who led us astray. To their credit, you would think our plane would be the closest to the gate we just came out of. You would be wrong.
- we read Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory and had chocolate day!

Chocolate designs in syrup!

-I went to the local market to buy fruit and got mobbed by street children :(
-we jumped and jumped and jumped on the trampoline

There you have it! It was a nice two weeks but we are glad to be home! School will start in just a few weeks! 

Rainy Season

East African countries like Kenya and Ethiopia (where we are visiting for two weeks) don’t have seasons like we are used to in the U.S.  The mention of summer, fall, winter or spring to a Kenyan or Ethiopian only brings blank stares of confusion.   There is no snow here; no fall colors on the trees, and the flowers just keep blooming.  However, we do have some variation in weather patterns manifested by two seasons, rainy season and dry season.  Rainy season reminds me of late spring in Michigan, just not as cold.  Weeks of overcast gray go by with a mixture of thunderstorms and drizzle.  Everything is wet and muddy.  Then, just when you think you can’t take it anymore, the clouds will break and you will get a few rays of warm sunshine before the next storm rolls in. 

It’s rainy season in Ethiopia now, and today was a rainy season at the hospital.  Overall our family has had an enjoyable time here and have gotten a good snapshot of what Soddo Christian Hospital is all about.  However, some days are cloudier than others.

I sloshed my way down the wet path to the hospital this morning to meet the Ethiopian PAACS surgery residents for morning rounds. I knew there would be at least two patients near death in the ICU; we had admitted them yesterday.  I asked my post call resident how the rest of his night went and he responded in a tired despondent voice, “It was a rough night.  Let me show you.”  We commenced with rounds.

Bed 1:  empty.  Our patient who had been assaulted and robbed a few days back died in the night.  He was a normal guy employed as a guard when he was attacked and robbed.  His head injury, bilateral pneumothorax (dropped lung) and rib fractures were a bad combo for a place with no ventilators. 

Bed 2:  22-year-old man who had gotten into a fight with his brother (not sure why) and had just arrived a few hours prior to rounds.  His pupils were fixed and dilated, and I could tell by the way he was breathing that the tall guy dressed in black waiting in the corner holding a scythe was there for him.  He died 5 minutes later and the 20 family members outside the ICU began their mourning process with wailing and screaming audible throughout the whole hospital. 

Bed 3:  55 year old male I had admitted the previous day with another bad head injury due to a motorbike accident.  I was surprised to see that he was still alive, as he showed signs of brainstem herniation yesterday.  I spoke to his family, and updated them on his grave prognosis

Bed 4: 14 year old girl brought in by her family overnight from 3 hours away.  She too was a victim of the transportation system here in East Africa, where cars, motorbikes, pedestrians, and donkey’s share the newly paved roads.  She had been hit by a motorbike and sustained an intracerebral hemorrhage (bleeding on the brain) that put her in a coma (GCS 5).  After ensuring that she was getting our best supportive care, I told her family not to go anywhere today or tonight.

Bed 5-9 were made up of orthopedic patients with open fractures of various long bones.  Most were polytrauma from road traffic accidents and most were younger than I. 

Road traffic accidents are maiming a generation in the developing world.  Over 1.2 million people die each year from road traffic accidents, and an estimated 50-60 million people worldwide suffer disabling injuries.  Over 90% of these injuries happen in low to middle income countries like Kenya and Ethiopia.   A careful analysis of current trends yields the prediction that road traffic will be the third leading cause of death and disability worldwide by 2030, up from ninth place today (WHO 2009 Global status report on road traffic safety).

At Tenwek, our orthopedic service is overrun with fractures due to careless and untrained motorbike drivers, and devastating head injuries are far too common in our ICU.  Now, I’m at a different hospital, in a different developing country, and I’m seeing the same thing; another busy orthopedic service trying to keep up with the constant stream of open fractures, more head injuries with minimal supportive care options, and young people in the prime of their lives being robbed of their mobility and mental capacity.   What about the hundreds, perhaps thousands who never even make it to the level of care provided by Tenwek and Soddo? 

And what about the patient’s ability to hear the gospel...their only hope of eternal life?  Head injury patients are especially tough for me.  We can treat their body, but due to their mental status changes they aren’t able to hear and comprehend the eternal healing message of the gospel. 

Later in the day I was in the OR lounge when I heard the familiar sound of a family screaming and wailing, mourning yet another death.  I made my way over to the ICU thinking it was one of my patients, but it was a patient from a different service.  More gray skies, and the rain kept falling.  I checked on my head injury patients, and both were still hanging on. 

After the day was over, I began the walk home.  The path was dry now, as the literal rain had held off for the day.  I walked past the hospital’s pet sheep, (that are kept for phlebotomy to make blood agar in the lab) and around the corner toward our house.  In the distance Alex was playing, and when he saw me he screamed for joy, “Daddy’s home!!” and it echoed throughout the compound.  He ran over and gave me a big hug.  Tucker trailed behind, and Cooper materialized from a tree to welcome me home.  Cole came running out from the house and said he had been waiting for me.  The clouds from my day had broken and a few rays of warm sunshine were holding onto my legs.  I enjoyed the evening in the sun, not sure when the next storm will roll in.