Monday in Nairobi

Hello Prayer Warriors,

Today we were in another slum of Nairobi called Makura Kayaba. Our patient population was primarily AIDS patients. The church has an AIDS support group here and there is also a school here.

Before we left to travel to our clinic, Ed shared a devotion on "Weakness". It helped us all to share our weaknesses. When we share it helps others to know that we all have weaknesses and struggles. It made me think of Paul talking of his weaknesses in 1 Corinthians 2. Oh how I can relate! Each of will share a devotion on this mission trip in the morning and then will share at the clinic as well.

We saw a patient today named Evelyn who has 2 sets of twins, a set of triplets and another child. She also had a child die in the past year. She lives with AIDS and breast cancer. Please keep her in your prayers. We saw another patient named Esther who is very angry. Her mother is Muslim and abused her and she was raped by her father. I assisted Dr. Karen G with a small surgical procedure called an I and D. Karen and I both love surgery and the patient was very stoic.

In the areas that we work, almost every female has been physically and sexually abused. They have sexually transmitted infections and there is a lot with AIDS. We do not treat AIDS because the patients are treated at the clinic. There are still many that will not go to the clinic to get diagnosed. For about $1/day the government will provide the drugs called ARV's. What we are treating is oportunistic infections.

You will probably not see pictures of the walk that we take to the medical clinic because the people are sensitive to their living conditions and we respect them.We must walk through streams of garbage, human excrement, chickens, dogs, etc to get to where we are going. It can be terribly nauseating but we must look past that. I am just eager to serve God in Kenya.

We are enjoying working here with Pastor Imboumi Makuku, his wife Martha, Pastor Patrick, Wycliff and James with the African Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Every day is and adventure and if you dont't like adventures and like to handle problems yourself and not ask the Lord for help, then this is no place for you. This is what increases my faith and grows me spiritually.

After we closed the clinic today we came back to the Guest house and Imboumi gave us a cultural orientation. He talked about Spiritual warfare here. Satanic shamans and witch doctors and cults are everywhere and in the open. Many of the Christians still try to keep a foot in both camps. They believe that if anything out of the
ordinary happens that it is because someone has put a spell or a hex on them or
one of the gods is angry with them. They then take their scarce monies and go
to the witch doctor to buy a counter spell. They wear amulets to protect themselves
from evil.

We asked Imboumi, how does a Kenyan get married? He said, you ask the girl to marry you. Then you must go to her parents with an elder person and negotiate a dowry. For example, the family may decide that you must give a "gift" of 14 cattle or goats to the parents for your bride. To all those who have daughters and have to pay for weddings in the states...come to Kenya where you actually receive a "gift" for your daughter.

Please pray for our day tomorrow. Besides our medical clinic, Ariel and Katie will be teaching a group about STD's and Lauren and Hazen will teach another group about Hygiene.Diane will teach the children, about the Bible and Ed, our counselor will meet with teachers to discuss topics surrounding abused, defiled and escaped children. Hugh is providing care for a group of men who probably all have STD's but will only be seen by a male provider.

We Love you and Miss you all!

May God richly bless you,


Karen (McClure) and the Kenya Team