Saturday 15 September 2012
The past five days have flown by. Jet lag and running errands needed to put the finishing touches on our Breastfeeding Support Program Kenya training events has caused me to walk and drive around in a somewhat surreal state. That is probably a frightening thought for any of you who are familiar with Nairobi traffic!
Things are ready and I will leave in a few hours for the airport to meet Verda, who is flying in from the US to help facilitate our training events. She will join our other Kenya facilitators tomorrow afternoon as we meet to look over the training agenda together.
What an amazing journey this is for all of our facilitators! We are all aware of the needs of Kenyan women for Breastfeeding Support. We all understand that our work with women impacts not only the health of the mother and child but also often has an impact in a family unit. It is a door through which women can understand they are wonderfully and miraculously made in the image of God, that their child is a gift, that a partner can support a child's health by supporting a childs' breastfeeding mother. Sometimes it is the time when a mother hears she matters and God cares for her. Nutrition and health are just the door frame.
Yesterday I was with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law who also work here in Kenya. Sam told me that on Wednesday he was in a remote part of Kenya working with a group building a bridge. After a long rough journey to the location he arrived at the construction site and greeted the Kenyan team. As customary Sam inquired about each mans family as he greeted them. One of the men said his family was fine and that his daughter would have a baby soon. He asked if Sam would be able to help provide transport to a area health clinic for her. Sam said "of course!" and they began to unload the building supplies from his truck. An hour or so later he told the man who had asked for transport to tell the woman was ready to go. He replied that she had already begun the 5km journey on foot and that Sam would see them on the road. So Sam left the site looking for the women on the dirt path. He came upon a group of women stopped on the side of the road. They held a kitanga cloth (large printed cloth) between them shielding another woman who was on the ground. Sam stopped and asked if he could help. He heard as the women laboured in birth. Moments later he heard the sound of a first cry as the infant was born alongside a dusty dirt road in Kenya. The mother was 15 years old and this was her first baby.
Thankfully this baby is ok and the mother is also well as far as we know. A mother dies every hour is birth and a baby dies every 20 minutes in Kenya.
I thought about my three grown daughters... and my four precious grandsons. I consider all I want for them. I ask God to show me what He wants me to do to help the women of Kenya. I want them to experience the love of God not only in word but in deed and truth.
So with these thoughts simmering in my heart and mind I ask for your prayer. I know you care or you wouldn't have continued to read this blog. Pray that we will help, show compassion, give hope and will be ready to serve in any way we can.
Thanks for sharing the adventure. Be blessed.
Things are ready and I will leave in a few hours for the airport to meet Verda, who is flying in from the US to help facilitate our training events. She will join our other Kenya facilitators tomorrow afternoon as we meet to look over the training agenda together.
What an amazing journey this is for all of our facilitators! We are all aware of the needs of Kenyan women for Breastfeeding Support. We all understand that our work with women impacts not only the health of the mother and child but also often has an impact in a family unit. It is a door through which women can understand they are wonderfully and miraculously made in the image of God, that their child is a gift, that a partner can support a child's health by supporting a childs' breastfeeding mother. Sometimes it is the time when a mother hears she matters and God cares for her. Nutrition and health are just the door frame.
Yesterday I was with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law who also work here in Kenya. Sam told me that on Wednesday he was in a remote part of Kenya working with a group building a bridge. After a long rough journey to the location he arrived at the construction site and greeted the Kenyan team. As customary Sam inquired about each mans family as he greeted them. One of the men said his family was fine and that his daughter would have a baby soon. He asked if Sam would be able to help provide transport to a area health clinic for her. Sam said "of course!" and they began to unload the building supplies from his truck. An hour or so later he told the man who had asked for transport to tell the woman was ready to go. He replied that she had already begun the 5km journey on foot and that Sam would see them on the road. So Sam left the site looking for the women on the dirt path. He came upon a group of women stopped on the side of the road. They held a kitanga cloth (large printed cloth) between them shielding another woman who was on the ground. Sam stopped and asked if he could help. He heard as the women laboured in birth. Moments later he heard the sound of a first cry as the infant was born alongside a dusty dirt road in Kenya. The mother was 15 years old and this was her first baby.
Thankfully this baby is ok and the mother is also well as far as we know. A mother dies every hour is birth and a baby dies every 20 minutes in Kenya.
I thought about my three grown daughters... and my four precious grandsons. I consider all I want for them. I ask God to show me what He wants me to do to help the women of Kenya. I want them to experience the love of God not only in word but in deed and truth.
So with these thoughts simmering in my heart and mind I ask for your prayer. I know you care or you wouldn't have continued to read this blog. Pray that we will help, show compassion, give hope and will be ready to serve in any way we can.
Thanks for sharing the adventure. Be blessed.