Update From Kit

Hey Everyone,
This past week in Kenya has proven to be just as exciting as the weeks prior, only with a little more variety in the forms of patient care that I have been given the chance to render.
My first patient of the week was a six year old boy who arrived with a pencil eraser lodged in his left ear. True to the nature of a six year old, this boy did not alert his family of the eraser until a month had passed and the pain from the infection became unbearable. Needless to say, the child was not excited about us removing the eraser; it took four nurses to hold this boy down while another nurse removed the foreign body. The procedure was successful, and the child was much happier once the eraser was removed (or maybe he was just happy that he would not have to see us anymore, I'm not sure which one, but I'll go ahead and choose believe the former).
I was also given the opportunity to work with a child from an Internally Displaced People's (IDP) camp. This child and his family had lost their home and most of their possessions in the post-election violence earlier this year. At the IDP camp, this child fell into a fire and received a badly burnt scalp as a result. Burn wounds have a way of looking . . . . well, not so nice. My stomach turned a little when I first witnessed the wound, but then I began to think how God's stomach turns when He views my sin and the way it destroys and harms me, yet He still came down from Heaven to help me in my destitute plight, and perhaps in a more real and tangible way than it ever had before, it occurred to me that in order for us to effectively reveal the love of Christ to others, we will have to "get our hands dirty" and do things that may make us feel uncomfortable. It also occurred to me that it is such an honor for someone of my stature and character to be included in the healing work that God is doing. Fortunately for us, God does not leave us alone to do His work, rather He supplies His supernatural grace, compassion and mercy within our hardened hearts so that we may be effective for His purposes (see Phil. 2:12-13). I may be reading too much into this scenario, but I think that it is a small but valid example of the work that God calls us to. As to the condition of the patient: the healing process will be painful, but he should make a full recovery within two months.

O for the P

Those who have worked in oppressed and impoverished areas will often speak of the impossible choices people face here. For example: a single mother with hungry children, one of whom has Malaria, only has enough money for food or medication, and is faced with an impossible choice. Does she feed her hungry children and hope that the sick child will be healed? Or does she buy the medicine while her and her children spend yet another night in hunger (which leads to a whole other set of epidemiological problems). The choices are impossible. Dr. Paul Farmer of Partners in Health states that the purpose of his organization is to create a preferential option for the poor, or an "O for the P," in which choices for the poor would no longer be impossible -- the sick mother would be able to feed her family and buy her sick child medicine.
In the village of Kipkaren where the choices are often impossible, Empowering Lives International has introduced a preferential option for the poor. Case in point: I have been given the opportunity to give daily insulin injections to an 18 year old girl who suffers from Type 1 Diabetes. This girl previously lived with two alcoholic parents who cared nothing of her ailments and let her condition worsen to the point where she became severely malnourished and blind. What was this child to do? Leave home and try to fend for herself, or stay at home and slowly deteriorate? Fortunately ELI has introduced a new option by giving her a safe place to live, food to eat, and proper medical care. It is in situations such as this that I become extremely grateful and honored to assist an organization like ELI.
Well, I know that I have written more of a short story as opposed to a blog entry, so this is where I will sign off. I again say thank you to you all for your continued prayers and support.
-Kit