Not Much News

It's Tuesday morning in Kijabe, with not a whole lot to report. The IT tech at Kijabe Hospital got our laptop hooked up to the network this morning, so I can blog from my own laptop, and I was hoping to upload pictures. But for some reason, I'm not having the success I had when I did it from O'Hare in Chicago. So, I'll keep trying, but in the meantime, I wanted to let you know what we have been doing.

Yesterday Ruth took us on a grand tour of Kijabe Hospital. I am impressed with how busy this facility is, with the quality of its staff, even though the building is old and definitely Kenyan. Every day there are scores of Kenyans, Somalis, and Sudanese waiting in the outpatient area to be treated. Yesterday morning a serious accident had occurred on the highway between a truck and a matatu (which is a Kenyan taxi-van that usually carries 14-20 people, though it's suppose to carry a maximum of 14). Four passengers were brought to Kijabe Hospital in very critical condition. The medical staff went on alert, and several of the five ORs were put to immediate use.

Ruth oversees the ob-gyn unit, which is usually very busy; however, Ruth was on call last night and managed to get an entire night of sleep. Today she's in surgery. Rich is working around the hospital facilities with repair projects. I will be helping in medical records for a while.

And Gene is boning up for his first day of teaching tomorrow. This afternoon Gene will meet with the academic director at Moffat Bible College to be oriented and prepared for tomorrow.
I, Gene, would like all to pray Philipians 1:9-11 for my students, for my restudying preparation for class so that I am clear on each daily lesson, so that I make a quick connection with all the students -- seven men and four women, and that there will be many opportunities for contact outside of class.

So, it's been a bit ho-hum the last few days. The weather's been fantastic -- in the 50s at night and up to the nice 70s in the day. African skies are gorgeous. I've done laundry that has to be hung out on the line -- no clothes dryer. We do have most conveniences though. The frig has a freezer and ice cream is available. The windows have no screens, so they stay closed at night to keep out the mosquitos. Cell phones abound. Laptops and computers are everywhere. But the power goes out unexpectedly every now and then. Last night we sat in the dark several times for anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes each time. A number of homes have TV and most programs are in English. So, as you can see, life here isn't really a whole lot different than in the States.

I'll keep working on uploading the pictures and when I figure out what's wrong, you'll get a boat load full of them. I look forward to receiving your comments back, and if you know folks who would be interested in reading this blog, be sure to share the address with them.

We are grateful for each one of you. Kwaheri.