Meru Medical Team February 2011

Abby and I joined a medical team a couple weeks ago (hence the long silence on our blog due to being so busy). We had an incredible time. God worked in so many wonderful ways!

We hesitated going because our finances are tight and we had to pay our own food and lodging. Still, we felt like God wanted us there, and the experience was a great opportunity to learn and prepare for our own medical team which we will be hosting in a week and a half. We decided to go for half the trip to balance the expense.

Long story short, we joined the team for the whole medical campaign and God provided for all of our needs. We did not have to pay anything! At one point we were having to go home before the end of the trip because of an obligation, but we really wanted to stay with the team and continue to help. The evening before we needed to leave, I got a text message asking to reschedule the speaking engagement. God opened the door.

Abby acted as a stand-in eye doctor 🙂 and handed out reading glasses and sunglasses to people the real doctors referred to her. I was crowd control and flow management (which is fancy talk for I stood in the sun and told people where to go). I also got to assist with some of the surgeries! Beyond learning the logistics of running a team and the complications that you are bound to face, it was a great time to practice Swahili. “Ukiona mlango huko, kwenda huko na utapata dawa.” (If you see the door over there, go there and you will find medicine).

Below are the results from the trip. I write this not to boast in the team, but to boast in what God did through the team. I have heard of many medical teams which report much higher salvation numbers, but the numbers below are people the missionary/pastors were confident in the sincerity of their profession and are prepared to follow up with baptism. Something the numbers do not show is that in one of the villages, the men of the community approached the Kenyan pastor about planting a church in the area!

In five days…

2002 Patients were seen

2725 Visits (If a patient saw the doctor and received glasses that is 2 visits)

9092 Prescriptions were filled

49 Professions of Jesus Christ!!!

This was all accomplish to the glory of the Kingdom of God by people from 5 different states and Mexico, along with student volunteer translators, 2 Kenyan pastors, and 6 missionaries who sacrificed there time and money to make a difference!

The Team!

Sorting medicine the night before. The pharmacy had enough work to do filling over 1,000 prescriptions a day.

Setting up a tent for registration. We couldn’t get to the school we were suppose to be at because rain flooded the road…

Roping of the pharmacy to give them room to work.

We would pray and sing to start each day.

  The men in charge! Ernie, in the white shirt on the right, was the lead missionary. Leon, in the vest to the left, was the group leader. Eddie, in the flannel shirt in the middle, is a missionary up north in Turkana and was our connection to the group.

  Water bottles being saved to give to people so they can use the UV rays of the sun to purify water. Google SODIS (solar distillation) if you want to know more.

People hearing the gospel as they sit around and wait for they’re medicine.

Abby helping in the pharmacy. We forgot the glasses the first day…

Using a reading chart to determine the prescription.,

Happy to receive a pair of glasses!

  Learning how to direct people in Swahili. Eddie is teaching me the phrase mentioned in the article above.

Holding a flashlight so the nurse can see better to clean a wound. This young man has had an open wound for 2 years because he was not able to get proper care and it healed open. He received the burn when he fell into a fire during an epileptic seizure.