THANKS FOR PRAYING FOR RAIN

I went back to Arsim for a few days and it began raining out of season. It has continued to rain since in many parts of Northern Kenya. On March 2 I headed back to Nairobi with the second vehicle we are selling and also with Yolanda who had a plane to catch on the 3rd at night. We got to Maralal in mid afternoon and after lunch and a few errands we decided to start towards Nairobi planning to get to Nyahururu for the night. It is normally a 4 hour drive from Maralal but it turned into a 7 hour drive! Although the road was muddy and damaged by the heavy lorries bringing food relief, we managed well up past Suguta Marmar when we got into more mud and big trucks getting stuck. One very big one had mechanical trouble and another truck was towing it through the mud and then stopped and left it in the middle of the road on an earthen bridge with very little space on either side and 10 foot drop to the ditch on both sides. I was told this was intentional so he would block the road so he would not have to be the only vehicle to sleep alone on this lonely place where there is a history of vehicle robberies at gunpoint in the last few years. Also the hyenas were howling outside nearby looking for supper undoubtedly. As I looked at the narrow space on both sides of the truck with the steep drop off to the ditch, I prayed and chose the side less muddy and less tilted and crept by the truck with 2 inches to spare on both sides of my vehicle. We were on our way to Nyahururu again and it was tough going the next hour or two when we met another challenge. The road was flooded for about a length of 800 feet, no road was showing, only water and the bushes on the sides. There were headlights at the other end of this lake, obviously vehicles wondering, like me, if it was safe to go through or not. I sent a couple of the guys in the car out to walk a bit in the water to see how deep it was. It was only up to his knees for 100 feet so I decided to proceed. About half way it got deeper and then very deep until the headlights were under water! I just kept going and thankfully made it through without any problems. One of the drivers on the other end asked me after coming out of the water if I thought he could make it also. I said, "I did so you should be able to as well!" He replied, "But I can see you are used to driving up here in these conditions!" He was a driver in an AMREF vehicle from Nairobi bringing supplies up to Samburu for the upcoming Mass Distribution of Zithromax in March in Samburu. I wonder if he made it through alright and if he ended up sleeping on the the road with the hyenas and the stalled truck! We got to Nyahururu by midnight and the next day to Nairobi. I accompanied Yolanda to the airport that night. I am sure she is sharing lots of exciting stories with her family this week end. Since being in Nairobi we have heard that the alternative route I was planning to take home has been blocked at Archer's Post where the old bridge over the Waso Nyiro River has been swept away by raging floods. I also heard that part of Samburu Lodge in the game park there where we were for staff retreat has been swept away by the river. I called Arsim on our sat. phone and they say it is still raining. I had come to Nairobi to buy supplies for a lorry from our area to bring to Arsim for our project work, and the fuel for the Zithromax distribution in our North Samburu District area. The lorry always uses the Archer's Post road so I wonder what will happen now. Pray for the government to open up one road that is passable to the northern part of Kenya. Pray too for the final details of the vehicle sales to go well and quickly. It looks like the old pick-up will get a good price.

BACK IN NAIROBI FOR A WEEK

I got the vehicle safely to Nairobi after the staff retreat at Archer's Post. It was a good week there together and we had a special surprise of getting into Samburu National Reserve 3 times for free as a group. Some of our staff have distant relatives in charge at the park! They were thrilled to see so much wildlife, especially elephants, giraffe and lions. Some even saw some animals they had never seen in their lives like wild dogs and water buck. The spiritual talks centered on having a personal spiritual retreat and how to have assurance of salvation. The in service speaker focused on financial management. Yolanda gave a talk to the nurses on how to come to a diagnosis with patients presenting with abdominal pain and the staff had a meeting to plan March activities. I went away this last weekend with Kathleen Lutz to Lake Naivasha area to Crater Lake Lodge. It was a beautiful get away and very peaceful. Enjoyed watching Kathleen see her first African animals on our game drive. Now I am busy getting shopping done in Nairobi for the dispensary and getting our newer pickup through the inspection process. I am staying at Cedar Road again for 3 nights with the Samburu family who live there now and are renting it from the ELCK. It is kind of fun to be there again. Of course they have oodles of relatives living with them and I am not really sure where they all slept at night as they gave me the bedroom at the top of the stairs on the left to myself. This is a family I know from Ngurunit - Joseph Learamo and his wife and 3 young children (plus all the others). Joseph worked with our dispensary for over a year and he now has a nice new government job with the African Union and heads up the disability program for several East African countries. His office is just in Westlands and his wife works for NHIF in Westlands as well so the location is perfect for them. They have chosen to attend Parklands Baptist Church just near Cedar Road and one of their sons is in Grade 1 at their new school there. Once he gets fully into his new job he hopes to bring help for the disabled in Samburu North District. I should be in Arsim over the weekend and then travel back to Nairobi to bring Yolanda out to return home the first part of March.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

Wish you all a nice Valentines Day. Thanks for your prayers for the staff retreat preparation. We have all funds available in hand and we have all speakers booked so we are leaving tomorrow for Archer's Post. Pray for a good week to gel as a team and grow in Christ and in our work together as well. After the retreat I go to Nairobi to prepare to sell our old vehicle "Naidurra" and one of our motorcycles. Pray for a smooth process there as well and for good prices and minimal taxes to pay. Reuben's Mom does have cancer and needs chemotherapy at Kenyatta Hospital, since the surgery may not have gotten it all. So he will miss the retreat and go to Nairobi to help her get set up for that routine. Your prayers for her are appreciated. Yolanda is doing well here. She and Felix, our nurse, are team medics for first aid for the retreat. Yesterday we had a surprise supervisory visit from our new doctor who is head of Samburu District. He was mostly happy with our work and brought us a new vaccine refrigerator. Also he said he would like to give us a clinical officer from the government later this year. He did recommend some improvements in the maternity ward and said we have 3 weeks to do those improvements. This is a matter for prayer as we have no resources to do what he wants us to do. We got a surprise shower of rain yesterday, so pray for more of the same!

PREPARING FOR STAFF RETREAT

Our staff are getting excited about a planned staff retreat near Samburu Game Park in a small town called Archer's Post. We have about 40 people going and it will be a time for some inservice training (job related), spiritual teaching, planning our program activities and having some fun together. We have booked all the hotel beds in that small town! We plan to leave on Feb. 15 and return on the 19th. Pray for us during that time and all the final details that need to happen before we travel. One of the issues is that part of the funds for this trip have not yet arrived from our major donor. The funds were sent by electronic transfer last week but as of Monday had not yet arrived in the bank. So I am going to Maralal again today to go look for those funds at the bank. I also was called to a meeting there tomorrow (Thursday) to begin planning for the mass distribution of Azythromicin again this year to prevent trachoma. Also we have not yet confirmed one speaker for the inservice training. Pray I can contact him in Maralal and can confirm that important part of our program. I appreciate prayers for travel saftey too.

BACK TO ARSIM

Yolanda and I got back to Arsim Monday night (or Tuesday AM) at 3 am. Had a lot of dispensary business to do en route as usual. Still very busy in the office at Arsim getting ready for the 2009 audit. Reuben's Mom came through surgery fine and I hope he will be back to work next week. She still needs prayer for her follow up treatment. I had my tooth (back lower molar) pulled out while I was in Nairobi. It seems to be healing well inspite of the initial infection which caused the need to remove it. I do miss it for chewing although I suppose I will get used to it. Tomorrow Yolanda goes out on her first mobile clinic with Felix our nurse. Pray for the day they spend out at Soito Nanyukuo (a Rendille community).

NEWS FROM NAIROBI

We made it to Nairobi safely after stopping at Samburu Game Park. We got to see about 40 elephant altogether and several giraffe and lots of gazelle of various kinds and even one new bird I had never seen before called the red-headed malimbe - a type of weaver bird. Stopped at Trout Tree Restaurant on the way to Nairobi for some good trout in a tree. On Monday the 25th I went to the airport to pick up Yolanda. On Tuesday I had an all day meeting at cbm office so sent the 4 girls in a taxi to do some sight seeing at tourist places. Got to see Rev. Bob and Jeanne Ward at cbm office again also. I had more meetings at cbm today and so the girls did more things like the Maasai market. We went out to eat at Pepper's Restaurant for supper and then took the 3 on the CLBI to the airport and Yolanda and I are now back to Hampton House where we are now staying until we go back to Arsim this weekend. It seems very quiet without the 3 girls laughter! Our accountant Reuben, seconded to us from cbm, requests prayer for his mother who undergoes major surgery tomorrow the 28th at Kijabe Hospital. Pray for us to complete all the reports and meetings at cbm even in his absence for these few days as he attends to his mother.

TRIP TO MARSABIT

I went to Marsabit yesterday to do some dispensary business and dispensary shopping. It is
about 160 km. one way and usually takes about 5 hours one way. The road was worse than usual - all dried out, but full of ruts and sand traps here and there. So it was more like a 6 and 1/2 hour drive due to slower driving and a diversion which was a bit longer. Also today the food relief truck finally made it to Arsim. That will mean less people asking me for food help. I plan a trip to Nairobi at the end of the week to attend a meeting and other business including saying good bye to the CLBI team and receiving another short term volunteer, Yolanda, a medical student. We will travel via Samburu Game Park and hopefully see some large amount of animals on the way.