Between August 3 and 16, 2014, 72 volunteers from 10 different countries travelled to Kenya to participate in the Medical Mission which was held in the locality of Ringa, Homa Bay County. After flying into Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, the volunteers journeyed to the city of Nakuru, where the Kenya Mission has its headquarters--and there they were trained for the mission project.
One minibus full of bags and 6 vans took the volunteers to the place of the medical mission. At their arrival, hundreds of children were at the entrance of the camp, waving leaves, while a children’s choir was singing African songs, welcoming the missionaries. We had only a short time to settle the camp since hundreds of sick people were already waiting for medical assistance.
The Mission was organized into five teams: the medical ministry team in blue scrubs, composed of 35 participants; the children’s ministry team in purple scrubs, composed of 15 participants; the operations team in gray scrubs with 11 participants; the welfare ministry team, in green scrubs with 9 participants; and the media team in red scrubs with two participants.
At 6:30 a.m. daily we had our morning worship and the activities started at 7:00 a.m. due to the great number of people waiting for assistance. Some local people testified that never before in their area had there been so many people walking to and fro as there were during those ten days of our medical mission. All day long, people flooded the camp coming from different directions and ways--some by foot, by bicycle, by motorcycle, by car, while others were brought by family or friends on mats. Cars and motorcycles loaded with food and medications were always coming to the camp for delivery.
Everyone was very busy every day, with the clinic as the center of the project. By God’s grace, the medical team volunteers treated 2,223 people (1,389 adults and 834 children) from triage to doctors, to the lab, to physical therapy, to the dental care unit, and to the pharmacy. Small surgeries were performed at the clinic and 10 major surgeries were performed at a hospital. The laboratory performed a total of 2,328 exams including tests for typhoid, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B and C, syphilis, pregnancy and H Pylori. 45% of the malaria returned positive and tragically 40% of HIV exams were positive.
At the blowing of the trumpet, hundreds of children running from different directions, gathered to start their classes or play at the school field. The children’s ministry worked with around 500 children and juniors daily. They were divided into three groups by different ages. While some teachers gave classes in the classrooms, others had different activities with them in the open field.
The sound of the children singing always brought gladness to the camp. At the close of the children’s program, on the last day, around 750 little ones crowded the nicely decorated church. The sound of their songs could be heard from a far distance. It was very pleasant to see the children leaving the sanctuary so happy with their new shoes, dental hygiene package, and other gifts given by the teachers. The program ended, but the children didn’t want to leave the camp.
The welfare ministry team assisted hundreds of poor families, sharing over 4,000 pieces of clothing, more than 1,300 pairs of shoes, and hundreds of pounds of food. They also built a house for a local family, rented a cow for plowing the land of another poor family and assisted financially some patients who were sent to specialized treatments at the hospital. Another lovely activity of the welfare team was bathing hundreds of children before changing their clothes or sending them to the doctors for their treatment.
The operations team also was very busy making possible the functioning of the whole mission. They cooked daily for the volunteers coming from abroad, and for more than 500 local people waiting for medical assistance. They were also in charge of purchasing all the food for kitchen, cleaning the facility, and ensuring that we had power from the generator.
The media team was everywhere, recording all the activities of the different teams. Joshua Maghiar sometimes made the children very excited running the whole field after his drone, which he was operating by remote control to record the activities from the air. Thanks to the media team we have very good images and a very nice video reporting the entire mission.
The work performed was amazing. How much can be accomplished when a group of people join together to do the Lord’s work! The results were impressive! In only ten days of intense activities, thousands of sick people were helped by medical and medication assistance, thousands of hungry and naked people were fed and clothed, and hundreds of children heard about Jesus Christ and His great love. Thousands of people were deeply touched by God’s love portrait through the demonstration of practical religion. One of the local authorities coming to see our mission expressed: “We have never had so great a blessing as this. For many years this great work will be remembered by our people! Thank you very much!”
We are thankful to God for allowing us to come to Kenya and using us as instruments of blessing for so many souls. We are praying for the seed sown in hearts to spring up and bring forth fruit to the honor and glory of God! We are praying for the privilege of spending eternity with most of them, eternally saved in the Kingdom of God! Praise be to His name!
Each of the 76 volunteers will echo the same words: When you are invited to go on a mission, do not hesitate. The blessing you receive is amazing!