Living with Unrest

Hello All,
I am not sure if you have heard of the unrest here in Kenya, but I will brief you on the goings-on: 

Kenya invaded Somalia last week in retaliation against insurgents from Al-Sha_bab kidnapping missionaries and tourists up near the Somali boarder (in the north east).  The US embassy has sent information telling us to stay away from high profile areas (like Malls or big events and night clubs).  We live in the more southern part (to the north west of Nairobi).  Al-Sha_bab has threatened to carry out retaliation events against Kenya. There were a few minor events last week (a bomb went off in a night club and a grenade was thrown at a bus station).  They are not sure if the culprits were Al-Sha_bab or not.  So, we are doing our best to just lay low.  The security at the hospital has been beefed up:  The police post that is here has been upgraded to a police station - which means they should get a car!  We are doing our grocery shopping at some lesser known places.  It is interesting that I heard a story from a missionary that lived here for a long time:  Back in the 50's, the Mau Mau had an uprising against the British. (You can see the 1957 movie about it called, "Something of Value" starring Rock Hudson and Sidney Poitier).  During that time, some Mau Mau, who were captured, had reported that they had turned away from Kijabe after they noted the high level of security forces surrounding the area.  At that time there were no security forces, but the Christians here had been praying hard!  Who's hand was in that!  So, don't worry about us, but pray that the kidnappings will stop and this war will be temporary.

On a projects note:  Jim has updated the projects page (on the top bar).  There have been a lot of things progressing this week.  Things are moving pretty quickly around here.  It sure keeps us busy.

We tested some of our bricks (finally) this week with a machine that we built.

Here is a picture of the brick testing machine

There is a plate that is 30mm x 30mm that we use to crush the samples.  We add a weight (or Jim hanging on to the bar!) to the lever arm and use a scale to see how many Kg is takes to crush the sample.  Most of the samples passed, a few failed.  It was fun to actually get to destroy things!

Here is a picture of the MCH building:

It is coming along!  There are many challenges.  Please pray that we will overcome those and have a strong building for the women and children that come the Kijabe and for the CT scanner that will be so important to the health care aspect and for the finances for the hospital.

I have been looking forward to today!  Today is Senior Store up at RVA (where they sell good food), and a football (soccer) tournament.  It is still wet outside as it has been for about a week so far, but we are going anyway.  They boys have already left, as they eat good food, and play and hang out with friends for the day.

Here are some pictures of when we went last Friday to eat at a friend's house.  Grace makes the best chicken! 

I can't tell if Grace is waving in the picture or trying to tell Jim to "Stop it!"

Please pray for us as we finish out the month of school.  The kids are done at the end of Nov and we will be leaving to come home for a visit in Dec.  It feels like the last push, and we are really looking forward to the break when we get home!

In His Hands,

Jullie T.

Human Kenyan Flag

Hello All,
We had a good but busy week here.  Thursday was a Kenyan holiday (hero's day).  Everything was shut down, including RVA (to an extent).  They are not allowed to have classes that day so they do "Multi-cultural Day."  It was amazing!  They have a ceremony where all the kids from the different countries have opportunities to do a skit, or dance or song or something to represent their home country.  Then they have a parade of flags, where each flag of the kids that are represented is walked in one by one and everyone cheers.  There are 33 countries represented at RVA!  I would not have guessed that.  After the ceremonies, they served lunch (BBQ chicken and ribs - Yum!) and the rest of the afternoon was filled with sports games, etc.  We did a pick up game of soccer with the titchies (elementary kids).  It was a blast.  Below is a picture of the Kenyan flag:

Can you see Trevor in the white hat??  He is in the white row just under the black, just to the left of the middle.  Timothy is visible too, but hard to find (he's in the top black row on the right).  I never could find Sallie.  She is in red somewhere.

Here is a picture of the Kenyan flag.  The human one looks pretty good huh?  We had a great day even though Jim and I needed to do some work.

Jim has been over the top busy this week trying to get the electrical team ready for the big turn over today.  They are going to turn the hospital over to the new generator (finally after almost 1/2 a year)!  All of his Navy evolution experience is paying off.  They have been doing walk throughs and making lists trying to be ready.  They did a short walk through/try out for switching the housing over yesterday and had a fireworks show!  Something about a ground not hooked up.  Today is the day.  He is already up there as I write this, so please pray for him and the whole team that is goes well.

We told you in early Oct about a problem with some anesthesia equipment.  It seems to be running well now.  They started back with adults and are now back to children in that room.  I have been busy writing a lessons learned paper for the whole thing (that Navy pays off again!)  Please pray for continued success for all the operations. 

One of the people effected by the issue was baby Rose.  Her mother is Mama Rose (Margaret).  Mama Rose is very young and a new christian.  Rose was released from the hospital in early Oct, but is now back.  She is not in a good state and needs prayer.  Her mother is amazing.  Because of this incident, her husband left her.  She is staying with a distant relative for the time.  Taking care of Rose in this state is not easy for anyone, and Margaret is very young (17-19 maybe).  But, she has an attitude that would inspire you.  She is putting it in God's hands as that is the only thing she can do.  Please pray for her.

Just wanted to mention the Jazz band concert that we went to last Saturday.  It was awesome!  The RVA jazz band is very, very good.  They played some old songs that definitely dated Jim and I (he will be 50 this year, but don't tell anyone)!  We had a great time -relaxing in the sun, shopping (arts and crafts), good music and coca-colas!

We went to Ndabibi last week to attend the AIC church.  This is a church that was built with the stabilized soil bricks that we are using for our MCH building.  It is about a 2 hour drive, 1/2 tarmac and 1/2 dirt.  But the best part is seeing the giraffe, zebra, warthog, spring buck, etc. on the way.  Our friend Thomas Renner (German) gave a great sermon (in English) with our other friend Patrick (Masi) translating into Kiswahili.  It was wonderful.  They had not met before that day, but were like long lost brothers the way the worked together! 

Here is a link of some of the worship and service.

Youtube video of Ndabibi Harambee

Thomas and Patrick (the dynamic duo)!

My little friends!

Flamingos on Lake Naivasha

sunset on our way home

One last picture to add.  This was one of the kids getting ready to go up to multi cultural day.  Not sure if Trevor is actually smiling or in agony!

Thank you all for keeping up with what we are doing.  There are definitely challenges here, but we are doing well and are enjoying serving God in the way that we know!

In His Hands,

Jullie T.

Monkey In the House??

Hello All,
I have pretty good evidence that there was a monkey in my bedroom last Sunday!  Jim and the boys had left for 2 nights of camping in the Adedares (more to follow below) and I had gone for a walk with Sallie and a friend.  When I got back, I noticed a small "turd" on the window sill.  I thought to myself, "Why would Jim put this on the window sill?"  I was thinking that maybe Frodo, the dog, had "done something" on the floor and Jim picked it up and put it on the window sill.  So, I got a paper towel and picked it up.   It was not hard and dry as I suspected.  It was soft and warm!  It also had seeds in it.  Hummm, I thought.  Then I heard something on the roof.  I walked into the kitchen and there looking at me through the big window was a small monkey peering over the roof top!  He was essentially saying, "Did you find my gift?"  Not sure that one has ever happened to me before!

Jim and the boys had a great time (OK, Trevor had a so-so time) camping last week end.  Trevor had to put up with "munchkins" for 2 days solid - AJ, Nick, Mitch and Jonathan where are you when we need you! They saw some very cool animals and great waterfalls.  They came back very dirty but happy!  Here are some pictures:

Trevor, Craig, Nathan, Aaron, Timothy

Chameleon

African Forest Elephant

Bushbuck with a Francolin

The African Crown Eagle

Timothy and Nathan

Jackson's Francolin

Water Buck

As soon as they got home on Tues at noon, I had Jim's schedule packed tight with meetings, etc!  He was not happy with me.  It just goes to show the pace of this last week.  We have been admittedly, overloaded!  Last night came around (pizza night of course) and I just made pizza for our family (making only 3 seems to take only about 5 minutes!) and we sat and did nothing.  What a joy!

Sallie and I had a good time riding last Monday.  We went to Karen and there was a small stable where we rented horses for an hour.  It is definitely not the same as having your own, but the horses were nice enough and well cared for. 

Here is a picture of a sunset from our house.  It is very beautiful here at times.  Yesterday and today are like rainy, cold Washington days though! 

We are headed to Naivasha this afternoon though and it is always warm there.  Trevor is going over there with the jazz band from RVA to play at a festival.  They all have these white Fedora hats and they wear black pants and shirts - Very Cool!

Please pray this week for:

1.  the needs of the people here.  They pray everyday for their "daily bread"

2. The Bethany Kids wing project - the board is in the process of deciding whether to continue with the project at all or scale it back or proceed with it but in phases.

3. The Mother Child Health building - we are building with the Stabilized Soil Bricks, and are finding challenges.

4. The new Incinerator is coming early (in 2 weeks barring import delays in South Africa) and we are not ready with the building or the road.  Please pray for diligence and peace (this one is really stressing Jim!)

Update for the operating room troubles:  They have started using that room again with adults with no issues.  They are continuing with caution though.  Jim and I are going to be writing a report and formal "lessons learned" paper just like we did in the Navy.  We are also looking at putting in a scavanging system to suck the air out of the exit tube (instead of gravity flow out).

Thank you so much for all of your support!  We couldn't be here with out you!

In His Hands,

Jullie T.

Urgent Prayer for Operating Room

Hello All,
Some of you may have heard about our troubles with the anesthesia machine here in operating room 5.  We have an urgent request for you to pray for that equipment and the doctors that will be using it.  Something inconsistent has been happening and children are getting hurt because of complications with the machine.  Our friend Ruth, who is a pediatric surgeon, is feeling extremely stressed about the situation.  She is a wonderful person.  She is a single lady who has given up a lot of things to serve God here in Africa taking care of His kids.  Please pray for strength, faith and a feeling of peace for her as she starts operating again on Monday.

Well, we have started the Mother Child Health (MCH) building with the new bricks this past week.  There are many unknowns in this process.  Thankfully, we have a structural engineer working for the hospital now and he has been a big help.  Pressures are heavy, the timeline is short, materials are scarce - Hey, it sounds like we are back in the Naval Nuclear world!

These are all pictures of our start.  It goes slow in the beginning because the first course has to be pretty perfect.  We have a fundi (expert) here consulting for us and he seems fairly competent.  One of our issues is how to tie in the interior walls to the supporting outside walls.  We built columns and will have a ring beam that will actually support the structure, but we need a way to stabilize the interior wall and tie them to the ring beam.  We have some ideas and the fundi has some too, but, this is a place where we have no experience with the finished product.  The CT scanner is coming in Jan, so we are all working hard to get this building up and make it a good one.  Please pray for wisdom and diligence as we go forward with this one!

The kids are on mid term break from yesterday (Friday) till Wed of this week.  Jim and the boys are going to go camping in the Aberdares for a few days.  Hopefully, we will have some nice pictures next week end.  Jim really needs the break and Timothy is just giddy about the prospect of sleeping out for 2 nights, not showering and seeing some cool animals!  Sallie and I are going to try and go riding.  There are some places in Karen (town on the south side of Nairobi) that have riding facilities.  She is so excited to go.  She really misses having the horses around.  She has decided she wants a white pony when we get home - we'll see how that turns out!  Our car has been in the shop for the week having the power steering fixed.  We are grateful to have a car, but the conditions here are such that it needs to be repaired often.  If you picture what it is like to go four wheeling out in the country, that is what 60% of our driving is like.  It is very hard on the vehicles.  So, if we have a car (it should be done today) Sallie and I will make a trip to try and ride.  If we don't have a car, I guess we will sit around here and stare at each other!  I will let you know next week which one it was.

Take Care,
In His Hands,
Jullie T.