C-Arm X-ray Unit is Repaired; Chaplain Students in June 2010

June 27, 2010

We'll start with a teaser question:

Why would they sell bars of soap here in Kenya with the name "PANGA," which means "knife"?

[answer below]

Note: Related photos can be viewed on our photo link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/slburgert/

C-Arm Repaired and Back-up Unit on Its Way

We thank all of you for your prayers and support regarding the malfunctioning C-Arm (portable fluoroscopic machine used for real-time x-ray images) here at Tenwek Hospital. We are delighted to report that the machine is again functioning well after replacement of two motherboard circuits and the hard-drive. Within 20 minutes of repair completion on June 19th, the C-arm was promptly used by the orthopedic surgery team to care for a young girl, who had fallen out of a tree and had broken her wrists, elbow and femur (upper leg bone). We give praise to God for His perfect timing! We were also grateful to have the C-arm available for us on the endoscopy team to perform an ERCP on June 25th for a 53 year-old lady with bile duct obstruction. Thanks for all those who helped with advice, contacts, shipment of repaired and replacement parts, installation, financial support, and prayers.

We are also delighted to report that several generous donors have responded to the need here at Tenwek Hospital and have already provided funds for the purchase and shipment of a second back-up C-arm unit to use here. This is truly an answer to prayer for us to be able to consistently provide quality care to the patients here at Tenwek. Praise be to God for His wonderful provision!

Tenwek Chaplaincy School Students Thank FUMC-Loveland

We may not fully realize how the Lord has prepared us to serve until years later. Alene has said that she never would have imaged serving as a teacher in a chaplaincy school in Kenya 5 years ago! The Lord has prepared her and continues to equip her for her role as a teacher and encourager for the nine chaplaincy students. She devotes at least one half of each day to chaplaincy school related activities: teaching, devotions, meals with the students, fellowship times, etc.

We were both blessed to be able to drive to visit the villages and homes for 6 of the students over 3 days earlier in June. The shared time proved to be a blessing for the students and their families as well as for us. For most of the villages it was the first time that they remembered having a "Mzungu" visitor (white person). The students have indicated that they think of us as their "parents" and we are proud of the commitment of "our children."

Our home church, First United Methodist Church in Loveland, Colorado, has had a program to help provide study materials for needy participants in Bible studies offered at FUMC. In that spirit and through support provided by FUMC-Loveland, each of the nine chaplaincy students received a Life Application Study Bible. This wa a precious gift to these students, most of whom struggle just to pay their tuition, and several have been using borrowed Bibles. They were MOST APPRECIATIVE and we are certain that they will put this resource to excellent use in sharing Scripture messages with others. They say "Asante sana!" ("Thank you very much!") to FUMC-Loveland. (Please see their grateful faces in the photos on the blog link.)

Odds & Ends

There is a photo showing Steve, The Great White Hunter, with a wild animal captured right here on the Tenwek Hospital grounds.......a chameleon!

Most national Kenyans are very excited about the World Cup for soccer. (Of course, it is called "football" here.) Steve joined in the spirit and enjoyed watching each of the USA games on our neighbor's television and cheering for the USA. Kenya had no team in the final 32 teams playing in South Africa, but every African team became "their" team. Needless to say, they were delighted that Ghana was able to defeat USA....Steve will now join in cheers for Ghana, Africa's sole remaining team in the World Cup.

The answer re: "PANGA" soap: Here in Kenya soap can be sold in very long sticks equivalent to about 6 soap "bars." These long sticks are cut into regular-sized bars with a "panga" (knife)!

Thanks for your interest, prayers, and support that make our service to the Kenyans possible. We know that each of you has special ways to be of service to others wherever you are.