On the Field 

See what's happening on the ground in Eldoret, Kenya, and with our outreach teams in India.

Medical team statistics - July 2009

1,069 patients in medical,
174 in dental,
420 in eye,
1,243 prescriptions filled, and
210 tested for HIV:

Grand Total of 1,873: fantastic!

Also: 37 healings in the prayer tent, and 81 salvations (including one team member)

The team comprised 6 Kenyan medical staff, 3 Ugandan dentists, 1 Uganda opthalomologist, 1 Ugandan paediatric doctor, 25 US, UK and Japanese support crew, and the wonderful OAI Kenyan staff and volunteers.



Soul Safari Team Updates

Wednesday March 18th

Some Medical outreach memories from Tara, experienced last week:

If you like chaos, the medical tent pharmacy is the place for you! That is the last stop for patients who come to receive medical care from Open Arms International. The pharmacy is a tiny space at the end of the medical tent, crammed with medications, vitamins and volunteer pharmacists who bump into each other on a regular basis (what I call working 'cheek to cheek'). Additionally the temperature in the pharmacy area was hot enough to melt the soft gel vitamins - it gets hot in here!

The amazing thing is that IT WORKS! Our team members became experts at deciphering prescriptions, locating specific medications on the tables or in containers, counting and labelling bags properly etc. Ruth Major, Kenya staff volunteer, was brilliant at overseeing the pharmacy. She had the space well organised and posted signs on the walls to help decode prescription shorthand.

Rachel Gallagher and I were available to check prescriptions for accuracy. I only had to work with the interpreters the first day giving instructions to the patients of how to use the medications when they received them. Our interpreters knew how to describe the procedures themselves on the second day!

Tara Lepp

Volunteer Soul Safari Team co-Leader

Tuesday March 17th

Everyone is doing great - Al, Vicki and Christopher are on their way home by now.  The rest of the team is enjoying the safari and Rachel reports that they have already seen many animals in the wild including a pride of lions, a leopard, giraffes, zebra, warthogs, and many more!  They are having a fantastic time! 

During the ministry time here in Eldoret last week the team was truly blessed and were a great blessing to the residents of the Kambi Teso slum during the 3-day medical clinic and to the residents of the women's prison on Friday. 

At the medical clinic we were joined by 7 Kenyan doctors/medical students and 3 clinicians who assisted us.  Together, we were able to serve and treat
542 residents, providing them with medicines and advice for their ailments.
Each of the patients was also prayed for by one or more of our team members.

During the pre-clinic services we saw over 150 people come forward for prayers of salvation, healing and deliverance. There were 97 different instances of people accepting Christ into their life, noted by team members who prayed individually with people either at the altar calls, or in the prayer tent during those 3 days. 
There were also many reported healings – we look forward to telling you more later! 

At the women's prison there was a wonderful anointing on the team, and over 100 of the women responded, either for first time salvations or renewal of their commitment to Christ.  Terrilynn and Daphany shared their testimonies, which deeply touched the hearts of women who have experienced similar hardships.
Their message of forgiveness and restoration truly impacted the lives of these women who live day-to-day with very little hope. 

The women of Eldoret’s prison were also extremely blessed to receive OAI's donation of needed personal supplies - soaps, sanitary towels, vaseline, and UHT Milk.  We were also able to supply some much needed clothing for the children that live there with their mums - there were 26 children from 0-4 years old living inside the prison walls!

We learned that at the age of 4 the children must leave the prison - in most cases they are accepted by other family members, but in some cases they are rejected as outcasts, and are sent to the children's rescue centre but can often end up on the streets if they are not taken in.
This made us all the more anxious to see the completion of the children's homes at OAI Village, so that we can see some of these children rescued from a life on the streets. 

The team reported they had a wonderful time in Eldoret and were extremely blessed.  On their last day in Eldoret we spent time with the families at OAI Village and enjoyed a goat roast together.  Many of the area village elders also joined us for the Sunday Service and feast.  The children sang (the OAI Choir!), our team members shared testimonies, and Pastor Peter Kimeli (House Parent for Upendo House) shared a powerful and anointed message about the harvest that is ripe, and the calling of labourers to see the harvest brought in. 

Following the service and meal, the team enjoyed a time of giving gifts to the children - who experienced a "Christmas in March" as they received wonderful boxes of gifts from the members of a team member’s home church.
What a blessing!  The kids were overwhelmed with thanks and excitement to receive these individualized packages! 

Blessings!
Renee – Kenya office team organizer

March 10

The team arrived in Kenya on time with all of their luggage Sunday evening - praise the Lord that their travels went so smoothly! After spending the night in Nairobi, they flew to Eldoret on Monday. Levi, our bus driver, took the team straight to the Open Arms Village, where they got to meet the children and house parents and then tour the property. The children serenaded the team with a few songs, including When the Saints Go Marching In, and they all ate dinner together at the Village. After this wonderful welcome to Eldoret, Levi took the jet-lagged team to their hotel, where they all went to bed early.

Today, the team went to the Kambi Teso slum in Eldoret, where OAI runs its feeding program. They set up a medical clinic for the community that will run March 10 - 12. The team jumped right in and on their first day saw 155 people! One of the team members shared her testimony with those waiting to get medical attention, and 40 people accepted Jesus! We are also excited because AMPATH is now partnering with OAI to do HIV/AIDS testing and counseling at our medical clnics. This is a huge blessing because many people living in Kambi Teso are HIV positive, and we thank God for AMPATH and their partnership.

As you pray for the Soul Safari team, pray for strength and energy for the team members because they are very jet lagged. Pray that God will move in and through the team and give them opportunities to share Jesus with the people they serve.

March 9

Team leader Tara Lepp arrived in Kenya before the Soul Safari team. Eagerly anticipating their arrival, she writes this update:

"We have been very busy preparing for the Open Arms International (OAI) outreach that starts today. The team from the US & UK will arrive in Eldoret early tonight. Our Kenya staff will be setting up the tents and registering the patients for the medical clinics at the Kambi Teso slum on the outskirts of Eldoret before picking up the team at the airport. We will take the team to the Open Arms Village for dinner with the house parents, their assistants, and 26 children who are living there.


It will be a very busy week with medical clinics, children's ministry (similar to VBS), feeding program, women's prison ministry, sharing the good news of the gospel, and lots of prayer. I love OAI outreaches! I've done seven of them since 2005. It is always amazing to witness the many miracles that God does for the patients and team members.


Please pray for the people of Kenya and our mission team during this really important week of ministry. It can be the most important week of their lives!

Tara"

India Team Updates

January 29

Greetings from India!


It's hard to believe that our last day has come. The past two weeks have flown by.

The Women's Conference was a big success! We had about 150 women attend and they were all very eager to be together to relax and enjoy a time away from work and family. Many of the women also attended the Health Advocate Conference so it was a blessing to see them come back for more teaching.

Several women from our team chose a woman from the Bible and shared her life and how her story can inspire us today. We learned about Hannah, Mary (the mother of Jesus), Esther, Jael, Leah & Rachel and Eve. The response to the teachings was overwhelming. We gave time for testimonies on Wednesday and Thursday so we could hear how their lives were being impacted by the conference. They are leaving empowered and encouraged to do the work that God has called them to do. Many of them work as pastors and evangelists and our team was able to help build their confidence and support them in prayer.

Saturday night we allowed the Holy Spirit to come and minister to us. We had a powerful time of prayer! Over the past few days we have seen God do mighty miracles for these women! Two women were blind in one eye and received their sight back. One woman had been blind in both eyes for the past 5 years. After we prayed she opened her eyes and a huge grin spread across her face and pointed at my sari and said "blue"! Then she said "I see a white face!" She then turned to Jane and told her what color her punjabi was. She said her vision was still blurry but she believed that God would restore her sight back completely. What an awesome God we serve!

We also spent a lot of time singing and dancing which most every woman who gave a testimony said that it was a blessing to be able to sing and praise God through dance.

The Women's Conference also included a teaching on women's health issues. We kicked all of the men out of the room and Dr. Grace Rufus took over. We had frank teaching on HIV/AIDS, pregnancy and other issues directly related to women. The nurses on our team also assisted and the teaching was very much appreciated!

The team split into two groups today. One stayed back to finish the conference and the rest went out to the medical camp. The med team has just come home and reports they saw over 250 people. Yesterday 357 were treated. They are seeing a wide variety of ailments including AIDS patients. Jane and Fran spent time with the kids painting nails, blowing bubbles and praying with people.

The whole team is feeling tired and ready to come home. I thought we could get through this trip without illness but unfortunately Joy and Tim both came down with 'Dehli Belly' yesterday. But they are both feeling much better today.

We'll be leaving at 2:00 tomorrow afternoon. We'll spend the morning packing and having an extended time of devotions so we can reflect on all that God has done. It's been a fantastic trip!! We have all seen God to mighty things and no one is coming home the same!

Thanks for your prayers - we have felt them!

See you all real soon!

Kaytie & Team

PS - Sherri says "Howdy y'all, peace out!" And Sue says "Great trip! Lots of awesome things happened and I can't wait to tell you about it!" (She did not let us down, she cried the whole trip and we loved it!)

January 26

The team is doing fantastically well. We have such unity and everyone has found their special niche. At the medical camps Midge has been our line monitor at registration, Fran is busy at her nail salon painting hundreds of little hands, our 4 nurses are learning so much each day and are doing great. I (Kaytie) end up being the camp monitor running between doctors, patients, playing with kids and answering questions and of course praying for people.

Our camps on Friday and Monday had over 400 patients! We saw some severe TB cases, infected wounds, breast cancer, and lots of respiratory problems. The people are so patient to wait in the hot sun to be seen. We've worked with some favorite Indian doctors who donate their time and have even donated their own money to help and extremely ill woman get to the hospital.

Today a leper woman came to our medical camp - which is a miracle. They are not allowed around 'healthy' people. We were able to help her understand that leprosy is curable and there is free medicine available at the local government hospital. By God's grace the doctor in charge of the district we were in came to inspect the camp and he has extremely impressed. He was able to meet the woman and encourage her to come to the government hospital for treatment and bring other lepers from the area.

At the health advocate conference last week we had several sessions on leprosy where we learned that it is a bacterial infection that only 5% of the entire population is susceptible to. You can touch a leper and the chances of you contracting it are next to nothing. They must cough and sneeze on your repeatedly over a long period of time. What a shock to the health advocates - many of them thought you could contract it through mosquitoes or it is hereditary.

The health advocates we trained last week have been showing up at the camps and have been a big help! We are making an impact and helping to create healthier villages. We expected between 60-70 at the conference and had 120 - wow!

Big hugs from all of us to you...

Kaytie

January 23

After recuperating from the travel here we went right into the Health Advocates Conference. We were hoping for 70 attendees and had almost 120! Our nursing team taught them basic health care to take back to their villages. They are so hungry for basic information. We had taken some notes on flip charts and during one of the first breaks we returned to the room to find them all quietly furiously taking the notes down in their books. Rufus said this is very uncommon, that they would generally take their break and wander around coming back late. We had 2.5 days of training for them and then a great graduation ceremony with certificates

Today we went to another village for medical camp. This was another great day and the Lord thought we were ready to be busy so we saw 442 people today! There were 5 Health Advocates in this town so when we arrived the camp was decorated with flowers and streamers. This was the first village Open Arms did a medical camp in, so they have seen us before and were quite excited for us.

We had several TB patients and one man with something similar to elephantitis with many infections on his foot. Sherry spent quite a bit of time with him, cleaning his wounds and wrapping him up. She even put it all in a plastic bag so it wouldn't get dirty. The most wonderful blessing was their openness to prayer, we had a line of people waiting to be prayed for. Which was much different than Thursday, where they were not very open to prayer at all. KT and the team were busy laying hands of people all day. How great is our GOD!

Namaste!

Midge

First Annual Jigger Digger in Eldoret

After weeks of preparation, negotiating with fumigators, organizing our medical supplies, purchasing new mattresses, and buying socks and shoes for 96 children, Jigger Digger finally arrived November 10 - 12.

On Monday, November 10, we worked with the fumigation service to spray 24 homes for jiggers, fumigating a total of 38 rooms in the Kambi Teso slum. These houses belong to the families of the 96 children who are fed four times per week through our feeding program.

The next day, our Jigger Digger team of staff, volunteers, and team members arrived at Kambi Teso to set up the medical tent and began cleaning tiny feet and digging out the jiggers that had infested them.

Some of you are probably wondering, “Just what are jiggers anyway?” Jiggers are tiny fleas that imbed themselves usually in the feet (although we did pull some out of fingers) and produce a sack of eggs that eventually release hundreds of fleas under the skin. They are terribly itchy, cause painful open sores, and, if left unattended, can eventually cause nerve damage.

The Jigger Digger team provided relief to 18 grateful children. It was a long and painful process for them and some tears were shed, but the end result was well worth it! We are happy that of the 96 children in our program, only 18 were infested!

One small boy, John Benga, age 6, was so infested that two team members worked on his feet for nearly four hours and removed more than 40 jiggers. After four hours, we could not remove all of the jiggers and egg sacs because we felt Johnny had taken enough trauma for the day. We medicated and bandaged his feet and will follow up with him in a few days to see how he is progressing and to make certain the remaining jiggers died while being soaked in disinfectant.

And so, with lollipops, hugs, and cuddles, all the children got through the digging. Each child was assessed and given antibiotics, if needed, and every child was given a bag with Vitamins C and E for the healing of their skin. Then we washed the feet of the remaining 78 children and they were ready for new socks and shoes! Overall, 96 sets of socks and shoes were distributed. The joy and excitement on the faces of these dear little ones made this day a greater blessing than we could have ever imagined! They jumped, skipped, laughed, and played in their warm and comfy new socks and shoes – even after we had just dug at their feet!

Then, we called the mothers from the children’s homes that had been fumigated and handed out 24 brand new, clean mattresses for the children to sleep on in their homes. These families are so blessed by your gifts to them and wish to send their thanks and love to you all for thinking of them and their children! Many of those treated and cared for went to the Village Elder to express their gratitude to Open Arms International. The Village Elder formally extends his thanks to OAI and its partners on behalf of Kambi Teso for our medical services and for taking care of the children through the feeding program.

Thank you to all of our partners who generously gave to this important Jigger Digger event. You are making such a great and significant difference in these precious lives!