Mission News

Kenya Mission Trip 2011

What We Did In Kenya by Lynn Ellen Doxon

I was asked to write a short article about what we did in Kenya. We have 23 pages of text in the trip journal and over 5000 pictures that tell and show what we did in Kenya, but how do I summarize that?
We assisted at the Maua Methodist hospital, built a home for a family of AIDS orphans, learned about the Hope Connection program, helped provide better housing for the hospital staff, de-wormed 3050 children, built a garden in a bag at the bio-intensive farm, painted the social hall of the Kaaga Methodist church, and toured the School for the Deaf.
We worshiped, drank tea, cooked and ate Kenyan food, shopped, rode miles and miles on less than perfect roads, flew in a little bush plane halfway across Kenya (OK, a little less than halfway), slept under mosquito nets, admired verdant green hills and observed dry, dusty plains, breathed fresh, clean air and smoky, smoggy air and went on safari among the most dense population of wild animals on the planet.
But what we really did was go through day after day living in the moment, rising with the sun, going to sleep not long after sunset, working hard in between and eating well. We discovered at the bush clinic that 10 people can affect the lives of 3000 children in a single day, even if it is only briefly or temporarily. And we found that 3000 children can change the hearts of 10 people forever and profoundly. We learned that a 450 square foot house with no plumbing or electricity can be a mansion to people who have been sleeping in homes of sticks and mud all their lives. And in the process we learned to see the humanness in each person we encounter. We learned that when necessary people can do extraordinary things with very little, like heal horrible injuries, transform the lives of the orphaned, live together in love and find spiritual strength in the midst of moral barrenness, and that we can too.
We started the process knowing each other slightly or as total strangers. By the time we went, we were a team. By the time we came back we were a community.  We grounded our days in the spiritual through our morning devotional and evening meetings. We ate together, bumped along mountain tracks together, we helped each other be present and committed to the task at hand. In the process we came to love people we might have been only casually acquainted with before.
We came to love East Africa and its people.  Not the AIDS epidemic, not the poverty, not the drug supported economy, or the criminality, but the graciousness and courage of so many people in dealing with the circumstances of their lives.  So many Africans live in the midst of circumstances that we can barely imagine, and yet they do so with a sense of purpose and spirit of cooperation that make our efforts seem pale and insignificant.

They welcomed us with open arms and glowing smiles and sent us back with joy, a sense of accomplishment and a heart more full of love than we could have imagined.

A new video has just been put on YouTube by Lynn Ellen Doxon and Robert Habiger that shows the highlights of this year’s mission trip to Kenya. It’s just over 4 minutes long and is a very entertaining view of the team members and their work in Kenya. To see the video, CLICK on the picture.

Maua Methodist Hospital Ministries

While the team was just 10 members from 2 local churches, and they were gone just 17 days in September, their work is not complete. This video tells the story of their trip and the people they met; but there is much more work to be done. We can continue to help the people in Kenya through our continued prayers and financial support. You can support the work at the Maua Methodist Hospital in several ways. CLICK on the links below to see the various MMH projects supported through the General Board of Global Missions of the United Methodist Church.

• Maua Hospital Maternal and Child Health Program
  Advance number 140159 - Africa, Kenya, Maua, Meru
  Providing preventive and curative health services for expectant mothers and young children
• Maua Methodist Hospital Community Integrated AIDS-Time Initiative
  Advance number 140160 - Africa, Kenya, Maua, Meru
  Offering health services and education on HIV/AIDS prevention through clinics and community outreach
• AIDS Orphans Project, Maua Hospital
  Advance number 140161 - Africa, Kenya, Maua
  Providing food, tuition, uniforms, shoes and medical care for children orphaned by AIDS
• Maua Hospital, Operation Outreach
  Advance number 09610A - Africa, Kenya
  Providing healthcare, school health services and community health training in remote villages
• Maua Hospital Service Fund
  Advance number 09613A - Africa, Kenya
  Offering life saving healthcare for abandoned children and impoverished families

Bio-Intensive Agricultural Training Center

The team spent some time at the Bio-Intensive Agricultural Training Center in Meru. CLICK on the picture below to see a video of an interview with the center director.

CLICK on the link below to see more information about the Bio-Intensive Agricultural Training Center and how to contribute through the General Board of Global Missions of the United Methodist Church.

Bio-Intensive Agricultural Training Center
Advance number 14217A - Africa, Kenya, Meru
Empowering small landholders to improve income, nutrition and community by optimizing resources