Safari. . . . . . . .

My parents and I had the amazing opportunity to go on safari while in Kenya.  Kenya is probably the most well known country in Africa for seeing wild game.  While it would've been nice to actually hunt one of these exotic animals, sport hunting is actually outlawed in Kenya.  But, it was great just to see the animals up close too.  Tenwek Hospital has a relationship with a resort in the Masai Mara, the Fairmont Mara Safari Club.  This is a 5 star resort in the middle of nowhere Africa.  The accomodations were incredible.  Although we stayed in "tents", you can see below that they were much more than that!

Kenya is home to many animals.  We think we saw around 25 different species during our game drives.  The "Big Five" are famous and consist of the Black Rhino, Elephant, Lion, Leopard and African Buffalo.  They're called the Big Five because they are probably the most dangerous and most elusive.  When you come to Kenya, that's what you want to see.  We were able to see 4 of the 5.  We didn't see a lion surprisingly, but we did see a Leopard which is the one that people usually don't get to see.  Below are pics of the 4 that we saw.  I have many more but these are some of the best.

The landscape on the Masai Mara is beautiful.  It's mostly plains for as far as you can see.  There are some hills around and occassional patches of Acacia trees and brush in the areas that collect water.  The Mara River runs through the area supplying much needed water for the animals.  The Masai Mara National Reserve is 580 square miles.  The southern extension of this landscape crosses the border into Tanzania and is known there as the Serengeti. 

We of course saw many other animals other than the Big Five.  Here is just a sampling of the many pictures I took.

There are at least 5 different types of gazelle that live in the Mara.  This pic shows a Thompson Gazelle in the front and a Topi Gazelle in the back.  There are also Grant's and Eland Gazelles and Impala.  

The wildebeest are the dominant inhabitants of the Masai Mara, and their numbers are estimated in the millions. Around July of each year these animals migrate north to the Mara from the Serengeti plains in search of fresh pasture, and return to the south around October. The Great Migration is one of the most impressive natural events worldwide, involving some 1,300,000 wildebeest, 500,000 Thomson's gazelles, 97,000 Topi, 18,000 eland, and 200,000 zebras. 

Didi of course managed to have some fun outside of the game drives.  These Masai men were playing instruments and singing during lunch one day and she started dancing with them.  They loved to see the muzungu (Swahili for "white person") trying to dance!  They were good sports and followed right along.

All in all, the safari was an amazing experience.  I can't wait to bring Mal and the kids next time.

Adventure in the African bush. . . . . . .

This past weekend I headed out to Olderkesi, a community deep into Masai land, just a few miles from the Tanzanian border.  This weekend was to be very exciting as not only was it deep in the African bush, but my parents were coming to visit too.  I was very excited to see a little piece of home after a month of being away.  Olderkesi is truly in the middle of nowhere.  It's 50 miles from the nearest electric light bulb and is completely isolated from modern convenience.  We were going to see Jon Steury, the son of Dr. Ernie Steury who was the first Dr. at Tenwek in 1959.  Jon now lives in this small community and runs a ministry project that focuses on spiritual training, agriculture, water purification and community health.  This was an amazing experience for my parents and I.  It started out as an adventure when it poured on them on their way out.  Obviously, being so isolated, the roads are dirt and are in poor repair.  The dry ground that hadn't seen rain in a few months couldn't withstand the shower and they got stuck about 10 miles from Jon's house where I was.  Thankfully, they were able to get through to us and we headed out in the souped-up Land Rover Defender to rescue them.  It was so bad that the off road machine got stuck too and a tractor had to pull us all out. 

This is how I found my parents.  They were covered with mud and soaking wet.  Didi was curled up in the car to stay dry!  They almost had to spend the night in the bush with the local Masai warriors!

Thankfully we all survived the muddy night and made it home.  The next day, we stayed around for the biggest event of the year for Olderkesi.  The Olderkesi Ministry Training School was having its graduation that day and we got to experience it.  This school is made up of local Masai men who have sought education in ministry.  It's a big deal for them and their community and many Masai were there beautifully adorned.  If you don't know anything about the Masai, they are a very primitive tribe in Kenya.  They hold onto many traditions including nomadic herding and their traditional dress.  They are very protective of their culture and, in fact, don't normally let people take their picture for fear of exploitation.  Amazingly, because of the magnitude of this event, we were able to interact with and take pictures of the local Masai.  It was incredible.

Here are the graduates after they've been "hooded" with gifts from their families, now receiving a prayer and blessing from the Bishop.

The typical dress of a Masai woman. . . . .

A few Masai men getting ready for the ceremony, herding sticks in hand.  What you don't see under their cloak is a panga (machete) and rungu (wooden club) designed for fending off wild animals and intruders. 

After the celebration, we gathered with the locals for a nice lunch of rice and roasted goat!  That was a first for me but it was very good (although a little tough).  That night, we loaded up in Jon's Defender again and headed out onto the African plains for an impromptu game drive.  We saw some Gazelle and some nocturnal animals like the Bush Baby (a tiny monkey) and Spring Hare (a rabbit/kangaroo mix).  It was awesome to be out on the plain and especially at night.  We had a real safari yesterday and today at the Fairmont Mara Safari Club that was great.  That'll be a post of it's own.

Missionaries. . . .

I've had the privilege and honor to spend some time over the past few weeks with missionaries to Tenwek.  People come to Tenwek in all different capacities.  Some are short term visitors like me, others are intermediate term (a few months to a year), some are here on 2 yr commitments, and others are here as career missionaries.  There are countless people on this compound from doctors to teachers, pastors, spouses and otherwise who have committed at least some part of their life to obeying the Great Commission by coming to Tenwek.  In fact, there are so many, that I haven't even met them all!  But from those that I have, I have learned a lot about what it truly means to surrender your life, your possessions, your time, your career and much more for the cause of Christ.  No matter what each of these peoples' call looks like as far as time and job, they all have a heart for the lost and have come here to an area of the world that desperately needs good medical care and the message of Jesus to provide just that.  After interacting with them I've learned how tender and compassionate they are for God's people and how willing they are to selflessly serve Him.  It's been amazing to work with and learn from these incredible people.  Although my time here has been fun, life on the mission field is hard, and these families have had to sacrifice a lot to do what they're doing.  But, they're being obedient to their calling, and I respect that tremendously.  I know that God has called us all as believers to live out the Great Commission.  He didn't say that you have to go to Africa to do that.  There are needs all around us and as long as you're living a life that points to Him, you can't go wrong.  I don't know what God has in store for our family, but I know that He's used this time to change me.  I'm committed now more than ever to serving Him as a family, and I'm excited to see what His plans are for us.  Medical missions will definitely be a part of our life in some way and I'm glad to say that it all started here at Tenwek.

Here are some pictures of just a sampling of the many missionaries here.  These are the ones that I seemed to interact with the most, and I wanted you to "meet" them too.



Dr. Ron and Jan Phillips

Tenwek Radiologist

Vince and Dolly Mungillo

Tenwek Guesthouse "Parents", handymen and servants.

Dr. Paul and Jennifer Osteen

Tenwek General Surgeon and Associate Pastor at Lakewood Church, Houston

Dr. Bob and Elaine Greene

Tenwek Orthopedic Surgeon

Visiting Staff

Nathan (PA student), Lyle (Med student), Annette (respiratory therapist), Todd (Engineer), Stephanie (PA student)

Dr. Steve and Teresa Manchester and family

Tenwek Emergency Medicine (aka Casualty)

Drs. Brian and Toanh Popp and kids

Tenwek OB/Gyn

Dr. Mike and Pam Chupp

Tenwek Medical Superintendent and Surgeon

Dr. Carol Spears (center, blue shirt)
Tenwek General Surgeon

 Dr. Jason Fader
Tenwek General Surgeon

Dr. John and Jessica Cropsey (Elise and Micah)
Tenwek Ophthalmologist

The Faces of Kenya. . . . . .

The people of Kenya are beautiful, inside and out.  Admittedly, when I first got here, our differences were very noticable.  But I've learned that just because their dress, culture or hygeine is different than ours doesn't mean that they're any less beautiful.  After being here a while, I've grown to realize how genuine and caring these people are.  I thought it would be neat to just show you some of their faces so you could get to know them too.