His Hands Community

We spent a final evening in Kisumu before flying back to Nairobi. Everyone plans on seeing a bit of Nairobi before flying back to Amsterdam and then on to San Francisco. It is amazing how God has blessed this visit to the Rodi community, and we saw first hand how the well that was funded by SFC has changed the lives of so many.

All day, members of the community come to get clean drinking water from the well at Achungo. Here is a tribute to the team and the people of Rodi and Achungo.

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Well, after two marathon days in our make shift medical clinic it is apparent that the word is out in the village. Every morning there is a long line of people waiting to be seen. We are are seeing as many community people as we can, but we are focusing our attention on the Achungo Children.

As of this moment all the children we have tested for AIDS has been negative, with the exclusion of one previously known positive and one test that was inconclusive, and we will test again. The children are relatively healthy except for many cases of worms and scabies, a skin rash that is caused by a parasite. Oral medications will clear both the worms and scabies.

It has been wonderful to see how the children are now looking forward to their time with Debbie. It was clear that there was apprehension of the unknown on the first day, but it took little time for the kids to embrace both Deb and the program. She has them singing, coloring and answering questions about the story of Noah.

It is customary in this culture for the children to raise their hand while saying (yelling) Teacher, Teacher, to be called on to answer a question. I observed this in their classrooms, and it is a sign of respect for the teacher. The first day of VBS the children would raise their hand quietly if at all. By the second day, Deb had earned this respect and all the kids could not wait to answer her questions.

The VBS class is directly adjacent to the temp medical clinic, and it is wonderful to hear the children laughing, playing, and singing while the medical team works. Kirt keeps the children calm by making balloon animals and hats that the children wear. This makes the exam a little more complicated, but Lonnie and Phil don’t seem to mind. As I watch Lonnie and Phil work with these kids and community people, it is clear that God has called them to this work. They are both tireless workers who just seem to delight in treating these beautiful people. They are a great team.

John and Tim are making great progress with the planting and have had contact with a couple of village farmers. Tim was quite impressed with their knowledge and willingness to learn. Our whole team is so impressed with Tim and what he has learned while living in Malawi, and his ability to transfer that knowledge to this community. John has developed a phased plan for Achungo and the Rodi community that can lead to self sustaining methodologies. Kirt will take the plan back to SFC to see how we can support this mission.

A miracle for Victor, the boy with a severe infection in his leg. He was transported to the hospital in Homa Bay, where they didn’t even remove the bandage! They gave him anti-inflamatories and an x-ray and sent him on his way. Phil then escorted him the next day and made certain that Victor would be treated. He met with a very good doctor that admitted him and began treatment. The group has decided to fund the treatment and the travel expenses for Victor’s aunt to Homa Bay. It looks like he will be in the hospital for 2 - 3 weeks but should recover. There is still a chance that the infection has moved into the joint. If that is the case he will need surgery in Nairobi. The group has also agreed to fund this if needed. Victor is not an Achungo orphan, but Michael has agreed to administer the funds for Victor’s medical treatment. If we had not been here when we were, there is a very good chance that Victor would not have survived. This can only be attributed as a miracle from God, and a blessing to us as we all immediately fell in love with this soft spoken courageous young man. His english is very good, and his understanding of what was happening around him and to him was great. As he waited at Achungo to be taken to the hospital with Phil, Debbie and I gave him some candy and his face lit up with a beautiful smile. He walked over to debbie and asked if he could color, and of course Debbie set him up. Phil informed us that as he went through the initial lance and drain procedure he never even made a sound, and this is really painful. 

The children receive two meals a day from Achungo, and they are cooked in an out door kitchen over a fire, most cooking in African villages is done in this manner, however most tribes construct a very efficient fire stove to conserve firewood and make cooing more efficient. Tim had done this at his home in Malawi, so he constructed on for the Achungo kitchen. It looks as if this will be replicated in the Rodi homes, as the villagers were very impressed. It is contructed with brick or clay, has a dual wall that is filled with ash to reduce heat loss, then coated with termite clay. Termite clay or mud is used in almost all construction, it is very strong, insulates very well and drys very hard. When used to make walls or bricks it is sometimes mixed with cow manure for strength.

It is Sunday and the team is taking a small break this morning before seeing more children at the clinic this afternoon. Some of the team is taking the 30 minute drive to attend church, while the others are resting or visiting the village center at Rodi. As for me, I’mm going to get a start on editing, as I have shot some incredible footage of this team in action.

Today was a truly productive day for the team. The medical team not only saw many of the Achungo children but also saw 35 children and adults from the community. Most cases were resolved with the meds that Phil and Lonnie brought along, but there were a couple of patients that really brought to light why God sent us here.

There was an eight year old boy that obviously had a severe knee injury earlier in his life, there was significant scaring and disfigurement. He had a dirty rag wrapped around his knee. When Phil removed the cloth to inspect the there was a seeping wound in the back of his knee. It was a severe infection, that left untreated could kill him in a month. Phil gave him some antibiotics as a temporary stop hold, but he will need to get to a hospital where he will need to spend about a month.

There was also an infant with pneumonia, luckily the early stages, so antibiotics were given to treat. In total, almost 50 patients were seen.

The Ag team had a great day buying seed and fertilizer preparing to plant a field. There will be more information coming. Debbie taught VBS and the kids had a great time of worship and learning. The favorite game involved hitting a balloon, and they all received a cup with an insert to color along with a box of crayons. we’ll see what God has in store for us tomorrow.

We were up at 3:30 and eating breakfast by 4:30, a very good breakfast I might
add. Our driver was to meet us at the hotel by 5:00 and we would be on the road
by 5:10. Good plan, poor execution, instead we called our driver at 5:15, woke
him up and he said he would be to the hotel in 20 minutes.

We had been told that the traffic was extremely bad and that it could take 90
minutes to get to the airport. We were also told that the check in desk shut
down 1 hour prior to departure, and our plane left at 7:40. Kirt arranged for a
plan B by informing the front desk that we needed a van.

The van pulled around front at 5:40, if it took longer than an hour to the airport
we would miss our flight, add to that the fact that the van would fit our party
of eight passengers, but our 4 carts of luggage would be a problem. Just then
our driver and the baggage truck pulled up to the hotel.

Seems there wasn’t much traffic at all and we made it to the airport by 6:10, and the
desk closing… well seems that was for international flights only. So it
turned out we had plenty of time.

Our flight to Kisumu was pleasant and the terrain was beautiful, very green. The
flight was less than an hour and we were soon landing at Kisumu airport, or
airstrip, the only difference was that the runway was paved.

After getting our luggage, we were treated to Barbara and Michael meeting for the
first time (Michael is the founder of Achungo, only 26 years old, and he started
it when he was 20) Michael had a hugh smile as he embraced Mother Achungo.

We loaded up our luggage, and after a water stop we were on our way to Homa Bay,
the location of Achungo Children’s Center. We were about 10 KM into the drive
and we were amazed on how good the road was, well paved and just a few pot
holes here or there.

After another 5 KM or so the pavement just ended and we began a two hour journey on
dirt, rocks, and an occasional water hole. At one point Kirt told me that there
were some women that really needed a bathroom. I asked the driver how much
further it was as we had passengers in need, he just turned his head and
smiled, then said about 33 KM. I didn’t have the heart to tell them, I left
them with hope.

By the time we reached the hotel in Homa Bay, there was a mad rush for the
bathroom. The hotel was surprisingly pleasant, it wouldn’t make any body’s best
of list, but by African standards it was OK. We all rested about an hour before
visiting Achungo.

Achungo was only several 100 meters up the road from our hotel and as we approached the
gate, we saw over a hundred beautiful children waving and welcoming us! It was
truly a God sighting. It looked as though the whole community had come to
welcome us. We met so many people along with highly respected village
representatives including the chief. He thanked us for traveling so far and
welcomed us to his village. Kirt introduced us all and we went outside to watch
some children sing, it was truly a blessing.

We got a tour of the grounds including the well and pump house, visited for a
while longer, than returned to the hotel for dinner and a good nights sleep.
The team will get right to work, first thing in the morning.

After a full day of  travel we reached Nairobi, an eight hour flight form Amsterdam. We lost two hours as there is a two hour time difference. It’s 11:00 PM and we are now at out hotel, not the one we booked because that hotel was taken over by the Sudan government, seems the President was in town. I can’t believe they didn’t move them instead of us.

Well, at least we have rooms, but it is farther form the airport, so we need to be on the road at 5:00 in the morning to make our flight to Kisumu. Just a one hour flight and two hour drive, and we will be meeting the Children and staff at Achungo. everyone is very excited to finally meet Michael and all the kids.

This will be the first time Barbara (Mama Achungo) will be meeting Michael in person, of course I will film this event. As I took a walk on the plane I noticed all the teams working on final plans and preparations for our arrival, it was great.

No pictures for this entry, it’s dark and we got in late. I’ll update as soon as I can.

The team arrived in Amsterdam at 10:05 AM on the 27th. We didn’t want to waste the day, so we took a boat tour of Amsterdam, what a unique city. There are over 100 km of canals that run through the city and most are man made. You can get anywhere in the city using these canals.

It is quite interesting visiting this city that was built in the 1300’s. We had a great tour of the city and capped it off at a restaurant that is in a building built in the 1600’s, the restaurant was established in 1949 and it was an excellent experience. We are all dead tired as we have been awake since yesterday morning, and looking forward to a good night’s sleep before the eight hour flight to Nairobi, and a short hour flight to Kisumu before driving two hours to Achungo. 

We are at the airport awaiting our flight to Amsterdam where we will spend the night before flying to Nairobi, Kenya. From there we will fly to Kisumu, Kenya, and drive two hours to the Achungo Children’s Center in Homa Bay. SFC funded the digging and installation of a fresh water well at the center.

Our team:

Barbara Jeanrenaud - Barbara is known as “Mamma Achungo”. Barbara and her husband Henri have been the first SFC supporters of Achungo.

Kirt Priest - Leading our team. Kirt will head our travel and be the first communication with leaders during our trip.

Lonnie Priest - Lonnie is a registered nurse who will be working on the medical team.

Phil Strong - Phil is a doctor heading up our medical team

Tim Strong - Tim will work with John Langston on micro-farming to teach Achungo how to plant and self sustain their own agriculture.

John Langston - Will lead the micro farming, Agriculture team.

Debbie Sturm - Debbie is full time with Saratoga Federated Church as the Elementary Coordinator, and will be teaching VBS to the Achungo Children. 

Erick Sturm - Erick is the founder of His Hands Media, and will be shooting and documenting the work of the team, children, and volunteers of Achungo.