Treatment and Prevention

At Agape, we have 106 boys living in close proximity to each other. They play together, eat together, sleep together and go to school together. We’ve noticed that when one develops a skin rash, many others follow. To date, we haven’t had the facilities to  solve this problem but most recently we have started to work on this issue. The typical response has been to take the boy to the hospital for treatment. Prevention has not been practiced because of logistical issues and the expense.

In the past few weeks we have designated two rooms at Agape for the treatment of our boys. The doctor from Kima Mission Hospital, a Dr. Fred, comes twice a week to treat our boys, the staff and their children. So far on any one given day, he has been treating at least 15 each time he visits.

Patty and our administrator in the home, Ezekiel, prepared this room by cleaning it, painting the walls, adding lighting, a fan and making some small repairs to the toilet facility. The day after we had these things done, Dr. Ruby Sokwala notified us that a friend of hers whose father ran a clinic in town for 40 years wanted to donate some of the items from his clinic as his health was failing. This gave us a table for our doctor, a place for medicine and an examination table for the patients.

The first day the doctor came, there were a number of health issues that needed to be sorted out by the doctor, including—interestingly enough—skin infections and boils. Most of the boys were curious and even eager to visit the doctor. One young boy, however—when he saw the table of needles and medicines—immediately tried to run out the door. Children are the same everywhere. It is not until we repeated several times: “Hakuna jab” (no needles) that he finally consented to being observed by the doctor.

And then just this past week a nice “care package” arrived from Dr. Sokwala’s office. She called to say that a drug company was donating many medicines to her work and wanted us to have some of them. This included a two gallon jug of cough syrup and a new oral anti-malarial in liquid form. This new treatment can be taken at the beginning of the malaria season (coinciding with the rainy season of March-April) on three successive days and it will greatly reduce the incidence of malaria. Those who do get it will have a much milder case. A box of 48 bottles will more than take care of the prevention of this dreaded disease  for our boys for the year.

Our plans go beyond just the current operation of this small medical treatment room. In the plans are the hiring of a experienced community nurse who will be on duty full time for ongoing treatment of the boys, overseeing medications that need to be taken in a timely way and assisting with organizing some additional preventative health concerns: mosquito net inspection, cleanliness of the dorms, clean water testing, teaching daily hygiene habits especially to the boys just from the street and even nutrition. Several of our boys need ongoing physical rehabilitation as well. Eric is one such boy of whom I have written before. This boy has had his second round of skin grafting done for a badly infected leg. He has had to remain in the hospital until the wounds are healed to prevent any possible chance of infection. A staffed community nurse could oversee something like this in the future. Musa is another who needs daily rehab on his electrocuted left arm. We are currently seeking funding for this community nurse and the medicines needed for ongoing treatment and prevention. If the Lord so moves you, let us know.

We rejoice that our Form 1 (Freshman) students have all obtained schools. We have scattered them among the provincial and private schools in town. All have been very diligent in attendance at school.  They rise at 6:00 and leave for school before 7 and do not return to the compound until about 5:30. Those of you with high school students can note the time commitment to school given at the secondary level in Kenya. Then after they have washed their school uniform (by hand), eaten their evening meal, they head for study hall at 8:00 until 10:15. This study hall, while mandatory, was received with great enthusiasm by the Form 1 students as an opportunity to have a quiet, well-lit place to do their homework (something rare in a home of 106 boys). I wonder sometimes if American students understand the blessing and opportunity they have. The response of these Form 1 guys has really been a great encouragement to Patty and me. In the photo below they are all lined up for their formal “first day of school” photos. (Adjustments in the sizes of the clothes were made in the days after the photo.)

One of our daily joys is the energy of some of the boys in the rehabilitation class taught by Mary Aloka (who suffers from polio). They have developed the high spirits and energy that Mary demonstrates in class. They greet us every morning and love to ask me when we are about to leave in the evening, if they can have a ride “to the gate.” It is only a drive of about 50 feet but these lovable 8 and 9 year olds love to pile into the back seat of our vehicle for this short ride. Once in a while I intentionally forget to let them out as we exit just to hear them scream, “Uncle Dan, Uncle Dan, ‘Kesho, Kesho,’ (stop, stop)”

We continue to plan for the implantation of a Rotary grant that is in the works for Agape.  We hosted a representative of RI (Rotary International) just a week ago. Madhu from Calcutta spent two days with us touring Agape, meeting the boys and even visiting a rural area where more than 70% of the children are orphaned by HIV. Joab from Temak is working on a community development project in this area including a small clinic, micro enterprise and an agricultural project.  We hope to complement his work by having him attend a TOT (Training of Trainers) workshop in Nairobi sponsored by MAI (Medical Ambassadors International). This training will enhance his work, give him some direction for his planning and fill in some of the gaps in the structure already in place. Madhu enjoyed her time in the rural, at Agape and even had a chance to bump into the mayor of Kisumu at the airport on her way to Nairobi as she left. The mayor called me just last night to tell me he had made a special point of emphasizing to Madhu that “Agape is one of the projects in Kisumu of which we are very proud. They deserve your assistance and I can personally vouch for their good work.” Such a meeting and comments from the mayor could not have been more timely or orchestrated if we had tried to plan it. We praise God that He allowed for this “God-incidence”.

Prayers

1. Pray for Eric who will be released from Jalaram on Friday after extensive skin grafting

2. Pray that God will lead a donor to ease the burden of this month long hospital stay by Eric

3. Pray for the good use of our examination room, for Dr. Fred from Kima who comes to see us twice a week.  Pray God blesses this treatment and prevention plan for our boys.

4. Pray for our Form 1 students who are just beginning a long four years of study in high school

5. Pray for Lebaus who is enrolled in a counseling course for the next two weeks.

6. Pray that our land issue is resolved quickly.  We hope to purchase some additional property and the mayor is inclined to just allow us to “have it for our use” and rescind the “letter of allotment” presented by some who claimed ownership.

7. Pray for all the teams currently planning on visiting Agape in the next year.

8. Pray for Tom and Marg as they travel through North America.  They plan to be in California and Modesto soon.  Call the Agape office in Modesto for details.

9. Pray for us as we travel to the farm each month to take care of the “business issues” during Tom and Marg’s absence.

God bless you all,

Dan and Patty