17 May 2008
Dear Friend and Family,
“For the beauty of each hour, Of the day and of the night, Hill and vale, and tree and flower, Sun and moon, and stars of light. Lord of all, to Thee we raise, This our hymn of grateful praise.” Hymn “For the Beauty of the World” by Fol li ot Pier point
This morning and for the past few weeks, I have been at a banquet table prepared by God and my senses have enjoyed a feast. Our continued rainy season has brought such beauty to our world that sometimes I am completely overwhelmed by God’s creation. There are so many colors of green on this compound and in the area I have begun creating new names: dazzling green, vibrant green, shouting green, quiet green, amazing green and the list goes on. The tea hills are lush green, the grass is emerald green, the jacaranda trees are luminous green, the sukuma wiki (collard greens) are light green, the oleander trees /plants are glittering green, and our grass is dazzling green. The flowers that are blooming in the trees and on bushes add bright orange, sunshine yellow, pale purple, deep red, pure white, and pink to our banquet table. We have some of the most beautiful, delicate roses blooming right now. As I pass them on my way to work, or just stand and gaze at them, or bend to smell their fragrant scent, I am amazed at God’s love for each of us and His extravagance in decorating our world. Along with the trees, flowers, grass, and fields there are so many birds that awaken us in the morning and sing their song to us during the day. We usually eat lunch outside on our front porch.
We have been watching a pair of kites build their nest, a large group of silver cheeked horn bills teach their young to fly, and a wag tail who eats the bugs in our yard. The time spent drinking and feasting on God’s creation seems to renew our strength, remind us of the goodness of God, and give us the gift of gratefulness that we might face the other side of Maua Methodist Hospital. Though it too is filled with God’s beautiful creation, His people, there is much pain and suffering. Like the 1 month old baby who weighs 2 ½ pounds, is covered with sores, has pneumonia and meningitis, whose mother is on medical ward & is HIV+ and whose father is caring for him on pediatric ward but has TB and is being treated for that (he refuses to be tested for HIV) and who sleeps most the day refusing to hold his son. Or the 7 year old that was punctured with a large stick and his family took him to a local clinic for 5 days. He did not improve so was finally referred to the hospital. He has Tetanus and is in critical condition. Then there is a man who was in an accident many months ago and was paralyzed below the waist, paraplegic. His was discharged but his family refused to take him home. He died here last week of what seemed to be a broken heart. Then there are the mother’s whose baby dies either at birth or in our pediatric ward. The husband refuses to pay the bill or even come to see the wife, and so she remains on either our maternity or pediatric ward, waiting for her husband, watching all the other mothers and babies, all alone with her grief.
Recently one staff member and a BSN Intern were robbed. The staff, a Unit Attendant, one of our lowest paid staff, went home after work and found her house completely empty. The thief had even swept it clean. She went to report the robbery to the police. She was told that she would need to bring some money for their dinner if she wanted them to investigate the robbery. She had literally lost everything she had but the clothes on her back, but she was to pay for a meal for others though she had no money. She came to the hospital that night completely defeated. The night RN In-charge listened to her and then called around the compound to find people to help her.
The BSN intern recently graduated from MOI University. When he came to Maua he was hopeful he could live on the compound because he had some very nice electronic equipment (TV, DVD player, and a stereo system). We have no room on the compound. He had asked Bill and me to store his expensive items while he went to look for a place. After much looking he had been staying with a Kenyan physician who lives on the hospital compound. Less than one week ago he moved out into a small house in a locked compound. A few days later when he went home for lunch, he found he had been robbed and everything was taken, even his bed. I am in-charge of the BSN Interns and when he came to tell me and ask for some time off, I hardly recognized him he looked so defeated and deflated. He asked me if there was someplace he could live on the compound. I had to tell him “No”.
One of our great needs is staff housing. In 2007 we finally finished the staff housing that was started in 2002. It filled immediately. Two of our houses near the entrance of the hospital are presently being converted to the ENT Clinic, Physio Therapy Unit and Debts Unit as the laboratory desperately needed more space and moved into the three previous units/clinics space. We are desperately trying to find more consultation rooms for our out-patients, who have doubled in numbers over the last 5 years, and have built some new consultation rooms for Palliative Care. In February 2008 the foundation of our second staff flats was poured and work began, thanks to a trust fund and Memorial Drive UMC in Houston. We had planned for the new staff flats to be the big team project this year. However, only 4 of the 10 teams scheduled to come this summer are able to come, so generally speaking the staff flats will have to wait. We have actually turned down volunteers due to our shortage of housing.
Waiting – something most Americans are not too good at but fortunately Kenyan’s are. They have been waiting since the end of January for the government to care and help the 1000’s of displaced persons to either return to their home or what was their home or find a new place to live. They could only do this if there are funds available for rebuilding and security provided by the government. Many of those displaced persons have been living in tents since early January. They have lived through a rainy season while our leaders have fought over protocol. As a nurse, I always thought of protocol as treatment guidelines for certain diagnosis. However, the protocol the leaders have been fighting over is about human power and ego. Who introduces who? Who walks beside or behind whom? Who talks first or second or third? Worries of protocol when people are cold, hungry, homeless, hopeless, and waiting. Finally in yesterday paper there was a headline that stated ‘The Cabinets First Job was Placing the Displaced’.
The Kenyan’s waited patiently for the rains, this rainy season. The rains came one month late but to our joy and thanksgiving are continuing in our area which is critical. But in many areas of the country the rains came late and stopped too early and the maize and beans have stopped growing and are drying up in the fields.
The bereaved mom’s and deserted patients who are still in our hospital are waiting patiently to be paid for and picked up by family members. The hospital staff will wait patiently for more compound housing with hope that 2009 will bring back the teams and the desperately needed supplies and funds that allow us to take care of 1000’s of our community who cannot wait.
In Maua we are feasting and waiting. Feasting with thanksgiving to our loving God who does provide and has provided us with so much beauty. Waiting with hope that others will remember our needs and those we serve and come in person or send funds so that we might continue our vital ministry of HEALING THE SICK. Our recently written Vision Statement ends with this: “We will give affordable, quality care to the glory of God.” The staff are clear what that means: few raises, hard work, and doing our jobs with a sense of mission, love, and giving to the least. We hope you will join us in fulfilling our vision statement ‘to the glory of God.’
If you want to help the hospital you can send funds to the – Maua Hospital Service Fund, Kenya. The Service Fund pays for the medical bills for our poorest patients and orphans in our service to our Lord. We serve a very poor area and we are the only hospital available to care for them – 700,000 people.
Write your support check to your UMC and put it in the collection plate with this note at the bottom:
Advance Special #09613A – Maua Hospital Service Fund, Kenya”
or To make a gift by credit card call: (888) 252-6174
or To make a gift on the internet go to: gbgm-umc.org/advance/donate
In His grip,
Jerri & Bill Savuto
savuto@maf.or.ke
Maua Methodist Hospital
Box 63, Maua 60600
Igembe, Kenya
“Gain all you can without either hurting yourself or your neighbor, in soul or body, by applying hereto with unintermitted diligence, and with all the understanding which God has given you. Save all you can, by cutting off every expense which serves only to indulge foolish desire, to gratify either the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eye, or the pride of life. Waste nothing, living or dying, on sin or fully, whether for yourself or your children. And then, give all you can, or in other words give all you have to God.” John Wesley
a20
