1 November 2008
Dear Friends and Family,
“The Church as the people of God can truly embody the living Christ among us only when the poor remain its most treasured part. Care for the poor, therefore, is much more than Christian charity. It is the essence of being the body of Christ.” Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey
In my last two emails I forgot to mention a special event we were able to attend while we were in the US staying with our daughter, Corrie and family. Brent, our son-in-law, sang the “Star Spangle Banner” and “God Bless America” at a Ranger’s game and we were there to hear him and had wonderful seats. We were so proud of Brent as he did a fabulous job. After the game, fans were invited to line up and run the bases, so Lily and Ethan, our grandchildren, and Brent ran.
Brent Singing Ethan and Brent running the bases
Lily got a head start and was off & running Team of 8 presenting Strategic Plan to CEO
This past Monday during morning devotions, the Strategic Planning group that went to Meru, presented our CEO with a draft copy of the Strategic Plan for 2009 – 2013. Though the draft is now being circulated for corrections and will be read by many including our Governing Board members, we are almost there. Needless to say, we are “happy dancing” in Maua.
During my week in Meru, it seemed the rainy season had arrived. It poured all day every day. We were all excited but this past week it has been sunny every day with some mist in the morning. We do need your prayers that we have a very good rainy season. Our last rainy season (March – May) was poor and then there were so many farmers who had lost their land, due to the election conflicts, and there was no one to farm the land or the land was burned and could not be used. Thus there is not enough food. Prices are up tremendously and the poor can’t afford to buy even the cheapest of grains. Our Aids Orphan’s program used to pay 34 – 35Ksh per kilo for beans and 14Ksh per kilo for maize. Now we are paying 72Ksh for beans and 35KSH for maize. Our program buys about 200 bags (100 ninety Kg. bags of beans and 100 ninety Kg. bags of maize) every two months and we are spending almost 1,000,000Ksh for those 200 bags. Our Maternal and Child Health unit is seeing more malnourished to starving children than they have seen in many years. The vicious cycle begins – mother’s don’t have enough to eat so their breastfed babies suffer and the older children are malnourished, hungry or starving. That is why this rainy season is so important. If we have good crops they will be ready to sell the end of February or early March and there will be enough food and prices will decrease. But what do we do between November and March?
In this week of no rain, so much has dried up. In our area we have two seasons, rainy and dry. I often think of them as the dusty or muddy seasons. Both seasons have advantages but I usually like the rainy season better. It is cooler and oh the colors of green and the flowers. Right now our compound is carpeted with lilac petals from our jacaranda trees.
One rose bush in our yard!
In the last several months my supervisor, Mary Gitari, Nursing Officer In-charge, and the Hospital Management Team began to talk about the need to replace me as Quality Improvement Officer when we leave (which we believe will be in approximately 3 years from now). They felt it was important for the person that replaces me to have a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. Thus a Registered Nurse by the name of Sabera Makena Muriuki was chosen to replace me and to start her BSN program at Kenya Methodist University. She is presently their as a full time student. It takes about 2 1/3 years and then she will return and I will train her on the job. Our hospital is known for their quality and it will be vital to maintain and continuously improve the quality of our care and services. I am so grateful that this was done timely and that I will have someone that I believe can do such a great job for the hospital. God is good!
I have the privilege to hear hospital report every Tuesday and Friday before the Nursing Officer In-charge, Senior Nurses and I do a round in all the wards. I thought I would share a few stories from this past weeks report.
On Wednesday night a 30 year old man was admitted with a severe head injury following a road traffic accident. His prognosis was very poor. On Friday early morning at 4:45am he died. Also on early Friday morning his wife was admitted to our Maternity ward in labor. At 4:45am she delivered a baby boy. Please pray for her and her children. This family had no insurance and very little money.
Two months ago a 16 year old orphaned girl, we will call her Judy, who is mentally challenged was admitted with 28% burns from her mid-back to above her knee on the right side and to her ankle on the left. She lives with her grandmother who is very attentive and caring of her while she has been in the burns unit. When we visited the Burns Unit, which is located in the Surgical Ward, the nurse was just undressing her wounds for the first time since skin grafting was done. As we looked at the wounds we realized about ½ of the grafts had taken requiring at least one and half more months in the Burns Unit. When she was asked to move slightly so a soiled sheet could be removed, she cried and begged to be left alone. Her grandmother comforted her and soon she relaxed and went to sleep. We are thankful to God that Judy’s grandmother has national insurance. She does because she is in one of the hospital programs that enroll people automatically. What a blessing this is to both the patient, grandmother and the hospital.
As I was leaving the Burns Unit, a seven year old boy who had burns on his face, neck, chest and arms was having ointment put on his burns. (He is quite small for his age weighing 33 pounds and coming from a very dry, poor area.) He was crying and clearly in pain. His mother asked me to take his picture and I asked him if he could smile for me. His head had been down but suddenly he looked up with a great big smile.
Mary with the nurse & her grandmother The little boy and his smile with his mom
To our sorrow, this precious little boy and his family have no money. There is no way we could take care of children with burns, adults with severe head injuries, or mothers who need C-sections who have no insurance and no money without the Maua Methodist Hospital Service Fund*. It is our life-line for the poor. A way we can continue to be the body of Christ in our community, giving medical care and hope to the least of these.
We so appreciate your faithfulness in communicating with us, supporting us and the programs of MMH and for your prayers. Please keep those prayers coming for us, the staff of the hospital and our patients.
* 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.
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
“Let us accept whatever God gives and give whatever God takes with a big smile.” Mother Teresa of Calcutt
