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Jarrett’s Prayer Letter
Volume 7, Number 12
June 10, 2006

Dear Friends and Family:

We have had an exciting two weeks and are continuing to enjoy having more family with us. The girls helped lead music for the worship service at Tenwek and will probably do so for the reminder of the time here. I’m in charge of the worship service tomorrow as a favor for Mike Chupp who took his family to Nairobi this weekend. Thanks for praying for him; his HIV test has remained negative after a hand injury in surgery on an HIV+ patient several months ago. There is a final test at six months, but it is usually negative if the other tests have remained negative.
We’ve had some exciting developments with the orphanages that I’d like to report. In the last letter, I mentioned that a ministry called World Orphans had agreed to help finance the building of dormitories at Bosto and Kenduiwa. This week I got a report from them that they are partnering with PrayerSong Ministries who will hold a series of concerts in California to benefit these two children’s homes. Then PrayerSong plans a visit at some time in the future to see the homes. I also helped World Orphans to move further along in the process of sponsoring a dormitory for Mosop School and the Laura Children’s home there. [Laura is pronounced Lah OO’ rah here.] Please pray that World Orphans will finance a much needed dormitory there as they have 90 orphans living full-time at the school. I also heard from one of the Anderson University student nurses who stayed with us in March. Jacklyn is from the Gettysburg, PA area. She is also organizing some concerts to benefit the orphan projects. Please pray for all of these concerts to be successful. God certainly moves in most unexpected ways!
I mentioned in the last letter that a visiting ENT surgeon, Dr. Scott Voorman, would operate on the 13-year-old tongue-tied orphan boy, Peter Kiplangat, last week. I watched Scott do the simple operation under a local anesthetic. [I actually did that procedure thirty years ago on a newborn while doing a circumcision and seeing the problem when the baby cried.] Peter was so happy to be able to stick his tongue out! Rosaline, his aunt, reports that his speech has much improved, and he is really talking a lot – a big change. Thanks for praying! I took Peter to Mosop School where I registered him for school – I was able to pay for his fees through a donation sent before we left for Kenya to be used for discretionary spending for orphan assistance. It seemed like the best possible use for some of this money. Thank you, Nancy.
It is difficult to imagine the change that has taken place in this boy’s life. It almost seems as much as the change that occurred when Jesus healed a leper or a blind man. Peter was an orphaned boy, long neglected because of the terminal illness of his single mother. He had never had proper medical attention for a relatively simple problem that nearly incapacitated him socially. People couldn’t understand what he was saying, so he stopped talking. He was living in a remote area, and his only relatives were too poor to help him. He left that remote area to stay in a more populated area where he could work in a man’s garden to feed himself and try to continue school in 2nd grade – five or six years behind his age mates. When Rosaline told me about him, I told her to go and find him. He was wearing rags since everything else he had owned had been stolen from him. The picture in my mind is of Job sitting on the ash heap.
At first, Rosaline had difficulty convincing him to go with her. He didn’t want to go back to the remote area where his grandparents lived. But she washed him and put clean clothes on him [which our prayer supporters donated]. She brought him to Tenwek where his tongue was set free. He spent time with some of our children and Kenyan neighbors playing soccer, smiling the whole time. Then we took him to school where he will be fed, educated, and taught about the love of Jesus which he has already experienced. Now he is happy, smiling, and talking all the time. People who knew him can’t believe it is the same boy! Please pray that his tongue will learn to sing the praises of Jesus, in whose name he was healed. I believe that he will.
Thursday evening Rev. David Kilel and I had another exciting adventure. He told me he would like to leave around 3 o’clock to meet some orphans that he had been told about. All week at the hospital we have been short-staffed since there was a lecture series on critical care for our doctors and nurses. [I even got asked to give a lecture on 20 minutes notice and preparation time.] Meanwhile, I took care of most of the surgeries with the help of Kays Muruka, my protégé. As Thursday afternoon wore on, there was one more surgery to do – a mother who had delivered three weeks before had a large abscess in her abdomen which was pretty suspicious for TB – of course, I’d never seen that before in a mother after delivery. Her abdomen looked like she was still 9-months pregnant.
Muruka and I made the opening incision and could see that the peritoneum [lining of the abdomen] was greatly thickened. We made a small incision and then drained out 5 quarts of watery pus. After washing things out, we could see that the abscess cavity was completely walled off from all the intestines, although it occupied the entire lower half of the abdominal cavity; it surrounded the uterus where the baby had developed for the past 9 months but pushed everything else upwards. The reason for the abscess was clear when we saw the classical appearance of tuberculosis of the Fallopian tubes. It was a miracle that the mother had ever gotten pregnant in the first place; the tubes were by now destroyed by the TB. The tubes were 2 inches thick instead of less than a quarter-inch. Only the end of the tubes [fimbria] were recognizable, which is characteristic of TB. We put in a drain and closed the abdomen after getting a confirmatory biopsy. We’ll start TB treatment in a few days.
It was now after 4pm, so I called David Kilel to tell him I was ready to go. We left in a hurry in my Pajero, driving up the high road along the mountain ridge to Merigi. In the town was a little road leading to the right. David said the village of Tiroto was that direction. The road soon deteriorated into a narrow, rocky path just wide enough for the vehicle. Only a high-wheeled vehicle would want to go down this road, and I wasn’t too sure about it anyway. But the road was dry, so the 4-wheel drive wouldn’t be needed coming back up. In about 5 minutes, we found a large crowd of people standing by the road clapping their hands and smiling. Apparently, we were expected.
We were greeted by a man with a notepad; David had communicated with him by telephone that we were late because of the surgery. Other people were smiling and greeting us as we moved through the crowd to a house near the side of the road. As we turned the corner around a fence, more people were there smiling and clapping. There were over a hundred people at the house. We were ushered in and seated at the head of the 12 by 18 foot room. Others sat in chairs or on benches around the edge of the room which held about 50 people. Naturally, I had very little idea what was happening.
The people were introduced by the man with the notepad; he was the chairman. The first group of people in the room was the committee that was concerned about orphans in the village. The chairman explained that the village was very poor. Only about 25% of the land was tillable in the area due to the very rocky condition of the land on the mountain. And it was over 7,000 ft in elevation. People live hand to mouth, he explained. And the community has been hit very hard by AIDS. Then they brought in another group of people who were the orphans and their caregivers, all of whom were women, most of them elderly. There were 25 orphans present; many others were fearful to come, particularly the older ones because of the social stigma associated with being an orphan.
Apparently, the meeting took place because a week before our Tenwek Hospital administrator, Steven Mutai, visited the village as part of his campaign to run for the national parliament. He was asked about the orphans, and after thinking a minute, he said that he would have Rev. Kilel respond. So, instead of visiting 3 or 4 children in their home, we were meeting with an entire village. David was as surprised as I was, although he didn’t let on like it.
We were served a Coca-Cola [warm, from the bottle] as the villagers explained their concerns and David asked questions. Other than the chairman’s introductory remarks, the entire conversation was in Kipsigis, so I was smiling and listening until it came my time to make a speech. By now I’m not surprised by such a request, and I had been composing my speech as they were talking. I told them the history of how God had laid on our hearts the situation of the orphans and how the provision for them is an answer to your prayers. I outlined the needs that orphans have and the commands from the scriptures concerning caring for them. I told them that we may be able to assist them in getting started, but that they themselves would need to care for the children’s needs with what little they had; they would then see God’s hand at work in response to their obedience to His Word. David translated my remarks; working through an interpreter is really pretty good for an impromptu speech, because it gives you time to think what to say next.
After I finished, I sat back down while David continued the discussion. The villagers were concerned that many families had large bills at the hospital that couldn’t be paid; this often made access to further care a problem for the surviving family members since the registration clerks require some payment on an outstanding bill. [This is a long-term big issue for the hospital; it’s necessary for continued operation of the hospital to receive some payment for services, but people are so poor that they have no means to pay. The needy patient fund at the hospital can cover only a fraction of the number of cases – this is an excellent way to support the ministry of Tenwek Hospital. Contributions can be made to World Gospel Mission – Tenwek Hospital needy patient fund: www.wgm.org ]
As we finished the meeting, we prayed for the children and the committee. David gave the people instructions on how to begin such a project; such a thing has not been done in this part of Kenya until the now existent four local children’s homes have been started. We shook hands with everyone within reach; the little children all wanted to shake hands with me, but many were very shy. The chairman told me what I have heard said many other times: the children would be talking about shaking hands with the white man for six months or more. As we loaded up the car to drive back towards Merigi, everyone wanted to get in the car with us and escort us part of the way – that is very much a tradition in Africa, I have learned. I had to request limiting it to 5 people in the middle seat because of the rocky road – I was concerned about too much weight on the springs. Otherwise, I know that 10 more people would have crawled into the cargo compartment.
I guess that I now know how a celebrity feels when he is greeted and adulated wherever he goes. I find it a bit embarrassing, but even more, a responsibility since I am representing the Lord Jesus in such situations. I’m often in areas where white people are rarely, if ever, seen. Most children off of the main road have never seen a white person. Even driving along the roads, children wave and call out “white person” in the local language. And often, they use one of the few English words that they know – “sweets’. But children in these “off the main road areas” never ask for sweets, because they don’t associate the white person as someone who gives sweets as he drives by. Aside from the oddity, there is a respect given to white people here that has little to do with the former colonial “master” status; it’s the memory that the white people brought the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Africans that gives us this undeserved status. It’s because of Whom we know (Jesus Christ) rather than who we are. Thus it behooves the visitor to relate in a culturally appropriate manner – like it or not, he is representing Jesus.
Another observation is how differently people respond to a need in a different culture. In the States, if there is a problem that concerns people, a few may get together when their schedules allow to discuss the issue. There may even be a town meeting, but usually it’s just a few concerned people. Here, nearly an entire village waited for hours for the visitors to come and meet with them. When they make a decision, it won’t be just a few people that meet and decide. The whole group will meet, discuss it, and come to an agreement on the way to proceed. If it doesn’t work out, then no one is to blame.
Please pray for these people who live in Tiroto. They are obviously interested in doing something about helping the children. They know that their traditional structures won’t meet the need. They are searching for answers. And I think that it will be the local churches that lead the way. It’s the Christians who will do something. One man I met at the meeting was about 50 years old. He used to be an alcoholic; but God delivered him. Now he has a motorbike and has organized markets in both Mulot and Kapkwen. I know that these are large, successful markets along the main highway [like a street fair where everyone gathers one day each week to sell and exchange goods]; apparently it took someone with initiative to get them started. Someone has donated a half of an acre for a children’s home. We hope to meet again before I leave Kenya at the end of June. I believe that you will be hearing more about a children’s home in Tiroto in the near future.
In case you haven’t picked up on it in my letters, David Kilel is an exceptional person – a true man of God; I count it a real privilege to be his friend. He is the Head of the Chaplaincy School at Tenwek as well as being the pastor for the Tenwek Hospital staff. He has held leadership positions in the Africa Gospel Church and still is sought out for advice and leadership. If there is trouble somewhere in the western half of Kenya involving an AGC church, he is often the one who is sent. He works long hours 6 days a week and pastors a local church on Sunday. He is preaching funerals, looking after orphans, counseling people, leading devotions, and doing a host of other things. There is always a line of people waiting to see him. Yet he never complains about a lack of personal time; his wife, Esther, never complains about the time he is gone – what a jewel she is! David is a true servant of the Lord; he is scrupulously honest and careful. And he appreciates my sense of humor which he matches with his own. Please keep him in prayer.
Other updates: In the last letter, I mentioned a mother with meningitis who I thought might die. She survived. There are three babies in the nursery whose mothers have died. Hopefully, relatives will claim the babies soon. Another mother, Alice, has had a sub-arachnoid hemorrhage [bleeding at the base of the brain], perhaps due to a berry-aneurysm; her life is in danger as well. Her baby is doing well in the nursery. Please pray for Betty, the wife of one of our clinical officers: she is having severe pregnancy-induced high blood pressure that may force us to take the baby much earlier than we would prefer. She is not yet 30 weeks pregnant. Our fetal monitors have arrived with Dr. Steve Willing of Brownsburg, IN. We will use them to try to monitor the status of Betty’s baby. It helps a great deal to have such a reliable device to make such a crucial decision concerning the timing and method of a premature delivery. Please pray that the coordinators at World Medical Mission are able to find some paper refills for the monitors.
Please pray for Lucy; she has lost her kidney function and has gone to Eldoret for dialysis. We’re not certain if the problem was malaria or infection from an abortion. Two nights ago, we had an 8th grader come in whose family had helped her abort her baby at term. Last night we had a 19-year-old mother come in at 5 months pregnancy with symptoms of impending delivery. I told the intern to check carefully for a foreign body or some sign of a criminal abortion. Sure enough, she found a piece of plastic in the birth canal, and the stillborn baby was missing her legs. This was another botched abortion.
The problem is the same worldwide; a woman with an unwanted pregnancy is deceived by the spiritual enemy that there is no other way to deal with the pregnancy than to abort the baby – legally or illegally, at great risk to her own life and future childbearing. There is a good deal of evidence accumulating in the worldwide medical literature that legal first trimester abortions predispose a woman to premature delivery in future pregnancies. It’s just another significant risk added to the already long list of potential future problems, including infertility, breast cancer, placenta previa, depression, and substance abuse. But that’s a whole discussion better left for another time. And it isn’t politically correct to attack the sacred cow of a woman’s right to choose – even with incontrovertible medical evidence. But pro-lifers need to continually remember – it isn’t enough to attack abortion without a positive alternative of love and support to the woman in a crisis pregnancy. And the message must be given out – Jesus Christ died for All of our sins; there is forgiveness available from God to anyone for any sin regardless of its magnitude. Please pray for our chaplain staff as they counsel these women and girls whose lives and bodies have been scarred.
Please pray for our final 3 weeks here in Kenya. We want to visit all four children’s homes again as well as preach at one or two local churches. Several people want us to visit them before we leave. It is always difficult to cram so much into the remaining time. Fortunately, I don’t feel the pressure at the hospital to get everything done before I leave because there are capable people continuing in our department. I will give at least one more lecture to the doctors and nurses on the use of fetal monitors now that there is something to talk about.
I have another prayer request for three members of Castleview Baptist Church, our home church. Troy, Tim, and Dave have joined a man named Bob on an expedition in search of Noah’s Ark. I understand that they have been gone for about a week. Historically, it has been a very dangerous undertaking to search the high mountains of the Middle East. If the ark exists, the spiritual enemy does not want it known because of the impact that finding it would have on all of mankind; without question, it would turn the hearts of many toward God. Would you please pray for their safety? The truth about the ark will be revealed in God’s timing.
We appreciate so much your standing behind us in prayer. The only offensive weapons we have in spiritual warfare are prayer and the Word of God. Wherever you are, you can pray and carry on the battle.

Serving Jesus with you,

Paul, for the Jarretts still in Kenya