Countdown to Kenya 2014

Dear Friends and Family,

I'm very blessed to be returning to Kenya with our medical mission team in January 2014.  This is my third opportunity to travel with an amazing group of volunteers.  Each year, we evaluate and treat between 3000 and 4000 patients.  We work hand-in-hand with the Kenyans to provide care and compassion in Nakuru (100 miles northwest of Nairobi).

The Kenyans then use the resources and education we share to provide faith, hope, and healing year-round.  Through our experiences, we are left touched, humbled and inspired by the Kenyans.  They are extremely resourceful, resilient, and faithful.  They teach us a great deal about faith, love, family, and the human spirit.

You can join in our experience through donations, prayer, or simply by following our reports from Kenya. To make a financial contribution, please click on the DONATE tab above.  Any support you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
Aimee Gross

Healthcare for the Deaf in Kenya

According to a study and initiative conducted by Peace Corps volunteers, “Kenyan health services are often unable to serve the Deaf adequately due to the language barrier… Kenya suffers from a lack of adequate health education materials for the Deaf. While there are many materials designed for the hearing in English, Kiswahili and other spoken languages, materials using sign language have not been created at a scale necessary to serve Kenya's roughly 300,000 Deaf. Many people mistakenly assume that English or Kiswahili materials can also serve the Deaf community. This is an inadequate solution. Kenyan Sign Language (KSL) is the "native tongue" of Deaf Kenyans. Other languages are acquired slowly and often poorly in Kenya's few schools for the Deaf.

As any health professional knows, matters of life and death are best discussed in the native tongue to avoid miscommunication. Similarly, effective communication of reproductive health messages is essential for addressing serious health threats like HIV/AIDS. Though the Kenyan government and aid organizations have begun to better serve the Deaf, most of Kenya's Deaf have not received proper reproductive health education and are generally unfamiliar or uncomfortable with a health system designed for the hearing. At the same time, there is wide-spread misunderstanding among the hearing about the Deaf, who are often thought to have lower intelligence.

These conditions have created dangerous situations when the Deaf seek medical attention. During our service in Kenya we met many Deaf people who explained their difficulty seeking medical help. Basic information about what is ailing the person, how to take medication and what the results of a test means often elude a Deaf Kenyan because of the language barrier. It is this language barrier that must be confronted to better-serve the Deaf.”

http://ksl-poster.mindfulinteractive.com/

First Baptist Church of Roswell in Kenya

Over the last 6 years, First Baptist Church of Roswell (www.rfbc.org) has worked closely with The Beech Foundation and R.O.C.K. Bridge Ministries, bringing many volunteers together to serve as medical missionaries in Nakuru, Kenya. The medical team provides assessment and treatment for several thousand men, women, and children at multiple locations.

Additional volunteer opportunities include service with the Tumaini Mission Center and Bethany Children’s Home, Arap Moi Children’s Home, Nakuru Hills Special Needs School, Nakuru 3:16 Street Girls Mission, and Living Water Project at Gioto (a city of homeless Kenyans living, literally, at a garbage dump). Our next medical team will travel to Nakuru in early 2014, and I have been given the opportunity to join this team.

Tumaini Mission Center

Years of compassion, collaboration and cooperation have provided numerous opportunities for growth, in the Kenyan communities and in the volunteers who serve there.  Together, these Kenyans and volunteers built the Tumaini Mission Center, including the Bethany Children’s Home, a primary school, clinic, dormitory, dining hall and kitchen, staff housing, conference center, cottages, farm land, and greenhouses.  Ongoing development includes a secondary school.

The conference center, cottages, farm land, and greenhouses help empower the Kenyan people to implement programs that are self-sustaining and effective, now and for generations to come.  Self-sustaining efforts include dairy farming, fish farming, chicken farming, and agricultural products.  Farming and agriculture help meet budgetary needs, as well as feed the many orphans, students and staff living at the Tumaini Mission Center.

R.O.C.K. Bridge Ministries

The efforts of The Beech Foundation and its partners are not a temporary handout but, rather, a catalyst for change. The Kenyans are eager to learn, work, and grow. This is possible, in part, through cooperation with a local non-profit organization in Kenya known as R.O.C.K. Bridge Ministries (www.rockbridgeministries.org).

R.O.C.K. (Reaching out to Communities in Kenya) Bridge Ministries, is a Christian, interdenominational, non-profit organization. Their primary objective is to serve as a bridge between communities in Kenya and partner churches in both Kenya and the United States. Through these partnerships, R.O.C.K Bridge Ministries seeks to equip and empower the Kenyan communities spiritually, physically, emotionally, and economically.

The Beech Foundation

In 2004, The Beech Foundation (www.thebeechfoundation.org) followed a call to organize a mission trip to Kenya and partner with other organizations and churches working there. What started as a short-term mission has become an eternal commitment with widespread participation. Partners and volunteers from five different states, various denominations, and many different non-profit ministry organizations have worked with six churches in Nakuru, Kenya to establish a joint ministry: the Tumaini Mission Center and Bethany Children’s Home.

The reality is that HIV/AIDS and other tragedies have left three million children orphaned in Kenya. With collaboration between The Beech Foundation and the PCEA Nakuru West network of local churches, land was purchased in 2006, and the first wing of the children's home was opened in 2007. Ultimately, 400 children will be nurtured, along with a Primary School, Secondary School, Clinic, Chapel, and much more. These efforts are part of a blessed bridge building effort that will continue for years to come.