The work continues on several fronts with the planting of trees, gathering of stones, gravel and sand to be used for building in Runo and making travel arrangements for kids to attend various hospitals for surgery’s and treatments being the forefront of activities.

Manufacturing Bricks

This week I traveled to Bungoma with a load of tree seedlings to plant at a pastors small farm. Now there has been a shortage of rain again this year and once again famine threatens. Pablo however managed to find an underground spring while driving across a field and promptly sank my truck up to the axels. I strange feeling of panic began to flood over me as I realized how dependent I am on my wheels, which were now half buried. Suddenly I actually began to feel home sick. Now I know there is no AAA to call in Kenya but when I learned there was no tractor available for miles around either to pull my rig out of the mire my panic intensified, but only in direct proportion to my prayer life. Fortunately after a couple of hours of digging and some ingenuity from my Kenyan friends the truck was released from the bog. Thankyou God. I was covered in so much mud by this time that I might actually have passed as a native but I didn’t care.

Meanwhile, back in Runo, west Pokot, women continue to gather gravel and stones for building. I could hardly believe my eyes when I observed the piles of material now at the site, all gathered one stone at a time. I estimated around 60 tons so far. Hunger is what is driving these folks on in their laborious chores for although food is now available in west Pokot the prices are so high that famine is still a big problem. The people who gather the materials are paid for each wheelbarrow they collect, an often overlooked benefit to the communities where these projects are undertaken.

Gravel collected by mothers of Runo

In my previous update I made mention of two young handicapped girls being accepted for corrective surgery procedures at Kijabi hospital near Nairobi. The outlook was good and the two girls traveled by taxi to the hospital a week ago along with a mother of one and also a teacher from the school they attend. This week I was anticipating a call telling me the surgery’s were successful and that the patients were recovering and would be ready to return to their home soon, but unfortunately things have not gone according to plan. Information has been limited but I was informed that one of the girls, Carolyn, was unable to undergo surgery due to her condition being far more severe than first thought and Gladys’s surgery was delayed until the correct type and quantity of blood could be secured. The girls are still at Kijabe as I write this, Gladys pending surgery and Carolyn stranded since the two girls were to have traveled back together. Once again the unexpected has occurred and a simple matter of transporting a child back from a visit to hospital becomes a real challenge.

Amos and Aggie, off to Kisumuhospital

Another child I’ve been involved with named Amos has a cancerous tumor in his mouth and spent over a year at a hospital in Kisumu having treatment. I’ve really become attached to this kid and we’ve become good buddies. Just before I returned home in March I learned that Amos was being discharged from hospital, which, to me at the time was a very positive event. I imagined he was cured and eagerly anticipated seeing him again when I returned to his home in west Pokot. I was so disappointed to learn that the tumor has enlarged and a course of chemotherapy treatments has been prescribed which are to be performed monthly for two years. Each month a dedicated nurse from sister Freda’s hospital here in Kitale makes the long journey with Amos to Kisumu, and returns with him the same day in a matatu, a small mini van used in public transport. The kid is so sick from the reaction of the chemo that he vomits virtually all the way on the return trip. In spite of this never once have I seen him complain, in fact, quite the contrary, he seems to be grinning perpetually when I’m around him.

Paul and Amos

We had a very cool time together yesterday when I brought him back with me to Kitale from his home at Runo, ready for another regiment of chemo to look forward to next week. Seated next to me in my truck, I watched as he hung his bald head out of the window as we barreled along doing 100klms per hour, grinning from ear to ear. I don’t know who had the most fun but I treasure those moments. He seemed so free of any care or worry, just having fun, the two of us. One day, which may come all too soon I fear, Amos will be free of his disease. Only God knows when that day will be but when it arrives I pray the image I’ll have etched in my mind of this brave little guy will be of that picture of freedom he gave me. There is oh so much for us to learn, even from a child, and I wonder will I ever be as carefree as Amos.

Planting Trees on Mount Elgon

I’m in His grasp, Your friend Paul.

Paul Holgate Projects,
Medical Support International (M.S.I.)
23322 Madera Road, Suite A,
Mission Viejo, CA 92691