Healing Hands

Friends,

We are a tired bunch this evening. Even the Kenyans who stand around our hotel trying to sell us stuff said, "Oh, you all are tired tonight!" when we returned home a few minutes ago. We started the day at 7am with church service at the hospital and then proceeded to our first day of medical clinic. Our site was next to a goat slaughter house, which gave us some authentic African experiences today. When we first arrived, Casey, Carolyn (a William and Mary student who is studying abroad here and working at the hospital) and I went to a school down the road. We were able to deworm 900 children and enjoyed feeling like movie stars when we arrived. All of the children wanted to speak to us, touch us, and be close to us. White people are such an oddity here that we attract attention worthy of Angelina Jolie.

After returning from the school, we joined the others in the clinic... Casey went off to triage patients and do all that nursing nonsense and Carolyn and I went to help Greg and Clay fill prescriptions in the pharmacy. It was a long, but very rewarding day. We were able to see over 300 people--mostly children. The team was quite impressive at how smoothly we were able to run the operation and we partnered with the hospital staff to help with translation. The gift of healing is a powerful thing.

On a more colorful note, you should all know that you may have the next big Kenyan Star in your midst. Clay disappeared today for about an hour and came back to share with us that some guy had taken him to his "recording studio" where Clay created some sort of crazy DJ CLAY MAY album. He is very excited about his VIP status, all to our dismay. Just kidding. We get a good laugh at his craziness. On another note, he was both my #1 enemy and #1 hero today... as he broke my brand new camera (!!!) and then proceeded to fix it a few hours later. It was a tense few hours. Luckily, I have now forgiven him, so I can share in the excitement of his Star status.

Finally, we want you all to know how thankful we are for your support of this trip. We would not be able to bring healing to so many people (300 patients + 900 dewormed children) without your financial and prayerful support. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we work the rest of the week. I can assure you, the Kenyans are keeping YOU in their prayers. I have never heard so many people pray for "the Americans here and back in North Carolina" before. You all are a blessed group.

We love you all and will undoubtedly update plenty the rest of the evening!

Until tomorrow,
Amanda