I recently met a retired couple (Let's call them Mr n Mrs Awesome) who would be categorised as 'well off' after being successful in business through decades of hard work. They spent their careers in the health industry and have been connected with World Vision for some time in their way of giving back. However, with success... and I think success not only from business, but the success of creating a great family unit which is now generational with 'little ones' everywhere; the Philanthropic gene kicks in and we as humans look for ways to give back and make a real impact (I've seen this in a few retiree/senior people around the place). So Mr and Mrs Awesome wanted to up the ante on their giving and build a health clinic as their donation....in AFRICA!! ... So naturally, I asked Mr Awesome if I could share his story via Impacting Shadows to create some inspiration for us all.. and here is the response.. a great letter, he had sent to friends which I think sums up their experience and efforts better than I ever could and shows the authenticity of their generosity! ... Enjoy!
Hasey.
Africa
10/1/13
World.Vision.
Esonorua Clinic
Dear
Friends, we want to share our World Vision (W.V) story. We were collected by
Simon E, a young Kenyan pharmacist who owns two pharmacies with his wife, Florence. He works with W.V. Bc
he loves the work w children. He also owns some chickens that he keeps at his
Mothers place miles away near Uganda. He was a lovely, enthusiastic 34 y.o.
man. Then we collected Mary K (area project mgr) & Stephen O (who
managed our project building).
Let
us tell you that our project to build a health clinic in a remote area started
way back in 2003, when we were interested in making a more substantial donation
thru W.V. The next 3 years proved to be quite frustrating after we committed
funds to build a project on our own in a remote village called ESONORUA, 100kms
S-W of Nairobi. It seemed to never get off the ground. There were Gov'ts delays
and we were becoming despondent. We received photos of the finished clinic in
2006 & later were told that it was then out of W.V. Hands and had been
taken over by Gov't. In fact over the past 5 or so years we had just become a
little less passionate about W.V.
In
recent years we have learnt more about 'Compassion' and in fact, we are meeting
with them in Rwanda to learn & see of their actions there.
It
took 90 mins to get to ESONORUA over pot-holed dirt roads and find a tiny
village with our clinic & drs residence singularly exposed on a sloping
piece of rough land. The awning ceiling was broken and dilapidated with a mini-
bat climbing in to the holes. The concrete floor had some pittings in it. There
were 4 rooms inside & very basic equipment that u will see on photos.
Then
we met Eunice, a young 19 y.o. girl. She immediately impressed us when we
learnt that she worked for free M to Sat and she loved helping the Dr. Eunice
seemed bright, efficient & sincere. But these facts were also confirmed by Mary,
Simon & Stephen & later the Dr.
Let
us say that the Dr is NOT a Dr but rather a Gov't Health Officer who is sent to
remote areas to perform restricted tasks, which includes, midwifery,
injections, diabetic testing, malaria test & treatments, & dispensing a
small range of medicines. It is just that the locals call him Dr and he did
seem a very committed & respected man.
No
one seemed to realise that we 'were the donors' until we informed Stephen.
Stephen had been explaining how 'the donors' gave a large amount and the Gov't
approved the land and later a 'health officer' but that the locals had to all
give a 'GOAT'! This was obviously, to have the community involved, much the
same as our Gov't does. Stephen knew everybody in the area and knew all the details
and once he realised that we were the donors he went and called several locals
to tell them of our arrival. The Dr, Samuel, gave up his weekend off to meet us
and everyone showed their great appreciation.
Samuel
told us how, that every year, more and more people come from vast distances
(40kms) and that he is getting busier and how he appreciated the assistance of
Eunice. He also said how much he appreciates the separate house for himself. It
was very basic,let us tell you. His wife lives back near Nairobi and he just
travels back & forth by bus or car each weekend. But he expressed his great
love for the work that he gets to do and was so pleased with our donation.
All
of this was starting to overcome us. We had been feeling nothing toward the
project, bc we knew almost nothing. But now it came alive.
Everyone
came together as I asked to pray over the project. It was very powerful. It is
difficult to explain prayer and the power of God's Spirit to Australians from
an African perspective.
When
u see the photos u will appreciate the basic nature of this clinic, but also u
must appreciate the important nature to the fairly primitive locals. The
dispensary contained a lot of a few items, e.g., Amoxycillins, Fasigyn,
Tetracycline Opth, Chlorpheniramine, Anti-histamines, Anti-fungals, one Vitamin
product.
The
wall chart shows the disease treatments. Diabetes is fast rising condition with
the alteration of diet. Malaria is #1 but Samuel explained that with his new
blood test he has discovered that not all previous M diagnosies were correct.
#2 is Respiratory and #3 is Dysentary.
As
basic as this clinic is, we were so heartened to see the response from the
locals, now that it is up and running. You would understand that we often do
things to help people and it doesn't always produce the results that we might
pray for. All that we can do is try to be faithful and follow His Spirit and
pray that He will be glorified. To do otherwise would be vanity.
Perhaps
we may be able to assist Eunice to an opportunity for some further education.
She has finished school. She may relish the chance and we feel that she has the
capabilities and diligence to rise to further challenges. Time will tell.
Well I
can tell you now that we did manage to get Eunice in to a Diploma Course for
Dietetics and Nutrition at Thika School of Health & Medical Science. Mary
Kihara at W.V. was very helpful as was the School. This is a huge
change for this young girl who we were told could have been married off by 15
for the price of two cows! Our first reports are that Eunice is handling her
studies very well and loving it. This will not always be easy for Eunice she is
now living 6 hours hours away from her home. We pray that we are wise enough to
know that there will be pro's and con's for this big change in her life and
that we and her family and the School can be supportive as she grows in
knowledge and maturity.
