Wednesday, December 19, 2007
A Merry Christmas at HCC
Yesterday I sent funds to Bishop Mambo, the HCC Chairman, to provide the HCC residential orphans with a Christmas party and T-shirts. The party will include a high protein meal of chicken pilau, milk, eggs and sweets and it was made possible by a very generous donation from an American woman who lived in Kenya at the time just as Independence from the British was achieved in the early 1960's.
Bishop Mambo and members of the HCC Board will organize and put on the party in the next few days. The residential children need so many things, but hopefully receiving a new T-shirt and the party will let them know they are remembered at Christmas. I asked Bishop Mambo to take pictures and send them to me and I asked him to have the children sing the song "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" loud enough for me to hear it from here. It is a song that I taught them back in July. Jim's congregation is also going to donate some money for bedding and other things the kids need, but those donations may come after Christmas. The party is important as the orphans have very little in the way of special treats and Christmas is a difficult time when you are without parents or other family. Health is as much emotional/mental as well as spiritual, and being remembered at during the holiday is important for the children's emotional health.
The sales of the orphans' holiday cards has been very successful and since October I have raised enough money from the cards' sales for the orphans' ongoing medical care for the next five to six months. Dr. Jeremiah continues to provide excellent care and reports on the children. I want to particularly acknowledge the First Unitarian Church of Portland for letting me sell the HCC cards for four Sundays during our "Alternative Gift Market". The congregation enthusiastically admired the HCC orphans' creativity and talent, and purchased many cards. I am very grateful to the many others who bought cards as long ago as July and I hope that the beauty of the children's artwork is admired in many homes this holiday season.
Thanks so much to everyone who contributed to HCC or bought cards this past year! You have made a direct difference in the lives of these orphans and you brought them smiles as well as hope!
Bishop Mambo and members of the HCC Board will organize and put on the party in the next few days. The residential children need so many things, but hopefully receiving a new T-shirt and the party will let them know they are remembered at Christmas. I asked Bishop Mambo to take pictures and send them to me and I asked him to have the children sing the song "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" loud enough for me to hear it from here. It is a song that I taught them back in July. Jim's congregation is also going to donate some money for bedding and other things the kids need, but those donations may come after Christmas. The party is important as the orphans have very little in the way of special treats and Christmas is a difficult time when you are without parents or other family. Health is as much emotional/mental as well as spiritual, and being remembered at during the holiday is important for the children's emotional health.
The sales of the orphans' holiday cards has been very successful and since October I have raised enough money from the cards' sales for the orphans' ongoing medical care for the next five to six months. Dr. Jeremiah continues to provide excellent care and reports on the children. I want to particularly acknowledge the First Unitarian Church of Portland for letting me sell the HCC cards for four Sundays during our "Alternative Gift Market". The congregation enthusiastically admired the HCC orphans' creativity and talent, and purchased many cards. I am very grateful to the many others who bought cards as long ago as July and I hope that the beauty of the children's artwork is admired in many homes this holiday season.
Thanks so much to everyone who contributed to HCC or bought cards this past year! You have made a direct difference in the lives of these orphans and you brought them smiles as well as hope!
Friday, December 07, 2007
Underpants and Medical Care
Recent images from Sophie's and Bishop Mambo's visit to HCC. Milka (child with ear problems) is standing to the left of Bishop Mambo. Most of the kids were not at the school/orphanage when they visited.
If you are interesting in purchasing holiday cards, please go to the July 18 blog entry to see the images or contact me at kirstencarpentier@hotmail.com. Thanks!!
For the past two and a half months I have been very consumed by my master's program and I haven't been able to spend time blogging (too much other writing to do!) but I have been in communication with Dr. Jeremiah, Sophie, Bishop Mambo and my colleague, Jim. They have been sending me updates and letting me know some of the needs of the children. The past several Sundays I have been selling the children's holiday cards at my church and that money has been earmarked to help to continue the medical care that Dr. Jeremy has been providing. However, right before Thanksgiving Sophie contacted me and told me that some of the girls were in dire need of underpants and "boob tops". So I sent $65 from a donor to Sophie to help cover some bare bottoms, which seemed pretty important for a variety of reasons. Sophie reported back to me that the girls were very happy to receive their underwear!
We are still waiting for Rose Chengo to be strong enough for her surgery, and Dr. Jeremy has her on a high protein diet. An Italian woman is sponsoring Rose's special food and she is helping to make sure Rose receives what she needs. When Dr. Jeremy last wrote me about a month ago about Rose, he said Rose was gaining weight, but she continues to struggle with malaria and sickle cell issues. She will be re-evaluated for surgery in January and hopefully at that time she will be well enough and will have gained enough weight to have her surgery. Her case has been particularly challenging and I am very grateful for Dr. Jeremy's ongoing care.
The other HCC orphan who needs surgery is Milka, who has had chronic ear infections and needs to have her eardrums repaired. She is such a cheerful kid it is hard to imagine the pain of these constant ear infections that she has had much of her life! Dr. Jeremy said that he treated her about three weeks ago for another one, and he is trying to find other sponsors that can help with the cost of her surgery. So perhaps with a sponsor or two from the U.S. and a couple from Kenya or Italy her ears can be repaired with the Danish surgery team next comes to Nairobi. That might be awhile, though, since they were just there in November.
In the meanwhile Dr. Jeremy has been checking on the children regularly for upper respiratory illnesses, chicken pox, ring worm and other more minor childhood illnesses. The kids with chronic illnesses such as epilepsy are receiving their medication daily and are having fewer episodes. Under Dr. Jeremy's ongoing care the past six months, the children's health has improved a lot and he has visited them many times. This care has cost about $125-$150 per month and he has basically been on call for emergencies, as well as more mundane issues. I am very grateful for his ongoing care and concern!
Jim's church has been sending funds monthly to help feed the residential orphans and he plans to take up a special donation to help provide new clothing and new mattresses for all of them by the end of the year. However, it would be really good to be able to provide the kids a holiday celebration of some sort (we did this last year) because the children really have very little in terms of joyous celebrations or special foods. But at this point the money that I have from the card sales so far needs to cover next quarter's medical care. Of course feeling joy and feeling loved and remembered is part of keeping healthy, and I think it is particularly important for these children, who often feel forgotten. A party for all the children would cost about $200-$250. Please let me know soon if this is something you'd like to help make happen.
