I wish I had taken a video of the drive up to Kijabe. The road has (as most roads do here) NO lines. So on the highway (of sorts) it is wide enough for three, maybe four, cars depending on the size of the cars. There is weaving, mad braking, quick accelerations and high stress as cars try to get ahead of every other car all while trying to miss potholes and what I can only describe as an asphalt wake- this is where cars that were too heavy for the poorly laid asphalt have created two ditches. Honestly, if it were water and you were riding behind a boat on a wake board you would definitely be able to get some air.
As we made the ascent to Kijabe, the Rift valley opened up to our left with Mount Kenya and Longonot just on the other side of the epic valley. It was one of the most beautiful landscapes I have seen in my life.
Once we made it safely to Kijabe, we bounced around, finally passing Rift Valley Academy, and came to a halt. It was literally and physically breath-taking.
I stayed with a family who is also sent through World Harvest (now SERGE); it is a husband/wife doctor duo who work in separate departments at Kijabe Hospital. The sun went down, the mosquitos began to bite and I went to sleep almost 7,000 feet above sea level.
The next day I spent some time in prayer with the women of the Serge team located there in Kijabe. I then shadowed the missus Dr. Myrhe in the NICU. The entire morning and into lunch was spent doing rounds. Most of the babies were under 2 kilos, one baby was just above 1 kilo. We are talking TINY here. Near the end of rounds, we were listening to an update about a two-day old preemie baby boy. Baby boy 'I' was struggling because his Rh factor was different than his mom's. His blood was slowly being destroyed by antigens introduced from his mom's blood through the placenta. In order for the baby to survive, a blood exchange was necessary and a certain blood type was the answer. A doc at the hospital had the right blood type, but at some point I announced that I also had the needed blood type. I was then taken to the blood bank, hooked up, and bled. Once back in the NICU, the process began of exchanging 10 cc's of my blood for the babies- over and over 22 times. The babies life was spared.
My attention and heart were captured by the work of the doctor I shadowed and the work of the Kenyan doctors and nurses as they lived service-oriented lives. They were empowered to do things that changed people's lives because of the work of the Gospel in their hearts.
The next day I got to see a couple C-sections (totally AWESOME!), and then left for Nairobi in the afternoon. The drive down was almost as nerve-racking as the drive back, but in some ways my heart was left behind in that hospital. The baby boy has survived more blood exchanges since then, and still has quite a journey ahead.
I have continued working through Sonship and when I really reflect on the lessons my heart cries over its brokenness. I see even as I spend time in other people's homes how I am building cisterns for myself. I forsake the Lord daily as I strive to create some sort of righteousness for myself, whether by washing dishes or by being subdued and staying out of the way. Even as Baby boy I is utterly dependent on someone else taking out his own death-dealing blood for life-giving blood, I am utterly dependent on the work of a righteous Savior to give life to my dead heart. I am utterly dependent on a Spirit moving me from drinking out of filthy, excrement-filled puddle to a well of living water.
For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
Jer. 2:13
Wow, Mae Mae. Wow.
ReplyDeleteI am so moved by your words. The fact that Heavenly, Holy Father will use us for His glory is amazing! I love you, Mom.
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