HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MIRIAM!
(you didn't expect this, did you?:)

My 'only' sister, Miriam, was born on September 21, 1965. We each had seven brothers. Miriam now lives in Lancaster, PA and since we are now in Kenya, we miss her very much. This photo was taken on June 17, 2009, the day we left America. David had a September birthday as well, on the 10th. This is the second one he remembers. Birthdays weren't celebrated in the Vinogradov, Ukraine orphanage he lived before he came to join our family. With the 150 children to keep track of in a poor setting and possibly many not knowing their birthdates, it really wasn't possible.



Yesterday Sam and I were enjoying our Sunday afternoon coffee time when we received the call from the young groom, Jack, saying his wife is very sick. Could we take her to the hospital? We bumped to their home close to church and took her to the Russian Hospital, one of the cheapest (and the poorest) in Kisumu. This was our second Sunday evening emergency room experience. It resembles and smells like a milkhouse minus the bulktank. Like in Lancaster, we sit for hours and wait......and watch all the activities coming and going out the door. A couple months ago, we saw 3 drunken brawl results coming in with their drunken buddies. Some are in pretty bad shape, like one man having a chunk taken out of the back of his leg. What a mess......! We will spare further grusome details.
There doesn't seem to be any ambulance around; people brings their friends on the back of bicycles, motorcycles, trucks, or just walk. Last night a car hurriedly pulled up to the door. Three harried, young men jumped. A hospital worker gave them each plastic gloves they quickly yanked on and somewhat gracefully tried to deposit their friend onto the shabby stretcher. As it was shoved past us, we saw the motionless victum was shot through the head and appeared dead. The three young friends jumped into their car and sped off. About 10 minutes later, the place was swarming with police. They brought quite the delapidated vehicles, including a strange looking paddy wagon. After awhile the victum was taken back out the door and put into the back of this wagon. We heard the other waiting folks murrmuring words about going to the mortuary. It made me sick in the stomach....what stupidity! Suddenly this young man was ushered into eternity, probably unprepared. Did he really have a chance?

By now it was dark. It began to rain, and did it pour!! For an hour it poured! It was the first real rain we've seen since we're here. Nora, Jack's young wife, was diagnosed with Marlaria and we were discharged. We finally waded out to the van, stopped by the chemist (pharmacy) for the medication and headed down the road. It was a hazzard to be out. The defroster didn't work properly, the roads are unmarked, lighting is poor, people and bicycles, also unmarked and unlit, are everywhere and it's raining hard! We didn't know what else to do, so we inched down the road, with me wiping the inside of the windshield with the leso, so Sam could see. The drainage system must be poor or plugged with trash, because people were walking in ankle deep water, and the trash was being washed across the road. Again, I felt sick....... Needless to say, finally we arrived home safely and were thankful. No wonder the mission doesn't encourage going outside the compound after dark.

We look forward to the joint unit meetings coming up on Thursday. The group from Nakuru will join us and there will be approximately 100 people. It's alot of work but also a fun time. We have these joint meeting about every 6 weeks.

Sam and Mattie Kauffman family