A Time for Hope « Kingdom Vision

A Time For Hope brings hope and healing to 3,500 in Kenya

A Time For Hope: the mission of medical professionals who set up a Health Clinic in Nakuru, Kenya have now returned and managed to see 3,500 Kenyans who would otherwise have had no access to healthcare. The following report is from Jane Bostock, the organiser of the mission, on their time in Kenya:

So we made it at last after a three year wait, through elections, the following strife, and all manner of other enemy action. And we still followed the vision that God first gave to run a Clinic for the people of Nakuru, Kenya. We were there for one month from mid April to mid May

Ten of us went with all sorts of medical qualifications and served especially the poor in every possible way that we knew and made an amazing count of 3,500 people that had been seen and given as much hope as possible.

The frontline staff were made up of:

Jonathan our GP and “Chief Medical Officer”

Caroline our Accident and Emergency Doc who was also gifted at helping children sing Christian songs

Jan our very experienced Nurse and Childrens Nurse, though often in charge of the Dispensary was excellent at chidrens games

Jenny our very hard working Dentist who spent much of her time charming the children into caring for their teeth

Judy our Physiotherapist though very caring for all ages was particularly gifted with helping children to discover unknown movement

David our Pastor who offered prayer to all for their healing and was delighted to learn that most people were glad to receive prayer and Gods intervention. He was also a pretty mean driver on the difficult roads of Nakuru.

Boy and Joseph our two bodyguards who were continually on the watch for danger and quite skilled at taking photos

Various very dear helpers, translators, and other interested parties.

On the whole these frontliners moved every other day from one incredibly poor area to another and set up the work force in Schools or Village Halls

The back up staff stayed behind in the Church space to give more lengthy treatments, and make full use of our equipment which had come all the way from Cornwall in a forty foot container to support the work of our Clinic. Many thanks to all the people involved, who helped us collect so many items and pack them into this enormous cavern.

Tim and Judy our Orthotist and his wife worked wonders, with a few simple splinting materials and an electrically heated bowl of water.

Marc our Psychologist and Councillor always had a queue of folk wishing to share their problems but in between he showed his prowess at football and encouraging the youngsters to form a football team. Most joyously Marc became born again while he was with us.

Jane our Lymphoedema Therapist and leader of the gang

Amissi our guard, guide, carer, peacemaker and fantastic tea maker

It was a joy to see our physio and orthotist working quite miraculously together as they brought very disabled children to their feet through exercise or gifted making of splints – I cannot forget the child who fitted a pair of shoes where one was much longer than the other and so were his feet, or the picture of a very disabled man fitting a soft pair of pink suede shoes and hanging them on his crutches to caress as he could not bear to wear them as yet

As Lymphoedema Therapist I had the joy of being able to prove that the compression bandaging and compression hosiery works as well in Africa and probably better than in the UK. We had 45 people referred to us and many had to have the full treatment before they could fit into hosiery.

Many of those bandaged are now into hosiery and walking comfortably and with confidence that they have not known before, or for many years.

I was also blessed with having the honour of treating Philip who is really the Star of the show as when I met him three years ago he asked if I could help him. April this year is the first time we have been able to do so – with treatment he lost 13 cms around his ankle and we have to return again to finish this work. (Philip has a very special testimony which we will share in a seperate post.)

But before we think of returning I would like to make the very hugest of thanks to our host and Pastor of the Metro G12 Church in Nakuru Mike Brawan, without whose love of mankind, encouragement, wisdom, and hospitality we would not have been able to chase our vision and serve our God

Every member of our team from UK wish to return.

We would love to take more people so please make contact with Jane on 01872 560844

If you feel you could help financially:

We need to buy a container

We need to save up to send a container to Mombassa and then on to Nakuru

We need to buy equipment, drugs, and bandaging

We need to buy hosiery it wears out every six months,

We are good at Car Boots for fund raising and will always welcome helpers or your unwanted stuff to sell

All unwanted but useful medical aide and equipment can be sent out to Kenya

Many thanks to our God for blessing us with such a wonderful experience

Jane Bostock 09.06.2010

Can you help support a volunteer medical clinic in Kenya?

A group of medical volunteers from Cornwall arrived in Kenya on Thursday 23rd April to set up the clinic “A Time for Hope” at the beginning of this week. The clinic is so popular and the need of poor people in Kenya so great, for they cannot normally afford medical care, that there have been literally thousands queuing up day and night for medical attention. The numbers are so great that the clinic has had to be moved to a different location for the safety of those waiting.

The clinic’s medical team are funding their month-long stay themselves and providing their medical expertise without payment. Although they brought an abundant supply of medication and supplies with them to run the clinic, they ran out of these within three days and now need donations to enable them to buy more to meet the needs of those still waiting for attention.

Please pray that the medical needs of the Kenyan people can be met and if you are able to make a donation, however small, to enable the clinic to buy more medicines and supplies, please make a bank transfer to “Bread of Heaven Ministries” sort code 30-98-76 account number 01666541 with the reference MEDICINE HOPE.

Your support is very much appreciated and will enable many Kenyans to receive the basic medical attention that they would not otherwise have access to.

A Time for Hope

“A Time for Hope” is the name of the medical mission from Cornwall currently visiting Kenya. Jane Bostock spent two years collecting donations of medical equipment for the mission, which was sent over to Kenya in a 40ft container last summer, and recruited the team of medical professionals, all of whom are volunteers. The following is from her letter describing how “A Time for Hope” came about:

21st April 2010

I was fortunate to meet Mike Brawan through my friends Mike and Daphne Dockree.

He was a street boy let loose on the highways and byways of Nakuru, Kenya because both his parents died in a car crash when he was 8 years old.

He survived unbelievably into his teens, when he had an amazing conversion to Christianity and was sent to the UK for some training to be a Pastor.

There began a very deep relationship between him and the Dockrees, which is really their job to relate, but along with many others I have been able to benefit from knowing Mike.

Three years ago he invited David and Judy Pyke and myself, to Kenya to give us a breath of the sort of work he does, as a Pastor of a big Church called Metro Church International.

I can only say it changed my life and I began to believe that it is possible to live the Christian life at full throttle and be able to give up your life for the Glory of God.

Philip's leg swollen with lymphoedema

On one of the days we were over there Mike suggested that there was a gentleman (called Philip) asking for help who might be of special interest to me – he had lymphoedema and it was so bad that one of his limbs had been amputated.

My work for the last fifteen years had been working with all types of lymphoedema, so it felt very exciting to meet it in Africa.

On our way to see him, God asked me to kneel down and touch Philip’s leg. It loosed a very real burst of excitement at the thought of doing so.

I met him with no words to say and the various pastors and church people translated what he was saying – I knelt down to feel the leg and see the condition of his skin and unknown to me the men behind us were in tears that a white woman should touch this leg. I am still quite amazed it should have had that effect and Philip asked me to help him. I promised to return to Kenya for a month because it would take that time to try to reduce the state of his leg.

Jane with Philip

We are going tomorrow to Kenya to fulfil that promise but God has opened up new pathways and a team of ten are going to help set up a Clinic for the poor of Nakuru to give free treatment under the name of “A time for Hope.”

In the gap before we could return, Philip became a Christian and he told the people who were interviewing him that it was because the white woman touched his leg. Isn’t it great to just be a vessel, without any words?

Also thanks to the very hard work of many friends and their help over the last two years through whom we have collected sufficient funds to send a 40 foot container full of medical equipment for use in Nakuru.

We look forward to letting you know how things go

Jane