Outreach Team Update

19th July, 2010 - Posted by Camille Cotton -

The second day of the medical clinics proved to be most eventful!  We certainly received our ‘Karibu’ to missions in Kenya (Swahili for “Welcome”). You know you are in the forefront of missions when you face challenges.

The Apostle Paul experienced tremendous difficulties, but soldiered on in the midst of it all (2 Corinthians 6:4,5). We all felt a tiny bit like Paul that day (just a tiny bit though!). The medical camp got off to a great start. As word of our presence spread and the crowds increased on a daily basis, so as we looked towards the registration tent at the long queue of patient Kenyans standing, waiting in the hot sun, we knew we were in for a busy day.

The prayer tent was a witness to many miraculous healings – one memorable healing was a lady’s blind eyes were completely healed.

Children’s ministry was fun with a beach ball being given to the children who loved running around in one huge 60-strong group of excited children.

Half-way through medical camp the heavens opened and the blessing of God fell – in the form of torrential rain!! The crowds for medication grew and so did the ground level of rain in the make-shift pharmacy tent that we had set up, until the faithful ones serving in the pharmacy were standing in a soggy mini swamp, but on they soldiered!!

After a long and successful day in which we saw even larger crowds than the day before, we prepared to make the long journey home. Because of the rain, the ditches filled with muddy brown rivers. As we climbed out of the bus to make the bus lighter - yes, you guessed it - we got stuck in the mud. We all piled out into the thick mud and landed in a maize field. “Children of the corn,” we aptly named ourselves. We found some rocks to wedge behind the wheels and eventually extracted the 40-seater bus from the mud with cheers and much to our relief.

We left the rural country roads and hit the town. As we travelled through town, we relived the experience of the men pushing the bus out of the mud and the mud fight which ended up in one worker falling in the mud.

It became apparent that there was a regular sound coming from the left side of the bus – it sounded like we had a flat tire. We continued our journey another two miles when we heard a bang. Oh no! We all piled out of the bus again,to inspect the left hand tires. Sure enough, the back tire had a flat. One of the rocks that we used to try to extricate the bus from the mud earlier had become wedged between the tires and had eventually caused the tire to burst. The men grabbed the jack from the bus and started cranking up the bus. We all piled out of the bus again to make it lighter. As the jack was only manual and it had started getting darker, an executive decision was made by the men that we would abandon the idea and risk driving back carefully on the semi-flat tire and sort it out properly in daylight hours with a hydraulic pump. So we all climbed back into the bus. We moved seats so that none of us were seated over the back left axle – just to ensure that we could get home safely.

What a day!

As we passed Eldoret airport – nearly home – one huge BANG! Oh nooooooo! Once again ,we piled off the bus and into the nearest field. The tire had completely blown; it was as flat as a pancake. We weren’t going to be going anywhere in this bus anymore. And the axle wasn’t looking too good either! We laughed! The decision was made to push the bus onto the other side of the road, and as the cars zoomed by at 50 miles per hour, the bus limped slowly over to the other side of the road. What do we do now – get on motorbikes? Walk back home as we are nearly there? But by this time it was dark. We phoned for a mini-bus to come and pick us up us, but it could only collect half of us at one time, so the other half had to stand and wait in the field. Then it started to spit with the rain – does it get any worse?

Can anything else happen? Finally we reached home, thanks be to God……….what a day!

Despite the challenges of the day, what was most precious was the sense of togetherness and community amongst us that prevailed. Although it could have been a difficult day, in fact it was the sense of humor that we kept about the situation and supporting one another that made it a joy. I mean you couldn’t make this stuff up!!!