Dear Colleagues,
What a blessing it is to write to you again our 6th newsletter! On May 6, 2014 I had the take down of my ileostomy and have, I believe, fully recovered. With great pleasure Mari and I are looking forward to serving again at Kijabe this November and December. So let’s get into the “news”.
I start with a huge thank you to Drs. Garcia and Andeen for their service in January, Dr Charles and Chandra Scott with sons Caleb (17), Christian (14) and Calvin (11) for their service in June, Dr. Jeff and Renee Lawrence for their service in June and July, and Dr. Warren and Linda Bannister for serving in July. Although we had huge holes in the coverage for the first half of the year, the second half looks better. Mary Everett sent me the 2015 schedule and you will see several open months. Perhaps God could be urging you to consider short term service this coming year. Please consider whether you could help our ministry in pathology at Kijabe. And while you are thinking about mission pathology, please continue praying that God would bring a long term missionary pathologist to Kijabe. What a joy it would be to work with a colleague that would accept the challenge of long term service in Kijabe, providing the laboratory with that stability that comes with a continued presence.
Now for some exciting news of the improvements that have taken place in Kijabe. Many of you who have served in the past will recognize the left picture as the “Grossing Room“ sink, and many of you have memories of the unreliable and inconsistent water supply to the lab, sometimes halting our work for an indefinite time during the day. Well, through the hard work of SIM Australia the funds were raised for the new 600 cubic meter water tank pictured right that is now operational for delivering bacteria-free water throughout the hospital. Dr Steere sent me this picture along with many others that document the life of the Kijabe mission. Have some fun and check out the other pictures at https://www.facebook.com/AICKijabeHospital .
The work of building the Bethany Kid’s Children’s Center continues, and its opening is now projected to be near the beginning of the year. A few pictures are inserted here to document the progress. One of the coolest ideas I think is the incorporation of the “River of Life” in one of the major walkways of the new
children’s hospital. I can’t wait until I can see the finished work. God is abundantly blessing the Kijabe community.
The picture above is from the June 25 visit to the hospital by The Bishop of Africa Inland Church, Rev. Silas. After the tour he proclaimed, "What you are doing as a hospital is remarkable!" All of us have witnessed it too on our past tours of service at Kijabe. He toured both the hospital and the in-progress Bethany Kid's Children's Center. The tour was led by Jim Taubitz (Project Co-Coordinator) and accompanied by the hospital's board members, senior management, and Kijabe station heads of RVA, CURE, BK and the Printing Press.
Year end contributions: As you may recall we now have a project fund number 002585 at Samaritan's Purse for the purpose of supporting Kijabe Pathology in two ways... 1) financial airfare support for pathology residents/fellows interested in working and experiencing the practice of pathology in an international field along side of a serving short term missionary pathologist, 2) low cost items that we often appreciate but find in low supply or in need of replacing, such as the office computer, printer, ink supplies, long 25 gauge needles for FNAs, scissor replacements, etc. Your gifts are tax deductible and receipts will be promptly issued for documentation. An accounting of the use of the funds will be given in the last quarter of 2014. If this would be an interest to you, there are three ways to make a donation:
1) Donation by Mail: make your check out to "World Medical Missions, Kijabe project # 002585" and send it to World Medical Mission, Attention: Mary Everett, P.O. Box 3000, Boone, NC 28607,
2) Online Donation: link http://www.samaritanspurse.org/medical/wmm-doctors/ , or go to www.samaritanspurse.org and do the following… a) from the menu across the top hover mouse over “Support”, b) in the second column under “other Opportunities” click on “Support a Physician”, c) type in
Kijabe Pathology and follow prompts. This will get into the Kijabe Project Fund 002585.
3) Donate by Phone: Use your credit card to donate by calling Donor Ministries department at 828-278-1555, Monday–Friday from 8:30 AM–4:30 PM EST. You will need the project code number 002585 available when calling.
Please consider this year’s end for donations, and please recommend doctors who may benefit from some degree of financial assistance, or make suggestions for needed improvements in capital items for the laboratory.
With this, I will bring this newsletter to a close, again thanking you for your interests in Kijabe. Pray for God’s continual blessings and the protection of all His children, young and old alike. And I would be remiss to not thank you for your prayers on my behalf as well. God is good!
By His grace,
Lee