2 June 2008 - Good news, Amazing News...
Good news, Amazing News, Symphonies and Tragedies
2 June 2008 Holiday for Madaraka Day: 1 June, commemorates the day that Kenya attained internal self-rule in 1963, preceding full independence on 12 December 1963.
“All shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well.” Julien of Norwich “No matter what!” Madeleine L’Engle
Indeed, all shall be well. The teams that have visited Maua in the past have seen the Sunday School class that the children of St. Joseph’s Methodist Church use. They outgrew the classroom almost from the first day it was used. We have 200 - 300 children in Sunday School each Sunday morning, 10am – 12noon, during Swahili Workshop Service. When we arrived in Maua in Feb. 2007 the church was talking about finishing the upstairs of the Disability Center to use for the SS class. There were frequent announcements requesting funds and finally one person asked that the church be serious and complete the class. A day was chosen to raise the funds and the funds were raised and the upstairs was finished. However, the work was poorly done and the cement floor needed to be broken and redone. During this time a team came with some money for the Sunday School class. That and other money raised was used to redo the floor and complete the SS class. On 4 May 2008 the classroom was used for the first time. I went to visit the Sunday School teachers on 18 May and stood in complete awe as the children filed out of the classroom and down the stairs. They just kept coming and coming and coming. I counted over 300. On 25 May I took my camera and went and took pictures before the Swahili service began. There weren’t many children there then but I wanted to show you their beautiful new classroom.
Children in the classroom The class set up for Sunday morning
Yesterday in our Swahili Worship service a young man made an announcement that had many of us most excited and thankful. He began by asking what Maua meant. Everyone said it meant “flower”. He asked if Maua looked like a flower and everyone laughed and said, “No!” He then went on to say that it was time Maua looked like a flower. That Maua was the dirtiest town in Eastern Province and it was time concerned citizens cleaned up the town. He said we couldn’t wait for someone else to do it, it was up to us. The young man is part of a new environmental group that is trying to start activities that will ultimately be carried out by communities.
A clean Maua could change things radically. If the community changed it would be easier to recruit staff for the hospital, especially doctors. It could help bring workshops and seminars from all over Kenya to Maua as we have ideal weather, the hills surrounding the town are gorgeous and we have the Basin Hotel that could accommodate the groups. I have much hope as I could see in the church service many people who were excited and willing to help. And as the young man said, “ All it takes is a new attitude and a few and we will be a flower.” “All shall be well!”
On Saturday Bill and I went to Meru Park. We didn’t go to see animals but to escape the noise of Maua on a Saturday. Noise pollution is becoming a daily problem but Saturday and Sunday it is difficult to have even a moment of peace and quiet. Small churches are springing up everywhere in Maua. We have two directly across the street from us. The new churches are usually a small zinc building approximately 10 X 20 feet that can seat about 20 people. Their first purchase is a loud speaker that is placed on the outside of the building and a battery operated microphone. This guarantees that people who live within a Km will hear them. At one of the church, the young pastor starts singing, preaching, teaching and praying in tongues between 5:30am and 6am and goes for 30 – 60 minutes. Two weeks ago the other church across from us had an all night prayer meeting that all of us heard and it seems that started a competition and many of the churches are having prayer meetings all Friday night for our hearing. Recently a new church was opened that worships on Saturday. They are a distance from us but we can clearly hear them from 8am – 5pm on Saturday. Noise has always been a problem but never to this extent. We are grateful people are praying and worshipping God, but we do wish they could do it quietly with their own congregation. So we drove to Meru Park, 28 Km. from our front door. It took us 1 hour to get there but they are working on the road and soon it will take half that time.
We saw more animals than we have ever seen. We had a most wonderful experience while sitting in a camping area reading. It seemed that suddenly birds flew into the numerous trees near us and began to sing their special song. A gorgeous superb starling who was looking for food sat at the top of our grass covered shelter and sang a most gorgeous solo. After about 15 minutes Bill and I decided we were listening to the most beautiful symphony we had ever heard. The sweetness of the mixed melodies, brought a joy I have seldom felt and seemed to lift our spirits in ways we couldn’t have imagined. A few of the birds we noticed performing for us were yellow and red horn bills, Buffalo weavers, superb starlings, a Go-Away bird, wagtails, doves, and red eye pigeons.
The symphony lasted for more than one hour. Bill and I read a bit but mostly listened and watched. As I was watching a yellow horn bill hop across the field in front of us, I noticed an animal about 100 yards from where we were sitting. Bill looked up and suddenly we realized we were watching a male lion walk from the road to the river. We were in absolute awe. He turned and looked at us as we looked at him and then went on his journey to the river. Two of the Park Reserve workers came running over to us to ask, “If we had seen the lion?” (We had never seen a lion in Meru Park.) We said we had and one of the men said, “He had never seen a lion in the campsite area and he had been there a long time.” In fact, the two men had been doing some slashing just 15 minutes before directly in the path of the lion.
As I continued listening to the symphony and thinking about the lion we had seen, I suddenly had the overwhelming feeling that there must have been many of you praying for us on Saturday. Please know there is no day we don’t experience the power of your prayers. As we drove home from the park Saturday, we felt renewed, joyful and especially thankful to you and to God. Only God could give us such beauty in the music of the birds and the awesome lion. I had recently read Psalm 89. It begins with these words; “Your love God, is my song, and I’ll sing it.” Indeed I felt like I was swimming in God’s love. What a wondrous gift! “Things shall be well.”
Those of you that have been on our email list for sometime might remember an email I wrote about a dear friend of ours, Kamui (March 23, 2007). Kamui was the cleaner who picked up all the trash from all the units in the hospital using a wheelbarrow. We watched him daily wearing his long plastic apron and going from trash bin to trash bin collecting all the trash and carefully covering it with a plastic cover and carting if off to be burned. He was such a hard worker who always had a smile on his face. He seemed to exude pride in his work.
He retired in 2002. He has a very small plot of land that he farms. He has Congestive Heart Failure and often visits us as he sees the doctor. This year we visited his home and met his wife and daughter, son-in-law and their children. Kamui always has the most wonderful smile and when I saw his home and land, I wondered how he had such a smile. Obviously, he has learned the secret of having joy whether he has much or nothing and being thankful for everything!
Last Sunday he came to our home to talk to Bill. He only speaks Ki-Meru but sometimes Bill can understand what he wants. However, Bill could not figure out what he was saying. Thus, he returned on Monday when we would have someone to interpret. He explained to Bill that his daughter was pregnant and went into labor and they took her to the District Hospital. (The District Hospital has a maternity in-patient ward but no other ward. As a Government Hospital/Health Center it is cheaper than our hospital.) He didn’t know what happened but his daughter and the baby died that day. Kamui wept. When I heard the news I could not stop crying. I do not know what happened but I believe had she come to Maua Methodist Hospital to deliver her baby, she would be alive today. Had we known, we would have been happy to pay her hospital bill. I can’t stop thinking about her young children left without a mother. Please pray for Kamui and the family. “All manner of things shall be well. No matter what!”
Jerri & Bill Savuto
savuto@maf.or.ke
Maua Methodist Hospital
Box 63, Maua 60600
Igembe, Kenya
"Gain all you can without either hurting yourself or your neighbor, in soul or body, by applying hereto with unintermitted diligence, and with all the understanding which God has given you. Save all you can, by cutting off every expense which serves only to indulge foolish desire, to gratify either the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eye, or the pride of life. Waste nothing, living or dying, on sin or fully, whether for yourself or your children. And then, give all you can, or in other words give all you have to God." John Wesley