8th Update

This is the story of how three desperately needy children ended up in the Partners for Care apartment in Nairobi all the way from Marsabit. Pastor Hirbo felt the call from God to go to Marsabit to reach the unreached. In Novemebr Bishop David travelled to Marsabit to ordain Pastor Hirbo in the Marsabit GOA church. Haniel was with the Bishop and recorded the desperate conditions in Marsabit - lack of food, shortage of water, extreme poverty, etc. Haniel produced a compelling video and the Bishop wrote of his trip - both showing and describing the conditions of Marsabit. After seeing the video and reading the Bishop's report Partners for Care supported GOA in the hiring of a social worker in Marsabit.
Mare who is from Marsabit was just graduating from the University of Nairobi with a degree in social work and wished to return to Marsabit to help her people. She started her work in January as a social worker with Partners for Care working for Pastor Hirbo.
Within a month she had identified 125 orphans many in desperate conditions. After reading her report the other Partners for Care nurses and social workers wanted to help. They planned a trip to Marsabit on the PEACE bus in January taking nets, HIV/AIDS test kits, medications and sports evalgelism.
While there the team went to the very places described by Mare in her report. They met the orphans who she had told them about. Plans were made to move the most desperate at risk children to GOA children's homes.
Mare spent the entire month working to obtain the necessary paper work. Many of the people in Marsabit are illeterate and some children are born outside of the hospital. It is difficult to obtain "papers" for the chief to release the children. She walked 17K one way just to help rescue one of the children.
The decision was made that when Mare came to the children's conference she would travel with Sade her 18 year old sister and bring three of the orphans with her.
They travelled for 16 hours through the night to Nairobi arriving yesterday. The three children are with them. Two will go to Tumaini and the lttle boy infected with AIDS will go to Beat the Drum. They are very thin and two have very bad jiggers. Last night Njoke and her friend John spent an hour removing the jiggers from the toes of Hawo. Hawo is the. 7 year old sister of the twin babies who are birth weight at 10 months old. Hawo would cook for her family outside over a fire with one of the babies on her back. Tonight they will remove the jiggers from Dika brother to Hawo. The ends of his toes look almost destroyed by the jiggers. For those interested jiggers are white fleas that get in the skin, lay eggs multiplying. As they multiple the feet swell. And they are painful! Njokie removed them with a needle and we put her her an antibiotic.
Today David Gruber and Courtney will buy them clothes as they came with nothing except the very dirty clothes they were wearing. Pray for these specail little children that they may grow in the Lord and grow physically as Rebecca has. Rebecca also came from Marsabit in this same condition.
Blessed to be a part of GOA answering the call of God to care for the ophans, Connie
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