Yewlando returns home

Pastor Hirbo took Yewlanda back to her home yesterday. She is now jigger free, walking, playing and growing. Pastor Hirbo was greeted by the elders of the village and the chief who stood and faced the East saying a blessing to the Americans, Partners for Care and Pastor Hirbo praying for them to have a long life.

We cannot forget the condition Yewlanda was in when we did our medical camp there. She was very sick - weighing just 40% of what she should weigh, so infected with jiggers she couldn't walk and severely malnourished. And, her siblings and other children at Parkishon are in the same condition.
We want to help. We want to see that Yewlanda never returns to the condition she was in.

Parkishon children

Jiggers hurt

Dr. Joe (our doctor consultant here in Kenya) came this week to tell us of a government program called Rapid Response Initiative for jigger elimination. It began September 1 and the intent is to deploy necessary resources to treat everyone in the Nation who has jiggers in 90 days. Homes will be sprayed to kill the jiggers. Medicines, spray chemicals, etc. will be distributed throughout Kenya through the clinics.
This is very exciting but we know in any program not everyone is reached. We know the children of Parkishon are the most marginalized children and we know the health situation in Marsabit is critical. The drought has made a difficult situation even more desperate. The children of Parkishon could be missed.

Dr. Paul Farmer, well-known for his work in Haiti, says you must work through and with the governments of developing Nations to affect real change. So, we are going to Marsabit this Saturday to meet with the Ministry of Health to partner with them to reach the children of Parkishon. We will see how we can do our part while they do their part to eliminate the jiggers in this small village. Jigger elinimation involves four parts:

• Treat the people infected
• Spray their manyatta
• Shoes
• Water

We will let the people who care about the children of Parkishon know what we find out and ask for them to partner with us to help the children. Maybe our part will be to help transport the government workers to this village to spray the manyattas. Perhaps our part will be to put shoes on everyone of the children. Together we can make a difference for these children. We went there last year and treated the children with jiggers. We went there this year and treated the children with jiggers. I pray when we go there with Dr. Craig and Pat and their team in March we don't find children infected with jiggers.

Partnering to care for the least of these,

Connie
Sent via Cingular Xpress Mail with Blackberry