Maisha International's Blog

We have just concluded one awesome week of Vocational Bible Study at Maisha, led by Sara Branson and her mission team!  Their group was comprised of members from OBU, high school and Nairobi – Sara Branson & her sister Cara, Daidra Gaines, Evans Okeyo and Jared Odhiambo.

During the bible study, everyone was amazed the kids had such a good working knowledge of the Word.  They were able to answer every question the team threw at them.  They also distributed 68 bibles to the kids, praise God!We had a glorious church service at Maisha and all the kids gathered for a red hot gospel message delivered by Evans Okeyo.  Sara, Cara and Daidra then presented some songs.  The kids were divided into groups for discussion with the main topic being faith.  Each group made a presentation of what they got from the discussion.

One memorable day they categorized the children into groups and gave them clay to mould whatever they wanted. The children were very creative and the winning group molded a one man guitarist presenting a song.  Later in the evening we all moved to Omungi school play ground to play soccer.

The week long activity came to an end with the Maisha kids planting trees around the compound.  We are indeed grateful to the Oklahoma team for having Maisha at heart.

We are now looking forward to the upcoming youth rally and talent show next week.
Thank you for all the support you give us!

Joshua Ouko
Kenya Maisha Program Manager

Testing Orphans for HIV

Day 3

Today the in the clinic we treated 156 patients. Today 80% of our patients were tested with severe Malaria.

The computer lab process is coming along well.  They are almost done with putting up sockets in the community center and tomorrow they will be putting up the solar panels yeah.

HIV/AIDs

We are still in the process of testing all the Maisha kids of HIV/AIDs.  So far we have tested 30 kids I am already heartbroken since some of my favorite kids have tested positive.

DAY FOUR:

The solar panels are up and the computer lab is in its finishing! We were even able to skype from the community center in the village! The next phase is figuring out how to set up wifi in the computer center. Our goal is to start  computer classes and teach the children in our program to be familiar with computers as they grow up!

The clinic is going well, we are almost out of funding for our medicine. In three days we have seen roughly 400 people through our clinic and we still have two days left. At the end of each day we have to turn people away and tell them to come back early the next day.

Tomorrow we will meet with Moses to see the final sketch of the Wynter Griffis House. We are hoping to break ground sometime in the next week!

We are still testing our kids for HIV everyday to complete their health records in their profiles. This is a great opportunity for us and also heart breaking at the same time.

Movie night is on Saturday night and the kids couldn’t be more excited. This will be the first time that we wont have to use a generator since our solar panels are up and running!

Wynter Griffis

New Microscope!

Day 1:

 On our first day in Kisumu our team got settled into St. Anna’s Guest House. We were then met by Dr. Wiclife to figure out our game plan for the medical clinic. We went into town to buy the medicine and supplies such as the new awesome microscope! Shortly after our trip into the city, our team member Wynter got sick and had to return to the guest house where she ended up throwing up and sleeping for the rest of the day. After some prayer and rest she was 100% again.

Day 2: 

We started our clinic today! Having our three nurses from the states along with Dr Wiclife and his team made today a huge success. We saw 100 people in the clinic and 70% tested positive for severe malaria. Out of the 10 kids we tested from the Maisha program, 9 tested positive for HIV. Although these are hard results, this is exciting breakthrough because we were able to accurately test and treat the people from the community.

Going Green! 
Today the men worked on wiring, lights, sockets and installing light bulbs in the community center! Tomorrow we will be looking at putting up the solar panels as well as testing the computers out in the village.

Today we fed 285 children through our feeding program. We were able to feed them maize and beans and tomorrow we will be feeding the children rice and beans.

Girl’s Dormitory- Tomorrow we will be strategically planning where to build the girl’s dorm. After this is established we will be able to start breaking ground for the new structure at Maisha.

We are in the process of updating all the profiles on the kids at Maisha. Tomorrow we will be updating them all with current health records so we can better serve the children.

Wynter Griffis

Ibrahim Beats the Drum

Just watched an older film Beat the Drum.  You can watch it instantly on netflix right now.  Amazing depiction of HIV/AIDS & the devastation it has & is still spreading across the continent of Africa.  I watched it when it came out in 2003, but really had no concept of how true it is.  Now that I’ve seen firsthand, it brings this film to a whole new level.  It addresses the situation on so many levels and is a beautifully done film as well.  It carries a message of education and truth, but the best part is the hope it leaves you with in the end.  I highly recommend you watch it, even if it is one you’ve already seen.  And for those who watch it you’ll understand when I say one of the projects we need to do at Maisha is build a playground.

After a full week of serving the women and children of Maisha, our entire group was sad to see our journey come to an end. Throughout the course of the week we were able to work with three different ministries within Maisha International that allowed us the opportunity to see a wide spectrum of the need in the Kisumu area. We worked with the orphanage, the prison, and the slum/home visit ministries. Our hearts were touched by the many people that we had the honor to serve and pray over. It was a general consensus among the team that one of the most awesome things about the people of Kisumu is their joy in the midst of sorrow! It is a deep joy that resonates so strongly that you cannot help but desire that same passion that they have for God. It is truly a beautiful thing to listen to small children who have nothing, tell you that we must be strong and patient and wait on the Lord. This joy was also very evident in the lives of the people who keep Maisha running. The men and women who take care of the children and cook for them never stop working and giving. They live out the call of Christ in the way they give and sacrifice for so many. I was so blessed to serve alongside some amazing women in the kitchen. We shared tears of sadness, joy and laughter that I will treasure forever.

On our last night at Maisha, Mama Grace, stood before us and told us how much she appreciated us. She then proceeded to present each of the members on our team with bracelets that looked like the African flag and another one that had our names on them. It was a very beautiful and humbling moment for our team. Along with Mama Grace’s words, many of the Maisha workers stood up to share their appreciation and offer words of prayer. It was a very emotional time as we sat and reflected on the week’s events. We were each blessed by many special people who will forever be held safely in our hearts!

Praise God for what He is doing and how He is working!

“If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the Lord will guide you and satisfy your desire in a sun scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.” Isaiah 58:10-11

Photo by Paul Colley

During this trip we started a Bible study for the widows at Maisha. This Bible study was led by Mama Helen (one of our team members).   Helen spent over three hours a day sharing the Word of God to the women and teaching them how to be open with each other. We were also able to buy 42 Bibles in Luo, which is their native tongue, which will allow them to study the precious words of our Savior! The class had an average of 40+ women a day and they were all hungry to hear the hope that Jesus offers!

One of the most beautiful things that this Bible study produced is the willingness of the women to now start their own Bible study. They were very hungry to hear the words of encouragement; and when the Bibles were passed out, the women almost created a riot as the scrambled to get a copy. It was a very emotional scene to witness. It was evident that the Word of God was a vital necessity in their lives.

May we each have a desire and hunger for God’s Word like the women at Maisha.

“Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near” Isaiah 55:6

Photo by Paul Colley

Well I just have to say that our God is so sovereign and perfect in the way He works things out! Our team came to Kenya with the intention of taking a Safari at the end of our ten day visit. After seeing the needs of so many children and families our hearts were broken and changed! We could not imagine going on a trip when there were so many other things we could do to support the people. We decided to stay at the orphanage an extra day and we are using the extra money to buy a motorbike or “piki piki” for Maisha! This will allow the women transportation to and from town to get food and aid them in taking sick children to the hospital!

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6:34

Photo by Paul Colley

One of the most rewarding experiences so far has been going on home visits in the villages and slums. The first visit we did was to a man who has HIV/Aids and was suffering from many other health issues. We huddled around him as a team inside his hut and prayed over him and his sweet wife. We gave him a small bottle of medicine to try to help with the pain he was experiencing from many other ailments. Please continue to pray for the needs of his family as he fights through the sickness in his body.

When we went to the slums we met a woman named Janet who used to be a caregiver to HIV patients, but was unfortunately in a car wreck last October leaving her unable to walk or get around. We found out that she had broken her leg in three places and had not had surgery because she was unable to pay. She had been lying on her couch without pain medicine since October with two broken legs. Our team prayed over her and committed to do something to take care of her surgery. Janet received Christ last year, but our team had the opportunity to baptize her! Her tears of joy and words of strength will forever be imprinted on our hearts.

Overall the home visits produced 5 salvations and 1 baptism into the Kingdom of God. Praise Him for His faithfulness and deliverance!

“Jesus turned, and seeing her said, “Take heart daughter, your faith has made you well.”And instantly the woman was made well.” Matthew 9:22

Photo by Paul Colley

One of the most important things for the children at Maisha is the crops that need to be planted for food. When we arrived in Kisumu we were told that they were in a drought and had not seen significant rain since November of last year. As we drove past farms we noticed how dry everything was all around us. David, one of the members on our team, was planning on coming to follow up on Bruce Edward’s training to help the widows by teaching them how to plant and farm so they would be able to have home grown food. We were unsure how well the project would go because the land was so dry; so we started to pray that the Lord would bring rain. Amazingly God showed us His faithfulness the same day! As soon as we pulled into Maisha it started to rain!!!!!!!!!!

Since that day it has now rained three days in a row and David was able to plant 38 rows of vegetables! God not only blessed the people with rain, He continued to shower them with many more blessings that will nourish their bodies for days to come!

“He turns desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water. And there He lets the hungry dwell, and they establish a city to live in; they sow fields and plant vineyards and get a fruitful yield.” Psalm 107:35-37

Photo by Paul Colley

When our team arrived to Kenya we were told that we were going to be taking part in a medical clinic to help the local people around the Maisha Orphanage. Several of our team members took turns in the medical clinic working with over 350 patients. There were several local doctors, nurses and pharmacists who volunteered some of their time to work with the people who traveled miles to receive help. Of the 350 patients, 20 of them were malnourished children who greatly benefited from the services. In the process of working in the clinic we were introduced to a little boy who had been bitten by a dog; which left an open and infected wound on his lower leg. The clinic was unable to treat him because they did not have access to the shot he needed for rabies. The grandmother was unable to pay for the services at the hospital; so our team decided that this was a need we could not ignore.

Days later the little boy and his grandmother were back at Maisha for a hot meal and the little boy’s leg was looking a lot better.

The medical clinic was very heartbreaking because we saw so many women and children in need of basic care that we receive so easily in the States.

Praise God for His this ministry and for the people who were willing to offer up time and service to meet the needs of so many!

“But He was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His stripes we are healed” Isaiah 53:5