Jep Korir

Well, apparently I am officially a Kenyan, because I was given the name Jep Korir. Jep, because I’m a girl, and Korir, because I was born early in the morning (at least I think I was) :). Here, they name babies according to the circumstances surrounding the birth, whether it be what time they were born, how long the labor was, where the birth took place etc. It gets a bit confusing at times. Hanna couldn’t remember when she was born so she just picked the name Jep Kamoi (a girl born in the evening).
This last weekend was a crazy one. We drove down to the valley to visit the Pokot people and conduct a medical clinic. Saturday morning we got up at 4 am to shower and load the car so that we could be on the road by 5. It was still dark outside and pretty cold. Trying to organize 18 people with their personal items along with all the medical supplies was a bit tricky, but Kyle is a master packer and had it done very quickly with a lot of our stuff strapped to the top of the vehicles. Kapsowar, the town where we have been staying, is located in the mountains, and in order to get to the valley, we had to drive down the mountain on roads that were actually laughable most of the way and made us thankful that the cars had four wheel drive. For the first part of the trip, we were on a black top road that consisted of mostly switch back turns that caused us to be on top of each other most of the time. The next part of the road (if you can call it a road) was steep downhill, made of completely rocks, boulders actually, and river beds. It is hard to describe because I’ve never driven on anything like it. We drove down with the side of the mountain on the right and a complete drop off on the left. Some of the people with us were getting car sick, but we loved it because the view was unbelievable! Down the sides of the mountains were farms, mainly corn, and you can hardly imagine the people carrying heavy loads and harvesting their crops on a 45 degree angle. I have such a respect for these people. We tried to take pictures, but because of the boulders we were driving over, it was difficult to get a clear picture and when we were finally able to snap a good one, the camera just could not capture the depth and perspective that can only be seen with the eyes. The last part of the drive I can only describe as what you would think it would be to be on an African safari: small roads (or paths) in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by Acacia trees and African landscape. Despite all the bumps and craters we had to drive through, it was amazing. I kept thinking, where else could you have this kind of experience, and how many people outside of this area have actually seen it. Even the Kenyans who traveled with us had never been as interior into the bush as we went.
We finally made it to the church that we were teaming up with and unloaded our luggage to start the clinic. Pastor Steven is a Kenyan missionary that moved to the area 4 years ago. When he moved there, there was not one Christian. Now, his church is slowly growing and he is seeing fruit of his labor. There are, however, still many unreached people that are still in the dark and even still practice female circumcision. We really have to keep that area in prayer! The church is literally in the middle of nowhere and the nearest “village” is 15 or 20 kilometers away. It is centrally located though, so it serves many communities. As a result, people had to walk so far to come to the clinic! It’s amazing what people will go through to get health care or go to church. It makes me wonder if those of us in America are as passionate in our faith.
Hanna and I switched off doing triage and helping with the kids. I have never seen so many babies at one time! It seemed as if all of the mothers were carrying a baby, as if they all had them at the same time. :) We were able to bring vaccinations for the children and the parents were so thankful. We saw mostly women and children; apparently the men all usually live together while farming and working with the livestock and rarely come home to their families. Their culture is slowly changing to a more western one, but we still saw some people with the huge beaded necklaces, huge earrings, braided hair, and traditional “elders seats” that the older men carry around for themselves. We had chai everywhere we went and sometimes even with camel milk! They were so polite and patient, such a sweet people that welcomed us with open arms.
That night the Jones Family, Hanna, and I all slept in a five person tent- what an experience! Some of the team members did not bring bedding, so we lent ours to them, which allowed for a very cold, rocky night for us. In the morning, we went to Sunday school for the children at the church and later played with them and handed out sweets. We then broke, again, for chai and later to the main church service. The church consists of a wooded pole frame, covered with tin roofing and walls. There were probably around twenty-five adults who came and most of our team members were able to share their testimonies and some of us even did a little mime for the people. The service lasted for almost three and a half hours and they still wanted to continue! But we had to get home before dark.
We finally made it home and when we got out of the car, we were covered in dirt. Our white t-shirts were turned brown. We cleaned up, happy to have a hot shower and watched the finals of the World Cup (we both were falling asleep during the game because we were so tired from the day).
Well, one more week in Kapsowar! Today is Monday and Hanna homeschooled the boys and made a birdhouse while I helped Vanessa with all of the laundry from the weekend. We will still be going to the hospital for the rest of the week and hopefully get to see some babies be born. There were five born yesterday! We are having a great time here and are so happy to be with the Jones family. They are such an inspiration as they serve the Lord and community here in Kapsowar!