Blog Archives

June 22, 2018 by Eleanor Lilly After recovering (somewhat) from jet lag and the seven hour time difference, our team was excited for our first full day in Kenya! Vinton, the head of Nazareth Hospital’s pastoral counseling department, came to greet us at the guest house, where we are staying on Nazareth Hospital grounds. We walked with Vinton for a tour of the hospital facility, just a few hundred feet from the guest house. I was surprised by the size of the hospital, with a NICU, surgery recovery and prep rooms, a maternity ward, as well ...

I am over two weeks into my trip in Kiambu, Kenya. I have been able to make great relationships with many Kenyan employees at Nazareth Hospital, Joy Village orphanage, Allamano School, and the Holy Family Center HIV clinic. I’ve also had the opportunity to befriend patients, orphaned children, school children, and HIV positive individuals. These experiences have been nothing short of heavenly. Each one presents a unique story that I hope will touch the hearts of many and generate greater interest in addressing both the immense need and the ...

I spent Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at Joy Village. This was an amazing experience, and I had the opportunity to meet some truly special people. All day Thursday and Friday I helped Dr. Talty perform physicals for the children. Despite this being the first time I had met them, after looking at their charts and hearing their stories, it was very cool to see the progress they have made over the years both physically and socially. When we finished the physicals I was able to go outside, play with the kids, talk to them, and form bonds that I ...

The team arrived at Nairobi International Airport late Sunday, June 25th. The prayers for safe travels were felt as we traveled thousands of miles from our respective homes in Virginia. On Monday the 27th the team awoke very late because of jet lag and took a walk through the nearby tea fields. It had been many years since I had seen Kenyan tea fields, having traveled to Kenya with my family in late 2007. We witnessed God’s beauty in the picturesque scenery and kind people we passed as we strolled through the tea fields. On Tuesday June 27th, ...

  The Allamano School, on the grounds of Nazareth Hospital, is a place that creates joy and opportunity for some of the neediest children in this area of Kenya. After spending a whole day there attending classes, interacting with the children, and talking with the teachers, it is easy to see and feel God in that place. During our team devotional time we, like many of you at FPC, are working our way through the ‘Living the Rhythm of Jesus’ journal on the gospel of Mark. While reading I was struck by Mark 6:34 which states, “When Jesus ...

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The thin places..... those moments the Irish refer to when the ordinary meets the eternal. Jim Wood spoke of these not long ago  and I thought how often did we have those moments on our recent two week pilgrimage to Kenya. Certainly there were relatively mundane tasks to do, government forms to fill out on each of our sixty Joy Village children, medical assessment forms, a detailed history of the events leading to the childrens' placement at JV,  plans for their future, their education and their reintegration into their communities. We had ...

Asante Sana (Thank you very much in Kiswahili) More that 30 individuals who have made the pilgrimage to Nazareth Hospital in Kenya have had their hearts touched by the top scholars from Allamano School, located on the property adjacent to Nazareth Hospital. They chose to sponsor the continuing education of one or more children upon their completion of Class 2 (our second grade) or Class 3 (our third grade) through the completion of high school (Form 4 in Kenya - our 12th grade). I had the rich privilege of visiting with 15 parents of our ...

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“Transformation is not happenstance; it is a revolution of the soul. Doing something over and over, being somewhere again and again, saying yes and yes and yes to what we said yes to before, we find, is suddenly no answer to the questions of today for us. We stop being whoever it was who began this journey. We are not now who we were. We don’t want any longer to be who we’re supposed to be. Our souls stretch to the bursting point and home becomes foreign soil. Somehow, without ever knowing that it happened, we awake to find ourselves ...

What does it mean to be sorry?  To feel sorry for someone?  You might think that we, as extremely (materially) privileged people of the Global North, would come to Africa and see (material) poverty as it doesn’t exist in the United States and feel sorry for the people here.  This is not what happened during my pilgrimage.  The people have been sorry for me.  A simple expression, a simple word, “Sorry,” has overwhelmed me through the sincerity of the mouths that have uttered it. On my return to the Joy Village following the mama’s spiritual ...

Sometimes, in the Kingdom of God you can desire to glean the spirit of another...another in the world with whom you can share the air and break bread together in laughter. That is what happened when six mazungas (white people) and nine Africans gathered at Fish Eagle in Kenya for a retreat. In the beginning, the women from the different worlds timidly approached each other. It only took about four hours into the first day before heartfelt stories of redemption, the unequipped feeling of raising children, illnesses such as HIV and cancer, and ...

Have you ever held the hand of an abandoned child? One with big, brown eyes and a pearly white smile. So loving and sweet they just melt your heart. These past two weeks have been filled with such joy. We have been welcomed by the Joy Village Children and their mamas with open hearts. They are such a loving group. You would never guess these children have lived in unsafe, neglectful environments prior to their current home. Many have been sexually and physically abused by their families of origin. Some, were even abandoned. For the past five ...

Last week, I had the pleasure of spending the night with Pennina and her ten wonderful children. As soon as I walked into her very clean home, I saw pictures of Jesus, Bible verses, and children's artwork decorating the walls. I felt right at home as God's presence filled the entire place. The children treated me like an important guest and serenaded me with songs and silly giggles. There was joy among the children as they cleaned and shined their shoes and did their homework. Pennina told me that God gave her a vision years ago that she ...

Kenya, Oct 28 Today, I talked through the disappointments of the mission field with my team members.  I also saw things that cannot be fixed clinically, such as the souls contained in the diseased or congenitally incomplete bodies of some of the patients at Nazareth Hospital.  What these individuals have already endured, I cannot imagine. Today, I met with a 21 year old man who has a congenital condition called extrophy of the bladder.  His urinary bladded was never formed in his mother's womb.  He was left with a bowl which sticks out of ...

                  We certainly live in a world moving towards “social correctness.” That’s very understandable. Yet one wonders if we are trying to remove the realities of life from our world. A quick glance at the morning paper reveals the folks who have “passed away,” “gone to a higher place,” “gone to his heavenly home.” I guess that is correct, but is something missing? Just last week I received a report from Nazareth Hospital in Nairobi. Although the report was filled with useful financial statistics my eye caught a ...

We would like to introduce you to 11 miracles. These are the newest children to arrive at Joy Children's Village. All of the children were rescued from the very northern area of Kenya where tribal wars have wreaked death, destruction and loss, leaving each of these children with no home or family to care for them. But now they are home. God is good and the Kingdom has been changed. Feast upon these miracles of our loving God.   Achuu Ambrose Angele Francis Joseph Lobeiye Mamo Naomi Papaiyo ...

Our July newsletter is available now. Read about what it means to "come of age" in Kenyan tradition, our HIV/AIDS work in remote Masai warrior country and more. Read the July newsletter here.