I’m writing this as I sit in a small room with no air conditioner, mosquito net over the bed, and bugs flying and crawling all over the place. I am in Ahero, Kenya, and the room is at the guesthouse me and the other members of my team are staying. Every morning for the past twelve days or so, we wake up to the sound of a rooster; eat our breakfast of stale bread, jam, and hardboiled eggs with our instant coffee and hot goat’s milk. We load up the vans and head about an hour away to the Nayakach plateau outside the town of Katito to provide clinical services to the Luo people, plant fruit trees for orphans and elders, install water collection gutters and tanks so these people may have clean drinking water, and share with them the goodness and grace that God has for us.
About nine months ago, I was in contact with Dr. Lisa Baker about recently getting accepted into Boston University’s Master of Arts in Medical Science program. I was thanking her for writing me a recommendation and helping me throughout the application process, and being there for me and encouraging me to not give up on my dream of becoming a physician one day. She mentioned in an email that she is taking a group of Baylor students to Kenya to provide medical and public health services to the people and asked if I’d like to come along. Without any hesitation or thought to what I was getting myself into, I quickly responded “yes” and began inquiring about what I need to do in order for me to go.
I graduated from Baylor in May 2008, was a member of the football team for five seasons, but never thought about going on a mission trip to a country on the other side of the planet. The experience can only be summed up in one word, “amazing.” I’m in a country I never thought I would see, interacting with a people I knew nothing about, and learning about myself along the way. I feel so blessed to be here and experience all that I have so far. The resiliency these people have to wake up every morning in their huts made of mud and straw give me strength to hike up and down a plateau along steep and treacherous paths to install gutters on a house or plant seedlings in an orphan’s yard. In our makeshift clinic and lab, Dr. Baker and her team are working diligently to cure children with Malaria who would have died otherwise if we had not come. I am just a small part of the larger effort that is taking place here to help the poorest of the poor, the sickest of the sick, and those who otherwise had been forgotten. Thanks to Pastor Habil, Dr. Baker, and the people of Bethlehem home, orphans and elders have food, clean drinking water, and a chance to live long healthy lives. The people here opened their hearts and homes to us and welcomed us into their family. Towards the end of each day, I spent an hour or so just playing with the children, they like to be picked up and tossed in the air and spun around, and if anything, just hearing them laugh and seeing them smile when life for them is harder than we could ever imagine, has made this trip worth it in every sense. I love the Luo people and the people of the Nayakach plateau, they are my family and friends, and I will leave here knowing I learned more from them than they learned from me.


Ted Tanner
Baylor University c/o 2008, BS Education
Boston University School of Medicine c/o 2010, MA Medical Science Candidate

Currently living in Boston, attending Boston University School of Medicine and pursuing a degree in Medical Science. I graduated from Baylor in May 2008 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Education, major in Health Science Studies. I was member of the Baylor football team from 2003-2007.

Baylor Pre-Med in Africa

Day 15

Thirty-one pre-med students, one doctor, one anthropologist and two lab technicians add up to H-O-P-E for a rural community of elders and orphans in Western, Kenya. They’ve treated nearly 700 patients, planted fruit trees at more than 50 homes and installed gutters and cisterns to improve rainwater harvesting for fresh drinking water. One Day 15, this is what we want the world to know (in no particular order):

Two May graduates became engaged during the trip. (see post by the future Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Waller)

We danced for nearly 30 minutes with our Kenyan friends, learning their tribal dance steps.

We butchered and bar-b-cued a ram.

We are afraid to return home for fear we will not be as happy in America as we are here.

We look forward to returning home for the peace we anticipate in sharing with everyone all that’s happened.

We are grateful to have Joell (BU Spiritual Life) and Robbie Rogers (Baylor Photography) with us for the energy and support they’ve provided.

Our goal for this trip was not to fix or change anyone, but to fulfill God’s plan. We are on His time.

We are a limited people who cannot resolve every medical need. Nonetheless, God is in control and omnipotent. His agenda for a life does not always match our own. And we accept that.


- Petra Carey is a dyed-in-the-fur Baylor Bear and serves as coordinator of communications, summer programs and external relations for the Honors College at Baylor.

Poverty in Kenya

Today I was taken by Pastor Edward of the Kibera Transformation and Development Program into the Kibera Slum. The slum is home to over one million people living in poverty. They live off on average $1 per day. They live in one room homes made of mud with tin roofs. For electricity they tie into the nearest power line for water they travel to rain water collection bins distributed throughout the slum. We were able to visit the home of the receptionist and handyman if KTDP. He expressed his joy at having us visit with him, his love of the people he ministers to, and his desire to see us again. With the modest wage he earns, he supports his wife and two brothers. The joy he has and his love of the lord and desire to bring more people to Christ was inspiring. I know in my own life when I have minor set backs, problems at work, or with my car, or I am just having a bad day I can wallow in my self pity and yet this man has so little and still gives so much.

At KTDP they have opened a preschool and trade school for women. We spent about an hour with the children. We sang songs to them and they sang songs to us. We acted out the story of Daniel and the Lions Den to them and they gave us a tour of their school. These children have nothing. They live in one room buildings with many other people, they play in heaps of trash, they could walk miles to school and yet they are full of joy and love. I have everything I need and my son gets everything he wants and I don’t think either of us exhibits the joy these children showed us today. The school was crowded and yet they have recently lost fifty percent of their student body when they had to increase the school fee from $5 to $10 dollars per month. The trade school teaches women to sew, embroider, and how to style hair. They to have seen a drop in attendance due to increased fees. The women learn to sew using paper bags because they can not afford enough fabric to practice on.

I hope after today I will think twice before complaining about the thirty minutes it takes me to drive to work when these people walk up to ten miles to their jobs only to earn $1 per day. I hope that I will be able to teach my son to appreciate what he has after visiting with those that have nothing. Most of all I hope that I can find the joy in my life of advantage that these people have in their lives with so little.

- Eric Weeden, Research and Grants Coordinator for the Baylor School of Social Work. This is his first trip to Africa, part of the 13-person mission team.

Mission projects in Kenya

While hundreds of Baylor students are on mission trips around the globe, here is one group's story. Written by Lady Bear's Melissa Jones, who ventured out into the early morning with her team to meet with and feed street children in downtown Nairobi, Kenya. So moved by the experience and story from one she met, Melissa untied her own laces and gave away her own pair of shoes. You may notice she is barefoot in the photo of her, at the top of this posting.






Jambo!!!!

Today has been such a powerful day. This morning our sports ministry team of 28 members woke up at 5 and went to feed the children on the streets. It was such a moving experience to see the struggles so many people face on an everyday basis. Many of the children are so inspirational as they wish to get on their feet and to do things such as go back to school. It brings tears to my eyes to see what they have to go through. At times it was hard to watch as some children were “high” off of glue. It was hard to see it but it was how they mentioned it would get rid of their pain. God is working wonders in their lives though as well as ours. A strong man in faith named Pastor Boniface was there to lead us through it all. He actually manages feeding the children during the week in the morning and brings them in to not just feed them but to talk about God. He is such an inspiration to all of us to see how patient he is to deal with all the problems he faces. He even does as much as bring boys of the streets and bring them into his own home to help get them started. He also sends many off to school and clearly it shows how strong he is during these times. We appreciate all that he does but most importantly thank God for all he is doing in all of our lives.
This entire week and a half that we have been here has been such a life changing experience. Most people have the image of us coming to Africa to help and change people over here. If I have learned one thing however it is that the people here have changed me. Whether it be going to a school, orphanage, or even washing feet from chiggers, I have been extremely impacted. All the stories I have been told clearly make me realize that things at home are not what I now call a “struggle”. I thank God for helping our team make a difference here, but also for the positive change that is going on in my life as well.

Blessings,
MJ


Melisa Jones is a senior majoring in speech communication and is on the Lady Bears basketball team. She’s from Thornton, CO and this is her second trip to Kenya.

Our Sunday in Uganda

Another experience

Leaving behind Kampala, we exchanged the streets filled with “boda-bodas” (motorbikes) and lined with small shops for country roads still filled with “boda-bodas” but lined with lush, sloping farmlands. The road led us to Jinja, another well-traveled city of Uganda known for the nearby source of the Nile. We visited the large springs that afternoon via a packed wooden boat, but our primary destination was a local church that serves as a Compassion base for the area.
After a few minor navigating missteps, we found ourselves stepping off the bus to church overflowing with Compassion children who greeted us with a number of songs and dances. We returned the favor (though in a much less exuberant or flavorful manner), and proceeded to worship our one Lord and Savior together. I was marked by the moment where I sat down on the pew amidst a huddle of faces who were staring expectantly at the “mzungu” (white person) who was staring just as expectantly back at each of them. In that split-second I felt the awkwardness that comes right before the breaking of a barrier that previously blocked a God-intended oneness of His people.
After worship my group was ushered into the home of one the Compassion boys who lives with his mom. Though we saw her pride in her plant-selling business of which she made 1,000 Uganda shillings last week (less than a dollar), her heart for her son rang throughout the 10’ by 10’ home as she told of the passing of three other sons as well as her husband. However, her grip on the faithfulness of her Lord and Provider rang even louder as she works using what God has given and gives back all the glory.
Finally, the Lord would not let me leave without being reminded of the simple joy that oozes from the smiles of children as we joined the kids in a carnival consisting of face and nail painting, jump ropes, sack-races, bubbles, a Ugandan dominated soccer match and lots and lots of stickers.

Matt Larsen
Class of 2012
Journalism Major
Hometown: Katy, Texas
First time to Uganda and Africa