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Charis
Around the World
Childbirth in Kenya
by Jannekah Guya, Charis
midwifery student
Adali, Ezriel, Jannekah, Amariah and
Shiloah Guya
My Dear Charis Family,
When my Charis coach and our
newsletter editor, Susan Oshel, asked me to write for this month’s
newsletter I was so happy. Writing about Childbirth in Kenya was
always something I felt so honored to have the opportunity to do.
It’s hard to believe my last contribution was in May 2016 – nearly a
year and a half ago!
I wanted to pop in and let you all know that I have not fallen off
the face of the earth! My children and I have settled in the high
mountains of Idaho for this season, where I have been learning to
juggle being a single mother of 4 while still plugging away at my
Charis midwifery course….albeit MUCH more slowly than I would like!
For over a year now we have been working through the process of
getting a visa for my Kenyan husband so that he can join the
children and me here. After a very long and discouraging process, we
believe we are finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel and
the hope is that he will be here with us in the next couple of
months so that we can regroup as a family and follow God’s leading
in what is next for us. There have been so many times when I’ve felt
I will NEVER finish the Charis course and will never see the
fruition of my dreams of serving childbearing families and their
communities in Africa (and around the world). But my treasured
Charis mentors, friends, and sisters have been my greatest
cheerleaders and encouragement, genuinely and whole heartedly
believing in me and God’s ability to help me do it – reminding me
that “my” dreams are really HIS! I don’t take this encouragement
lightly because it comes from women who have faced as much
difficulty, if not more, in balancing motherhood and midwifery! I am
so deeply thankful.
More exciting is the news I get to share with you from Kenya! I am
thrilled and honored to get to be the one to announce that our very
own Kenyan Charis midwifery student and sister, Lilian Achieng was
married on September 30th to her wonderful husband Vinny Odhiambo!
Theirs is such a beautiful
story of God’s love and redemption and we who know and love them are
very happy for them! God has His hand on Lilian’s life in such an
amazing way and He has created her with incredible fire and strength
to impact Kenya and the world in extraordinary ways. We are so
excited that God has given her a wonderful husband and life partner
with whom she can continue fulfilling her amazing purpose.
Vinny and Lilian's wedding
Sadly, the good news from Kenya
ends there and Lilian and Vinny, my husband, our families, our
countless Charis friends, and all Kenyans need our prayers more than
ever. Kenya is currently in the midst of a severe political crisis
with no peaceful end in sight. There are currently violent protests,
police brutality, and tribal violence plaguing the country and
continuing to escalate as a battle for political power rages on.
Needless to say, a country on the brink of full on civil war puts
already vulnerable childbearing families at the gravest risk. To add
to their impossible plight, a nurses’ strike has been going on in
the country since June. More than 25,000 government nurses have left
their posts to demand uniforms, health risk allowances, and higher
pay. A low paid nurse earns about the equivalent of $200 a month.
Many government clinics have since stood abandoned and the families
most in need could never begin to pay for care at a private
facility. Most families couldn’t even afford what it would cost to
pay for their transportation to a private hospital, which in most
cases is several hours and many long, unpaved roads away from their
homes. I had a young Kenyan woman I am extremely close to contact me
just today. She has contracted an STD from her husband, whom she has
been unwaveringly faithful to. She cannot afford the $24 she needs
to treat the infection, which could effect her general health and
fertility for the rest of her life if left untreated. The
politicians who have refused the nurses’ demands, and who’s corrupt
grasps for power are tearing the country apart, are among the very
few who are fortunate enough to be able to drive their private
vehicles to private hospitals where they and their families can
afford and receive the best medical care the country has to offer.
And now the strike will go on the back burner as the country
crumbles in chaos and crisis, making the situation exponentially
more dangerous for mothers and babies and Kenyans in general.
It’s not surprising then, that a very dear Kenyan friend of mine
sent me this newspaper article on October 19th, from a Kenyan
newspaper. The numbers sited here are undoubtedly significantly
higher in reality, since the only deaths that are reported are the
ones that occur in the few hospitals that remain open. Deaths that
occur in unassisted births or in births with golden-hearted, but
undertrained and ill-equipped traditional birth attendants, go
unreported.
As helpless as I feel concerning all that’s happening in Kenya right
now and as much as my heart is broken over the current condition of
the country I love, it also spurs me on and reignites the passion
God has placed in my heart for mamas, babies, their families, and
their communities. It reminds me that the need is GREAT and that
serving childbearing communities with the heart and perspective of
Jesus can make the kind of impact that can ripple into every part of
what is broken in this world. I might not be able to relieve all the
current suffering in Kenya, but I can work hard now so that perhaps
God can use me to make that kind of a difference one day. And I can
share the little I have with one suffering woman and be thankful
that God gave me the opportunity to make a difference in her life
today. Most importantly, I take comfort in knowing that God sees it
ALL, He cares, He is able, He is loving, and He is good.
Please remember to pray for Kenya and thank you for lovingly
standing with me and with the precious people of Kenya all these
years.
“Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God.
Do not forget the helpless…
You, God, see the trouble of the afflicted;
you consider their grief and take it in hand.”
Psalm 10:12&14
Our International Charis Family
Your stories from around the world touch us and we pray for your safety.
Thanks, Love and Blessings to every one of you!
'Behold, I will bring them from the north country, And gather them
from the ends of the earth,
Among them the blind and the lame,
The woman with child and The one who labors with child, together,
A
great throng shall return there...And My people shall be satisfied with My goodness, says the LORD.'
Jeremiah 31:8, 14~~~
©2017 Charis Childbirth
Services, All Rights Reserved
Feel free to forward this newsletter to friends in its entirety,
leaving all attribution intact.
October 2017
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