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| Mary and stanley arrived in Houton texas on friday from Portland Oregon. On site to receive stanley and mary Was Colin. It was great to meet colin and joyce, they have been long time frieds of maua methodist hospital, they have been so kind and generous to us. on sunday the day was quite busy- we spoke in the 9 am service ,11 am and the conteperary service s for the young people. both mary and I had a rare opportunity to address these wonderful congregations. later in the evening the people who had come to maua gathered for dinner and presentation, we presented the programs and activities carried out by MMH. it was great to visit with the new people and the old people and those coming to kenya in 2010. We are thankful to all those who have made our visit such a success. God bless you. We shall spend two weekd in houston area and then move to north carolina. Stan.. | | |
| The Maua Methodist Hospital is now a member of Facebook! Please visit our Facebook Fan Page at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Maua-Kenya/Maua-Methodist-Hospital/196013758012
and visit Stanley Gitari's Facebook Page at:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/profile.php?id=1464672747
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| MARY AND STANLEY : VISIT IN GERMAN TOWN TENNESSEE Greetings from Oklahoma city in the name of our lord jesus christ and redeemer. The lord
has been wonderful. the people have been so great, they have been treating us with a lot of
respect. Our hosts here in oklahoma city- Rev. Robert and Prudy Gorrell have such
wonderful peopleto us- they have been driving us all over the places and taking us to the
airport and collecting us. we have no better words to thank them.
We have just come back from GUMC- We had very wonderful time there with our friends
there- on the first day the hosted a special reception party on our behalf where they had
invited all the big donars who had donated funds to maua and the team mission activities, i
would think we had over 100 people- doctors,business people and other proffessionals. it
was a great evening- the team shown the video of maua when they there in 2008 as people
were vising. Met the doctors who had donated some of the orthopaedic equipments and the
eye clinic.
on the next day we had a series of meetings with the senior leaders of methodist health
care- we discussed ways that maua methodist hospital can be linked with methodist health
care in memphis and then had lunch with them- Rev. Neil prench- son of a missionary and
one of the chaplains in the methodist health care hospital- congregation and community
net work and dr. susan organised.
in the afternoon went to see crosslink- organization that collects medical supplies and
equipments from the the hospital in the memphis area and gives to the work teams or
ships to the countries that need the supplies. Later went to meet with the methodist
community hiv network staff a program run by social workers to educate the youth about
hiv and also proving hiv testing in the community. We were impressed with their
educational materials- their interactive programs in the internet. it was quite an
experience!
in the evening we had a presentation where more than three hundred people attended- I
can tell germatown UMC is real mission oriented church after speaking people began to
write checks to the service fund and otheres enquiring what they can do about the water
situation in the community.you should have seen the kind of emotion this generated! and
immediately they started receuiting the 2010 team members. God works in a very special
way. We have great people in that church the minister is the one who started and told
members that he had a burden for the children of africa- this has created great interest in
the church for mission around the word.
on friday we had an appintment with The CEO of methodist health care- we had a big
delegation Rev. Deborah, Dr. Susan Rev. Neil Mary and stanley and one other person who
helped set up the meeting- the meeting went on well. we discussed about future
collaboration with maua methodis hospital- on continuing medical education, internship for
medical students, short term residency for consultants and ? grants to maua methodist
hospital to develop infrasture-? living award- they other these funds if they can be sure the
hospital not run hapharzadly- we shall need to give them our strategic plan and the write
ups that will be required. The CEO is very good person and he promised to assist when it
can be possible. We the chairman of the methodist health care goes to Gumc and he is very
supportive of the net work.
we visited st'jude children cancer hospital in the usa- and made contact with people who
can bring patients to the hospital if their need for the child to benefit from the cancer
treatment offered in that hospital. we thank God for this exposure
Thank you
stanley
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| Mary and stanley arrived in oklahoma city on monday in readiness to receive the distinguished alumni award awarded by oklahoma city university- kremer school of nursing. upon arrival arrival at wilrogers airport they were met by the long time friends- Rev. Dr. Robbert and Mrs Prudy Gorrell. We have received such welcome from the people of Oklahoma city. Prudy has been taking them around to shop and to the speaking engagements. They have been such wonder friends and hosts.
while here we participated to the ground breaking ceremony that was held at the school of nursing school- the nursing school is expanding the facilities so that it can have enough space and room to accommodate more nursing students in the school.While addressing the gathering the Dean of the school- Dr. Marvel thanked the university board of trustee and the president for the vision and thanked the donors who had given money to start the project. The vision of the nursing school remain the same with those who founded the school. she noted that the school had grown with enrollment
LEGACY OF KREMER SCHOOL OF NURSING (KSN)
THE SCHOOL started at st anthony hospital down town oklahoma city- started in 1904- the dean informed the gathering that the school had increased enrollment from 72 students to 325 expected 2010. the school has added other degree programs- leading to masters and PHD. OCU school of nursing is among the top 10% of the nursing schools in America.Kremer school of nursing has become the states's most progress nursing schools program and the premier private nursing school in the multi-state region.
SG | | |
| Letter from Bill and jerri savuto
Dearest Friends and Family,
"Children of a culture born in a water-rich environment, we have never really learned how important water is to us. We understand it, but we do not respect it." - William Ashworth, Nor Any Drop to Drink, 1982 -
In Kenya it is said that the rainy season begins on 15 Oct 09. Well, this year it did and please pray it will continue for at least 2 months and a good harvest will result. We are so excited and thought it best to quote two emails we received in the last few days.
Stanley Gitari (Coordinator of the Community Outreach Department at Maua Methodist Hospital) wrote: “Loving Christian greetings from all of us in the hospital! We are all rejoicing because of the rain last night! God heard all our prayers. It rained for about two hours last night; we could not hide the joy and gratitude to the Lord for His mercy and hearing the cry of every one for the Lord to send us rain to be able to get food and the animals to get grass. Our God is a faithful God.”
Reegan Kaberia (In-charge of our Giving Hope Program at Maua Methodist Hospital) wrote: “Good News- For the last two nights, we received a lot of rain here that spread to the whole District. I wish you could see the appreciation of the whole community. Everyone is excited. This morning I saw two birds swimming in a pond of rain water. This is great. There is life everywhere. Yesterday many people were planting crops.”
Yes indeed we are singing and ‘happy dancing’ because of the rain and God’s faithfulness and goodness. We can picture the dust settling, smell the rain after the long drought and best of all see the smiles of thanksgiving and hear the shouts and songs of joy of our people in Maua and throughout Kenya. In celebration lets all thank God for water we drink; use to clean dishes and floors, side walks and counter tops, dirty cars and outside furniture; wash our clothes that fill closets and dressers, our sheets, pillow cases and towels, table cloths and pretty dish clothes; bathe or shower at least daily; cook all our food and enjoy that yummy cup of Starbucks coffee or bubba container of iced tea; flush our commode every time it is used; and water our grass, trees, flowers and crops. Is there anything more precious than water??? Without it there is no life, and with it there is no end to the life that can be produced.
Bill and I continue to be abundantly blessed while visiting our supporting churches. We completed our 23 days in the Texas Conference and returned to McKinney on 19 Oct and will begin our time in North West Texas/Eastern NM on 26 Oct. Thus far we have traveled 5800 miles and spoken at 36 United Methodist Churches. We are so grateful to all the churches that have allowed us to share with their congregation. We have been blessed and overwhelmed by the kindness, support, encouragement and love we receive at each stop, each church, and each home. A big thank you to all those who we have seen and shared time, food and fellowship with – you are a gift and we are grateful beyond words.
On the road again this past Monday we listened to a “Country/Western” XM radio station. Bill is not a fan of “C&W’ but I like to listen to some of the songs as I think the lyrics often capture an interesting part of America. I was taken with a song entitled “People are Crazy” by Billie Currington. The chorus states that “God is great …………..* and people are crazy.” I agree! God is great and people, oh my goodness, we are crazy.
I thought I would tell you a few stories we have heard and quote some statistics that might help explain my belief. Did you know that 180,000 people were either inside or outside the stadium in Baton Rouge, LA for the LSU/Florida football game and it is possible to spend $1000 on 6 clients at that game? I wonder what it would cost to take 6 clients to the new Texas stadium in Arlington?
Do you realize that we give 15% tips to persons who serve us food, cut our hair, fix our nails but we can’t seem to find the 10% we are to give to God who has given us everything we have!
In 2003 thirty billion gallons of bottled water were consumed in the USA and sales rose to over $35 billion dollars. That was 2003 – what must it be in 2009? Americans use 183 gallons of water a day for cooking, washing, flushing, and watering purposes. The average family turns on the tap between 70 and 100 times daily. The Mboone River in Maua was completely dry until Oct 15th. Water was available only on the Maua Methodist Hospital compound.
The Mboone River
Every store I have entered this past week is gearing up for Halloween. That means shelves and rows of candy, costumes, candy, house and yard decorations, candy, lots of pumpkins and candy. In one of the richest nations in the world, ‘A staggering 33% of American adults are obese. Approximately 30% of children (ages 6 to 11) are overweight and 15% are obese. For adolescents (ages 12 to 19), 30% are overweight and 15% are obese.’ ‘An overwhelming 82% of Americans said that dining out would be easy to abandon during the recession. However, the National Restaurant Association in Washington, D.C., forecasts that Americans will spend $566 billion eating out in 2009, a 2.5% increase over 2008.’ Have you been to a medium priced restaurant lately? We have and waited 30 minutes to be seated and this was at 5:20pm. In Kenya, 5 – 10 million people are hungry to starving due to poor rains for the last 3 rainy seasons.
Some of the children of Maua who are hungry, mal-nourished and starving
The total budget for health care in the United States was 2.26 trillion dollars in 2007, which translates to $7,439 per inhabitant. Seven days in Maua Methodist Hospital costs approximately $180. Insurance with the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) of Kenya costs an entire family $30 a year for in-patient care. Maua Methodist Hospital’s rebate from NHIF is approximately $30 a day.
Obesity-related deaths in the USA account for more than 300,000 a year, second only to tobacco-related deaths. ‘Diarrhoeal diseases, including outbreaks of cholera and dysentery have remained major causes of morbidity and mortality in Kenya. An increase in skin diseases among children, all linked to low levels of immunity as a result of malnutrition, have been recorded. Cholera epidemics have been reported in five of the eight provinces and demonstrate a close co-relation between the current drought and the occurrence of epidemics due to current acute water shortage. The current levels of malnutrition in the drought affected areas presents a major risk of a major measles and other vaccine preventable diseases epidemics.’
But perhaps the craziest person is me. I have gained 10 pounds since arriving in the USA and I have seen, touched, and talked to people who are starving to death in Maua and yet I can eat ice cream, fill my plate at pot-lucks to overflowing and eat here and there and everywhere! Indeed, “God is great and people are crazy!”
We received the story of Maggie (a true story) from dear friends who have asked to remain anonymous. I will share it as we received it.
“Maggie’s Gift to Maua”
This summer our Jack Russell Terrier developed a slight limp. We didn’t worry at first as it didn’t affect her great “can do” spirit. That can do spirit manifested itself in so many ways. I “can” dig up your lawn looking for moles. I “can” chase chickens and horses. I “can” run from you when called, etc, etc! But she also greeted us each and every morning as though it was the best day of her life (what an example), her tail in constant motion, loved long walks, car rides and was devoted to us, a feeling that was mutual.
Anyway. The limp was the beginning of a journey that would lead us eventually to a diagnosis of incurable cancer. Maggie was subjected to a battery of tests, blood work and biopsies, all done by the most up to date veterinary resources available.
The Doctors were professional, kind, yet firm. Their suggested treatment involved amputation and chemotherapy but still Maggie would only live 4 – 12 months at best.
And so we made the painful decision not to treat Maggie, but instead to bring her home for hospice care. In a few weeks we said our last good-bye to our friend of many years.
In our sadness we knew that something good had to come out of this. We are not learned theologians, or even Sunday School teachers. But we do have a few basic beliefs. Good exists and God represents that good. But evil exists also and in this case that evil is cancer. But good can come out of evil. So how to make good come out of our situation?
We reflected back on a long evening we’d spent at the veterinary emergency room. We, along with others in the very large, modern waiting room were about to spend a great deal of money on very advanced medical care for our pets. We both couldn’t help thinking of the difference between that medical facility for pets and the lack of medical clinics we’d seen across Kenya. We both struggled with that disparity.
We’d seen firsthand the marvelous work done at Maua Methodist Hospital and know the desperate needs there. Every day this hospital orchestrates good out of the evils of poverty, starvation and AIDS. We’ve decided we can help, so we’ve taken the balance of what we would have spent on Maggie’s treatment, $3,500 and placed it in today’s offering for Maua Methodist Hospital.
So if you see a few more holes dug in the grounds around the hospital as though someone’s been digging for moles, consider them part of Maggie’s gift to Maua….”
Yes indeed, people are crazy but oh the good they can do for the least of these here and there and everywhere. You can help by sending funds to Advance #09613A – Maua Hospital Service Fund, Kenya” or Advance #140161 - AIDS Orphans' Project, Maua Hospital, Kenya.
*The part of the chorus I don’t agree with – “beer is good!”
In His grip,
Jerri & Bill Savuto
savuto@maf.or.ke
Maua Methodist Hospital
Box 63, Maua 60600
Igembe, Kenya
"Like water, be gentle and strong. Be gentle enough to follow the natural paths of the earth, and strong enough to rise up and reshape the world.” – Brenda Peterson "Be smart enough to follow "The Way", the path that leads to Truth and Light." - JS on John 14
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