Hi everyone! In about 30 minutes i'm off to south Sudan. There is a small hospital there which needs some nursing help and I am privilaged enough to be a part of that. So long as all goes according to plan I'll be there until Feb 19th when I return back to my (not so) old life at Tenwek Hospital.

Please pray for the following.

- that I would be strong in the lord
- that I would be able to help in significant ways
- for quality communication and learning of the Dinka language
- safety

I was able to quickly write down some short descriptions of the pictures I posted the other day. This was all done very quick so please pardon all the spelling errors and whatever else.

I'll unable to do any online updates until I come back from S. Sudan so, until then, God bless!

Stephen

In this national forest which was decimated during the post election upheaval beehives are built and put in the few remaining trees to protect them from being cut down.

Kids get shy and laugh when their picture is taken. They always want to see the image on the back of the camera. This invariably results in more laughter and more pictures.
Highschool Kids from around Tenwek who compose the teen bible study. They wanted to do something for someone during their school break so we ended up planting a field full of corn and beans. The field is owned by an orphanage and will end up feeding the kids.
Kenya is the worlds 3rd largest tea producer. Kericho is the area where it all comes from and this is a tea field there. Specifically a Unilever (read: Lipton) owned field. So this is where your lipton tea is coming from.

My sister Mary's last night in Kenya saying good bye to our cousins whom she lived with and the kids she taught. Having her here was a wonderful time. I'll miss her!

One of the highschool kids who was posing for a photo during a football (soccer) match. The ball had just gone between us and he was stuck between getting his picture and trying to score. Hence his apprehensive smile.

The World Gospel Mission (WGM) staff group photo. I'm in there somewhere...
Sitting next to Reuben I'm holding a Mursik gourd. To make mursik one fills the gourd with fresh milk, adds a specific charcol and sets it in a corner to fermet for at least a week or so. The grey, clotted fermented drink is thought to be quite refreshing. I'm sort of getting used to it...
One of many precious kids. Her hair is blond from malnutrition.

A special needs child from Maureen's special school looking good in some star sunglasses!
The ostrich is a better runner than mother. As evidenced by her eggs laying on the ground besider her.
Feeling frazzled but having fun during a hectic day of ortho surgery...
Myself, Dr. Dan Galat (ortho) and a surgery resident and friend named Angira whose wedding I was in later this last year, as seen below.
Some of the wedding party. The tailor blocked up the top of my orange shirt with brown so that the orange would clash so bad with my white skin! We all had a great time.
Another machete injury caused by farming dispute. I wish I had the post op picture which would show a normal looking hand with an incredible suture line.
Shamba (farm) foot. The dirt is hard to scrub off and causes infections in the open wounds. A challenge in any working environment.
An upper arm bone fracture which was reduced back into normal position and held together with a metal plate and screws. The pre operative x ray is shown below.