An Inspiring Journey

Teresa looking out onto the countryside.

Stream in Jos.

Food market in Jos.

Stream in Jos.

Rob & Naomi.

Ed, Greg, & Marina at Aisha Mana Children's Home.

Orphanage play area.

Countryside near Faith Alive Hospital.

Children at Hwol Yarje School.

Marina with children.

Classroom at Hwol Yarje school.

Temporary school at Faith Alive Hospital.

From the Faith Alive Hospital Team in Jos:

Dateline Jos, Faith Alive Team: Today, Wednesday, after 5 days with the same clothes, we finally got our luggage at just after 10pm. It was amazing. It was like Christmas, we kept finding presents everywhere. But you know what we found? We found that we have tons and tons of stuff we don't need. We all packed multiple In Case of Emergency items. Perhaps 75% of the stuff we could live without. The clothes, we needed most of them, but not all. And things to keep us busy, all were truly unnecessary. This has been an inspiring journey that really has allowed us to see true need. Even with only carry-ons and two (or one) set of clothes, we are richer than the poorest of those we are trying to serve here.

Today we worked within the community. Marina and Teresa were able to sit in on HIV counseling. Ed worked in the pharmacy. Rob and Greg did some data entry to help with the backlog of records they need to file with PEPFAR. This was highlighted by Dr. Chris as a critical need area, so we are all going to devote some time to it.

We had a meeting with the architect of Faith Alive, Amos. Greg wanted to talk to him about the school. Amos has an amazing story. He has multiple burns on his body, which he explained came from a car crash in which he was the only survivor. He also was run over by a car. He said that these events made him devote his life to doing God's work. He is an architect now, and teaches at the university. He designed, and built the Faith Alive Hospital. He also designs many churches, and never charges a fee for this work. Faith Alive insisted on paying him. He knows many colleagues who make a small fortune, and own multiple properties, but he is not interested in material goods. Amos told us a little about the school that Faith Alive is planning to build and Hwol Yarje that we talked about before.

We spent two hours tonight preparing for tomorrow, when we have 3 presentations. Every day the hospital starts work with a prayer service, and health teaching for patients. Marina is leading the prayer session, and Dr. Gin-Gin will lead the health portion. In the afternoon we are presenting ourselves to the staff to talk about why we are here and what we hope to accomplish.

We also got to go shopping, which was an experience. For those wondering about the food, it has been very westernized. The hospital has a chef for guests, and he has cooked many good meals, including pancakes, couscous and chicken cacciatore, spagghetti. There has been so much food, no one is losing any weight.

The whole trip has been a blessing, and we want to thank you all for your support.