THE HOLLAND FAMILY

Robert and His Cow

2009-12-26T10:11:00.000-08:00

Kat started Kat's Art for Africa to raise money for a project in Africa. Many of you bought her notecards made from her paintings and I wanted you to see what she was able to buy with your support. Shortly after we left, Robert, our handyman while were in Africa, was presented this cow by his church.

Robert is such a sweet, gentle man. He has two small children, and unlike our other household help, did not have a cow - only 2 chickens. Buying him a cow (for about $350, about half a year's salary to him) is like buying him a car. This is the thank you letter he wrote. Somehow he found out it was Kat, even though we had requested the gift to be anonymous.

The last line always gets to me. "I will think of you forever."

We have so much, and when we give well, we can change lives.

Back in Portland

2009-07-27T15:11:00.000-07:00

Well, as most of you know, we are back! I thought I'd post a few final pics and let Dan wrap it up at a later date. I shared a few of my coming home thoughts on my blog.

The night before we left we met Peter! Peter was our sponsored child with Compassion beginning in 1994. He is now married with a little boy, and another due in December. He graduated recently from a University in South Africa, and is underemployed by his brother, from what I can understand. I know he would love to be using his degree in IT, but the unemployment rate in Kenya is astronomical. They don't keep track officially. Really sweet wife, Olive, and son Elvis! They call him Junior. It was so nice to spend an evening together.

Amsterdam was beautiful, but kind of a shock to be back in the west in such a liberal city. It made me want to go back to Kenya. Public urinals - are they really necessary?

Bode loved the train in Amsterdam! A plane and train all in one day - he was in heaven.

Bedhead.

I knew I was getting close to home when they served Kerrygold butter on the airplane! If you're not aware of my obsession with Kerrygold, well, let's just say don't shop for butter at Trader Joe's after me or you might be out of luck.

Welcome home sign from the Kutchers... best housesitters ever!

Homemade cookies from Alexandra, homemade lasagnas from mom, and a clean kitchen from Jeannine... it doesn't get any better!

Thanks again to EVERYONE for your prayers and support. We couldn't have done it without you!

2009-07-18T07:26:00.000-07:00

We spent two nights in Nairobi and will be arriving in Amsterdam about the time my Dad adds this post. Thursday night we stayed at the Giraffe Manor and you can see all the giraffe pictures below. Friday morning we had a visit from Zachary, a young orphan we support through Compassion.

In one of the pictures with Zachary, included on the far left is Rudy, who manages Giraffe Manor with Maryanne, in red (middle back). Next to him is David, who works at Zachary's Compassion project. Rudy loved the children and taught them a lot while we were there, took them on nature walks, and showed them his new puppy.

Friday afternoon we moved to Ngong house, which is another lovely retreat. Dan and I and the 5 youngest stayed in a luxurious log cabin, while the girls stayed in a darling bungalow across the property - a minutes walk.

Peter (who we supported through Compassion for many years) is now grown. His wife and child came to dinner Friday evening. Ngong is a lovely place with much bougainvillea. Will post those pictures upon our return. Thanks for all your prayers…
Heather for all the Hollands

2009-07-16T16:37:00.001-07:00

Had a safe, uneventful drive in from Tenwek. Then lunch at Carnivore and now I am on a lovely patio behind Giraffe Manor. 73 degree weather (I might even be able to pick up pecans if they need me to...that's a reference to our early days in Texas when my Dad couldn't get me to help pick pecans from the ground, "because I only had a 1 degree of temperature tolerance either side of 70 degrees.)

Dan, Abby, Cade, and Bode and I are sharing the Karen Blixon suite. It's at the back of the house and ours is the only room that opens up to this huge, partly shaded stone patio. Beautiful!

Jack and Ryan have a room and bath upstairs, as do Kat and Courtney. The children will all eat at 7:00 with the Giraffe Whisperer (i.e. he shakes a bowl of food to attract the giraffe). They eat spaghetti and ice cream and then can watch a movie. Dan and I have a candle- light dinner at 7:30 with the three other manor guests (all Australian women, 2 in one party and a single). BTW, the girls were invited to attend the adult dinner but the preferred not to! I'm kind of excited about an adults only evening.

I took my first bath in weeks, and afterwards asked for tea and was brought a beautiful service of tea pot, china, creamer, sugar, etc…all silver, white and glass - lovely! I'm not at the orphanage anymore!

Tomorrow morning Zachary will be here at 8:00! I can't wait. Please pray for traveling mercies beginning your Friday evening…our Saturday morning.
Heather, for all of us.

2009-07-15T22:44:00.001-07:00

Umoja is one of three orphanages that we visited. Again, it's a mix of natural beauty and utter poverty.

The first dorm pic is one of the current dorms. The newer looking dorms needs to be painted and then they can move in! A big improvement. The sheets on the bed are sheet we were able to purchase with your help!

They have no regular source of income except for the eggs they are now raising, thanks to help from Tenwek. Joseph, the director, is doing a great job with that.

They have 38 children, and they go to government schools, which are free. But once a child enters high school, private is the only option. It costs about $550 (ksh 40,000) for the freshman year (form 1), which is about half a years salary to the average worker. The rest of high school is only $150 (ksh 10,000) per year, because all the books, fees, clothes, etc. have been paid for.

If any of you would like to help sponsor a child's high school education let me know! I will have pictures of them coming soon. There are eight children from this orphanage in particular that will be entering Form 1 (freshmen year) this fall -- if we can find them help.

Bode is THREE!!!

2009-07-15T17:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Bode's third birthday! I had packed some small gifts, and we had a pancake breakfast just like at home. Later on his friend Isaac, who is Cade's age, had many more gifts for him. Isaac loves celebrations and he and Cade and another little guy, Levi, spent hours in preparation. They wrapped things up with so much masking tape that it took an hour to get everything opened, I think. And then it was great to see what treasures they had come up with from Isaac's room. Last night we had the Roberts and Galats over for cake and ice cream and lots of kids (14). A fun last night!

I loved Abby's gift - we had to make our own wrapping paper here. Can you tell we've just been on Safari?

2009-07-15T06:32:00.001-07:00

The joy of being a Masai woman: you get to make one of these huts for your family - it's your job. You make the walls of half dirt, half cow dung. Then it when the chief dies, he is buried in the village and everyone moves and you have to make a new house. Or if the rainy season comes and your house starts to fall over, you do it again somewhere else. Or when the grass runs out and the cattle need new pasture, ditto.
These are traditional Masai blankets. The men wear them around their shoulders... you see them while you're on Safari and they are out herding their cattle.

2009-07-15T06:30:00.000-07:00

This happened several times both to and from safari...competing for road space with a herd of cows. It's especially interesting when they are facing us and parting around the car on both sides! They are pretty smart about getting out of the way.

2009-07-15T06:28:00.000-07:00

This was Monday morning, the last safari. These two were the die-hards. They did not miss one safari. This one is at 6:30 am (thought they'd make it 7 am for us) and it was freezing and somehow they ended up in an open car!

2009-07-15T06:24:00.000-07:00

John was our waiter at every meal and LOVED having kids around. He lives away (as all employees do) from his family and missed his 2 year old daughter. He spoiled them rotten. Once I tried to stop Ryan from dumping his bowl of rice krispies into his hot chocolate, and John came running up chiding me, and telling Ryan to go for it. They also use the phrase "akuna matata" for real around here. We all know it as the song from the Lion King. It means "no problem," so naturally the waiters say it a lot to us when the kids spill or whatever. But then the kids think it's so funny and all break out into song.

2009-07-11T11:43:00.001-07:00

You would love it here! We've seen every animal except rhino and leopard. The leopard is really hard to see and our driver said rhino tomorrow! We saw a herd of 34 giraffe! Kids are all well and were eating everything but taking with lots of meds. Keep praying!!!

Looking down from our tent, which overlooks the river, we’re always seeing and hearing hippos. There is lots of shade from trees, much birdsong and butterflies. A wonderful place to marvel at God’s creativity

Africa Update July 11

2009-07-11T00:30:00.000-07:00

This past week was a typical week in Kenya. For the kids – a lot of running around the neighborhood climbing trees, playing, carving sticks, and muddy feet. Jack is missing his sports buddies back home but he got to shoot some hoops this week. Ryan, Cade, and Bode are having fun bonding with the other boys and Abby has a few girlfriends she plays with.

For Kat & Courtney - some baby sitting, an orphanage visit, some Facebook, and hanging out with dad in the clinic & OR and a few puppet shows.

Heather, Kat, and Jenny traveled away from Tenwek to deliver blankets and sheets to some needy children.

I was in clinic and operating most of the week.

Yesterday, we set off for our safari – driving to Masai Mara which is where the animals migrate across Africa to/from the Serengeti in Tansania. The Mara is on the border between Kenya and Tansania. The drive consisted of about a half an hour on a nice paved road and about two hours on the worst “road” you have ever been on. I can’t decide if the drivers here drive slow on the bumpy roads for the American visitors in the car or because they are worried that the van will fall apart going over the next pot hole – which really aren’t pot holes, they are more like craters.

We saw some interesting sights on the way out of town – a wheel barrow full of slaughtered cow parts and a guy getting yanked out of his car at the gas station by the city council in yellow jackets that said “no corruption” on the back. It was a crazy scene and the funny thing was that everyone was yelling but there was also a lot of smiling going on, including the guy who was getting hauled down to the police station.

The tour books all warn about the road hazards and don’t stop to help people because of robbery but our van driver stopped to help these three guys who were high centered in a ditch. We threw out all conventional wisdom and I got out of the van to help push and we pulled them out with our vehicle. At some point, when you are this deep into Africa, you just have to say this is where God wants us to be and continue to live by faith. We didn’t get robbed and they were very grateful. There was another scene where these 6 guys were changing a flat tire in the middle of the one lane road but we passed without incident.

The Fairmont Mara Safari Club is sweet but you are staying in a tent – albeit a very nice tent with hot water, a tiled shower, stone floor, electricity that turns off and on during various times of the day (including lights out at midnight), and room service! I always said that Sunriver was the only “camping” I liked to do but I could probably do this again. Last night the wind was howling and we are separated from the lions and other wild animals by a river with hippos and crocodiles. There is a pretty steep drop off and its pretty safe – the prickers will get you before the hippos. We saw some cool stuff on safari yesterday – check out our blog www.imaniafrica.blogpsot.com for some pictures.

We are relaxing by the pool this weekend – the Roberts will be here shortly and we hope this finds you well wherever you are.

Thank you for your continued prayers for helping the people of Kenya, sharing God’s love through Jesus, safety, and health.

Dan, Heather & the kids.

A few notes

2009-07-08T02:31:00.000-07:00

I want to write a few things down before I forget. We've spent most of our blog space journaling the big events, but there are so many interesting little facets to life here.

Last Saturday we had a July 4th celebration with all of the other missionaries. We were going to be at the orphanage for most of the day, so I asked Sammary to make the hamburgers for our picnic later. She had no idea what I was talking about. I figured she really did know what a hamburger was, but that there was just some sort of a communication problem. So I said, "You know, hamburger, like McDonalds." She said, "No, I don't know what a 'McDonald' is either."

How refreshing is that - to know there is a part of the world untouched by McDonalds! As it turns out, McDonalds did try to open up in Kenya, but Kenya wouldn't let them bring in beef from outside the country. So, no McDonalds here! Way to go Kenya :-)

I also learned that Kenyans don't buy eggs by the dozen, but by the tray, which is 20 eggs. I told Peris I'd like her to buy 2-3 dozen eggs, but I ended up with 60 eggs! Please come by so I can make you an omelette before we leave.

Last night we had two gals from the local salon come down to braid Katherine and Abby's hair. When Kat's was almost done, Sammary told her she looked very "smart." That's their highest compliment for beauty/style, but we were a little confused by that. We talked it out with her, to see what she meant, and then she was cracking up because it made her remember another time she had complimented an American with a "you look very smart" for her outfit and had received a confused response.

One of the joys of being here has been seeing Dan throughout the day. The kids take turns hanging out with him, and we'll stop in and say hi when we're up there to do a puppet show or something else. The windows are up high, but open, in the "theater" (operating room) so sometimes if the clinic is really crowded we'll just yell up through the windows and see these two tall guys (Dan and Ben) in surgery masks and hats pop their heads up and we can chit-chat for a second. That definitely doesn't happen in America.

2009-07-06T09:32:00.001-07:00

The big event of the weekend was visiting the evening service of the African Gospel Church down the road. We were originally supposed to go with our friends but they were in a meeting so we ventured out on our own. A few steps of faith on our part… First of all, we had to walk down a dark road by our house to get there. About half way down is a boarding school and we were met in the road by at least 100 smiling, screaming African children (they were screaming and smiling because a white family was walking with them to church). They were pulling and pushing and crowding around us to get to each of us (I told the kids that may be the closest you’ll get to knowing what its like to be Hanna Montana.

When we got into the church we were asked to introduce our family – there were probably 300 children – mostly primary kids – and a handful of adults. It looked like no one was in charge and they pushed us up onto stage. We sang some African songs together and the pastor finally showed up and asked me to give “a message from God”. I laughed to myself about how we try to make visitors comfortable in America. Well, in Africa it’s a 180, not only do you have to get up and introduce yourselves - they ask the visitors to preach and lead worship! Fortunately I had a heads up from our friends as we were walking down there that there was a reasonable chance they would ask me to speak. It was a great honor and we had a lot of fun leading a few songs for worship.

Today, Monday, Ben (the retina specialist), Katherine and I drove out to the middle of NO WHERE and ran a mobile eye clinic along with some of the eye clinic staff. We saw about 100 people in 3 hours “in the bush” and loaded up about 20 people in a bus for surgery for this week. I use the word “about” a lot because it is hard to keep track of people and how many exams we do. On the way back, the lady that was sort of our local contact took us by her home that her parents still live in. What an experience – the real behind the scenes tour in the middle of a tea plantation – dirt floors, drinking water off the roof (although we do that too!), cows, chickens, the stove was a couple of large rocks in the ground. I told Kat we can’t complain that our trip has been too touristy – although we are going on safari at the Fairmont (the same Fairmont chain as in Fairmont Olympic Hotel – our favorite place to stay in Seattle) on Friday – looking forward to that.

We have adjusted to African life by doing American things every so often – like watching a DVD, eating some chocolate, oreos, mac cheese, taking a hot shower.

Thanks for thinking of us.

Dan, Heather, and the kids

2009-07-06T07:22:00.001-07:00

After church we had lunch with our new friends Dan and Heather (!) across the street. They have four kids and are here for two years. He is an orthopedic surgeon. It was a great time of fellowship.

Later in the afternoon we took a hike down to the river with the Roberts (past the site where the murdered body was found!). It's a very steep rocky path down to the river, and the bridge there is relatively new. It was given by the Roberts' Home Church and people at Tenwek hospital to replace a stick bridge that was used by many Tenwek employees to walk to work.

The craziest experience of the day was our evening church service. We went to a local African Gospel Church in hopes of experiencing some traditional African worship. We got it - sort of. As we were walking down we were mobbed by the children from the boarding school. Groups of 10 or more children surrounded each of our children and swept them away. I held on to Bode and Dan and I did our best to keep track of everyone else. They wanted to touch their skin, hair, etc. and ask their names. We think we know what it feels like to be Hannah Montana now.

Then we walked into the building, and there were 300 children there and no adults! They were amazingly orderly, all things considered. The only ruckus was around us. We sat there waiting and wondering what to do, and then they asked us to go up and say something. Dan introduced us, and I asked them to sing a song, which they did. As they were singing, the pastor walked in. Whew. But then he asked Dan to give the message! So Dan gave an impromptu sermon (and did a great job!) elaborating on a passage we had talked about in Sunday School from I Samuel. Then they sang a few more songs, and then asked us to lead worship! We did about three songs, and taught them to sing the last one with us. It was really fun, but I still can't believe how much they wanted us involved. Now in talking to people here, this is pretty much the norm. Remember that if you show up as a visitor to church in Africa - be prepared!

I wish so much that I had taken a picture of Dan giving the message, but I only did video. I'll have to figure out how to post a picture of that.

Heather

2009-07-06T07:19:00.000-07:00

Sunday was a big church day! We worshipped as a family at the Tenwek Hospital Church, and then went with the children for their church so Dan could teach Sunday School. For all you AWANA clubbers out there, we brought the egg trick to Africa (First two pictures!). It was a huge hit. (If you haven't seen the egg trick, it's a great visual demonstration of how sin separates us from God, but Jesus provides the way for peace with God.)

2009-07-05T20:13:00.000-07:00

This in an email from Heather...I'm sure we'll have more pictures and detail on Monday
Bob

Another crazy day to tell you about....last night we were so excited to go to the African Gospel Church to have a "real" African service, only they asked Dan to preach and all of us to lead worship! CRAZY! Also our kids were mobbed. We felt like Hannah Montana.

2009-07-05T16:46:00.001-07:00

Today several missionary families and some nursing students travelled about thirty minutes away to Mosap Orphanage. We did puppet shows and Bible lessons, and then played with hula hoops, soccer balls, beach balls, and a parachute. Afterwards we were fed a traditional lunch of rice, beans and ugali (It's kind of like grits, and usually made of corn meal, but today's was millet).

Africa July 3 Update

2009-07-03T15:26:00.001-07:00

We have had a fruitful week so far. I was able to perform around 20 surgeries and see many patients in clinic with Ben. We also saw a few babies in the NICU. For my eye MD friends: Its fun to perform a few surgeries I haven’t done for a while – a conj flap for a Mooren’s ulcer, extracapsular cataract surgery, some harder strab cases, Brown syndrome, Kestenbaum, vitrectomy, and implanted about 6 different types of lens implants. I was also able to help Ben get better settings for his phaco machine. He thought it was a lame machine until I told him to crank the vacuum up to 300. There are so many things we take for granted in the US when it comes to surgery. The many things on autopilot in America can take along time to happen here.

It was also fun being the puppet show manager. We basically showed up unannounced at the eye clinic and peds ward (2 different shows each), hung up a sheet in a door way or between two traction beds, turned on the iPod and started the show. Ryan brought the house down with his shades and microphone routine. It was fun to see the Kenyan kids and parents, doctors and nurses smiling and even the American docs stopped to watch. It was also neat that the chaplain of the pediatric ward asked Heather and Courtney to say a few words to the kids & parents. Heather spoke and the chaplain who was a Kenyan lady, interpreted. Heather spoke about how it was a hard job being a mother and even harder when you have a sick child but that God has given mom’s extra grace to be a mom if they trust in Him. The chaplain has asked us to come back next week. Thank you Pastor Gary Strudler for this wonderful ministry.

Friday was a quieter day and us dads were able to spend more time with the families. I told the Roberts most of our friends in Oregon hardly ever have the Holland 9 over for dinner (we usually have people over to our house for some reason ) and they’ve done it twice this week and that doesn’t include all of the other little snacks and lunches they have provided members of our family. Our kids run around the neighborhood together without much supervision and they have all returned home safely so far! We have been so busy at the hospital all I have done it seems is surgery and clinic and sleep. I even took a nap in clinic today while Ben saw pts. It takes a week to get over the jet lag.

The big event of the day was a man was murdered in the surrounding area and his body was dumped down the road from our house. It took the police about 4 hours to show up. The justice system is a little different here – where the people, when they figure out who commited the crime, basically take things into their own hands and exact revenge on the perpetrators. I know there are a lot of bad characters around but feel safe for the most part. My friend from the eye clinic, Wilson, who knew the guy that was killed for his motorcycle we believe, also told me not to go into the forest (a ways a way from here) or they “will finish you”. Not sure what that means but it doesn’t sound too good.

That being said, Ben takes his kayak down the river when it is high enough and says its fine. Needless to say I am somewhat glad the river is LOW right now. When Jenny found about the incident she told Ben not to tell our kids so as not to scare them and Ben replied “Are you kidding, they’re the ones who told me.” A lot goes on during the day while we are working that we get caught up on when we come home for lunch or dinner. The clinic is only about a 2 minutes walk from our house.

Tomorrow we are going to an orphanage to perform puppets and bring some items to donate. I am supposed to teach Sunday school so I will have to break out some of my Awana material where at least these kids don’t know all my tricks!

Thanks for praying! (and don’t feel like you have to have us over for dinner when we get back!)

And don’t show up at our house for fireworks tomorrow – because we won’t be there!!!

Dan

2009-07-03T13:57:00.000-07:00

Dr. Ben and Dr. Dan off to work on the first full day of clinic and surgery.

2009-07-03T10:20:00.000-07:00

Heather and Sammary did make it to the market (before the puppet show) but Heather's Dad posted the pictures out of order (he's serving as their blogmaster during their absence since Internet access is so intermittent.

2009-07-03T10:09:00.001-07:00

Today we did several puppet shows for the children at the hospital.

We got a copy of Gary's Joyful Noise Brigade CD (from Rolling Hills

Community Church) and downloaded it to itunes so we could bring our

music with us easily from room to room. It was great fun for our

kids, and another short-term missionary family joined us. We had

enough puppeteers that some of the kids did mini puppet shows at the

foot of beds for kids who couldn't see the main show.

2009-07-03T10:04:00.000-07:00

Along the way, we saw ---

2009-07-03T09:59:00.000-07:00

Today Katherine, Sammary and I walked to Silabwet for market today.
It's about a 45 minute walk uphill, on roads like this:

2009-07-03T07:07:00.000-07:00

SPECIAL PRAYER REQUEST!!

There has been an incredible amount of traffic today, up and down the
road we live on, especially motor bikes. As it turns out, a man's
body was found down by the river, in a manhole. The victim had
disappeared on Tuesday, and it is believed that his motorbike was
stolen, and whoever stole it killed him.

There is a mob mentality here, and things could erupt and get ugly.
If the people think they know who did it, they will all attack and
stone him, knife him, or whatever they think that will provide justice.

The road they are traveling up and down is the road all the MK's
(missionary kids) cross to go between the upper and lower compound.

Please pray for everyone's protection, for peace, and that justice
will be served in the right way. Thank you!

2009-07-01T13:53:00.000-07:00

From left to right: Sammary, Peris and the help from across the street, Hannah (all cleaning up after Bible Study and the chai and snack). This is definately Peris' kitchen! She works here full-time, and if I move anything around, she changes it back. I like to have fresh fruit on the counter in a pretty bowl, but she would take it out of the bowl and put the bowl back it's place. So I borrowed a fruit basket from Jenny!

Also today Katherine and Courtney did a couple of crafts classes for the missionary kids, which was much appreciated by all the moms here. Dan has been super busy at the hospital. And last night everyone slept much better. Three were up at 3 a.m. (when I always wake up too), but I gave them Min-Chex and they went back to sleep. Yay! I think that's all the updates for now.

2009-07-01T13:50:00.001-07:00

These are women from the Kipsigi tribe. My cook, Peris, leads a Bible Study for them every Tuesday afternoon. They, in turn, are all Bible Study leaders in their villages. Over a thousand women are in Bible Study! I visited their study for a bit today. As soon as I came, they had someone start translated into English which was very nice. Then they asked me to speak. I told them my new joke that I tell everyone here - that I'm Kipsigi too, because Kipsigi means "mother of many." They all loved that! Here they are having Chai on our porch after study. Chai, with lots of sugar, and white bread. You know how much I love that. Yesterday I had Peris make our morning Chai with agave nectar and she really did NOT want to mess with her Chai. But she agreed, and then they happily admitted that it didn't taste any different.

2009-07-01T10:00:00.001-07:00

This is Robert. He is normally the gardener (part-time) for the
Spriegal family (whose home we are staying in). Today I was able to
give him some precious baby girl clothes made by our friend Elizabeth
in Portland for his new daughter. He was so pleased!

He walks thirty minutes to work here. He also farms his one-acre plot
in his village. When he came to help us unload our luggage upon our
arrival, Jenny told me she was so thankful that we were giving him a
few days work, because he looks a lot thinner than the last time she
saw him. There are many, many hungry people here. That is so hard
for us as Americans to grasp.

Today he ran errands for me and did some other work around the house.
Tomorrow we are going to plant the Spriegals garden for them. You had
to know I would find a way to garden, even while in Africa!

The rest of the donated baby clothes we gave to the hospital staff,
who are going to make sure it goes to the neediest patients. We also
were able to personally hand out baby blankets to one room of women.
I asked the nurse if she would translate for me that the blankets were
given in the name of Jesus, and that we were so happy for them and
their new babies. They all got big smiles on their faces at that!

2009-06-30T14:14:00.001-07:00

2009-06-30T14:12:00.000-07:00

2009-06-30T14:11:00.000-07:00

2009-06-30T14:00:00.000-07:00

The pictures, that my Dad is trying to post for me, include breakfast in Nairobi where we stayed the first night, the "precarious road" on which we drove to Tenwek. The pictures of Dan leaving with Dr. Roberts for surgery, Dan in the clinic exam room, Kat in her mosquito proof environment, and a "future doctor Jack?"

2009-06-30T13:49:00.000-07:00

From Heather:

Thank you for your prayers! We had smooth travels the whole way. Sunday night we spent the night in Nairobi at the Mennonite Guest House. On our drive from the airport Dan noticed that people (including our driver) didn’t stop for red lights. The driver said they stop sometimes, depending on how they feel about it. But not usually at night because of the greater risk of being carjacked!

We did our grocery shopping Monday morning with Tenwek missionaries and friends, Ben and Jenny Roberts, had a great lunch at Amani (a boutique and restaurant run by former refugee women), and then an amazing four hour drive out of Nairobi and on to Tenwek. It felt like driving through the pages of National Geographic.

Whatever road you drive down, big or small, there is a constant flow of pedestrians on either side of you. And animals. Sometimes donkeys pulling a cart. Or a person pulling a cart. And even a man on a bicycle, loaded down with packages, holding on to the back of a semi, “hitching” a ride.

The poverty is striking. We drove by slums, and slum-shops. Even constructions signs “Slow Down - Men at Work” are homemade.

The compound is different than I thought. We are not in any kind of a gated community. Tenwek is just a small village and we are a part of it. The home we are staying in is right on the road, and people are walking up and down all day. We had countless people stop and talk to our help (Peris cooks and Sammary cleans and does laundry), and we bought pineapple, avacados and baskets from various people who came to the door. I’m sure thankful for Peris and Sammary who speak the language and bargain for me!

The kids are slowly getting over this bug that they got, but we would love for everyone to adjust to Africa time! Last night Cade was up ALL night and then went to bed at 2 p.m. today. Everyone is a little off, so your prayers for that would be much appreciated.

From Dan:

Clinic today was very busy – the care here is very different – sort of do the best minimal exam for the most people. Surgically between Ben and myself we did surgery on 5 kids and 6 adults and saw a bunch of people in clinic in between surgeries. The people are very grateful and patient. We basically work until its time to shut down and people who don’t get seen wait until the next day. If you saw everyone that needed it and that showed up you could probably go 24/7 in the clinic and 24/7 in the OR.

The scrub nurse prays for every patient right before surgery starts and I have had to use skills from the old days and have had to operate with instruments I don’t normally use – but everything went well today. Mostly pediatric glaucoma, cataracts, trauma, adult cataracts and strabismus.

I am really tired from jet lag and surgery but will try to get some pictures posted as soon as possible.

Thanks for your prayers,
Dan, Heather, and the kids

Made it to Amsterdam

2009-06-27T22:54:00.000-07:00

We are safely here! It was a great flight. Still a little sickness among the kids, but they seem to be getting better quickly. I loved seeing Jack totally reclined with his pillow, blanket and eye mask. That was just what he needed!

Three hours until we depart for our 8 hour flight to Nairobi. Won't be in first class. Better preparation for the missionary life!

Probably won't have internet again until Monday morning Oregon time, I'm guessing.

Love to all!

Heather

PS My iphone doesn't seem to be sending pics to my computer. Picture Bode in his stroller with a giraffe neck pillow around him... awfully cute!

At the airport - God is still in the details!

2009-06-27T10:23:00.000-07:00

We are waiting to board our plane to Amsterdam!

Already we have been so blessed.

Our Northwest ticket agent, Elaine, was a patient of Dan's. He's done cataract surgery on both of her eyes! Needless to say, she loves Dan and was extremely helpful to us. We were able to upgrade four of our tickets to business class.

Another TSA agent was watching us and figured out what we were doing. She was so enthusiastic about our family. She is part of a Russian church that does a lot of missions and now has our blog to follow our trip and pray for us. As I was writing this she came up to me with bags full of candy and travel pillows for the kids!

She asked me if I was afraid to take all of my kids over there. My automatic reaction almost surprised me. "No, I trust God."

I'm sure we'll be stretched and unexpected things will happen, but I have no fear. What a blessing it is to be a child of God, to trust Him completely, and know that whatever happens we are in His hands.

Big thanks to my Mom and Dad who lugged us and all out bags up here this morning at 7:30 a.m.!

Hopefully we can post again from the Amsterdam airport in about twelve hours.

Update: Now we're all going business class. Love traveling with Dr. Dan...

What 36 pieces of luggage looks like....

2009-06-25T22:25:00.000-07:00

Actually this about 2/3rds of it!

We leave in 3 days!

2009-06-24T18:03:00.000-07:00

We fly out of PDX to Amsterdam, 3 hour lay over, and the on to Nairobi.

We will be met at the airport in Nairobi by Dr. Ben Roberts. We will spend the first night at the Mennonite Guest house with the Roberts in Nairobi. The ladies plan on grocery shopping the next morning early and then we will be off for a 4 hour bumpy drive to Tenwek Hospital.

We have spent the last 3 months or so rounding up supplies for the hospital, the orphanages, the missionary families serving there in Kenya, and stuff for us!

We have everything from soccer balls, markers, lens implants, suture, surgical trays, parmesan cheese, iPods, bug nets, a vacuum cleaner, blankets, medications, lots of bug spray, surgical drapes, coffee mugs, puppets, lots of snacks, and a million other things I don’t have time to list!

Prayer requests:
1) That we would all be ready to go on Sat!
2) That all of our luggage arrives in Nairobi
3) No trouble with customs or visas
4) That we all do well on the plane ride over (10.5 hours to Amsterdam, 8.5 hours to Nairobi) especially Bode.
5) That we would all have patience and grace to extend to everyone, to each other and in every situation.
6) That all of the travel for us and the Roberts goes well this weekend!

Thank you for journeying with us.

Dan & Heather and kids

Commissioning

2009-06-06T08:26:00.000-07:00

We leave three weeks from today - June 27!

Tomorrow morning we are being commissioned by our friend and pastor, Joel Dombrow, at Willamette Christian Church at the 10:45 service.

Click here for a map.

We would love to have you join us!

The Holland Family
www.imaniafrica.blogspot.com

Africa 2009 - Thank you for your prayers!

2009-05-04T17:26:00.001-07:00

The Holland Family is going to Africa this summer! We will be traveling to Bomet, Kenya to serve at Tenwek Hospital where I will be performing eye surgery for three weeks and Heather and the kids will be helping in various ways both in the hospital, at an orphanage, and in the surrounding community. The hospital has 300 beds and 5 operating rooms and in addition to an eye ward has pediatrics, orthopedics, general medicine, ob/gyn, and other subspecialties serving over 600,000 rural people of Kenya. You can check it out at www.tenwek.org.

Many of you have already helped us on this journey and continue to ask how you can be a part of this experience. I will try to answer all of the questions we have been asked so far.

Why take the family to Kenya?

We have gone on a lot of great family trips but decided that it was time to take a trip that would show our family a different part of the world. Katherine wanted to go on a mission trip this year and wanted me to come along so I told her I wanted to do a medical trip and she said great! We wanted to be together as a family and this trip offered that. We chose Kenya as our friends Ben & Jenny Roberts are there in Africa right now serving at Tenwek as full time missionaries. Ben is a retina surgeon I met at an eye meeting a few years back. They are from Alabama and have 3 kids about our boys’ ages. They have been a HUGE help in getting us prepared. They have been in Kenya for a few years now.

Are you going through an organization?

We are traveling with World Medical Mission which is a part of Samaritan’s Purse, the same people that do the Christmas shoe boxes. It is headed by Franklin Graham. They are very organized and have arranged all of our in country travel plans.

Is it safe?

Well, it’s not Disneyland, but we feel this is where God is calling our family. We fly into Nairobi, which is one of the most dangerous cities in Africa as far as crime and poverty goes. We will be using Samaritan’s Purse drivers for to and from the airport in Nairobi and for the 4 hour drive to Tenwek. You can pray for safe travels for everyone.

What about malaria and all those African diseases?

We have had everyone vaccinated against the usual (I know most of you are thinking that is a big step for Heather and trust me it was :) and also typhoid and hepatitis A. We will be taking malaria prophylaxis and bringing along a few mosquito nets and a lot of bug spray. I am also loaded up on Zithromax and Heather has all of our supplements ready to go.

Are we going on a safari?

Yes – we will also be staying at a giraffe park on the way out of the country. I made the mistake of showing Courtney this as one of the places we could stay and she said “Dad, if we are going to Africa we HAVE to stay at least one night here.” If you saw Out of Africa it was filmed in this area and was about the author Karen Blixen who donated the furniture in one of the rooms we will be staying in. The town is called Karen and is just outside of Nairobi and not too far from the airport.

What is up with the plane ride?

NWA/Delta/KLM/Kenya Airways - 10.5 hours from PDX to Amsterdam, 3 hour layover then another 8.5 hours Amsterdam to Nairobi. So a lot of dvds, books, DS’s, sleeping (we hope). I told the kids, remember the 5 hour plane ride to Hawaii? Just think, after 5 hours, you will only be a quarter of the way there…. Pray for Bode to do well on the plane ride. He is almost 3 and should do fine. On the way back we have a 15 hour layover in Amsterdam and there is a hotel in the airport which fits with our program nicely.

What surgeries will we be doing there?

Strabismus (lazy eye type stuff for you lay people!), pediatric and adult cataract surgery, eyelid surgery and probably whatever else comes in the door. I will also have an opportunity to train Kenyan doctors and have applied for a Kenya Medical license. I will be taking over some of my own supplies and equipment and have already received medical help from the hospitals and pharmaceutical companies I work with here in Portland but still working on rounding up more supplies. We will travel to some of the villages to find people who need surgery and bring them back to Tenwek to care for them. Ben is lining up cases right now for my arrival in June. I am looking forward to working with him and hopefully giving him a break!

The basic needs the hospital has right now are sutures, drapes, eye drops (Ben was down to his last bottle of baby dilation eye drops!), and some basic eye equipment.

What ministry activities will we be apart of?

Aside from me providing medical care, Courtney and the older kids are planning on having a puppet ministry based on her Joyful Noise Brigade experience at Rolling Hills Community Church. They will do puppets both on the peds ward at the hospital and at the orphanage we will visit. Kat has been busy raising funds through her Art for Africa website – check out www.katsartforafrica.com Jack and Ryan are bringing some basketballs over to hoop it up with the local boys. We are also bringing soccer balls, activity books, and clothing items.

Heather and Jenny and the kids are planning on some vacation bible school type activities in the community and will be interacting with the local people while I am working at the hospital with Ben.

When are we leaving?

We fly out Saturday June 27 and arrive in Nairobi the next day, Sunday night around 7 pm. Ben is meeting us at the airport and we will spend one night in Nairobi with the Roberts and head out for Tenwek the next day. We will be there for three weeks, returning on July 18 and back in Portland on July 19 around noon. So no Fourth of July party at the Holland’s this year and no summer baseball but next year we will be back in action on both accounts!

How can you pray?

• Travel safety (air travel, in Nairobi, country roads to Tenwek)
• Health (no disease, malaria, etc)
• Adjustment to Africa life, food, culture
• All surgeries to go well
• Opportunities to share God’s love through Jesus with people
• Be an encouragement to the missionaries there

How can you help?

The orphanages are in dire need of blankets, clothing, and supplies and we can purchase most of these things in Kenya when we arrive – it looks the total could be anywhere from 2 to $3,000.

If you would like to help, there are a few ways to do it:

Mail a check to:

Samaritan's Purse
Attn: Gail Gambill
P.O. Box 3000
Boone, NC, 28607-3000

Make it out to Samaritan’s Purse and our project ID is #003809

If you want to do it by phone, you can contact Gail Gambill at (828) 278-1168. Her email address ggambill@samaritan.org (There isn’t a good way right now to give to our specific project online.)

You could also give or send a check to us made out to Samaritan’s Purse and we can take care of it – our address is 5555 SW Delker Rd Tualatin, OR 97062

This again is only if you would like to help - we are fortunate to be able to cover our travel expenses and many of the above items, not to mention help from our local hospitals here in Portland.

We DO NEED and thank you ahead of time for all of your prayers.

You can sign up and check out our Africa blog at https://imaniafrica.blogspot.com - we will be updating our trip progress from there.

Your friends,

Dan & Heather Holland
Katherine 15, Courtney 13, Jack 11, Ryan 9, Abby 7, Cade 5, and Bode 2

Imani

2009-05-02T08:55:00.001-07:00

Imani is Swahili for "God with Us, faith, belief."