A nod to the audience

Or - Who reads blogs anymore, anyway?

The other day, we had a short-term visitor in Kapsowar who was trying to explain Substack to me. (No, I don't really get it, and no, I haven't actually looked it up yet.) The conversation turned to other forms of social media, and eventually we were talking as medium- and long-termers about how much time we spent "blog-stalking" before moving to Kapsowar. This month, I thought I would write about you, my real or perceived audience!

Family and Friends: I assume that the largest percentage of the "tens of readers" of this blog are friends and family. Since I don't use any other forms of social media (although maybe Substack is in my future?), this blog and our emailed newsletters are probably the main source of pictures and information about what's going on in our lives. If you read this and have a question or comment, feel free to send a text, WhatsApp, email, or leave a comment on the blog! 

Potential Visitors or Volunteers: As I mentioned before, we read through a lot of blogs of long-termers in Kenya before we moved to Kapsowar. It's helpful to see how people live life in a context that is a bit different to the North American lifestyle that we grew up with. Part of the reason that I write a lot about the mundane here is that it might be helpful for others to get a glimpse of some of the joys and challenges and everyday practical realities of living cross-culturally.

Supporters: We are supported financially by about 90 individuals/families and 6 churches. We have also developed relationships with a small number of people who donate toward specific programs at the hospital and school of theology. We want to express our gratitude to these donors on this blog, and also show what is happening in our lives and in the lives of our patients/students through your generous donations! We feel incredibly privileged to do what we love, to feel that we are serving others in the ministry God has called us to, and we are so blessed that the financial side of our ministry has never been a major stressor. We know that this is not true of every family who support-raises, and we are thankful!!

Ourselves - To be perfectly honest, reading through this blog is a way that I sometimes remind myself of God's faithfulness to our family and to our community; a way of encouraging myself that we have come a long way and that the challenges we face today are not any bigger than the ones we faced five years ago. I haven't made a photo album for quite a few years, but if I ever get around to it, this blog provides a bit of a timeline of family's journey.

The unknown reader - I'm sure there are groups of people who I have missed! If you belong in another category and want me to know about you, please leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!

What Else?

This blog is filled with a lot of reflections and information about a very narrow slice of life in Kapsowar -primarily Kim's work, Dominic's school, a little bit about the school of Theology, and probably more of our travels and vacations than you care to see. But what else goes on in Kapsowar? It takes more than just physicians and nurses to make a hospital and community run! This month, I'll focus primarily on our Serge team and matters that directly impact our family, but there's so much more than I can even include here!

Marketing / Friends of Kapsowar: The hospital's ongoing health and growth depends on having reliable sources of income to pay staff salaries and the vendors who sell us medications and supplies, and even to pay the power and internet bill. As we turn to outside sources to provide some of that funding, it is important to communicate well with donors, tell patient stories truthfully, thoughtfully, and respectfully, and work closely with national partners to ensure that donations are put to good use. Our teammate Regan has been working closely with the hospital social workers to connect donors with opportunities to make a real difference for real patients with real needs.

Engineering: Whether building new structures/infrastructure or keeping old ones running, mechanical and structural engineering is critical to a safe and functional space to care for patients. In our six years in Kapsowar, we've worked with three full-time engineers who have been critical to the function of the hospital. From repairing/restoring power to our homes after a recent power surge, to overseeing construciton and finances of new building procjects, these men have been invaluable to our community. 

Children's Home: Since the early 2000s, our community has had an informal relationship with a Children's Home, located about a 40 minute walk from our station. Involvement has included paying school fees, purchasing shoes and unmentionables, furnishing the home with beds/mattresses, paying the salary for the caregiver at the home, inviting the kids to activities like our annual (American Thanksgiving) Turkey Trot.

Education: In 2022, when we completed our term with World Medical Mission, Dominic was the only non-Kenyan kid in our community. Today, there are 25 North American and 13 non-Kenyan African kids living on our compound! About 80% of the school age kids in those groups are homeschooling, so education is at the front of our minds almost all the time. We now have a North American teacher who is creating lessons for a small group of the younger kids, and helping to oversee the online/computer-based curriculums of some of the older kids including Dominic. We're excited by the progress we've seen in the one-room school house idea in Kapsowar, and we're looking forward to seeing how God can grow this education effort in the coming years.

Hospitality: We continue to host visitors to our community who are involved in various areas of the hospital or school of Theology, or who are visiting specific long-term family or simple want to come and see what's going on in Kapsowar. Coordingating housing, transportation, tours, and first meals for these visitors is a huge task - as I can attest from personal experience! (I handed over the task to another long-termer about a year and a half ago.)

Station Management: Our station employs about 12 full time workers to maintain and clean houses (long- and short-term housing), maintain the grounds, and watch the smaller children.

Finance: Because we have employees, transport and house visitors, and occasionally take on some small and large building projects, we have a bank account that needs to be managed, bills to pay, and money to collect. A group of us divide up those tasks and more or less try to keep the finances in order.

Bible Study: We meet together for Bible study, worship, and prayer 5 days a week! That means someone (or many people) is always prepare a message, reflection, and worship music to share.

Special Events: Short- and long-termers alike prepare fun activities for kids (ex-pat and local) as well as more formal classes (art, music, sports are the ones that come to mind). Of course the adults are never left out, although usually our participation in special events is either running (Turkey Trot or the Kapsowar Annual Charity Run) or eating (potlucks, potlucks, potlucks! and of course Fat Tuesday doughnuts).

So much to do - I'm tired just thinking about it! We love our community, and consider it a privilege to live life and be "church" with our wonderful co-workers and neighbors!

Happy New Year from our family to yours!