I had joined a couple of the missionary doctors from Tenwek, Dr. Dan Galat and Dr. Dan Hayward, and didn't really know what I was getting into. About five hours down the road we reached our first destination - the 3rd annual national conference of the Kenyan Orthopedics Association in Eldoret. Eldoret is the third biggest city in Kenya with, oh, I don't know, around 500,000 people. When a mzungu (white person) stops their car in a public street, they are sure to be swarmed with little children or poor tea salesmen or bugs. I thoroughly enjoyed the Ortho conference, and learned a lot about infantile system of orthopedic training in Kenya. The first year of graduating orthopedic surgeons have not yet completed residency. Dr. Galat, the orthopod that I'm learning from at Tenwek, took an active role in this conference by giving a lecture and by helping critique the outline of the conference.
We stopped by the Nakumatt (one of two 24 hr Walmartish stores in all of Kenya) and among other things bought 120 liters of hyperpasteurized milk (it does not spoil even in really hot vans after 3 days of bumpy roads). The missionaries go through that stuff pretty fast with their families. After stocking up, we trekked on toward our second goal.
The potholes finally ended at the village of Kapsowar, another 2 hours beyond Eldoret. Perched up on top of a 7500 foot ridge, Kapsowar is home to another small missions hospital run by AIM (Africa Inland Mission). We had planned to visit in hopes of encouraging the missionaries there, to learn from their system, and to strengthen ties between it and Tenwek. Surprisingly, only one American family lived at Kapsowar (as opposed to Tenwek, where there are dozens of families and frequent visitors) and they were awesome people. My first impression of Dr. Bill Rhodes came from walking into the "Theatre" (the British way to say Operating Room) and seeing his backward Colorado University surgical cap and surgical loupes whip around from the table to stare at us. His impressive graying handlebar mustache puffed a bit as he hollered "Hey guys!" and then spun back to suturing his patient's severed ear. That pretty much typified this man - completely eccentric, entirely genuine, totally focused, and passionately in love with Jesus.
The time we spent with the Rhodes family was the highlight of this first week out here in Kenya. They graciously shared their long story with us (it took over two hours) which catalogued how God brought a delinquent high school boy (Bill) and a straight-laced mormon girl (Laura) together on a path to the hills of highland Kenya. It was a great story that ended a bit after midnight (at which point we went to bed - and he went up to his weight room and lifted). The unique nature of their story entranced me; the intimacy of their family unit struck me; the sovereignty of our God baffled me. Two phrases that Bill mentioned became the themes of our chat. "Shed the excess," he said, and "I just want to alleviate a little bit of suffering in some corner of the world in the name of Jesus". Bill and Laura are remarkable people that the Lord has uniquely equipped to be out on a spiritual island having died to all that the world can offer him. And I think they were two of the most content people I have ever met.
After enjoying a great breakfast on Saturday morning with the Rhodes family, the two Dans and I bounced our way down the 6.5 hours back to our waiting wives.
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