This is Lillian, a five year old girl who has been abandoned by her parents and has spent the last several months in our nutrition center.  She has had several ups and downs, and the staff who work there seem to feel she is often a bit depressed.  She seems to be at last on the upswing.  We pray that her grandparents who live near by will take good care of her.  Here she is, joyously drinking milk at the nutrition center.

We enjoyed celebrating Caleb’s birthday a couple of times in July.  We had a party at our house with many people from the hospital, complete with dancers.  For the actually day itself we were at our annual missions conference in Kumbya.  Caleb and I (Louise) were even able to take an sunset kayak trip that evening.

We are not sure of this boy’s name: he’s deaf and he doesn’t speak.  He came to our notice because he started bringing Caleb Jr really beautiful rocks-often purple quartz, which are almost amethyst like.  He obviously has very sharp eyes.  He usually brings the stones to church, which he attends faithfully.  This rock finder attends the local school, but we would like to send him to a special school for the deaf next year in a town about an hour away.  We pray that we too can have times when we block out the cacophony of this world and see the beautiful treasures that are around us.

Here are a couple of pictures of our evangelists, with patients. The one on the right is of Bernadette with some patients outside the tuberculosis ward, and the one on the left is of Gaudence reading the Bible outside the malnutrition ward.  Don’t be fooled by the chubby face of the cute little girl in the background.  She has “kwashiorkor” or malnutrition of the sort that comes from not having enough protein.  Apparently “kwashiorkor” comes from a West African word meaning “second child,” as it often occurs when the second child is born, and the first one is then weaned. ( Actually, in Rwanda, women often wean babies when they find out they are pregnant as some of them believe that if the children keep nursing they will somehow be poisoned by the fetus.) This little girl is sitting next to her mother, who is, in fact, holding the younger sibling. We are thankful for the message of the Good News spread by our hospital evangelism team.

Even home schooling is fun in a tree house.  Special thanks to Ada Turner, who helped home school our children.

 “Praise the Lord.  Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” Psalm 106: 1

We have seen some changes in the last month at Shyira Hospital:We were all sad to see the Kohls family go—they left May 28th. It had been a great three years together, and now we are back as the solo missionary family, at least until August when the Schumann family arrives.  We have some great short termers, including two Morehead Scholars from UNC and Jane Bond, who is here at Shyira for her 5th time!

 When we heard that Matthias Kohls would be leaving, we began praying for a new surgeon.  We prayed and we waited and we prayed and we waitedand we asked others to pray too.  Less than a month before Matthias left a friend of ours, a Congolese surgeon at a nearby hospital, called to say that he’d like to visit us.  He brought along with him his older brother, Thierry, who had two years of training at a US funded orthopedic hospital in Malawi.  It turned out that I had met him at a meeting three years ago and had been favorably impressed even then.  He has since joined our team and is a fine addition.  Please pray that he will enjoy his work here.  Also, he would like to get married soon, so you can pray that he will find a wife who will support him in his ministry, as many would rather be in a city than out here in this isolated rural location.

 We finally have an X-ray machine—a wonderful addition.  I’m still astonished when I order an X-ray and get it back on the same day!  It has really improved the services that we can offer our patients.  We don’t have the best space for it, but it’s working for now and we hope in the future to build a new addition for it.

Caleb also got together the last financing for the hydro-electric project so it could continue on to the next phase.  Next week (June 24^th), the former corrupt director of the hydroelectric project will be on trial for his crimes.  Please pray that the trial will be just.

Last week Caleb asked the boys in his Bible study how their faith had changed their lives.  One boy nicknamed “Fils” said that he obeyed his mother more (a big help to her, as she is a widow) and another boy Siaka, an orphan recently supported in school by friends of ours in Chatham, NJ, said that until this year he considered himself a Muslim.  We were a bit surprised, and so thankful for his new faith.

We give thanks to those of you who join in praying for our ministry here and who have made it possible for us to be here.

 Blessings,

Louise

 

 For correspondence:

Shyira Hospital

PO Box 56

Ruhengeri,

Musanze District

RWANDA

calebkking@yahoo.com

louiserking@yahoo.com

Blog:www.thekingsatshyira.wordpress.com

 

Our mobile phones:

+250 78830 7417 (Caleb)

+250 78883 6095 (Louise)

(We pay nothing to receive calls)

 In the U.S.:

1800 S Charleston Rd

Darlington, SC 29532

843-393-2597

For donations:

Please make gifts payable to DOCS (earmarked Kings/Rwanda)

PO Box 24597

St. Simon’s Island, GA 31522

(Call Caroline with questions 912-634-0065)

Or for online giving: www.docs.org

Fulaha, when we met her

We have been taking care of a young woman, an orphan, named Fulaha for nearly 9 months now. She has a congenital malformation of her legs that rendered her unable to walk.

She has undergone a complicated set of procedures, involving staying several months at an orthopedic hospital and now she has some new legs! She first had an amputation of both legs.  After this procedure she waited several more months at our hospital and then we sent her again to the pediatric orthopedist in Kigali and she received two prostheses. She looks great and is really happy.  We are grateful for the people of St. Luke’s Formby who helped cover about a third of the $1500 it cost for her treatment.  If you’d like to contribute also to the costs to her treatment, to her further education, or for other children with handicaps, you can go to the DOCS website at www.docs.org-see link at side.

Specify for Kings/Shyira Hospital.

After her operation

 

Hakizimana, in the Khaki, is 13; Moses, in red, is 5

 We had an unusual visit today-the mother of a thirteen year old boy, Hakizimana, who had been in the malnutrition center last fall. Hakizimana was a cute boy-quite malnourished, and for unclear reasons; the rest of his family seemed in good health. We had him over to our house a few times and he really didn’t eat much, even though we had the usual favorites-mutoki (mashed green bananas) and peanut sauce, green peas, and potatoes. He enjoyed coming over to our house, and even went with Caleb once to Kigali, where one of our visitors bought him some clothes. When we left for the U.S. last fall,Hakizimana was quite insistent that he wanted to come with us. We explained that it wasn’t really possible, but even on the day of our departure, he ran after us and tried to get in our car. When we returned to Shyira in January, we wondered how he was doing, but never saw him. Yesterday, his mother came to see us and asked us where her son was, as he had come with us to America. “Come with us to the U.S?!” we asked. Of course, he didn’t come with us. Well, it seems that she hadn’t seen him since the day we left. We are wondering what happened to him-did he try to follow us and ended up lost or a street boy in the next town? Did he fall sick? We are praying that he will be found-probably a radio announcement will be made; parents lose their children more often than you’d think here (remember Jesus’s parents lost him for 2 days before they missed him). Also, it does make us realize that people here often do have really grandiose expectations of us, as missionaries from the U.S. We pray that they will see us as we are: broken vessels, and the power we have is from Christ, not from us.

 

Addendum: As is often the case here, further explanations give a more coherent story. Apparently the boy’s parents are separated and the mother has been in a different part of the country for the last few months. When the mother came back here, and asked where the boy was, the Dad replied, taunting her, that he had gone to America with us. Somehow she believed him. Still, he does seem to be missing

We have now returned from the U.S. to Shyira.  We had a great visit–stopping over in Italy, then traveling down the East Coast, and hung our coats in Darlington, SC.  It’s hard to capture the whole trip, but, in light of the upcoming Academy Awards, I thought I might give some of our own awards.   Here are some superlatives:

BEST FOOD: Sicily, where we had seafood, ravioli filled with pistachio pesto, fresh bread every morning and, of course, gelato–once a day at least.  And also: Italian food in Florence, not Italy, but SC, where we feasted at Kirk and Marianne Laing’s.

MOST FOOD: Thanksgiving Day, at the Damon Hunt Club, where we perused long tables filled with delicious food.

OLDEST RELATIVE VISITED: My lovely grandmother, Sara Williamson, who is 96.  When we left to come back, she said she wished she could come back with us.

YOUNGEST RELATIVE VISITED: Baby Nell Rambo, our niece, who was just 3 weeks old when we met her.

CAR WITH MOST MILES ON IT: Our ’90 Suburban, with 222K miles on it, and still truckin’.  Thanks to the Whiteheads who lent us a car, so we could have a second car, too.

BEST COUSIN-BONDING Caleb Jr, with his cousin Mark N. in Sicily and Jacob R. in SC.

We had THE MOST SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS EVER: 25 over the 10 weeks.  We enjoyed visiting different churches, groups, and organizations.  Our children were able to be in multiple Christmas pageants.

BEST SPUR OF THE MOMENT BABYSITTING: We arrive at Caleb’s parents in Chapel Hill on November 4 at 1:30 PM and leave at 2:30 PM to go to SC to vote, and have the one night out together of our stay (church meetings excluded).

Lydia, as an angel

FIRST TIME IN AMERICA: For our hospital administrator, Gad, who came to the US for 2 weeks.   We introduced him to maple syrup, ice cream at least once a day, and cold tea.  He was able to visit several churches and groups with us.

WARMEST DAYS: In December, when it reached over 70 degrees and the children went swimming in Black Creek.

BEST NIGHT OUT WITH THE FAMILY: Going to see Cirque du Soleil in Washington, DC with Uncle Edwin, Aunt Kathe, and cousin Bess.

BEST NIGHT OUT WITHOUT THE FAMILY: Going to see the Messiah with friends in Florence, SC.

MOST INTERESTING CHALLENGE:  Trying to get Lydia to eat American food. We finally broke down and cooked a big pot of beans, and made omelets for breakfast.  The rest of us, in the meantime, were trying not to eat too much American food.  Thanks to McLeod Regional Medical Center and its gracious administration who let us use the Fitness Center to keep down the “Furlough Five” (or 10?).

BEST REUNION WEEKEND WITH FRIENDS: When we were able to host the van der Meer, Madrid and Lee families in Darlington–all friends from a small group Bible Study in Boston, from over 15 years ago.

FRIENDS WHO TRAVELED THE FURTHEST TO SEE US: Marc and Judy Erickson who flew in from Milwaukee, and then drove up from Charleston to see us.

BEST “LONG TIME NO SEE” REUNION: Seeing our Hoshiko cousins and Bishop Bob Duncan in Pittsburgh.

BEST BIRTHDAY: Hannah was able to celebrate her birthday in Darlington, with friends-young and old.  After a scavenger hunt, Uncle William took her and her friends for a ride in his old pick up.

LONGEST BIRTHDAY: Caleb Jr was able to celebrate his birthday for 30 hours, in Italy, across the Atlantic to New York.  He had 3 birthday cakes: in Shyira, Sicily, and New York.

BEST NEW ACTIVITY: Sara enjoying the youth group at First Pres, Florence.

MOST UNUSUAL SPORTING EVENT: “Catch the Pig”, at the “Winter Games” Family Reunion-unfortunately won by Caleb Jr. Fortunately we were able to leave the pig.

MOST TOUCHING SACRIFICE: K., who gave Hannah free flute lessons, even in the midst of finding out that her breast cancer had recurred.

BEST CHRISTMAS MEMORIES: Cutting down the best Christmas tree ever, Hannah making Peppermint Bavarian Cream with Grandma Hattie, and having a large Christmas dinner at my brother’s house, with lots of relatives. 

MOST UNUSUAL EVENT AT DEPARTURE:  The Dulles airport Hiatt has a fish pond twenty feet long and a few feet deep and filled with foot long gold fish. The night before we left, Lydia managed to fall in it.  A nice lady at the hotel restaurant put her soaked clothes in the hotel dryer so she could wear them on the plane the next day…  

MOST STARTLING CONTRAST WITH RWANDA: Smooth roads, with no people walking in them, and fast food.

FAVORITE ACTIVITY OF THE CHILDREN:  Riding bikes.

Hannah with her bike

MOST HELP EVER ON LEAVING: With my parents, brother and his family all helping out.  Packing up 24 bags-12 suitcases and 12 carry ons is not easy-not to mention 8 computers (maybe we could have brought the pig, after all).

 

No Awards are complete without Thank You’s: to the Kohls Family, who held down the fort here in Shyira while we were gone, for the numerous people who fed us, housed us, entertained us, provided dental care, gave free swimming lessons, coordinated speaking engagements, and welcomed us in many other ways with open arms.  Thanks especially to our families who are so supportive of our ministry here, though it means being separated.

 

“Just as each of us has one boday with many memers, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” Romans 12:4-5.

Imagine you have found your way to the living room of the King’s house in rural Rwanda. It is 7:30 P.M. The sun went down at 6:00 P.M., and after 15 minutes of darkness and flashlights, the electricity came on at 6:15. Dr. Caleb is on the porch chatting with his visitor (though the visit was surprise, having surprise visitors is, actually, a matter of course around here). He is likely needing a signature for some official hospital business. Dr. Louise sits nearby, checking her email at the kitchen table, while two short-termers sit at the school-room table (just adjacent) surfing the web and checking their email. (The King’s have a satallite and therefore the best internet connection on the hill. Graciously, they allow visitors to come and sit in their living room most nights of the week to take advantage of their wireless.) 

“Vrrmm! Vrrrmmm!!” Caleb Jr. runs in with three paper-airplanes and making appropriate airplane noises. “No, mom, I haven’t brushed my teeth yet,” he says. Hannah King, his older sister, sits down beside one of the short-termers, browsing her Facebook account. “Who’s that? How do you know them? What other pictures do you have?” she asks, a better question-asker than most journalists. “Yes, mom, I already brushed my teeth. And flossed.” Dr. Caleb comes in and sits on the couch. The littliest King child, golden-curly-haired Lydia, crawls into his lap for the evening bedtime story. 

“I’ve gotten an email from Sara!” Louise exclaims. “She’s wondering what to pack for her trip home next week.” Sara, the oldest King child, is currently a middle-schooler at a boarding school in Kenya. She will soon be coming home for a much anticipated visit. As the three children snuggle up next to their father on the sofa, you wander over to the packed bookcase and browse a few of the titles:

Storey’s Guide to Raising Dairy Goats…
Mountains Beyond Mountains, biography of Paul Farmer…
Pilgrim’s Progress…
Field Guide to the Birds of East Africa…
Looking After a Donkey…
Harrison’s textbook of Internal Medicine…
Biography of Gladys Aylward…
Mere Christianity C.S.Lewis…

Storytime over, Caleb Jr. begins running around in circles with his paper airplanes and a blimp made out of a balloon. Equally as inquisitive as Hannah, he ignores the ‘BEDTIME!’ announcement and begins peppering you with questions: “Which do you like better? The blimp or the airplanes?…What’s your favorite mythical creature?…If you had a Greek god for your parent, which one would you choose?…Will you play capture the flag tomorrow? Pleeeeeeeease!?” 

Suddenly, the lights fade and the short-termers expel involuntary sighs of disappointment at a last email not quite having finished sending or a Skype-conversation with a sister being cut short. The electricity goes off at 8:30 every night, along with the electricity-powered satellite connection. Laptops are packed up, thank-yous said, fully-charged lanterns gradually illumine in the hands of the King children, and everyone shuffles off to their respective houses, rooms, and beds. A final “Sqawk sqawk!” emerges from the porch-dwelling parrot… 

*   *    *

The above is an example of a typical evening here at Shyira Hospital. Before I arrived, I could hardly imagine what living at a mission hospital in rural Rwanda would look like. One short-termer, arriving a month after me, exclaimed surprisedly, “But where’s the pit latrine?” after he was shown to his personal apartment complete with shower, flush-toilet, and kitchen help. Certainly everyone on “the hill” does not have a flush toilet, but this is one of the many technological advancements (another being the satellite internet connection) that have come to Shyira thanks to Dr.Caleb and his family. 

Even without these modern-day luxuries, however, I suspect that most people would be surprised at the comfort and family-atmosphere of Shyira. I myself, having never met the King family before, was hoping to get to spend maybe a few hours a week with them and perhaps to win the trust of their children gradually. Quite to my surprise, from the first day the King family and their children included me in their daily life, from afternoon games to flute lessons to nightly internet and watching movies cuddled on the couch – Thank you, King family, for your seemingly natural and endless hospitality, joy, and love!

~posted by Mary Buckler, shorttermer at Shyira between September & December, 2008 (Medical School graduate June 2008).

http://marybuckler139.blogspot.com