Kenya Statistics

Since I have lived my entire life in the United States, I do not know a lot about Africa or Kenya.  When I think of Africa, I think of African safaris, poverty, and in respect to Kenya, long distance marathon runners.  Some interesting facts about Kenya are that there is approximately 41 million people that live in Kenya, two thirds of the population live below the international poverty line of $2 a day, 26 percent of Kenyans have access to the internet, 62 percent have a cell phone, and 28 percent of households own a TV.  It is interesting to think about these statistics and reflect on what we in America think of as normal.  It is normal for us to have multiple TV’s in our house and multiple devices connected to the internet.  It is normal for us to go to Walmart or Meijer and get whatever supplies we need.  However, what we have here in America is not normal to the majority of the world.  God has blessed us and our nation.

About Tenwek

My trip to Tenwek will begin on June 1^st.  I will arrive in Nairobi, Kenya about 24 hours after I leave the airport in Detroit, MI.  Once in Nairobi, I will have another 4 hour car ride to my final destination at Tenwek Hospital in Bomet, Kenya.  Tenwek is located about 150 miles from Nairobi in the Bomet County of Kenya’s Rift Valley Province.  The hospital is located about 100 miles south of the equator.  Tenwek is administered as a subsidiary of the African Gospel Church in cooperation with World Gospel Mission.  The hospital was founded in 1937 and has now grown to a 300-bed referral and teaching center, making it one of the largest Protestant mission hospitals in Africa.  It provides primary health care to 600,000 people within about a 20 mile radius.  The climate is very temperate due to the 6800-ft. elevation.  In the month of June, while I am there, it is normally dry and cool in the evenings.  Temperatures this time of year range from 51 – 70 degrees.  I will be arriving near the end of their rainy season. 

  

My Journey

My journey to Tenwek has been months in the making.  Last fall, I started thinking and praying about a short term mission trip and where God would lead me to go.  Kristen had just returned from her trip to Togo, and she told me about conversations she had with the local missionaries.  They were very excited to hear about my IT skills, and they told her how much I could be used in Africa.  This really was an eye-opener to me.  I had always heard of missionaries going to spread the Gospel or performing medical missions in Africa, but I never really thought of Africa as a place that needed IT or IT missionaries.  I had several conversations with mission organizations in the following months, and found that IT is very much in need in Africa.  Shortly after New Years, I started looking at various mission and local church websites for opportunities.  I talked with missions organizations about the possibility of going to South America or Africa.  Throughout the next couple of months, I would have opportunities to go to several places.  My two most promising opportunities were to go to Zambia or Mozambique.  Both of these locations were great opportunities, but neither seemed to be the right fit.  I was looking for a third world country where I could use my IT skills in a hospital.  Tenwek was just what I was looking for, and God presented the opportunity at just the right time.  I will spend two weeks helping the hospital with a large upgrade to their IT infrastructure and implementation of an electronic medical records system.