On July 9th, 2014, Teresa, Anna, Amber and I will board our plane in Phoenix to begin the long journey to Kenya. Let me begin by thanking each of the nearly 400 people and organizations who have supported us so that we can go and serve.
Many of you have asked what I will be doing there. My primary responsibility will be to cover for the current chairman of the OB/GYN department at Tenwek Hospital, Dr. Joy Draper, so that she can take a much needed furlough. In this capacity I will be working with the midwifery service, teaching resident physicians who are Kenyan nationals and part of the PAACS residency program, attending to patients in the clinics and doing a lot of obstetric and gynecologic surgery. Tenwek is a 350 bed hospital that delivers approximately 3,500 babies per year.
My wife and daughters will be doing many things, but perhaps the most exciting thing is to participate in the dedication of milk cows to widows through Tabitha Ministries. There are many widows in Kenya, mostly secondary to HIV infection, leaving them without a means to have revenue to support their families. Once they are trained to care for a milk cow, they are then given a producing cow and then use that cow to feed and support their family. They can use or sell the milk, breed the cow, raise the calves and then use them for food or sell them for income. This has been a very stable and successful program, hence the reason that we chose it.
They will be able to participate in the dedication of two cows while we are there. Initially we had wanted to raise enough funds for 6 cows, but because of the outpouring of love and support on behalf of so many people, enough funds have been raised for nearly 30 cows (each cow costs about $300).
Through the months of June, July and August I will be posting much more on this site as well as on my Facebook page. On the map of Kenya that I posted today, the city of Bomet and Tenwek Hospital are located between Nairobi and Lake Victoria, although they are not identified on the map.
Thank you for your prayers and support!
Allan, Teresa, Anna & Amber Sawyer
Many of you have asked what I will be doing there. My primary responsibility will be to cover for the current chairman of the OB/GYN department at Tenwek Hospital, Dr. Joy Draper, so that she can take a much needed furlough. In this capacity I will be working with the midwifery service, teaching resident physicians who are Kenyan nationals and part of the PAACS residency program, attending to patients in the clinics and doing a lot of obstetric and gynecologic surgery. Tenwek is a 350 bed hospital that delivers approximately 3,500 babies per year.
My wife and daughters will be doing many things, but perhaps the most exciting thing is to participate in the dedication of milk cows to widows through Tabitha Ministries. There are many widows in Kenya, mostly secondary to HIV infection, leaving them without a means to have revenue to support their families. Once they are trained to care for a milk cow, they are then given a producing cow and then use that cow to feed and support their family. They can use or sell the milk, breed the cow, raise the calves and then use them for food or sell them for income. This has been a very stable and successful program, hence the reason that we chose it.
They will be able to participate in the dedication of two cows while we are there. Initially we had wanted to raise enough funds for 6 cows, but because of the outpouring of love and support on behalf of so many people, enough funds have been raised for nearly 30 cows (each cow costs about $300).
Through the months of June, July and August I will be posting much more on this site as well as on my Facebook page. On the map of Kenya that I posted today, the city of Bomet and Tenwek Hospital are located between Nairobi and Lake Victoria, although they are not identified on the map.
Thank you for your prayers and support!
Allan, Teresa, Anna & Amber Sawyer
