"So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them..." Gen. 1:27

     Now that I've gotten my feet back under me, I wanted to share a few more stories from the trip to South Sudan.  My role was to document with pictures all that was happening.  I sat with patients waiting for surgery, talked with those who weren't able to have surgery for one reason or another, and tried to capture those whose sight had been restored.
     The more people I talked to the more I realized that each person's story was hard in more ways than it was easy.  A missionary who lives in South Sudan  said if I really wanted to hear some things,  there were four topics to ask about: the war, the famine, their children, and lastly, if they had ever seen a lion.  Here is a sampling of the responses...

Deng'ng'ong' said his eyes started getting bad 3 years ago.  He believed it was because his son was killed and no one had answered for it even up till now.

The next morning, when Deng'ng'ong' had his eye patch removed, he was absolutely beaming.

"The toughest lion to kill was one that came into the camp to kill a person, not a cow."  Kiir went with 9 other men, tracked it down and killed it with spears.

"I've seen a lot of hard things in the war, but the worst thing above all of that is this blindness." 

The following day her patch was removed and her eyesight was restored.

Patients are led cautiously and carefully to the clinic.

It was our goal that each person coming to the hospital would hear about the steadfast and saving love of Jesus Christ.  Many had heard the gospel before, even if they didn't believe it.  Many had not.  Amuor (the woman in the center) said this was the first time she had heard the gospel.  She knew children in her village that went to church, but thought it was a school just for children.  After hearing about God's unconditional love she said, "The success of the surgery is because of the power of God alone.  As soon as I go home, I will be going to church with the children."

Led in by the hand, but walking out on her own.  For this we praise God!! 

I am SO happy to be back home at Tenwek after our trip!!  Thank you to all who prayed us through.  It was hard, but so, so rewarding.  Before I share a little about it, I have to stop and give HUGE credit to Mike for staying home and homeschooling and doing life at home so I could go and do this!!!  He was so encouraging and supportive!!  Love you, Mike!!

This trip to South Sudan has been an answered prayer for me.  When Mike and I were at Tenwek from 2006-2008, we tried to go to Sudan but it was just not stable enough to travel then.  I’ve wanted to see this country, and these people, since then.  So, when the Roberts asked me to go on this cataract surgery trip and as the photographer, I was SO EXCITED (read excited in a white knuckle, butterflies in my stomach kind of way).
    There are so many things I could say about the trip: the missionaries who live here full time with their children, the most strikingly beautiful faces, the hundreds of patients, the shrieking and dancing when eye patches were removed and sight was restored, the HEAT, oh the heat, the testimonies from patients, the incredible loss written on faces from 20 years of war, and famine, the redemption and hope people claimed because of God….all of it.  There are pages to be written.  (And hundreds of photos taken).  You know when someone comes back from a trip and they want to show you HOURS of photos that you really weren’t that interested to see…..I don’t want to be THAT person.  So, I’ll share one story here.

One of the coolest parts of clinic is watching patients being led in by family members but walking out on their own.  Dignity restored.

#givingtuesday wgm.org/ganey

The Tenwek Eye Team is going to South Sudan next week for a mission trip.  I, Julie, will be traveling with them as the photographer/storyteller!!!  We will leave next Sunday for Nairobi, and then Fly to Tonj, South Sudan on Monday where a New Zealand missionary family is serving.  Some things to think and pray about as we prepare...
   They have screened and scheduled 400 patients already in preparation. We are praying for strength, energy and health for the team.
   They have passionate pastors who have been sharing the gospel and praying with patients during screening and will continue to do so during the cataract camp.  We are praying for soft hearts.
   They have limited bottle gas, which has to be imported from Kenya, so the sterilization will be done from boiling water over coal fires.  We are praying for working equipment and enough water and coal for boiling.
   We will have limited access to the internet, but will be able to text during certain hours.  We would love prayer as we prepare, and each day as we are there.  If you would like to be on a prayer team for this trip, please let us know.  I will be sending daily updates, when it is possible.  Send us an email theganeys@gmail.com if you'd like to join this team lifting this trip up in prayer.

Guest author- Dr. Andrea Parker

​Diana’s smile is amazing. I met Diana in August. But, it took until quite recently for me to see that smile.

Before I share Diana’s story, I want to briefly introduce some background on story-telling. In the past few years here at Tenwek, I have learned the difficulty in sharing someone’s story, especially with attention to the different contexts from which we come. I have found this to be true in sharing my own story but find it especially difficult in appropriately conveying another’s experiences. Especially when involving injustice, it can be difficult to fairly tell a story without worsening biases a reader may already have about the subject or topics of the story. Again, this can be a particularly challenging aspect of sharing a story that crosses cultures. 
I also need to say that Diana’s story is really difficult to share. It is unfair and full of injustices. I have done my best to share her story in a way that brings dignity and honors the image of God in all persons involved without cheapening or minimizing her trauma or that of those who have gone through similar experiences. Diana has eagerly given her full permission for this story to be shared and for the pictures that celebrate God’s work in her life and our participation in and witness to that work to be a part of the story. Telling this story is a collaborative effort. I have written the story from my perspective; Julie Ganey, whose role in this story through her work with Tabitha Ministry was incredible, took all the pictures. Together, we pray that the words and pictures convey the “beauty from ashes” that is this story.

​Injuries are a huge part of what we see as doctors at Tenwek. In addition to accidental injuries, many injuries are intentionally-inflicted, perhaps due to land disputes or livestock ownership issues or in situations of domestic violence. Diana was admitted in August with severe head injuries, deep cuts through the skin and bone such that the brain was visible, as well as multiple other deep cuts and injuries to her back and arms and amputation of two of her fingers. These were violent injuries, clearly meant to do serious damage or cause death. Diana was brought in several hours after her injuries, and immediately taken to the operating room, where her wounds were washed out and repaired. Her physical wounds, that is.
Over the next several days, we began to see that as severe as Diana’s physical wounds were, equal in severity were the non-physical wounds. And those wounds cannot be sewn together and repaired in a few hours of time in an operating room. Diana struggled to eat. She was tearful. She would not make eye contact. She rarely spoke and relied on her sister to answer questions; I did not even realize she spoke English.
We began to hear parts of Diana’s story – she had been injured by a man, not her husband as she is not married. It was not the first time; she had old scars. She was scared. Over several days to weeks, we prayed for her on our team rounds, and we spent time with her later in the afternoons. We felt a deep desire for her to know her worth, both to us and to a God who loves her with an incomprehensibly immense love. We wanted her to know that she was deeply cherished. Our chaplains and social worker came and met with her, and over the course of those few weeks, she came to know the radical love of Jesus who cares so profoundly about each of us.
As we began to make plans for her discharge from the hospital, we had questions. Was it safe for her to return home? Did she have a community to support her? How could she better understand who Jesus is and how God can work in her life?
Throughout our few years here, Bob and I have seen numerous examples where the ideal person is available at a time when their particular, unique skill or expertise is needed. For instance, a patient with a complex vascular problem is here the one week of the year that we have a vascular surgeon available. In these times, we have become deeply grateful for and found a new appreciation in the way that God uses the Body of Christ – our various gifts, desires, enjoyments, strengths – for His glory. We have become keenly aware of our own small part in this picture. While most often I’ve seen this happen through medical providers, in this situation, God used Tabitha Ministry and some other missionary and Kenyan friends.
Tabitha Ministry (https://www.wgm.org/project/tabitha) is a ministry to Kenyan women in the area surrounding Tenwek Hospital. It started out of a home Bible study but has grown to a network of thousands of women learning the Bible and caring for one another. It was started by a missionary friend, Linda, and a Kenyan woman, Peris ROtich. As Diana was in the hospital, I reached out to Linda, Peris, and another friend who works with Tabitha, Julie, in hopes that they could meet with Diana so that perhaps she could be connected to a group of women from Tabitha, near her home, who might be able to provide continued support and encouragement. God used the Tabitha leaders in beautiful and wonderful ways to minister to Diana, and I began to hear more of Diana’s story through them.

​Diana is one of eight daughters and no sons. Had she been born into a family with sons, likely her life would have been much different. If she had a brother, as her parents aged, they would have been cared for by a son and daughter-in-law. Instead, Diana was chosen to stay with her parents and care for them, both as a financial provider and for their daily needs. Diana is a teacher, and her home is on the same plot of land as her mother and father’s.
Diana is not allowed to marry. As an unmarried woman, Diana is vulnerable, lacking the protection a husband would afford her. And there are men in her community who take advantage of her vulnerability. She has three children with two fathers. A particular man in her community, the father of two of her children, periodically comes to her house to spend the night, and at least once prior to this story, he has abused her violently enough to leave scars. 
One morning, as he prepared to leave the house, he suddenly turned violent, taking a machete and attacking her, even as she tried to run away. Leaving the house, she screamed for the neighbors before she collapsed, and he escaped. The neighbors came, and when they saw the severity of her injuries, they assumed she was dead; she scared them when she asked them to take her to the hospital. The first hospital they took her to saw how bad her injuries were and wouldn’t even allow her into the hospital, sending her instead on to Tenwek with a blanket to soak up some of the blood. Tenwek is an hour and a half of very bumpy dirt roads from her house. Diana said she didn’t even feel the trauma of the ride as she was unconscious.
As the women from Tabitha talked to Diana, they were able to share personal experiences and situations and encourage her in her newfound faith. They spent hours over several days with her acknowledging her trauma, allowing her to talk and process the situation, and hearing her fears. They prayed, shared scripture, and sang songs with Diana before her discharge. And they arranged for Diana to have women visit her at her home through a Tabitha group nearer to her. I am so very grateful for the time these women spent pouring into the life of another woman.
A little over a week ago, Julie, Peris, and I had the opportunity, along with several women from Tabitha who joined us at various points on the journey, to visit Diana in her home. We met her parents and children and had a beautiful time of hearing Diana’s story. She related that in that moment as she was escaping, as she was fearing for her life, she just cried out to God, that he would forgive her and forgive this man. Hearing her say that reminded me of Christ on the cross. She said she had heard about Jesus all her life but had never known him until she was in the hospital. 

​Diana and her family told us of the many ways in which God intervened on her behalf that day and the way He has changed her life since. Her family was supposed to be away, yet their plans had changed, and they were around. In this very remote area, a car just happened to be passing by the neighbor’s house, and the driver offered to drive her to the hospital for no charge. When they arrived at Tenwek, Diana’s mother was told that she would need a blood transfusion and also given an estimate of the cost of the hospitalization and surgery. She was overwhelmed wondering where she would find family to donate blood and money to pay. She happened to run into another relative who was at the hospital for an unrelated reason, and that relative organized family members to donate blood and contribute to the cost of her care. She talked about God’s work in her life including the way that He has miraculously taken away her fear, her nightmares, her anger and her bitterness and her shame. We shared chai (Kenyan tea) and songs and prayer and hugs. 
I will not pretend to understand why these things happen or why sometimes evil seems to prevail in this world or give easy answers. Nor do I want to naively overlook or simplify the trauma that she or others have experienced. But, I do know that God’s work in Diana’s life is obvious. Her smile is not one of naivete or ignorance or denial. Her smile is that of someone who knows the love of God in a real way.

If you are interested in buying gifts this year that go a bit further, here are some of the options in our neck of the woods.

Above left: Vanessa. Above right: Travis
Below: Semenai standing with her dad.
     After arriving at Charles and Agnes’ house, we continued another two hard hours in the car to the home of Semenai, Mike’s patient.  It was quite an experience for all of us.  We traveled with the surgical resident, Kiniga, who had helped Mike with the case.  Even having grown up in Kenya, he was having as much culture shock as some of us were.​

 This little girl was a patient of Mike's last week. A three year old little girl from Samburu who had a cleft lip that Mike and our team just repaired. At the age of three. Mama, about 18-ish the nurse guessed because she didn't know how old she was, became a christian about a month ago.  A local Kenyan missionary and pastor who used to work at Tenwek visited her and showed interest in her child who was said and believed to be cursed.  

The pastor said she wasn't cursed, and that there was a doc at Tenwek who could fix and fund this operation, just bring the girl.  So she did.  And she was beautiful! (Unfortunately, she took a face plant on the ward the day before and so had a bit of blood there for the pic.)

How a newborn could survive without adequate nutrition in a very remote area is purely God's grace.  We are so encouraged ourselves when we get to play a small role in showing Jesus' love and tender care to others.  It reminds us of His love for and care for us.  When we have stories like these to tell of God's faithfulness, these are good days.

"Yet I am confident I will see the Lord's goodness while I am here in the land of the living." Psalm 27:13

Thank you to all who support us being here to help such children and families as this. It was our team's finances that paid for her care. Asante sana!

*As always, photos taken and used with mom's signed permission.  While it would show the transformation better to share a picture before surgery, we feel it best to leave that out. Perhaps we'll get the chance in the future to update her photo without the bloody lip from falling while playing!