Thinking About Our Neighbors

This tippy tap makes hand washing hands-free!!

     The staff working at Tenwek Community Health and Development is really a top notch team - cream of the crop. Seriously.  Since the news has been spreading about COVID-19, they have been working tirelessly to get the word into the community about handwashing and social distancing.  I love what they do and how they do it.  I’m always so proud to be associated with them - even in the smallest way.
    Since our Tabitha Bible study groups can’t be meeting at this time, I asked a friend, Emmy Rotich, in TCHD how she thought we could reach the ladies with encouragement and the information they would need to be able to care for their families during this crisis.  She suggested we ask the ladies to come a few at a time, keeping distance, and talk through how to set up a tippy tap for hand washing without running water, how to make 20L of soap for $8 and how to use a mask safely since it is now required by law that everyone outside their home wear one.

Hannah (yellow skirt) taught how to make 20L of liquid soap for $8.

     Peris, Linda and I set this past Wednesday for the first group to come.  It was so, so, so good for my soul to see these ladies faces!!  We talked and encouraged one another and prayed together.  I had been looking forward to this day since we had started talking about it.            
​     But as the afternoon wore on, I started to realize how little margin some women have, and how many family members are all staying together in one space.  I almost felt a little panicked at the thought.  Peris encouraged me that the same Lord who has always been faithful is still faithful now.  Each woman has stories of God’s faithfulness in hard times.  And the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases and His mercies never come to an end.

Peris

     I am looking forward to a time when we all come together - each with our own stories of God’s faithfulness, love and care for us.  What an awesome day that will be.  Until that time, will you pray with me for those women in our groups that have very little margin to handle anything beyond the day to day?  That their faith would remain strong and that their love for others would shine in their communities?

Ingredients locally available can make 20L of liquid soap that can be shared among neighbors and the excess sold for income.

     As of now, we are glad to say there are no confirmed COVID-19 cases at the hospital or in our rural county.  All elective surgical cases are on hold for now to conserve supplies.  We are believing that the Lord who has been faithful up till now will continue to be so.