Mombasa Sewing Skills

This lovely lady is part of the WEEP center in Mombasa. She is Muslim by faith. One doesn't need to be Christian to be part of the WEEP program; but, they come into the program knowing it is fully Christian. It is a good tool for showing non-Christians the life of Christ in the believer. Judy spent some time talking with this woman's two daughters--ages 15 & 17. They were both dressed in the full-cover, black shapeless dresses with black shawls over their heads. We had no idea why the mother doesn't dress like that also. The husband/father died of AIDS and the woman is HIV positive. The two daughters are not infected. Judy had the opportunity of spending time with the girls when the other young people went swimming at the pool during the medical team activities. These two girls obviously couldn't get into the water and were sitting off by themselves. They were very welcoming to a conversation with Judy. The topics ranged from goals in life (one wants to be a journalist and the other an airline hostess), to school, to boys. They wanted to know if Judy had sons and were they available. Typical teenagers :-)

Please Write to Us!

February 3 we celebrated Phil's birthday. Judy baked cookies (instead of a cake) for the 30 students in Phil's class that day. We all sang happy birthday to Professor Ogden. (This Wednesday she will bake cookies for the 50 students in Phil's other class.) We'd love to hear from you either on this blog OR send us an email at philandjudyogden@gmail.com! Our hotmail account hasn't been working here, so please use this gmail address. We're hungry for news from our family and friends. We have no TV or newspaper here at our flat.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers and thoughts!

Your Dollars at Work

For those of you who have contributed to our missions ministry fund at Pearce Church, some of your money was used for our recent trip with the medical team to Mombasa. Mombasa is on the Indian Ocean, southeast of Nairobi. On Thursday it took 9 hours of driving in a large safari-type vehicle to reach Mombasa. The ocean area of Mombasa is beautiful, and at some point we'll post a few photos, but right now we'll concentrate on the mission of this trip. These 3 children were outside the fence watching us unload supplies at the HEART WEEP (Women Equality Empowerment Project) center in Mombasa.

Phil Gave Eye Tests

On Friday we spent the day at the Mombasa WEEP center. All of the women at this center are HIV positive, but their lives have dramatically changed for the better since becoming part of WEEP. During the day we gave various exams to these women and charted the results so that the medical doctor on our team had the info for his exam. Phil had the women read the eye chart and then also close-up print in a book. We had brought along eye glasses purchased at a dollar store in the US for these folks. Phil also did these eye tests on Saturday for the children bused to our hotel.

Judy Gave Medical Tests & Bible Teaching

In Mombasa, Judy was involved with various parts of the program. In this photo Judy is using dip sticks to test the urine of the WEEP ladies. She recorded the results on the chart which went with them to the medical doctor.

In the afternoon, Judy gave a teaching based on the prodigal son in Luke 15. This was adapted to these women. She called the teaching "The Lost Daughter of the King." It was a teaching of hope and restoration.

Dr. Tweet Examined 45 People

While in Mombasa, the HEART team (3 from CA, 1 from CO, Phil and Judy, Vickie Winkler the HEART director, and our Kenyan driver) stayed in a beautiful hotel. Before you shake your head in disbelief, let us tell you what happened. Even though it was expensive for us on the team to pay to stay there, the hotel allowed us to bus in 45 people on Saturday to use the hotel facilities for the day. This included their playground, an area where we did arts and crafts, a pool with a water slide and a luncheon for everyone. (The hotel did not charge a fee for the children to eat lunch.) These women and children live only about 15 minutes from this hotel, but had never experienced a treat such as this.

One of our bedrooms was set up as the examining room for Dr. Tweet (from the U.S.). We had a local Kenyan pharmacist donate his time so that medications we had brought along could be given to the women and children. According to law, this was necessary.

Teaching Basic Hygiene

During the morning on Saturday, while the medical tests and exams were happening, the team also had various activities for those women and children waiting their turn. In this photo Pam and Melanie are teaching how to properly brush teeth, using hand puppets. Toothbrushes and toothpaste were distributed to take home. They also taught handwashing and gave out bars of soap to take home. A fun craft was decorating a photo frame. We took digital photos of everyone present, printed out the photos on a printer we brought from the Nairobi HEART office, and gave these framed photos to each person to take home. Most of these people had never seen a photo of themselves. The lady on the left is Dalina; she was our interpreter for the craft area. Kiswahili is the major language spoken by these women and children--though many had the basics of English.