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A t
:/ 13
i
Gregory
Hannah
August 1990
ABOUT
LIFE
AND DEATH
One day while
I
was
in
Lodwar
buying
supplies
a
man
came to our
house
and t ol d Debb ie
tha t
his wife
was sick. I t
d idn t s eem
all t ha t differ
ent from
a
hundred
other cases of peo
ple
that
come to
our
house every day.
The
woman was pregnant, due to have
the baby
any
day; she had
pain
and
los t a lot
of
blood
three
days before.
DAN
DEBBIE
BADER
P.O. Box
38
Lodwar, Kenya
AFRICA
Tu r k a n a
Tr ibesman
CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY FELLOWSHIP Prayer Newsletter
She lived
across
the river
which
Nakaale
clinic
building the first
permanent
building
happened to be flowing those days, so m
this valley
we couldn t go
get her with
the truck.
Debbie told them to
bring
her to our side of the river and we'd
take
her to a hospital
in
Lodwar (three hours one way over some rough country,
the
same place I had gone andwas
coming back from that very day).
The people here
aren t too
wild about going to the hospital in Lodwar. Many
times
people have gone there and died alone. They must have dawdled quite a bit, waiting to
see if she d get better or if the
baby
would come, because they didn t bring her until a day
and
a
ha l f
l a t e r .
When
we
saw
the
man s
wife,
she
didn t
look all
that
sick;
she
was
even able
t o wa lk
around. But what
they
told
us
soxmded very
serious,
and
we wanted
to
take
her to
Lod
w r
The
men talked
about i t for a while, deciding to
wait
again ti ll morning. They
wouldn t
budge.
Later
we
found out
they wanted to
consult some
old
men who threw
sandals for
divination. From throwing
the
sandals,
they decided that
if
she went
to Lodwar
she would
die on
the way.
The next morning they
refused to
let
her go.
What a dilemma We
went
to pray with the woman again
that
morning
only
to
find her
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breathing
her
last. I actually
watched someone die
.
someone
who
could have
recovered in differ
ent
circumstances. My heart ached
for
days.
A few weeks later my Turkana
brother, Lodeiya, came sa3ring
his
wife,
Kanuay
was very
sick
after
hav
ing her baby. She lost a lo t of blood
during the delivery. Luckily Bob
Chapman (our
Christian
Missionary
Fellowship co-worker and team doc
tor)
was
coming the
next
day for his
regular monthly
mobile clinic. He
gave her a
sho t o f
iron and some oth
er
medicines,
but said
she
was
in
very
serious
condition.
He
said the
chances
were
likely Kanua
wouldn t
make
the
rough
trip
to
Lodwar
where a
blood
t ransfus ion could
make al l the
difference
(i f
they
could
even
find a donor with the right
blood type). It didn t matter anyway,
the family didn t
want
her
to go.
This time the situation was espe
cially personal since she was my
brother s wife. We
wen t
out to see
Kanua
twice a day to pray
with
her
and
check
on
her medicine, but
she
just
wasn t
gett ing any bet ter.
It
looked like everyone already had giv
en her up for
dead
and were just
waiting
fo r
it to happen. Kanua her
self seemed
to
have given
up;
she
had absolutely no interest in the
baby who
was being given goat s
milk
since
Kanua wasn t nursing.
Debbie
started
taking
food
out
to
an u a e ac h t im e
we
wen t
and
t h a t
seemed to help a little.
What
seemed to help the most was
Deb
bie's interest in her:
One
day she
took a bracelet for the
baby and
one
of her necklaces
for Kanua as
gifts.
She gave the baby gift,
then
before
Debbie
could give the necklace
to
Ka
nua
she said,
Where s
mineV
Queen
Hannah sitting
on
he r
throne,
Dan s
ekechalong.
Does she look like
a
little
Turkana,
or
what ?
Hannah
and
ou r
friend,
Pele,
supervising
some work
on our new house at Kangarisay.
Our
closest neighbors,
the
family of
Anapa.
We
praised
God
Begging was
a
sme sign this Turkana wanted to
live.
From then
on
she
steadily
got
better. It s a
much
better
feeling
to
help
save a Hfe than to helplessly
watch
on e s nuf fe d
out
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From these two examples, pulled from many such experiences, you can rejoicewith us
in the permanent clinic buildingwe ve just finished. We re staffing it with a nurse and
providing
the
medicines for one year, after which the government agreed to take over.
Even though
this
clinic took a lot of time to build, we expect
it
to actually save time in
the
long run and relieve xis of a great burden, not to mention
the
help
it
will be for
the
Turka-
n
PRAYER
*In the last newsletter we asked you to pray every day for certain things. Weknow,by
your letters, that many of you have labored
in
prayer on our behalfall these months even
without knowing fhe results ofthose prayers. Weapologize for not reporting sooner; the
only excuse being
that
it
has
probably been
the
most difficult six months of
our
lives.
Without your prayers I m
sure
we would never
have
made it .
Let me first teUyou about the prayers
that
were clearly answered. Even though it s
not nomadic, a churchhas begun to meethere inKangarisay. There is a small groupof
more or less permanent families here which swell to quite a large population during cer
tain times of the year. All of the Turkana missionaries came and joined in a two-day cele
bration for over a himdred Turkana men, culminating on Simday morning
in
a church ser
vice
Since then, we vebeen averaging about sixty peopleeach Sunday. Twenty ofthose are
usually men.
The
services
are
exciting, and everybody really enjoys them. Tliis is not
something
brandnew. Ralphand
Cheri
Brune
former CMF
teammates,
originally
start
edfhis church
before fhey
had to
go back
to the States
for medical reasons. We
just
got
it
going again.
All
this
assumes
I m
in the area. If I m gone, very fewif anymeet; so you can
see
there s a long way to go. Even then it s only
the
beginning. A
permanent
church like
this
one only meetsthe needsofa
few
people in a smallarea. Themajority ofthe people need
a church
that
is
more mobile to fit
their
nomadic lifestyle. But at least we ve made a first
step
with
our church
here
at
Kangarisay
and
for
that
we praise
Gk d.
Keep pra3dng
*We asked for nothing less
than
a miracle
in the
area oflanguage learning; I believe
God
granted
that miracle.
It s
exciting to converse at a much higher level all of a sudden.
Now instead of talking like a five-year-old I feel more like a ten-year-old. Obviously, I
want to progress
beyond
this level, so I d appreciate
your continued
prayers
in
this sJl-
important area.
*We asked you
to pray
for rain
God answered that one also.
He
sent the rains a
month
early,
and
they were plentifiil. Unfortimately, the rain came the very day a major
diviner was prajdng for it , too. Sometimes I get the feeling
that
Grod is arranging a con
frontation
with
that
diviner, who also
happens
to
be my
fiiend.
Whether
it s
tomorrow or
two years from
now
I
don t
Imow; but I m afraid it s going to revolve around the rain. We ll
see where God leads. Please keep praying.
*The people have been quick to accept us here
at
Kangarisay. We
are
developing some
good relationships, God has answered your prayers in
that.
But
the
most
important
thing
I asked you to
pray
for was God helping me to be out in the villages a lot. With all my
heart
I
want
to be out
there
with people talking and sharing almost every day, but it just
hasn t been humanly possible. I don t believe it
was
a lack of willpower or desire. There
was just
too much to do with a large men s course
to prepare
for, a church
to
ge t
started,
a
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T hi s i s w hy the last si x m on th s h av e b ee n so difficult . We ve been so busy that we r e worn
to a fr az zl e, yet I haven t been
able
to do th e
on e
thing I
wanted more
than
anything.
Please pray
fervently
that G od w il l
help
me g et ou t
more
into
the
villages as
I know
He
also wants
I d
like to s ha re t he following p r ay e r w i th you.
I t
came in th e
f ro m o ne
of
my old
est
and
best friends Greg Lokie, in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Greg
deserves a
lo t
of
th e
credit
for
th e spiritual life I have today. He s still h elping me
because
this prayer came at a time I
needed
i t
very much;
and
still
do.
God
G r a n t
m e
wisdom
discernment fo r m y d ay s . . .
to cast of f t h a t
which profits
nothing
a nd purs ue
just weights
an d measures
unconsumed
by the trivial
yet
never
passing over
th e
small only
because
of
apparent
insignificance.
-
T e a c h m e
you r wa y s
ways unapplauded, unrewarded,
under
attack,
u n kn ow n t o the scheming pursuits
of
men
wh o know nothing of prayer-
who
care nothing
for th e l ikes of us. Lord.
B e a r w i th me
Sovereign.
I m dizzy with it
all-
giddy, trying to
maintain
balance,
to walk upright
to preserve Your valor;
falling so short, falling so fast.
Teach
m e
the
wisdom from
above
your l ove .
Tea ch me
D an a nd
D e b b i e
Bade r
8 / 9 0
CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY FELLOWSHIP
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INDIANAPOLIS. IN 46226-0306
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