October 16, 2008
Maua, Kenya

Dear Friends,

Stan has participated in two Kenyan celebrations in the past two weeks. Each gathering lasted more than five hours and both were marked by choirs singing, dancing, numerous speeches, and a meal; but apart from this they were very different.

The first was with the Presbyterian Church of East Africa, which celebrated the 100th anniversary of Kikuyu Hospital. Begun as a first aid station by a Scottish missionary, this oldest of mission hospitals in the country has come a long way, now having nationally recognized eye, orthopedic, and dental units. More than a thousand people came to celebrate the occasion, which was graced by the vice president of the nation as the chief speaker.

Village marching for HIV AIDS awareness.

The second gathering was in a large village several miles from the Maua Methodist Hospital, where over 100 local citizens and 50 hospital staff were gathered to celebrate World Hospice and Palliative Care Day and to remember the death of two German missionaries and their legacy. Dr. Dietmar Ziegler and his wife, Sister Birgit Zielger, died in a traffic accident while on their way to Maua five years ago, leaving the Maua Hospital without the vibrant leadership that Dietmar had brought. Among his passions for developing the life of the hospital, responding to the cry of HIV/AIDS victims had become his primary focus. Dr. Ziegler left us, but he had already planted the seeds of a program for the AIDS problem. With generous donor organizations and the enthusiastic leadership of Claire Smithson, an English missionary doctor here, the program has developed over the past five years to be a Kenyan model for rural AIDS care.

MMH's total annual budget is about $3,550,000. The palliative program has a budget of $550,000, of which $240,000 goes to the cost of the anti retro-viral (ARV) drugs. The 1800 enrolled patients are served by a staff of 30. One-hundred and sixty-five of these are children under the age of 14, and over 200 of these patients currently suffer from tuberculosis.

Less quantifiable across the region are the hundreds of children who are orphaned and women who are widowed or abandoned. Other programs include the Samaritan's Purse, which educates the younger population in chastity and fidelity. Care is given in local government clinics. Most impressive are the local support groups with a strong Christian emphasis that have sprung up in villages all around. Men resist being identified and treated for AIDS and hence have a higher death rate, leaving the wives and mothers to bear the burden of raising families. Dr. Salvador de La Torre, a PC(USA) mission worker in Kenya, oversees the distribution of major funding to mission hospitals across the country.

One of many children operated for burn scar contractures this month.

In Mia’s skin clinics, the heaviest care given to AIDs patients who are diagnosed in the early stages of disease because they present atypical skin disorders. No one likes to be told that they have a stigmatizing, life-long disease that can take them to the grave. With a national HIV incidence of about 6 percent, which means that at least two million Kenyans carry the deadly virus, every medical institution in the country is caught up in the fight. With life-long drug therapy, less advanced cases can have a 15 to 20 year life-expectancy (possibly longer, as this treatment is relatively new) and be rendered much less contagious so long as they take their drugs regularly. The Christian church in this land must respond with a heart of compassion and with teaching the virtue of sexual abstinence outside of marriage and faithfulness in marriage. The Scriptures are indeed the rule for faith and practice in this as well as all aspects of life.

Come sing and dance with the Christians of Africa. There is plenty to celebrate, even victory over the burdens.

Yours,

Stan and Mia Topple

The 2008 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 15