Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings to each of you in the name of our loving and risen Lord, Jesus Christ. We pray things are going well for each of you.

Things have been extremely busy for Bill and I. I have been telling myself that when June arrives my schedule would lighten and I could catch my breath and refuel. However, as June rapidly approaches, I see no extra time in my schedule. Thank heavens you are praying for us and we are assured that "Jesus is running with us"!

This past week during our daily 7:30am chapel service, I noticed a swallow swooping down from the front of the church and flying to the back of the church. We often have birds in our church as there are gaps between the roof and the walls. A few minutes later I watched the swallow swoop back and disappear. As I searched the front of the church, I discovered his/her mud nest built in the arch at the front of the church. During the week I have watched the nest grow. I believe it is complete now. Though it is not something I could imagine one would find in a US church, it seems quite appropriate here.

For the last 8 months I have been working with the Nursing Standards Committee (actually facilitating them) as they have worked on the problem of staff lateness. We have faithfully been following the steps of the continuous quality improvement process. In April we made our recommendations to the Heads of Departments about our findings. To our surprise but great delight the HOD accepted our recommendations for the entire hospital (we were authorized to work for nursing only). Thus this past Wednesday two teams of two stood at the front gate and I stood at the chapel checking timeliness. To my delight all compound staff were timely but about 12 people were late and had to write incident letters to go into their files. That seems to be the greatest punishment possible. If anyone has to write 7 incident letters about lateness, it is recommended that they be fired. Timeliness has improved unbelievably this week. We are praying it will make a difference in the care that is given and in the morale of the staff.

Yesterday Bill and I took our usual Saturday walk to the market to purchase vegetables. In the past few weeks Bill has taken on a new job as the mail man for the hospital. All the hospital mail comes to Box 63 and at least daily Bill walks to the Post Office and picks up the mail, if there is any. Many days there is no mail and other days a great deal. Yesterday, when we checked the mail, 7 street boys called Bill by name "Savuto" and began following us. I was a bit surprised. Bill and I have really struggled about what to do when the street children here in Maua or Nairobi or any town in Kenya ask for help. Bill explained that he met about 4 boys almost daily on his trip(s) to the post office and decided that he would buy them bread and bananas when he met them. The boys followed us to the kiosk where Bill bought them bread and then to a lady selling fruit. As I watched them devour the 1/2 loaf of bread and banana and then talk to "Savuto" politely, ending with a thank you and "Mungu akubariki" (God bless you), I was thankful that Bill has this new job and a relationship with 4 - 7 boys between the ages of 9 - 12. Please join us in praying for these young boys and the growing number of street children in every town and city in Kenya.

There are some good programs for street children, though none in Maua. The Methodist Church has a excellent program in Nairobi helping street children go back to school. The program provides housing, food and school fees but of course there is limited resources and thus can only help a few. Knowing what is best and how to really help is the challenge!

Thank you for your prayers for my father. He is doing better but please continue to pray that he will be able to make the trip here at the end of June. Thank you.

With love and gratitude,

Jerri and Bill

You can answer this letter at savuto@MAF.org

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