Touching People

Touching people, physically caring for them, has been on my heart and mind since I read the book Daring to Hope by Katie Majors who does this so sacrificially in Uganda. Years ago she started rescuing girls and has adopted 13 girls. As if that is not enough, she takes in burn patients the hospital refuses to treat, houses them in a room behind her house, and de-breeds their wounds three times a day. She is not medically trained but has a tremendous intention to help people who are hurting

My husband and I started working in Kenya 35 years ago. He is now deceased but some of his history is an example of spontaneous touching of people. The following memory is still a reminder of my need to reach out when I see someone in need.

Tharaka is only about 50 Kl from Meru, which has supplies and Petrol for vehicles. In earlier years, the road was very primitive, having boulders and ditches, along with visibility at night being very limited. It was late at night, but my husband had some need for going to Meru, Fortunately, he took a male friend with him and headed out on that journey. About 30 minutes along, they came to one of several little groupings of houses where they saw a crowd of people in the middle of the road. My husband stopped, pushed through people, and found a lady on the road profusely bleeding. Someone said the husband was drunk and had hit his wife across the face with a panga (machete). My husband picked the lady up, put her in the LandRover, and asked his friend to drive. The rest of the journey was rough and challenging but my husband managed to hold the lady’s face together until they arrived at the hospital in Meru. He and the poor lady were soaked in blood! He and his friend stayed at the hospital while a nurse sewed the lady up with string without any anesthesia. My husband was so sad for all that lady’s pain. We found out later that this woman lost her sight in one eye, but lived. We went through that same village often, through the years, and if that woman saw our LandRover, she ran out shouting my husbands last name “MKata MKata!”