I am the clinical and rehab supervisor for BethanyKids. In this role, I am responsible for mentoring and training all of the therapists and rehab related staff for BethanyKids. This includes working at Joytown Special Primary school where we provide therapy to all 350 students, also working towards fulfilling a new contract that will provide therapy for the high school children at the same facility (an additional 250 students). The work at this site not only allows me to do direct care with the students but also mentorship with the staff. This setting is very unique as before each therapy session for the children we do a devotional for the class which provides a good opportunity to ask questions and engages the children on a spiritual level. BethanyKids also has a child mentor/chaplain that works at the school which really solidifies and provides yet another avenue to spread the gospel with these special needs children. I find that this portion of my job has one of the largest impacts on the community as a whole. I see this because the parents see the great value and worth that their children have when they come to get their children for school breaks. We then have an opportunity to share with them the great value and worth that each of their children hold in the eyes of our maker! This then directly translates to how our parents treat them in their home communities and our children often report that they are treated differently in their home communities. It is such a pleasure to start seeing communities transform the way that they see and understand the value of special needs children (culturally they are often seen as a curse). Another aspect of my work is with the mobile clinic team. Our team treats nearly 4,000 patients per year. Each of our families that come to bring their children to receive nursing care, therapy, social services, and parent to parent mentorship. This is another area where we see tremendous change not only in the children's physical well being as we are better able to help them maintain their health, improve their skills through therapy, but also are able to show the love of Christ and share it with them as we interact. One of the unique things about therapy is that often we require a significant number of return visits and with this, we can create a strong relationship with our families. This relationship allows us to be able to share on a deeper level with these families.
This varies greatly from week to week. Due to a variety of programs that I am working with I see anywhere from 5 patients a day to 45 patients in a day at clinics. The days where there are lower numbers of patients are days that I spend more time training and creating CME's for the staff and training courses.
Without MedSend's grant we would not be able to have answered God's call. It is only thru the generosity of MedSend and it's donors that we are able to be on the mission field! The grant we receive allowed us to be accepted by SIM which in turn allowed us to answer our calling to work with BethanyKids. Doing this work has allowed me to not only work in Kenya as an Occupational Therapist, but has specifically allowed me to be the hands and feet of Christ to the children and families that BethanyKids serves. Training Children and their families in order to improve their ability to be independent has not only physically affected their lives, but I pray has allowed them to see that God has created us all equal in His sight and made us all in His image! I am so thankful that God has worked in so many peoples' hearts to give to MedSend so that I can in turn answer God's calling to be not only His hands and feet, but to specifically change the image they have of themselves!