Africa 2009 - Thank you for your prayers!

The Holland Family is going to Africa this summer! We will be traveling to Bomet, Kenya to serve at Tenwek Hospital where I will be performing eye surgery for three weeks and Heather and the kids will be helping in various ways both in the hospital, at an orphanage, and in the surrounding community. The hospital has 300 beds and 5 operating rooms and in addition to an eye ward has pediatrics, orthopedics, general medicine, ob/gyn, and other subspecialties serving over 600,000 rural people of Kenya. You can check it out at www.tenwek.org.

Many of you have already helped us on this journey and continue to ask how you can be a part of this experience. I will try to answer all of the questions we have been asked so far.

Why take the family to Kenya?

We have gone on a lot of great family trips but decided that it was time to take a trip that would show our family a different part of the world. Katherine wanted to go on a mission trip this year and wanted me to come along so I told her I wanted to do a medical trip and she said great! We wanted to be together as a family and this trip offered that. We chose Kenya as our friends Ben & Jenny Roberts are there in Africa right now serving at Tenwek as full time missionaries. Ben is a retina surgeon I met at an eye meeting a few years back. They are from Alabama and have 3 kids about our boys’ ages. They have been a HUGE help in getting us prepared. They have been in Kenya for a few years now.

Are you going through an organization?

We are traveling with World Medical Mission which is a part of Samaritan’s Purse, the same people that do the Christmas shoe boxes. It is headed by Franklin Graham. They are very organized and have arranged all of our in country travel plans.

Is it safe?

Well, it’s not Disneyland, but we feel this is where God is calling our family. We fly into Nairobi, which is one of the most dangerous cities in Africa as far as crime and poverty goes. We will be using Samaritan’s Purse drivers for to and from the airport in Nairobi and for the 4 hour drive to Tenwek. You can pray for safe travels for everyone.

What about malaria and all those African diseases?

We have had everyone vaccinated against the usual (I know most of you are thinking that is a big step for Heather and trust me it was :) and also typhoid and hepatitis A. We will be taking malaria prophylaxis and bringing along a few mosquito nets and a lot of bug spray. I am also loaded up on Zithromax and Heather has all of our supplements ready to go.

Are we going on a safari?

Yes – we will also be staying at a giraffe park on the way out of the country. I made the mistake of showing Courtney this as one of the places we could stay and she said “Dad, if we are going to Africa we HAVE to stay at least one night here.” If you saw Out of Africa it was filmed in this area and was about the author Karen Blixen who donated the furniture in one of the rooms we will be staying in. The town is called Karen and is just outside of Nairobi and not too far from the airport.

What is up with the plane ride?

NWA/Delta/KLM/Kenya Airways - 10.5 hours from PDX to Amsterdam, 3 hour layover then another 8.5 hours Amsterdam to Nairobi. So a lot of dvds, books, DS’s, sleeping (we hope). I told the kids, remember the 5 hour plane ride to Hawaii? Just think, after 5 hours, you will only be a quarter of the way there…. Pray for Bode to do well on the plane ride. He is almost 3 and should do fine. On the way back we have a 15 hour layover in Amsterdam and there is a hotel in the airport which fits with our program nicely.

What surgeries will we be doing there?

Strabismus (lazy eye type stuff for you lay people!), pediatric and adult cataract surgery, eyelid surgery and probably whatever else comes in the door. I will also have an opportunity to train Kenyan doctors and have applied for a Kenya Medical license. I will be taking over some of my own supplies and equipment and have already received medical help from the hospitals and pharmaceutical companies I work with here in Portland but still working on rounding up more supplies. We will travel to some of the villages to find people who need surgery and bring them back to Tenwek to care for them. Ben is lining up cases right now for my arrival in June. I am looking forward to working with him and hopefully giving him a break!

The basic needs the hospital has right now are sutures, drapes, eye drops (Ben was down to his last bottle of baby dilation eye drops!), and some basic eye equipment.

What ministry activities will we be apart of?

Aside from me providing medical care, Courtney and the older kids are planning on having a puppet ministry based on her Joyful Noise Brigade experience at Rolling Hills Community Church. They will do puppets both on the peds ward at the hospital and at the orphanage we will visit. Kat has been busy raising funds through her Art for Africa website – check out www.katsartforafrica.com Jack and Ryan are bringing some basketballs over to hoop it up with the local boys. We are also bringing soccer balls, activity books, and clothing items.

Heather and Jenny and the kids are planning on some vacation bible school type activities in the community and will be interacting with the local people while I am working at the hospital with Ben.

When are we leaving?

We fly out Saturday June 27 and arrive in Nairobi the next day, Sunday night around 7 pm. Ben is meeting us at the airport and we will spend one night in Nairobi with the Roberts and head out for Tenwek the next day. We will be there for three weeks, returning on July 18 and back in Portland on July 19 around noon. So no Fourth of July party at the Holland’s this year and no summer baseball but next year we will be back in action on both accounts!

How can you pray?

• Travel safety (air travel, in Nairobi, country roads to Tenwek)
• Health (no disease, malaria, etc)
• Adjustment to Africa life, food, culture
• All surgeries to go well
• Opportunities to share God’s love through Jesus with people
• Be an encouragement to the missionaries there

How can you help?

The orphanages are in dire need of blankets, clothing, and supplies and we can purchase most of these things in Kenya when we arrive – it looks the total could be anywhere from 2 to $3,000.

If you would like to help, there are a few ways to do it:

Mail a check to:

Samaritan's Purse
Attn: Gail Gambill
P.O. Box 3000
Boone, NC, 28607-3000

Make it out to Samaritan’s Purse and our project ID is #003809

If you want to do it by phone, you can contact Gail Gambill at (828) 278-1168. Her email address ggambill@samaritan.org (There isn’t a good way right now to give to our specific project online.)

You could also give or send a check to us made out to Samaritan’s Purse and we can take care of it – our address is 5555 SW Delker Rd Tualatin, OR 97062

This again is only if you would like to help - we are fortunate to be able to cover our travel expenses and many of the above items, not to mention help from our local hospitals here in Portland.

We DO NEED and thank you ahead of time for all of your prayers.

You can sign up and check out our Africa blog at https://imaniafrica.blogspot.com - we will be updating our trip progress from there.

Your friends,

Dan & Heather Holland
Katherine 15, Courtney 13, Jack 11, Ryan 9, Abby 7, Cade 5, and Bode 2