The Last Hurrah

We have finally arrived back home safely. We are glad to be home and seeing our family and friends. We thank God that he went with us and he kept us during the trip. As we close the trip, the team is reflecting on their time in Kenya and each member had something to say.

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Bryce Watkins

One of the most impactful moments for me was our devotional time with the Cure Orthopedic Workshop staff on our first Monday. We began by worshiping our God together, which felt incredibly unifying. I had been praying for their work for the past year, so to meet them and worship the Lord together felt like an answer to my prayer.

There were plenty of stretching moments for me on the trip. Honestly, being so far from home, in a new place, feeling somewhat responsible for our logistics and students wore on me (even though they are all wonderful) as we did new thing with new people at new places day after day. However, God continued to be faithful. Every morning I woke up uncertain how the day would go, and almost every night I felt God had exceeded in how He provided. One of the large reasons I decided to lead the trip was to be stretched, and I was reminded of that hope at church on Sunday. We sang “Potter’s Hands”, a song which likens us to clay being formed by God. That is exactly what God did within me this trip, and I hope it was the same for our students.

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Professor Tim Howell

For me the most impactful things for the trip were re-establishing relationships from my other trips to Kijabe, getting a more in-depth appreciation for Rift Valley Academy and what they do to enable and support missionaries in some tough places, seeing how well the prosthetic knee worked and the progress the team has made since we initiated the project with CURE, to see two new students get excited about the work HopeWalks is doing in Kenya, and, finally, how God continues to work for the good of others through believers.

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Hayward Smith-Cassidy

The most impactful moment for me was the home visits and visiting the ward. One of the home visits had a patient who was healed from Clubfoot. This became more moving to me because his mother’s name was Lillian and immediately I began to see myself in his shoes. That connection helped me open my eyes to the grace of God and his works with many children. Seeing CURE Kenya and HopeWalks and how they have helped many people by providing health and care for many youth around Kenya moved me. God has provided and will always provide. Being able to see the children in the ward, they were happy and helped each other. The display of community moved me and their joy gave me more hope.

The greatest difficulty for me was opening myself up and the language barrier. I found myself feeling out of my element for most of the trip, but once I got to have more conversations with the staff at CURE, I began to feel like I was a part of it all. I found myself trying to talk to the kids and it was hard to understand, but I also found it nice that even with the barrier, both me and the children were able to find different means of communicating.

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Cadee Wood

I had an amazing time getting to meet so many people and experiencing a new culture. One of my highlights was getting to work with one of the technicians in the orthopedic workshop one on one and getting to learn not only about prosthetics, but also about her and her life in Kenya. Along with the technicians we worked with, I was glad to meet four patients that got to test our knee. It was encouraging to see it working and actively helping people, which gives my project and purpose a new, deeper meaning. We didn’t know if we’d get any patients in our time there, so I’m grateful God provided. Finally, I enjoyed getting to know my team better and making memories the past two weeks. Whether working in the hospital, hiking with Tiger, or dinners where we laughed so hard we cried, I could see God at work. There were some times of uncertainty and stress, like when our schedules didn’t go exactly as planned, but it helped me to trust and live in the moment. God is good, and I look forward to continuing to work on the knee and getting closer to delivering our final product.

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Caleb Bisbort

Personally, seeing patients use our prosthetic knee successfully, especially the last patient who asked if he could keep our knee, was one of the most impactful parts of the trip. Getting to witness amputees use the prosthetic device we had designed and manufactured really brought to life how much our project could help people and the impact our work could have on their lives. Interacting with the patients helped me to really see the impact our collab projects can have and that the work we do in the Collaboratory is more than just course work.

I think one of the most profound moments of the trip was the way God provided four patients for us to test the knee on, with one of them being a knee disarticulation patient. Going into the trip we were unsure if we would even be able to test our knee on an amputee, so having the opportunity to test successfully on four patients was a huge blessing. While interacting with the patients it was very encouraging to hear the joy they had in their lives despite their difficult circumstances, as well as getting to better understand the way CURE had helped them overcome their challenges. For me this came full circle during a home visit when we heard a ten year old boy’s aunt tell us how grateful she was for the opportunities her nephew would now have because of the prosthetic limb he had received at CURE.

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Ester Moyo

At the beginning of the trip, I was a whirlwind of emotions, not knowing what lay in store for the team in Kenya. However this trip has exceeeded my expectations, I am grateful that I had the opportunity to travel with the team and work with the staff at Cure. When we parted with our safari driver, he left us with the words, "We met as strangers and parted as friends" It is safe to say this has been the theme for the trip. The connections we made with all the people we interacted with and the footprints we made on each others lives serve as a reminder of the time we spent together. I thank God and I pray that he continues to be with them and bless them in all they do.

The highlight of my trip was being a part of the Clubfoot Clinic and watching as some patients come in for their first appointment to those graduating from the program with successfully corrected feet and leaving behind their braces. I learnt more about clubfoot and the process of correcting and the impact it has on the children and their families. This trip gave me a deeper understanding of what the goal is for the project. I have a deeper meaning to the work that I contribute to the team even just as a volunteer to change the lives of others through engineering.

We are happy you were able to join us on our journey!

Kenya Team 2023