Jimmy and Chase Miller- Serving Kenya since 2011

 My second week has continued to be busy.  But the theme of the trip is "His kingdom is expanding".  With every patient encounter I ask patients if I can pray with them.  We have had many patients that have been in desperate health situations that do not know Him.  The seeds have been planted through years of suffering and the harvest is ripe.   This 13 year old boy has a rapidly growing cystic mass of his jaw.  The family has been taking him to traditional healers where they have been placing hot ashes on the growth with no response.  CT scan reveals that the mass completely encompases his lower jaw with loss of his ear canal and temporomandibular joint. We will need to biopsy this to determine if it is malignant.  This is a hopeless situation for this poor family. He had never heard of Jesus or the hope that Christ can bring him.  His father also had very little knowledge.  We shared the love of Christ and the Gospel.  T...

 We arrived safely Sunday night 3/16 after our long journey from Rochester to Bomet, Kenya.  God's grace has been so evident this trip so far.   1. On our flight we had an empty seat between us! This never happens on Kenya Airways so we declared it a miracle.   2. All four of our suitcases made it through xray with no dreaded "X's" marking them to be searched.  We breezed through customs in 5 minutes!   3. My first week of patients were hand chosen for me.  I saw familiar issues and was able to triage to surgery or medical management fairly easily. 4. We had two patient's give their lives to the Lord- His kingdom is expanding! We connected them to the chaplain who met with them and will follow up with them.  What a joy! 5. Although my sleep has been poor I have felt fine with plenty of energy for the long days. Truly the Grace of God 6. My first several days I did not have a general surgery resident working with me but a medical off...

Back in March of 2024, I was introduced to David Makallah, an elder in a Maasai village called Oloonkolin in the Mara of Kenya.  The village has around 500 families with 10 churches and 12 schools.  He shared a great need for clean, safe drinking water for their community.  The shortage of firewood means that families only use the wood for cooking and not for boiling water.  The extra wood needed to boil water and to keep it boiling is both scarce and expensive.  Instead, they collect rainwater; and when the rains stop, they collect their water from the Mara River, which is extremely dirty and filled with deadly bacteria such as Cholera and Typhoid.  Their journey to the river is about a 2km walk (1.25 miles) one way.  The river water makes many of them, especially the children, very sick.   Enough money was raised for me to purchase 400 Sawyer Point-One Water Filters, 400 taps/spigots, and 30 drill bits and ship them directly to Tenwek Hospi...

 This week has been a time of steady work in the clinic, operating theater and casualty.  There have been some really tragic cases coming through casualty.  My heart breaks for the suffering here.  We see these things in the US but I have such a love for these precious people that I have to hold back the tears when I minister to them. This 38 year old male was so destitute that he cut his throat in an attempt to take his life.  When asked why he did this and does he know Jesus he replied, "Yes I know Jesus but this was satan who told me to do this."  His injury was 7 days before he presented.  He was unable to eat and talk as the laceration was through his pharynx (upper swallowing tube).  He was taken to the OR where we needed to place a breathing tube and repair a large tear in his pharynx.  He has been in the ICU but recovering well.  He has been unable to communicate due to the tracheostomy tube.  This is temporary and will come...

 The country has remained in a bit of turmoil this week as impeachment proceedings for the Dupute continued.  He was successfully impeached on Friday but there has been no political unrest fortunately.  The health care system remains in shambles with no negotiations moving forward.  To give you an idea of what the new health system is suggesting it appears that comprehensive family practice care for 1 year will be reimbursed at 900 shillings (about 7 USD).  The hospital is struggling to survive on a cash only basis.  But we were all reassured to see there is a corruption free zone in Kenya as below! Despite the financial issues I have remained busy in the ENT clinic and operating room.  I have been removing tonsils, laryngeal papillomas, dilating tracheas for subglottic stenosis and removing nasal and sinus polyps. Below is a large benign tumor of the salivary gland that was removed on Thursday.  This was a bit tricky without the usual facial nerv...

Continued political battles in Kenya are monopolizing politician's time rather than more pressing issues of the economy and healthy care.  The impeachment process of the depute passed in the parliament and will  be voted on in the Senate this week.  In the meantime, the economy continues to struggle with high cost of living leaving the poor to struggle to afford basic necessities.  The hospitals have been left struggling due to slow release of funds from the Government.  Tenwek is in a state of major strain from loss of back payments and now reduced daily income as patients are uninsured and lack funds to pay for services.  Its a mess! Somehow God has continued to provide for the needy and this last week I saw many ENT patients and operated for 2.5 days.  The patients have heart breaking stories of delayed care.  So many suffering of treatable diseases.  This week I performed several tonsillectomies, endoscopic sinus surgery, and several biop...