Druid Hills in Kenya

In July 2001 a group of 14 volunteers from Druid Hills United Methodist Church traveled to the Maua Methodist Hospital in Kenya to assist that hospital in its mission in health services. The hospital is completely financed through the Methodist churches of Kenya, England, and the United Methodist Church. It is the only hospital in the Maua area, and it serves a region with over 100,000 people. The local demand for the hospital’s services is consistently higher than its supply. To increase the quality and quantity of its services, the hospital welcomes work teams from around the world to go there and implement infrastructure improvement projects such as building construction, water supply development, etc. Indeed, much of the hospital’s infrastructure has been built by successive work teams over a period of decades.

The Maua area, and most of Kenya, is extremely impoverished. In 1990 the U.S. Department of State estimated the per capita income to be about US$800 per year. Unfortunately, the last decade has been very rough on East Africa, due to combinations of civil strife, AIDS, and government corruption. As a result, the estimated per capita income has dropped to about US$200 per year. Under these circumstances, private charities have become the major provider for health care, as government and private institutions flail in the weak economy.

The Druid Hills UMC work team’s projects included assisting in the construction of a new classroom for the nursing school, the construction of a new laundry facility, and the renovation of staff and student housing. Medical volunteers in the team also implemented outreach clinics to outlying villages around Maua.

The team was supported tremendously by the Druid Hills UMC family. With the church family’s help, the team raised about $13,000 in construction funds for the hospital and $1,200 for apportionments, collected an delivered nearly 1000 pounds of requested medical supplies worth over $20,000, and made 13 beautiful quilted blankets for the maternity ward. But most importantly, the work team and the church made a direct connection with hospital and the global work of the United Methodist Church.

On the following links you will find reflections and anecdotes from the work team, as well as photographs from the mission. The work team wishes to share them with you as one way of saying “thank you” for the wonderful support.

Field Notes: stories and observations from the work team.

Photo Journal: images from the mission — Note: Due to website construction, photo journal is temporarily down.