Two weeks ago, we had to admit Brian Ogolla, one of our Agape boys, to Aga Khan Hospital after he contracted bacterial meningitis. He was in really bad shape after being initially diagnosed and treated for cerebral malaria. Brian is HIV positive having contracted the virus via breastfeeding from his HIV positive mother (who has since then passed away), so you can imagine our level of concern when Brian got so sick that he wasn't even able to stand on his own. But, after 10-days in the hospital Brian made a complete recovery returning to Agape earlier this week. Or, at least we thought he was better . . .
Upon Brian's return to Agape, he started exhibiting some bizarre behavior which was very uncharacteristic of him. He became very demanding and irritable; we thought at first that maybe he had just gotten "spoiled" while in the hospital and had to keep correcting him on his ungrateful and erratic behavior. Now, prior to getting sick, Brian was pretty much our "ideal" Agape boy; he was kind, sympathetic, and exceedingly polite. He was a guest blogger for me back in November (link below). So, the behavior that he was demonstrating was a shock to all of us. Well, all of this culminated in Brian having a complete breakdown earlier today (almost demonic in nature) where he was yelling, hitting and biting our staff. Long story short, he was referred to the local mental health clinic (which probably isn't a good place), but luckily we were able to get readmitted into Aga Khan for further mental evaluation. After doing a little more research online, it looks like there can be some serious mental side effects resulting from meningitis.
Please pass Brian's story along to your friends and families; he needs your prayers!!!
Our good friends and fellow missionaries, the Kjeldgaards, have been burning the midnight oil developing and rolling out Agape Children's Ministry's new and improved website. Check it out!
Sadly, the Perry's left to go back to the US earlier this week after spending an awesome four weeks with us in Kisumu. We miss you guys!!! . . . but I guess that means that I have to start blogging myself again! After borrowing the Perry's blog or the past few weeks, I'm back in the saddle again and ready to start blogging! I'll start this morning with catching up on a bunch of photos from our trip to Lake Nakuru National Park:
Monkey #1 on our car.
Monkeys #2, #3, #4, #5 on our car.
Jonathan and Sutton at dinner at the Midland Hotel.
Hannah (w/ her signature captain's hat) and Connor (maybe Connor wants a hat, too).
When the hotel staff saw our group, they gave us the VIP room, probably to separate us from the rest of the hotel guests. I guess they gave Jonathan the seat of honor because of his distinguished-looking facial hair.
It was pretty awesome; we got to drive up right next to water buffalo and zebras that were hanging out near the shore of the lake.
More water buffalos . . .
It is literally impossible to get my family to all look at and smile at the camera at the same time.
. . . and more water buffalos. Honestly, we were a little tired of water buffalos by the end of the day. There must've been thousands of them in the park.
In navigating around the lake, we had to get out of our cars a few time to try to scout out the best path through the mud. Luckily none of us got stuck; the park posted a rate of $100 to get pulled out of the mud.
A 180-degree panorama of the park from Baboon Overlook.
A Clemson Chameleon; you can't see the scale here, but he's actually about 8-feet long (just a slight exaggeration)
Mama Lyla and Mama Rach-o (as the locals call them)
Our kiddos
(once again it's impossible get all of them to smile at or look at the camera).
Tammy and Sutton (no, Sutton is not this tall)
Sutton and Connor
Sutton and Jonathan
Here's a picture of Lyla doing everything within her power not to smile for the camera (a consistent issue throughout the day)
Connor and Hannah
Hot Mama and Fat Daddy
The Pages and Perrys - All 12 of us!
Rachel & Lyla (perfecting her pouty look)
This zebra had an awesome design on his face.
A family of White Rhinos; check out the horn!
One of many giraffe that we saw in the park.
This picture is for my Dad; the park has its own airstrip!
Not sure how pilots handle this, but these zebras were standing on the airstrip.
An awesome waterfall!
You can see the scale of how big this waterfall is; that's us in the lower left of the picture.
The intrepid explorers - this is the most scared I've been of snakes since I've been in Africa; every tree root looked like a puff adder, mamba, or cobra.
Little Lady Lyla & Daddy
A baboon's view of our picnic site; let the bedlam begin!
This dude bum rushed our picnic site and stole our trash bag.
Chowing down on some PB&J and chips.
Check out the sign: "Visitors are requested to carry out their litter with them to reduce baboon menace." We laughed at this sign at first . . . how true it was!!!
The calm before the storm . . .
Back by popular demand . . . BABOON ATTACK!!!!!
This picture was taken right after the baboon attacked the Perrys car. Kate is half laughing, half manic.
A male water buck; kinda boring after the baboons.
A 360-degree panorama of the park from a mountain top.
"As the World Turns: Baboon Edition" - We came across this soap opera at the end of the day. Watch with enraptured attention as the drama unfolds: two strapping young baboons fight perilously for the affections of the fair damsel baboon . . .
And to ensure that we don't stereotype all baboons, I present to you "Baby Baboons Playing" to show you that baboons can be cute and cuddly looking, too.
