40 YEARS - AND THEN?

IN DECEMBER, 1970 a baby boy called Paul Ngugi was born in Eldoret. When he was about 3 his Mother died, and Ngugi's father had to take the body back to his wife's ancestral homeland some 500 kilometres away to bury her on her parents land. He did not come back.
Paul had been left in the care of neighbours, but he was a sickly child, and soon after his Mum died he contracted Measles, and there are signs that not only was he uncared for, but an attempt was made to murder him! He was in any case suffering from malnutrition, and unbeknown to anyone at that time he also had a congenital disease called Hurlers Syndrome. This last is inherited maternally, and about 1 in 10,000 suffer from it. In 1973, when his father took his mother to be buried there was no cure for Hurlers Syndrome. In 1974 the Municipal Council Social Worker brought Ngugi to TFH and we admitted him to Testimony House. He was four. He could not stand or even sit up by himself. His stomach was infested with round worm, and his eyesight had been severely impaired by the untreated Measles. He was a poor sight. It was not until he was six that Hurler's Syndrome was discovered, and we were told it was unlikely he would live longer than another 4 years. The prognosis was that he would lose the use of his legs, and paralysis would slowly claim the rest of his body. This proved to be true, apart from the age limit put upon his life expectancy, and his sight also was taken completely from him, since the Syndrome worked to undo the work of an optical operation that he went through when he was six.
On the 3rd December, yesterday, Paul attained his 40th Birthday. Yes he is still with us, blind, confined to a wheel chair, physically much reduced in stature, but full of humour, faith, and interest in all that goes on around him. He can still remember those early days when for a short time he was able to walk and even run. He remembers so much still of what he actually SAW with his own eyes before sight receded. Now he only has his ears. And he makes a great deal of use of them. God has used him to bless others. God has been his joy and consolation. He still lives in Testimony House, just across from Green Cottage. It is now even more his home! He has no other! He speaks three languages, and is a very intelligent, and optimistic disciple of Jesus. In the black and white photo above Paul is the 3rd from the left. The photo was taken in 1975. The lady standing in the background is Mary Ateku who was our Carer at the time, it was her special function to keep an eye on the 0 - 5s. She actually was able to return to attend Michael and Janet's Wedding last year. From left to right in front of her in the picture is - Charlie Salim (Green) - living and working for Jesus in Nairobi/ Steven Green living for Jesus with his wife and two children in the UK/ Paul Ngugi living for Jesus here in Eldoret with us all/ Michael Green living for Jesus with his wife in the UK. Nice to look back and SEE the faith fullness of God.
Dr. C. Everett Koop, M.D., once wrote -

There are extraordinary gifts that reward those who live with,

and for the handicapped.

Such children teach a greater dimension of LOVE

which is impossible to learn any other way.

The very existence of the handicapped and imperfect,

and the love bestowed on them by those who care,

stand as testimony to the sacredness of human life,

and to our contention that this sacredness far outweighs

and ethic concerned with the quality of human life.'

WE ARE ALL HANDICAPPED you see! Perhaps none of us are truly 'normal' - certainly not whole! Yet we all have something to offer each other, something to give, something to bring - for HE has made us all. AND He has sent each one of us into this world to show forth His Likeness. We only have to start looking for it. We do not know how long Paul might still have to be with us, but we know it will have been GOOD to have shared LOVE together.

GOD, who made and created each one of us, has said "I will that NO man should perish".

'To be or not to be, That is the question!' To be alive or dead; to give life or to kill - to expose to heartache, a sea of troubles, and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to, OR just not be born; - to out of 'mercy' kill what is alive in order to save from suffering, pain and wretchedness. SOME in this Age more and more find themselves exponents of 'mercy' killing.

Others believe in the institutionalism those who çannot 'fit' or who are a 'burden' to society, home and family. Some of each group no doubt believe they are considering the one who is congenitally defective, or in some other way mentally or physically disabled, incurably ill, and so on. Others are merely thinking of themselves. And it is SO easy to find out if one is pregnant with an unwanted child, so easy to discover if that child in the womb is physically or mentally incapacitated - so easy to arranged to terminate such an unwanted or unattractive life!

WE BELIEVE IN LIFE, and we believe in the VALUE and SANCTITY of every human being no matter what their physical or mental condition may be. We cannot argue with God in this at all. LIFE is a living, meaningful opportunity to reveal God to each other. We are all, regardless of colour, race, religion, politics, or physical mental handicap, made in HIS 'spiritual' likeness. In each one of us is something to be found that is LIKE God, and that reveals HIM. In each of us there is something to reveal and touch off LOVE in another!

In a book jointly written by Dr. Everett Koop and Francis Scheaffer we can read this story.

'One young man, born with a serious physical handicap,

without his left leg, and with no arms below the elbow,

was asked if he thought a person born with such defects

should be allowed to live - wouldn't he be better off dead?

He replied in part by saying -

" I know when I was born, the first thing my Dad said to my Mum

was that - 'THIS one needs our love more.

An individual with a handicap needs our love

and needs us to help him grow into the being that God has made him to be.

I'm very glad to be alive!'

Similarly a girl aged 14 was watching a programme about pre-natal screening and abortion for Spina-bifida - something she herself had been born with and lived with. She remarked - ' I'm glad they didn't do that to me, because I've had fourteen years of LOVE!' (Extracted from the Book - 'Whatever Happened to the Human Race?' Published by Marshall Morgan & Scott, London 1979/80 This is a book EVERY thinking person needs to READ. It is Dedicated to -

Those who were robbed of life, the unborn, the weak,

the sick, the old, during the dark ages of madness,

selfishness, lust and greed for which the last decades of

the twentieth century are remembered.

( and which are being extended even more into the 21st Century NOW )

Are WE swimming AGAINST the tide of human reasoning and society? Yes! We will, if necessary, be trampled underfoot by the maddening crowd, and by the progressively arbitrary and godless political and sociological leaders of our world. We will STAND AGAINST whatever devalues and endangers human life, cheapening and reducing it.

God Bless you all. December has begun well here with hot and sunny days. Yesterday someone came to visit and asked us if we would like meat for Christmas! They offered us SIX goats FREE of charge, fat and beautiful! And we so poor and needy! Of course, with JOY and THANKSGIVING, we said YES! Thank you Jesus. Even here in Kenya there are those that hear His Voice, and act upon it. Wonderful.

Lovingly

John and Esther