Follow this link to see the Kunai Health Centre’s website.
From August through November 2010, we were involved in building a permanent structure for the Kunai Health Centre. Since mid-2008 Lena had been using a small hut made from bush materials. It had a dirt floor, a bamboo-leaf roof, and open sides. Patients sat on two benches on either side of the clinic, sliding down as their turns came to be seen.
Another difficulty with the old bush clinic was it had no place to store the supplies. Daily the clinic staff (Lena, Rachel, and Margaret) had to carry everything out to the hut and back. Since there wasn’t much place for stock, during the day they made multiple trips back and forth to our house (the storage area) to resupply. It made for a long day and there was always someone sitting on our veranda…because they would follow Lena to the house, and decide they’d rather sit on the veranda than go back to the clinic.
With the new clinic completed, we now have a large area for seeing patients outside (almost 14 feet by 38 feet) on the clinic veranda. There are nice benches to sit on, and plenty of room to work with whatever situation arises. Inside, the clinic has three rooms: a secure pharmacy and stock room, an exam/teaching room with privacy for our prenatal clinic, and the office area which also houses our small solar-powered lab.
The building is built up on posts (as much for leveling it as to get it off the ground). We used sawmill-cut lumber and natural timbers for the framework, with a metal roof and siding for durability and ease of maintenance. Our home church, Landmark Independent Baptist in Louisville, KY, sent a team to finish it out with shelving for the pharmacy, benches for the patient area, cement pads for the steps, and plumbing from our rain tank to the sink inside and the flush commode outside.
A finishing touch on the wall, visible on the veranda, is a painting of “The Two Ways.” It is a representation, complete with Bible verses in Pidgin English, of the “narrow way and the broad way.” Literally thousands of people have come and looked at it, and we are able to use it as a witnessing tool. Pidgin literate people, lost or saved, will come and read it aloud, often translating it into Kamea for those who can only look at the picture. It is just another tool to share the Gospel with our beloved Kamea people!
We are grateful to the Lord for His provision of this special building to serve Him better in our medical outreach ministry.