Early Saturday morning we finished Kenneth up and sent him on his way with a new leg. At about 10:00 we left Kijabe toward Nakuru for a great African safari. The journey to Nakuru was interesting as we passed through 'true' Africa and not the 'westernized' Africa. The towns we passed though consited of dirt roads and hole-in-the-wall buildings.
Once we reached Nakuru we made our way to the national park. We were welcomed by monkeys and baboons. We drove through the entrance and began the safari adventure. Our first sightings were baboons and zebra. we drove through the park about 30 min until we reached our lodge. I was soo impressed by the van we rode in. The top opened up for us all to stand up and stick our heads to to see the animals. Along the way to the lodge we saw several animals. Once we reached the lodge we were very iompressed. The staff welsomed us with warm moist towels that smelled of menthol. Then we were offered a glass of orange or passion fruit juice that was soo delicious. The rooms were amazing. Surrounding the bed was a misquito net. We took our things to our rooms and then went to lunch. Lunch was a buffet of all sorts of tasty exotic foods. the best thing was the mixed fruit juice. It was AMAZING!!! Little did we know that each drink was 350 shillings...haha (about $4). The afternoon was free until 4:00pm. At 4:00 we went out for the BIG Safari!! During this time we saw sooo many wild animals.
Baboon
Monkey
Gazelle
Impalla
Cape Bufello
Rino (White and Black)
Pelican
Flamingo
Wart Hog
Hiyna (sp??)
Jackel
Water Buck
LION!!!
Hippo
Zebra
Antelope
And others.....
It was sooo amazing to see God's creation in its finest. The animals grazed in the fields and posed for us as we snapped photos. The African land is soo beautiful and full of interesting inhabitants. Pictures cannot describe the splendor of God's creation and landscapes!!
After a eventful and very exciting safari through the African wilderness, we returned to the lodge for African tribal dances and an amazing dinner.
The next morning we woke very early to continue the adventures. We saw even more amazing animals. After we left Nakuru we we to Lake Navasha and rode on boats amoungst Hippos. This is the same lake that Peter, our patient, lost his leg to a hippo. Somewhat ironic and stupid for us to go on a boat in that lake. We came within 205 feet of a family of about 20 hippos. They are sooo big and intimidating.
In the African language, 'Safari' means journey. this weekend was truly that. We had not expected any of the amazing things that we were blessed to be part of. God was our Safari guide and allowed us to see His creation at its finest!!


This week we will be working on 2 new patients that have never had a prosthetic. Please keep the team, the brace shop guys, and the new patients in your prayers.

Peter, Kenneth, and Joseph are still waiting for their new legs to be complete. As they await patiently and anxiously I have had a great time talking and getting to know them all. Peter and Jopseph are forming an organization to help orphans and street kids. They are also working on helping dissabled children be accepted by the community and their families better. They are all sooo encouraging. Both always emphasize that they are only here by God's plan and hope to serve in in everything.
Tasha and Ryan both arrived and ready to join the work of the team. I had the opportunity to work more in the plaster room helping modify casts and molds. Megan and Tasha work with the patients on rehab and exersices. Megan is teaching the local OT to rehab prosthetic patients with methods she has researched and learned from several sources. We continue to wait for the sockets and new legs to be complete. Until then, we wait.


While the patients wait we decided to administer the outcomes tests, even though they are in their old and unaligned legs. We will use this as comparison data. After we had done all of the tests for all of the patients, I went to transfer the data to the computer. The data was not there!! I freaked out. Tasha saved the day by figuring out the date on the watch was set to march of 2006...haha. We scrolled to that date and found all of the data!!!
At around 4:00 we went to the wards to listen to the worship time. It was soo beautiful. All of the patients and thier parents were singling praises to the Lord. Their voices are soo beautiful!! I sat in bed with a little girl named Lulu. She was about 4 years old and did not have any sort of a smile. She just sat in her bed in silence with no expression. Her right leg was casted probabley due to cleft foot. After several minutes of warming up to her I finally got her to smile and laugh. We played 'patty cake' for about 10 minutes!! After playing with Lulu I pulled out the balloons!! At first, everyone was timid and did not know what to think of me or the balloons. After about 3 creations, the crowd started to form. I made kids and parents balloon figures for about an hour or so. The favorite creation of all was the Monkey on the Palm Tree!!! It was more of an entertaining show than actually finishing the creation. I hope to go back at least 1 more time to do more balloons.

We ended up having to keep 2 of the patients over the weeknd. There was no possible way to get all 3 legs completed. The work day ends at 6:00 and everyone leaves for the day. We took a break for dinner and then the guys went back to work to complete Kenneth's leg. For dinner we went to the local, and only, resutraunt...Mama Chicoos. The food was amazing!!
After a huge dinner we wnt back to finish up Kenneth's leg. It was finally complete at about 12:30 that night!!

Updates to come!!

After much prayer and preparation the day was finally here for the patients to arrive for the LEGS team to fit with new prosthesis. The first week returning patients were scheduled to arrive for follow-up, repair, and improvements. I was nervous about my responsibilities and how I would know how to do them. I was concerned I would not do the things like they should be done. We were expecting 5 patients but only 3 showed up. The three men that came were Peter, Joseph, and Kenneth. The morning after devotions with the brace shop guys, we met and greeted the patients. I began the paperwork and forms that were to be filled out about the patients. We decided the first day would be a day of assessments. I finished all the paper work and reponsibilities I could at the time. My main role is administering the outcomes measure. These cannot be done until the patients have their new components assembled and fit to them. Ricc did measurements and assessed the residual limb while Jason assessed the knees.

I got to talk with the patient Peter for a while. He lost his leg to a Hippo at a nearby lake in Nivasha. He began to tell me his story and how God has changed his life through the accident. He spoke of how it was God's plan for the accident to happen and how he is a new person because of it. He is 29 and th accident happened 4 years ago. His story was very encouraging. I asked if I could record his telling his story and he has agreed to do so.



Today was the second day to have the patients. The measurements had been taken and the molds were ready to be made, except there was not plaster. We waited and waited until some was found. The molds were poured and set aside to dry. I followed Megan around as she instructed rehad and took measurements of our patients. It was very interesting and I learned alot. A young boy on the ward had just got his leg amputated a few days ago. Becuase Peter's story is sooo encouraging, we asked him if he would be willing to talk with the boy. After more than an hour, Peter cam back saying 'The boy has hope now!!'. It was a blessing to see one amputee help another through God's grace.
Most of the day I did random jobs around the shop. I helped to modify molds for AFO braces and watched as Ricc made the LEGS socket molds. We went back after dinner to complete shjaping the molds. It was a good time of observation and questioning. The molds are ready for completion tomorrow. Tomorrow I will help wherever I am needed. I cannot do my main job until the patients are fit with their new components.

The weekend was free and the options were many. 2 of our team members, including Megan!!!, left to climb the great Mt. Kenya. I chose to stay behind and enjoy my weekend instead of tortoring myself for 3 days. Across the valley is a volcano called Longonot. We talked to a few people that reccomended us to climb it, "it only takes 45 minutes to an hour." Jason and I decided thats what we would do for the free weekend. We began asking several people to join us on our hike. We left the next morning at about 9:30 with a team of 8 people to climb. The drive was about 45 minutes to the base of the volcano. We paid our fees and began the hike. The beginning was very enjoyable and pretty easy. Little did I know. We spotted our first wild animals. About 10 giraffes roamed in the distance. We went off the path to get closer to them. At about 100 ft away we decided to leave them alone when the big giraffe started walking towards us. We continued our hike and it slowly got steeper. As the hike got harder the group started seperating. I stayed behind with Ricc and because the thin air was not being nice to my lungs. The higher we got the harder it was to breath. After almost 2 hours of climbing I finally made it to the edge of the crater. The view was amazing!! I could see for miles. Inside the crater was heavly forrested land. Mathu, a guy from the brace shop beat us up the mountain. By the time we had made it to the top, he had already hiked around the edge of the crater (5km). The hike down was much much easier. On the wayh down I saw zebra, gazelle, and antelope!!! When we made it back to the house we had a 'dinner party' with all of the climbers.

Dear Friends,

I’d like to share with you an exciting project. I was accepted to the LeTourneau Engineering Global Solutions (LEGS) Team last fall. I am a junior at LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas. I am pursuing a Bachelor of Science Degree, specializing in Kinesiology. I hope to complete my graduate work at UT Southwestern under the Prosthetics and Orthotics program and pursue a career as a Prosthetist. I feel like this is an opportunity to fulfill God’s call upon my life.

What is LEGS? ( www.LETU.edu/LEGS or http://www.legsresearch.org )
The mission of the LEGS team is to design a low-cost prosthetic leg designed for above-knee amputees in developing countries. LEGS works through providers who are already fitting amputees in the developing countries of Kenya, Bangladesh and Sierra Leone. These clinics have only had access to second-hand prostheses that have been donated or to prosthetic legs that lock at the knee, causing an abnormal gait. The LEGS prosthesis has been designed with an articulating knee (4-bar polycentric made of Delrin®) that allows the knee to bend. This normalizes gait and helps amputees function better in everyday life. More than just designing a lower-limb prosthesis, however, the LeTourneau University team envisions a better solution to other problems faced by amputees, such as the ability to work. Using local materials and common tools such as a drill press, band saw, and a sanding unit, this artificial leg is a sustainable technology that enables local clinicians to manufacture the leg after the LEGS team leaves since the LEGS team leaves, behind schematics.

My Role on the LEGS team
In addition to science, math and engineering research, each student must also do marketing, fundraising, and cultural research before going to the countries. Serving on this team requires dedication and hard work. Each student must give both a monetary commitment and a time commitment of 10 to 20 hours a week, over a two-year commitment. Before we travel to our host sites in Kenya or Bangladesh, each of us needs to raise $3,500.
To improve our knee design and rehabilitation techniques, continual research and testing is being done in the labs at LeTourneau University. This year, my role on the LEGS Science team has been administering several outcomes tests on local volunteer lower-limb amputees to confirm that the LEGS knee functions as well as we believe it does. I am also working with a local prosthetist as he fits and aligns the volunteer amputees. I am very proud to be a part of this team and look forward to the time spent in research and application.

My Inspiration
Four years ago during an engineering preview event while visiting LeTourneau University as a high school student, I was introduced to this team. I became inspired with the concept of sharing my faith by sharing a skill. In developing and refining the skill of rehabilitation and prosthetic design, I feel God is introducing me to a field of study in service for Him. In living with a lifelong disability, I feel as though He has equipped me with sensitivity to people who are dealing with handicaps.
Since 2004, generous donations such as yours have enabled engineering and science students to visit countries around the world to fit patients with the LEGS limb. LeTourneau is a unique Christian University with a heart for missions. The university motto, “Faith brings us together. Ingenuity sets us apart." is illustrated through LEGS.