4-23-2013
Many woman will not go to a clinic, when it is time to give birth, for fear of the required testing for HIV/AIDS. If she tests positive she will be shunned by her community, her family and her husband. The heartbreak of this terri- ble disease is not only the health prob- lems, but how it changes that persons life and destroys families and commu- nities.
70% of Kenyan women, in some dis- tricts as high as 90%, will be assisted at birth by self taught Tra- ditional Birth Attendants. Kenyan women face a 1 in 20 lifetime
risk of maternal death, which is the leading cause of death among women of child bearing age. One out every ten children in Kenya will die before their fifth birthday, 33% of are infants. These deaths are largely due to unclean birth environments and HIV/ AIDS. Around 15-30% of babies born to HIV infected mothers will become infected during pregnancy and delivery. Without test- ing and treatment HIV/AIDS will continue to spread.
Reaching Hands Ministry plans, Lord willing, to open Adonai Midwifery School and Clinic in 2013, to train Traditional Birth Attendants, in rural villages, with needed midwifery skills.
Our goal is to lower mother and infant deaths due to untrained Birth Attendants, and unclean birthing environments and lower the rate of HIV/AIDS passed from mother to infant. Through Trained Traditional Birth Attendants we will be able to help un- born babies, infants and small children in rural villages by teach- ing mothers nutrition, home healthcare, providing clean and healthy home births, and giving HIV/AIDS support.
Adonai Medical Clinic will be the only clinic in the area with a laboratory. Training Traditional Birth Attendants through Adonai Midwifery School and Clinic will help to form a bridge of trust between the mothers, the Birth Attendants and the clinic. Workshops through the clinic will educate communities on how to assist HIV/AIDS victims and not outcast them.
Please keep this project in your prayers.

We are very excited to share that Reaching Hands Ministry plans to work with Pauline
Kimitiosi in providing clinic services at Koros, Kenya, beginning in 2013. Pauline has just finished
her certification as a Laboratory Technician. It has long been a desire of Pauline’s to
open a clinic to help people in the rural area around Koros. It has also been a desire of Reaching
Hands to open a clinic in Kenya. Last January God opened the door for us to join with
Pauline and Lord willing the clinic will open next year.
Reaching Hands has received donations of some of the equipment needed for the clinic,
but we still lack other equipment. We have received 2 tons of fabric that will be put to good
use for quilts and linens for beds, baby comforters, exam gowns, etc… There are still many
small items and supplies needed.
We will be working with 2 self-help groups of 25 widows each that plan to grow the
medicinal herbs needed for the clinic. This will help supply the medicines needed and provide a
much needed income for the widows.
Perhaps your doctor or hospital would be interested in donating outdated laboratory or
other medical equipment or medical supplies that are going to be thrown away. Please throw
them our way. Empty prescription bottles that you would toss away are something useful, as well as empty and clean colored bottles (like vanilla bottles), or bottles with eye droppers.

 If you have old prescription eye glasses we would appreciate your donating them as well. Old blankets can became liners for new comforters. Old but nice towels and wash clothes, baby clothes, receiving blankets, and cloth diapers are also needed. 

Of course there’s the cost of shipping. Financial support is always appreciated. And most importantly, PRAYER. Please keep Pauline and Reaching Hands Ministry in your prayers as we reach out to those with medical needs in Koros and the surrounding area.

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The Clinic is expected to have a great impact on this area. Should we be able to provide adequate mother and child care then this will be a true relief to the villagers in this place. Providing ante-natal, delivery and post natal services to women would be a service worth going for as this would reduce the burden and stretch to reach Kitale Town and would also reduce maternal deaths thus saving mother and child. Other options for the villagers would be the traditional birth attendants of whom some are trained or very experienced but some are not. In either cases the hygiene and safety of the mother and baby are not guaranteed to 100%. This area is known for attacks from malaria and pneumonia in children, both ailments require urgent attention and this would be practical if there is a facility nearby with those services. Due to the kind of hard life experienced in these areas malnutrition too arises which is only handled at Kitale District Hospital 13 kilometers away, and because of the distance parents may not take their children for the service in Kitale.
Concerning H.I.V in the area only a few people have come up to declare that they are living with the disease. This is because here people are not yet free to come out on this issue for fear of victimization and stigma associated with H.I.V. This has been contributed by the fact of lack of adequate sensitization on the matter as the few small facilities do not do enough to educate the public on the importance of knowing ones status. But this does not make the situation any
better since the rate of those getting infected continues rising. Therefore if sensitization and positive/moral support could be provided then most people would come out, get help and as a result lower the cases of H.I.V. I strongly believe that a clinic in this area can be a service that one can never regret providing.

Pauline