Our services are funded by your generous support of the World Service Fund, through the sale of products & services, and through individual gifts. Learn more about our stewardship.

Content reproducible for church use with our permission. Learn How

News

It Takes a Village: The Story of the Sons of Lwala

by Ciona Rouse

A five-year-old heard about the Ochieng' brothers, emptied his piggy bank, and gave his money to Lwala. A nine-year-old heard the story and asked his friends not to give him birthday presents, but to donate money to Lwala. When news reporter Barry Simmons heard about these two young men from Lwala, he left his job so that he could tell their story. "I felt like this is what the Lord wanted me to do. . . . It was a complete leap of faith," Barry said. "I believed that this was the Lord's story."

Nothing but Huge Hearts

The story begins in Lwala, Kenya (www.lwalacommunityalliance.org), where there is no plumbing, sanitation, clean water, or electricity. But the villagers have big hearts.

When Milton Ochieng', a native of Lwala, received a scholarship to Dartmouth College, his parents, Margaret and Erastus, could not afford his plane ticket to the United States. So the people of Lwala sold all they owned -- cows, goats, chickens -- to send Milton and his brother Fred to college. They asked nothing in return except that the Ochieng' brothers never forget them.

"In such a tight-knit community, the business of my coming to the U. S. to learn was really everybody's business," says Milton.

Years later, the brothers have not forgotten their village.

The Dream

In Lwala, people died of infectious diseases -- often preventable or treatable -- because the nearest hospital was a 25-mile walk. "I remember one situation in which a woman who was pregnant bled to death while she was being transported to the hospital. Her relatives put her in a wheelbarrow and pushed her for 45 minutes on a dilapidated road. She passed away before they got to the main road," Milton recalls.

Although he was trained as a chemistry teacher, not as a doctor, Erastus read medical books so that he could treat some preventable illnesses. And he dreamed of building a clinic for Lwala. Before his death, he and his sons began to make plans for the clinic.

"It quickly changed from just a dream to something I actually felt could be accomplished," says Milton.

Up and Running

Now medical students at Vanderbilt University, Milton and Fred have worked with the people of Lwala to build the clinic.

Clinic in Lwala

Barry has traveled with Fred and Milton since early 2006, capturing the story in a documentary film called Sons of Lwala, which shows how young people, in particular, have rallied around the Ochieng' brothers to raise money to build the clinic. Lwala has received money and support from all over the United States. However, in the documentary, Barry is clear that the village of Lwala has built the clinic. "It shows a picture of Africa you might not see," Barry said. "It's a story of a village who designed their own clinic. . . . It allows them to maintain their dignity."

The villagers run and staff the clinic, and Fred and Milton go back as often as they can to see patients. When they are home, people walk for miles to get to the clinic and often wait for hours to see them.

Lwala Clinic Patients Wait

During their last trip, Fred and Milton helped a woman who was having a breech birth delivery. Because the procedure often requires an operation and anesthesia, which the clinic cannot yet afford, the brothers worked with what they had. Unlike the woman who had died on the long journey to a hospital, this mother and child survived.

"With all the list of things that could have possibly gone wrong, her delivery went perfectly fine," Milton says. "I remember thinking, God does work in mysterious ways."

"I think a lot of things that have happened -- including the fact that we've now been open for months and are continuing to provide essential services to a group of people who otherwise would be suffering -- are a true manifestation of God's goodness. When God is on your side, God will prevail."

To learn more about the Ochieng' brothers, the movie, and ways to get involved, visit www.sonsoflwala.com. Information about the clinic is available at www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/root/vumc.php?site=lwala. To make a donation, visit: www.lwalacommunityalliance.org.

Ciona Rouse is a freelance writer who lives in Milton and Fred's Nashville neighborhood. The full article will appear in the July/August 2008 issue of devozine, one of 6 magazines published by GBOD's Upper Room Ministries. Copyright © 2008 by The Upper Room®. All rights reserved. To learn more about devozine, visit www.devozine.org or www.devozine.info.

GBOD's mission is to support annual conference and local church leaders for their task of equipping world-changing disciples. An agency of The United Methodist Church, GBOD (www.gbod.org) is located at 1908 Grand Ave. in Nashville, Tenn. For more information, call the Media Relations Office toll free at 877-899-2780, ext. 7017.