FEATURE STORY

When Tragedy Strikes

By: Mallory Minor

Oasis for Orphans Sponsorship Manager

It is with deep sorrow that we write this letter to tell you we lost two of the precious children in the Oasis program. Daisy and Dennis both died within weeks of each other. Every child at Oasis is special in their own way, and both Daisy and Dennis had God's fingerprints all over them.  

Little Daisy was born on June 4th and was welcomed into the Children's home with joy. She was a beautiful baby and lived up to her name. (See Smith June newsletter for story). When she was only a week old, she contracted pneumonia and was taken to Tenwek Hospital. After 10 days, she recovered from the pneumonia, but when the doctors tried to remove her from oxygen, she began to struggle. So, they looked for other health issues that could be causing this. 

Daisy quickly became weaker and weaker. On Friday, July 13, 2012, she died in the loving arms of her mother and woke up in the loving arms of her Heavenly Father. Daisy was buried this week and the mamas placed daisies on her grave. We all mourn the loss of this precious flower.  

Oasis found Dennis when he was 14 years old and recruited him into the Day Program in the Bush at the end of last year.   Immediately, we recognized that we had a special boy on our hands. He was incredibly affectionate and his smile was charming.  He loved to give hugs and wanted to snuggle up next to anyone who would put their arm around him. He was the kind of kid that melted your heart in an instant.  

However, Dennis was sick. He had epilepsy. Two years ago, while having a seizure, Dennis fell into a fire and severely burned his leg.  Due to lack of good medical care, it was left untreated and developed significant scarring and infection that affected his ability to walk.    

Many of you knew of Dennis because he was recently taken to Kijabe Hospital to have surgery to repair his burned leg. In addition he was put on a medication regimen that helped get his seizures under control.  After surgery, Dennis came to live at the Children's home on The Hill while he recovered.  He thrived on The Hill.  The other children embraced him fully and the mamas coddled him.  He was finally able to walk again.  Indeed, hope was restored to Dennis.

He was buried a few days later with more than 300 people from The Hill and Bush communities gathered together. It was sad...so, so sad to say goodbye to one of our children; to watch the family wail and mourn over their lost brother, nephew, and cousin; to see the other children at TCH weep over the loss of their friend. 

I honestly can't even describe the deep sadness I feel right now and cannot seem to stop crying for the past few hours over this loss.  We lost a family member today and a boy who had the deepest joy of the Lord and a smile that could just melt your heart.  Dennis would just beam when he saw us. He gave such intense hugs that he almost caused pain because he squeezed so tight.  He loved life and didn't seem to mind the pain of his epilepsy or his leg.  He was so strong and so inspiring to be around that you could not help but catch his joy. 

When he was in the hospital, Ann would take him candy and he would share it with every kid in his room so that they all could be as happy as he was.  He had that special kind of generous, gracious, and wonderful heart. 

His life was hard but you would never have known it.  I honestly can't put into words how much I loved this kid, and I'm sure the Smith's can't either. Anyone who met him knew his contagious joy and was blessed by it.  He was simply put a beautiful, precious child. 

Even though it is a loss for all of us, he is with our Father now and is healed and home. I have this incredible image in my head right now of Dennis playing around in heaven with 2 good legs, no seizures, and running into God's arms for a big bear and finally experiencing Someone who can hug back as tight as he can.  

 God only knows why this was Dennis and Daisy's time to go. Phillipians 3:21 tells us that when we get to heaven, Jesus will transform our earthly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body.  Though Dennis never had the chance to run here on earth, I can assure you Dennis is running now as he had a strong and vibrant relationship with Jesus. And though Daisy struggled with every breath, we know she is enjoying perfect health in heaven. We who remain have hope because Jesus made it possible to have a relationship with God.

We have been reminded during this tragedy of how Oasis is really a family.  Everything we do is built around our desire to engage kids and sponsors in personal and meaningful ways.  Although we prefer to celebrate successes, we also must be prepared to grieve losses together.

As we left Dennis's funeral, Wilson, the older brother and caregiver of Dennis pulled us aside. He had been unable to speak during the funeral because he was too overcome with emotion. He requested that we personally thank all of Oasis for stepping in and helping Dennis.  So thank you to all of you who step in and help these precious children. We are so grateful for you!

Please pray for the kids and staff on The Hill and in The Bush; the Smith family on the ground who are walking alongside these communities; and the families of these children, who loved them. They will be deeply missed, and we are blessed to have known them even for a short season.    

The Dennis and Daisy Memorial Fund

1. By Check to Oasis for Orphans

Memo:      Dennis and Daisy Memorial Fund

Send to:    Oasis for Orphans                

                     P.O. Box 524             

                     Wadsworth, IL 60083

2. Online at www.oasisfororphans.org/donate  

Donate to the General Fund

In the memo field type: Dennis and Daisy Memorial Fund

News on the Hill 

• Fourteen children from the Hill, who are part of the Boy and Girl Scouts of Kenya, participated in a 2 day campout in the Bush.
• The Texas Kaiser Kitchen and the Ole Nakuso Guest house were officially opened on June 12, 2012 with much celebration from the community.
• The first official egg was collected from the new chicken house that was built in June.  This will provide added protein to the children's diets and teach them to run an egg 
   business!
• Twenty-four girls from Hill Springs School participated in the regional dance competition and took 1st place!
• The new and improved bath house is currently under construction.
• The education team gathered 2 more crates of educational materials that arrived in Kenya in July. Among these items, was a much needed microscope for the Class 7 and 8 students.  

The first egg!

News from Oasis 

• The Oasis board met for a retreat in June and made significant strides forward with governance implementation and future site planning.
• TEAM Oasis is diligently training for the marathon and the half marathon in the hot sun. If you would like to join them please contact Kim Huffman at kim@oasisfororphans.org 
• Four university students will be doing an internship at Oasis in Kenya during August.

Prayer Requests 

• Pray for the students who will take Term 2 exams at the end of July
• Pray for Dennis and Daisy's families and the surrounding communities as they grieve the loss of these precious children.  
• Pray for Oasis as we talk with other leaders in Kenya about potential future Oasis sites

Thank you to: 

• The June travelers for blessing the Hill children and community with such a fun week.
• The Texas Kaisers and friends for funding the new kitchen
• TEAM Oasis for continuing to train during the heat wave! 

June Travelers on the Hill

Kitchen Dedication                                                         Clay lined wood buring cookers