A friend visiting Kijabe, Kenya, for the first time recently asked me, “What do you need?” I know what he meant – do I need a day off, or a new devotional study? I thought for a long while and realized that what I need most is not anything for me, it is for my guest to come to know and love Kijabe as I do. To see the mighty work the Lord is doing, the hope and healing, and brutally hard but unbelievably rewarding work our staff undertakes every day. To love what I love would be the greatest gift imaginable.
AIC Kijabe Hospital has so many reasons to be grateful. We have resources and infrastructure that are not available at most locations in Africa. We have excellent water and power, a fantastic staff, experienced leadership, wonderful partner organizations, a stable government, a long-dreamed-for road that is nearly completed. These are all rich blessings.
On the other hand, we need so much more, things like: a medical gases plant so we can expand patient care, a housing complex so we can provide a beautiful home for trainees and visiting doctors, a well-equipped kitchen, renovated private ward, new maternity care capacities, radiography printing machine, portable ultrasound and x-ray machines–the list of current projects and needs goes on. And we do need this infrastructure and equipment if we are to reach a goal of providing world-class patient care and make the hospital sustainable, as we care for the poor and vulnerable.
Yes, all these needs are vital, but I think they are secondary to our most essential need–people.
As I realized with my friend, we need our visitors, friends, partners, and patients to come, see, and believe in the wonderful things the Lord is doing at AIC Kijabe Hospital. We need an ever-growing group of champions who will pray with us, work with us, and hold us up. It is the relationships forged over the last 101 years–from patients to presidents–that have made AIC Kijabe great. And we know that as we move forward, if our friends stand with us and the Lord’s favor is upon us, nothing is impossible.
So thank you, for taking a moment to read, to pray for this provision, and to join us in changing the world!
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About David Shirk
David and his wife Arianna met at Furman University where David majored in religion. The Shirks moved to Kenya long-term in the fall 2014, as part of the Samaritan’s Purse post-residency program. In 2016, they joined the Serge team serving at Kijabe Hospital where David works in Resource Mobilization and Arianna cares for little ones in the Pediatric ICU, wards, and NICU and trains the newest generation of Kenyan doctors and physician assistants during their rotations at the hospital. The Shirks have two girls: Madeline and Annabelle.