John in Kenya
One of the greatest strengths of Hope Walks and its mission of sharing Christian love is the dedicated and hard-working staff we have. John is one of those people. By the time he retired after working as the clubfoot clinic coordinator at Nyeri District Hospital in Kenya for 12 years, he had worked with hundreds of children.
He is married with children of his own but when asked how many children he has, he softly laughs and says, ?In my culture, we don?t count children. Children belong to a community. So even the children I have treated are part of the community so they are also my children.?
John started working as an occupational therapist in 1991. In 2005 while working at the hospital, the Kenya Clubfoot Program partnered with the hospital to start a weekly clubfoot clinic. John was among the first team of physiotherapists, occupational therapists and orthopedic technologists to be trained on clubfoot treatment using the Ponseti method by the Kenya Clubfoot Program, a program of Hope Walks.
Once the weekly clubfoot clinic began, John proved himself to be a great leader for the clinic. He coordinated his colleagues to ensure the clubfoot clinic ran smoothly, and he voluntarily followed up on patients to make sure they were getting the best treatment. This made him the natural pick for the coordinator. Before John retired, he mentored Lawrence who has now taken over the position of clinic coordinator and carries on John?s traditions.
It?s hard for John to pick one thing he has liked best about his time with the clubfoot clinic. He enjoyed the great teamwork of the medical team, working with the parent advisors, getting to know the parents and guardians and their children. But perhaps the greatest gift of all has been seeing families reunited and faith in God?s healing power strengthened through clubfoot treatment.