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MISSION:
JOURNEY TO KENYA
by Minerva
Garcia, PT
There is a place on this earth like many others, where
people know what it means to not have a place to stay through the night,
where there is no food to eat, where there are no clean
 clothes
to change, where there is not enough water, where there is no certainty
of good health, where there is no certainty of safety. A place where a 7
yr old kid takes care of her sick parents or is left an orphan with 2 or
more siblings to care for, where kids learn to sell their purity in
exchange for a banana and orange, where elderly men and women are forced
to care for sick grandkids because their parents have died of AIDS,
where women are sent to prison because they stood up for their rights to
remain sexually pure, where children sniff glue to numb themselves to
get through the cold night or beatings of bullies or get the courage to
rummage through the garbage for their food or simply to just pass the
time and forget the pain.
We hear it on the radio, see it on our television, read
about them on the newspapers and magazines.
It has been my desire to see beyond what I hear, see,
read and know about these people and asked God to use me to reach out to
the needy, the poor, the sick. Interstate Rehab Administrative staff
has made this possible when I left last Feb. for a missions trip to
Kenya with Saddleback Church. I is awesome to be a part of a company who
not only care about their staff but also supports what they are
passionate about.
In Kenya, we washed street kids, fed street kids and
exchanged their glue bottles for water and food. We handed out mosquito
nets to families, prayed for the sick, treated patients under the trees
(wound care galore!), jumped (that is their dance) among the Pokot
natives, met and prayed with HIV-infected families, shared the gospel to
kids in the church, in the schools, in the streets, atop a rock (I
almost fell because kids just swarmed me and are very excited to hear),
on a tree branch. Gave concerts after concerts (boy did I hone my
guitar playing skills I never once knew I had). We distributed seeds
and fertilizers to people, gave out cows to families. I shared my life
story among pastors and seminary students, shared the message of Christ
in the prison and in schools, hugged lots of kids, women, sick
people...most of them have never been hugged in years, played with kids
and many more.
One would think that in a place so poor and full of
problems, it seems futile to even do anything...we just need to start
with one kid at a time. I met a young man who was once out
 on
the streets sniffing glue but because of the ministry to the street
kids, he came clean and is now studying to be a policeman and he has
been our faithful guide and “watchman”. Another woman started a cottage
medical center that cares for the sick even from other African
countries. At the end of the trip, we were treated to a Safari tour and
then a long lay-over in Amsterdam gave us enough time to tour the place,
but that wasn’t the best part of the trip...it is when I came home and
started to get settled and rehash everything that I saw and did...I will
never forget the eyes, the smiles, “How are you Muzungu!” . God is in
the midst of it all —–
my life will never be the same again.
We are so blessed and I encourage everyone to live to
what God has called us to do... we are all called for a purpose...to
glorify our Creator, care for the sick, the poor and widows… and it is
not difficult for us, therapists to do just that.—Minie Garcia, PT
Minie Garcia, is currently the PT working in the Orange County
facilities. She has been with the company for 14 yrs and has
worked in our facilities in LA and Orange County. She is currently
inviting people to join her team on a 5K Orange County AIDS Walk on May
12. She plans to go to Kiev, Ukraine, China and Philippines for another
mission trip.
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