The start of 2020 had been a particularly tough season for the Gabbra people. We all know the challenges brought on by Covid-19. But subsistence farmers in Northern Kenya also faced a devastating locust plague which devoured their livelihoods.
For two Gabbra mothers, it got even worse. Their babies - one just a few days old and the other just over a year - became gravely ill. Their conditions were beyond anything the remote village could handle.
AIM missionaries, Eddie and Rachel Anderson felt compelled to help, but it would have taken days to drive the babies to the closest mission hospital, not to mention the curfews and travel restrictions due to Covid-19. Neither the Andersons nor the Gabbra families had the means to pay for treatment or transportation, but trusting that God would provide, Eddie urgently called AIM AIR for a flight to bring the babies to Kijabe Hospital.
With our own planes busy in the skies with other missions, AIM AIR coordinated the flight through Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF). Kristal Young, wife of an AIM AIR mechanic and ER nurse herself, went with the flight to accompany the babies.
We prayed that the babies’ operations would go well and that they would both be able to go home soon.
Two weeks later, the phone rang again. It was Eddie: one of the babies, Isako, needed emergency heart surgery, but there was only one hospital in Kenya that could perform it: Tenwek Hospital in Western Kenya. Could AIM AIR fly them there as soon as possible?
We immediately made arrangements to fly Isako to Tenwek Hospital the next day. But the flight was not that simple. Before medically evacuating Isako and his mother to Tenwek Hospital, we needed to pick up a translator from northern Kenya.
This small shift in plans opened the door for a few other needs to be met. The planned medevac flight turned into a flight home for a young Gabbra family, saving them several grueling days on flooded roads and a supply run for two remote missionary families, surprising them with fresh produce and other special treats.
Despite all of our efforts, a few days later, we received the heartbreaking news that Isako had passed away.
Flights like this can often feel like a failure and leave you wondering if there was anything you could have done differently to save this life. What if we had gotten there a day earlier? Would even a few hours have been enough to make a difference? They can even bring many of us to ask ourselves, after all of our prayers and hard work, why didn’t God save this sweet baby’s life? Although we may not see the results of God’s work until months or even years later, God works just as powerfully in these heartbreaking stories as he does in the miracles.
A few days after Isako’s death, the Andersons were surprised to hear the words:
“You really love the Gabbra people.”
The whole community witnessed the lengths they were willing to go to save these babies. Rather than being blamed for Isako’s death, they became even more rooted in and more deeply accepted by the community.
God’s love illuminates the darkness. Even in death, his love for the Gabbra people shines brightly through the Andersons and their love for their community.