See our work at the hospital, some visiting patients from South Sudan, and a preschool we startedΝβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ 
The Strutner Family

Subscriber First Name, can you believe it’s been six months since we left for Kenya?! 

I’ll be honest - I’ve been procrastinating writing this update because there’s just so much to say. It’s hard to know where to begin that could accurately describe how different our life is here. 

I remember when we were about to leave California, the feelings I had of fear and also anticipation of our upcoming move could be compared to the days leading up to the birth of your first child. You know a big change is coming - but you aren’t sure exactly what to expect or how it will all go down. 

Turns out - the analogy still holds true. I feel like our time here in Kenya is like having a six-month old cross-cultural baby. You’re out of the newborn haze and finally sleeping at night again. You’ve gotten into a basic routine with your days. You’re gaining more confidence in how to do things with a baby in tow. 

Similarly, our days have a rhythm, we’ve continued to figure out more on how to do life here. We still constantly need to re-adjust our expectations - but slowly, we are figuring things out.

Well, enough of the metaphors. Here is what all that growing looks like practically here in Kenya: 

This baby came in very sick with some of the worst labs Jack had ever seen. He was not sure that he was going to make it - but miraculously this baby went home with his mom last week after a month in the newborn unit! Blog post coming soon!

Jack at the Hospital

Jack has jumped into full time life at the hospital. He works alongside a Kenyan family medicine resident and also any doctors who are visiting short-term from around the world. Alongside these other doctors, Jack is in charge of caring for patients on the newborn unit, pediatric ward, and adult ward. 

Jack has spent most of his time in the newborn unit, caring for as many as 22 newborn babies at a time. His days are full of miraculous recoveries, as well as heartbreaking losses. It’s hard to swallow the fact that the babies lost could have possibly made it if they had the resources we do in the States - but that’s simply not the case here. So little by little Jack works in teaching better practices to the team, as well as working to obtain certain medications that will provide better outcomes for the babies that the hospital doesn’t have yet. 

It’s hard to summarize all that’s wrapped up in work at the hospital in this email, so I’d encourage you to read Jack’s latest blog below. 

Jack also worked with another organization to send our Kenyan resident and two nurses to a NICU conference in Tanzania hosted for mission hospitals. The team learned SO much and had a wonderful time. It was the first time any of them had been on an airplane and they couldn’t get over the experience!

It’s beautiful to see Jack understand how to care for the tiniest of new humans.

Regan at the Hospital 

I (Regan) have also begun working on the many needs the hospital has for communication. I’ve been working on gathering new, better quality images and written content for the website, putting together a brochure for the hospital, working on how to receive tax-deductible donations for the hospital, and implementing some surveys so we can collect better data on our patients. As with everything here, accomplishing any task seems to take about 5 times longer than it would back home - but at least I’m getting more comfortable with the slowness of it all. 

What I’m *really* excited about, however, is creating more videos that help tell the story of the hospital, the doctors, and our patients. We currently have 6 patients that Samaritan’s Purse flew here from South Sudan, all with severe facial deformities several have had since childhood as a result of a bacterial disease. Can you believe we are the only hospital in all of Africa with two American plastic surgeons?!  (Also - can you believe Jack is the only American Internal Medicine doctor who has lived in Kapsowar full time in the past 25 years?!) I’ve been documenting their journey and surgeries here which has been absolutely fascinating. There is too much to say on this one, so I went a little deeper in a blog below. 

Our South Sudanese friends speak Dinka and Zande, which makes interviewing and editing that much more challenging. But their stories are incredible.

It will take several surgeries over several months of healing - but glad to be documenting it all from the beginning stages.

Samwel basically had no lower jaw. He has not been able to open his mouth, and thus chew, since he was 7 years old when his disease first began. Since then he has survived on a liquid diet. But after his surgery - with months of healing - he will be able to chew again.

Pretty wild to just hang out in the operating room during a surgery. I’m not one for blood and slicing people open, glad I stuck with cameras.

Borrowed Jack’s scrubs for it!

It’s been a joy to be able to be at the hospital and work alongside Jack. Until coming to Kenya, I had really never seen Jack at work. Now - it’s such a privilege that the kids and I can go visit him whenever we want, and also get to know his patients! Not only that, it’s been so refreshing that Jack and I are working together for the good of the hospital. While our roles are different, we feel like we are still working together in many ways. 

Your funds help us do many big things, and even small things - like bringing some snacks for all the mamas in the newborn unit to encourage them they are doing β€œkazi zuri (good work!)”. They are often here for weeks upon weeks as their babies grow, and they are usually very hungry as the breastfeed their little ones.

We Started a Preschool!

When we were back in California, Micah attended the sweetest preschool through our church, Wellspring, which he absolutely loved. Seeing that wonderful, creative space for little ones inspired me - why couldn’t we create something similar here? Our kids get a lot of free play, but really could benefit from something more structured. So, two other moms and I created a small preschool here in our little community! We currently use a guest house when it’s not occupied, and had a short term volunteer graciously bring over lots of supplies for us! The kids have LOVED it. We meet three times a week in the mornings, and each mom picks one day of the week to teach. We have a whole schedule that moves through circle time, crafts, music, story time, learning centers, to outdoor play time - it’s been a lot of fun. Micah is so excited for β€œpreschool days” and it’s such a joy to watch the kids explore and learn together. 

In this little room we set up β€œlearning centers” where the kids can play with different activities that might interest them

Craft and snack time!

Our month’s theme is β€œBugs and Crawly Things” - so here’s a bunch of cute ladybugs for you. ☺️

I think another unexpected joy here is living together with so many other families. It’s been lots of fun for Micah to simply walk 30 seconds to the neighbors house to play, or they’ll come over to our house to play. We really do life together here and some days it feels quite idyllic.

However, on the other hand, the family he is closest with [their daughters are Andie (3) and Zoey (6)] are finishing their one year of service here mid-December and are planning to serve in another country following. I’m still not quite sure how or when to break this news to his little four year old heart. (Advice is welcome!) We have even grown close with their parents too and will really feel their loss (not to mention, they account for 40% of our preschool attendance, ha). These are some of the challenges we knew were common for families serving internationally - but it doesn’t make it easier to walk through.

Our first holiday here - Halloween! It was quite the adventure to figure out how to do costumes here - but we managed to make Micah a tiger and Sage a bumblebee through some finds at the clothes market it town.

We had a really fun party with the kids here and even managed to trick-or-treat at a few of our neighbor’s houses after!
 

New Blog Posts

Mon, Nov 20

Reflections on Six Months in Kapsowar

 Read More 

Thu, Oct 19

Thoughts on My First Month of Working in Kenya

 Read More 
 

A few weeks ago we had a visiting photographer who snapped a rare photo of me while we were taking photos of patients. Grateful for the privilege of serving here.
 

There’s always so much more to say! We’ll be working on a video this month that can show you more of what life is like here, so stay tuned for that. 

As always - thank you. It still absolutely blows me away to think of all the friends and family who are behind us, and we truly couldn’t do it without you. 
 THESTRUTNERS.INFO 
 

Prayer Needs

  • For Jack as he continues to navigate an entirely new work culture at the hospital.

  • For inspiration and wisdom as Regan crafts stories about the hospital.

  • Please pray for Micah’s little heart as he loses his two closest friends in Kapsowar mid-December.

    Feel free to message me on WhatsApp and join our prayer group +1 954-560-1501
 

Regan || Text: 954-560-1501 || iMessage: reganstrutner@gmail.com || WhatsApp: +1-954-560-1501

Jack || iMessage: jackstrutner@gmail.com || WhatsApp: +1-831-419-3842

2868 Lasauen Road, Pebble Beach, United States

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