Miracle on Ogado Street

There are few people I have met that while in their presence I feel truly humbled. She practises medicine in a tiny clinic on Ogado Street, Kisumu. I am familiar with her outreach and advocacy over the past two decades for those with HIV/AIDS. But what I am about to hear from this "servant of the people" will explain the title of this blog.

Dr Sokwala takes little credit for her extraordinary work. She talks about the disenfranchised, the sick and those who have been abused by society and then discarded as worthless. Whether they are as young as a day old and left on the street to die; or they are street kids in their teens hooked on crime and drugs; or they are in the prime of life and dying of Aids; or perhaps an elderly Kenyan dying of cancer - she cares for each one as if they were her own. Actually, to her they are.

She speaks lovingly of Green Life Ministries that supports widows and orphans. Building homes for the homeless is part of what they do to provide critical social and health services in Kisumu's Obunga slum. She goes on to describe New Life Homes, a compassionate response to the plight of vulnerable children and abandoned and orphaned babies. To Kenya With Love exists to provide education for needy children so that they can break out of the cycle of poverty and dependence. Dr Sokwala tends to the needs of many elderly persons who wish to die in dignity and without pain. She supports the Kisumu Hospice, built and staffed with beds for 20 people. I begin to learn that over and above the demands of a busy practice, Dr Sokwala is actively engaged in each of these charities.

Agape Ministries is what she talks about the most. Young women who struggle with addictions, street kids in their teens without skills or education, those kids both male and female who sell their bodies for a few shillings, these are the ones that have deeply touched her. Dr Sokwala somehow finds them, invites them to her clinic, and often refers them to a specialist for a complete medical checkup. Then she finds a place for them to stay and offers some basic education and job training. Many are saved through her work in Kisumu.

Dr Sokwala asks about CES Kenya and we give her an update and thank her for the medical care she has given for some of our students.

The world has heard of Mother Theresa, and rightly so. But the name Dr Sokwala is under the world's radar. In my view I see no difference between these two beautiful people; the only difference for me is that today I met with "Dr Ruby" and my heart was strangely moved.

A miracle and no less...countless numbers around Kisumu and beyond can testify to that. As we leave Dr Sokwala's clinic I know I have been in the presence of greatness.