Post Summary:
I returned to Costa Rica from Kenya on April 12th, and got back to my house on the 13th. But I needed time to process. Spiritual warfare is real. Apparently, dark energy and dark matter, which we cannot directly observe, comprise 95% of the universe. So, we can see, feel, or otherwise perceive around five percent of all that exists. When we try to do things that honor God, we often meet resistance. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood . . . (Eph 6:12).
A lot has happened over the last three months. By the grace of God, Acts10 Clinic has been running for three months now, and trauma support groups have started that draw good numbers! While the number of patients on a given clinic day hasn’t risen above seven or eight, the number serviced typically doubles when including those who come for those support groups. People get PrEP as well as sexual, mental, and general health care. I have seen several cases of typhoid, a couple of malaria, amoebiasis, recurrent Bell’s palsy presumably due to HSV, lots of H. pylori gastritis/PUD, HIV, syphilis, genital herpes, gonorrhea and chlamydia, lymphogranuloma venereum (from chlamydia), Mycoplasma genitalium and Ureaplasma urealyticum infections, asthma, and seasonal allergies, strep tonsillitis, viral URIs, facial trauma from brutal attacks, and mental health concerns such as MDD from trauma.
In poor countries, one must remain alert for scams. Lots of Kenyans are opportunists. If they see a chance to get something for nothing, they will take it. Caucasians may as well have dollar signs tattooed on their foreheads, chests, and backs. We may not frequently fall prey to violent crimes, but we will make prime targets for scams. We cannot live here independently, because if it doesn’t have a barcode on it or you don’t buy it online, we will pay two or three times the going rate simply because people assume we have money. I had a lady, a stranger, come up to me in the street and ask me to buy her a soda. Another couple of times, a guy walked with me on the street, in a non-threatening manner that still made me uncomfortable, talking with me in order to seek financial support. I respectfully declined and walked away quickly in these cases.
I know God brought me to HAIG (Humanity Aid Initiative Group), as I had seen the place before in dreams. At the same time, the man who rents the property has proven himself a fraud. Actually, more than that—a malignant narcissist with antisocial tendencies as well. His lies to me regarding a wealthy Sikh, Inderjit Singh, supporting the ministry started in March of 2024 and involved a fake Facebook account, WhatsApp account, etc. I think he had help with his scheme.
In fact, a number of wealthy Sikhs do exist in Nairobi and many actively support the LGBTQ+ community. Descendants of those brought here as servants of British colonizers, they have subsequently attained inordinate wealth. But Oscar is a straight Kenyan male with a wife, kids, and an alcohol use disorder. He runs HAIG, a shelter for LGBTQ+ refugees, dependent on grants, donations, and private foreign aid. He lies, manipulates, and misuses funds. Oscar Odera Long has a very fragile ego, needs to be in control, gets angry when he isn’t, and threatens violence against those who oppose him, including women. I previously married (2000) and divorced (2012) a borderline narcissist. North America doesn’t have a monopoly on them, though. Like an abused wife or girlfriend leaving her abuser, the greatest danger for her comes when she leaves.
Oscar gave me a black eye yesterday, April 7th, with the end of a metal pipe he carried around threatening me and those helping me move. Actually, he threatened to beat and kill Moureen, as he supposed that she had conspired to draw me and the clinic away from him. She didn’t. I figured out that I needed to leave all by myself. Even if she had, she would have been spot-on correct! He threatened to beat me too, but just ended up jabbing me once in the face with the metal pipe he toted. But that was it. At only about 5’6”, overweight, and out of shape, he didn’t dare attack anyone without a six-foot metal pipe in his hand. Narcissists make colossal cowards.
He had unfortunately heard from someone else helping me when we planned to move, so he had assembled a posse in the AM and started drinking early with them. He brought them there to intimidate and possibly beat us. I do not know for certain if the guys he had assembled knew why he had invited them there that morning. Drunk before noon, they left us alone as I ran the last clinic there–until they didn’t. He came out with a crazy look of rage in his eyes as we tried to leave with the furniture and supplies I had bought myself for the clinic. They, Oscar and two of the refugees that stay with him there, blocked us and refused to open the gate. Meanwhile, Oscar spewed lies about me owing him money for rent, etc. I don’t owe him any money. He had made up the existence of Inderjit Singh, as above, and invited me to come there at no cost to me. Then, when Mr. Singh reportedly died of cancer shortly after my arrival, he turned to me to pay the rent, utilities, etc. He had set me up. I did pay rent for one month before I was certain he had lied to me. He’d said I hadn’t told him I was leaving. I had, on WhatsApp on March 13th. He responded to that message, and knew perfectly well. Plus, he had assembled his posse, because he knew we were leaving. Actually, he owes me 480,000 Ksh, a bit over $3000 USD. I doubt I’ll ever see it, but he did sign a contract to repay me 20,000 Ksh/month over 24 months on March 17th. In the end, we could not safely get the fridge out or the divider for the lab area in the clinic. He also specifically stole my pots and pans that I purchased and the bit of alcohol I had left in the apartment. I also couldn’t go back for the broom and dust pan I bought, but we got out mostly safely. Someone stole my phone from Costa Rica too, and a full box of condoms, lol. I filed a police report, and I am still waiting for the police to arrest Oscar.
By God’s grace, one of the doctors who will staff the clinic when I leave, Dr. Wyckliffe Okumu, helped me get an Oscar-free place to run the clinic out of. I started staying at WOFAR (Women for African Refugee Care) after he had become threatening a few weeks earlier, and another friend stayed in the old clinic/my apartment at HAIG until we could move–so my things, the clinic supplies, and meds didn’t disappear or get destroyed. Dr. Okumu had also helped ensure that the clinic received appropriate licensure and legal status, so that even if Oscar followed through on his threat to report me/the clinic to the local authorities, we have all the necessary documents. Oscar did this deliberately as the documents he initially got for me, at great expense to me, were fakes. He probably intended to keep me and the clinic there under this threat, so he could use the clinic for further fundraising and status in the community. At this point, however, other shelter leaders in the area now know me and know about Oscar. He has already gravely damaged his own cause.
The new place is also not co-located with another shelter. The Acts10 Clinic has rented its own private property, and we will not have shelters competing with one another over control of it. Furthermore, it lies in a gated community with a security guard, so Oscar and crew can remain excluded. God provided HAIG for Acts10 Clinic as a stepping stone. What God has not provided for, at least to this point, is adequate financial support.
One private donor has given me over $2000 thus far in 2025. You know who you are and thank you! After hoping to receive money from my home church in Indianapolis for several months, they gave me $1000. I have also solicited assistance from a megachurch in Indianapolis, the church I grew up attending, but I’ve only gotten crickets thus far. Even from the new pastor from Kenya—no response. I’ve tried to get support from them for over two years, but megachurches determine where their money goes at least a year in advance, and despite having it as my home church for roughly 35-38 years of my life, I haven’t managed to break in. I have generally received the same response from other LGBTQ+-friendly churches in the greater Indianapolis area as well. Silence.
I spent a little under $65,000 last year on Acts10. Now, I have stopped funding all three shelters I previously supported. Facebook likes don’t translate into cash, and it’s “America First,” right? [Sarcasm intended.] One shelter admittedly misused funds, but the people responsible left. They have other supporters and will survive. The other two shelters do not have other supporters, and one of them, the one in Uganda, has disbanded or will shortly. The other shelter, WOFAR, has an amazing chicken project that will make them self-sustaining—if they can only get over the hump. I have received exactly zero dollars for them. The leaders of these two shelters have so much integrity and deserve support. But God relies on people to whom He gave free will. If plan A fails, plans B through Z can come into play. This all takes time though.
In the interim, God has provided for me. Despite the facts that my beautiful Airbnb/Vrbo in Costa Rica has gotten negligible business (absolutely none from outside Costa Rica), my duplex flip in Indianapolis has languished on the market for three months since Trump took office, and I can’t use the tax deductions for that property til next year, I now have a job in Southern Ontario! Now that I’ve almost completely single-handedly paid for my two daughters’ college education, I can slowly get out of debt, save to buy a home there, and continue to support Acts10 Clinic. Bianca and Sophia both graduate from their respective programs next month. I will have to abandon my attempt at permanent residency in Costa Rica at this point. I can’t work here—not even with the Bribri or other underserved indigenous population. I asked. I can start that over later. But in late May, I will start working at a clinic in Township of Leeds and Thousand Islands, ON. I’ll have a fabulous sign-on bonus and a relocation allowance as well. The area’s cost of living falls significantly below most of ON, and the very best and most important part—it’s NOT in the US! I would rather face poverty than do primary care in our for-profit, corporate-dominated system of health care.
I still hope to receive support for Acts10 and especially for the clinic. We’ll keep trying for grants and church as well as individual support. I still pay the physicians’ salaries—a fraction of what one might receive in North America. The clinic will continue to need more medications and supplies. We hope to open the clinic to paying community members soon as well to help support the cause. I wonder if we’re on plan D or E, or more like Q, or R. Regardless, God will receive glory. I hope more people take the opportunity to give and support this ministry.
