The boys at Agape love to play.  Give them a soccer ball and off come their shoes as they take to the field for what can turn into hours and hours of fun.  But the fun stopped on the afternoon of October 30th when, while playing at Agape, nine-year-old Dennis stepped on a thorn.

Dennis was taken straight to the hospital for treatment.  After the medical staff cleansed his wound, they gave him a tetanus booster shot and placed him on antibiotics.  Even after the Agape staff repeatedly soaked his foot in antibacterial water solutions, Dennis continued to hop around, favoring his unwounded foot.

When it came time for the follow-up trip to the hospital one week later, the foot had become even more tender to the touch.  The medical staff redressed the wound, gave Dennis a second tetanus booster, and prescribed yet another round of antibiotics.

When Dennis began experiencing chest pains that evening, things went from bad to worse.  By the next morning, the pain had moved up to his neck.  One of Agape’s staff members drove Dennis to a second hospital where, upon examination, the doctor recognized his symptoms as being caused by a tetanus infection.  Apparently the tetanus booster that he had been given a week earlier hadn't been potent enough to kill the infection.

Dennis was immediately taken to a dark, quiet room, and–under his doctor’s orders to better fight the infection–put to sleep with an intravenous drip.  Unfortunately, despite all efforts to save his life, a seemingly innocuous puncture wound turned fatal, and Dennis Ouma Owino’s life slipped away on Sunday, November 12th, around 9:00 p.m. in the evening.

Dennis lived at Agape for only a short amount of time, not even six months.  Yet during that time, he not only found a home and a family who loved and cared for him, Dennis discovered the ever present love of Christ when he prayed the sinners’ prayer with tears rolling down his cheeks.