Leaving Malawi

Today we are getting on a plane and flying home to Texas. That meant yesterday we packed - deciding what to take home (not much), what to leave for our next trip (lots and lots) and what to give away. We also tried to make the rounds and see some of our friends for the last time this trip. We are blessed to have so many friends here - Malawians and ex-pats alike. This has been a great trip, we feel like we have perhaps made a difference in some people's lives, and we know they have made a difference in ours! If you haven't been keeping up with us on facebook, there are lots of photos there, too, and daily updates.

Again, thanks to all of you who have given of your money and of your prayer time to keep us focused and safe. Although there have been some pretty significant security issues in Lilongwe lately, we have remained safe on the ABC campus! I know some of that is due to our awesome guards, but I also credit the prayers of so many of you guys.

Jose will start college shortly after we return, please pray for him as he makes this transition. I will be back at work soon, and will need (as always) prayer coverage in my job.

Please pray for the people we leave behind. Many of them (ex-pats) are working to bring health and the gospel to Malawians. Many of the Malawians are ministering to their own people to bring them the peace that only comes through knowing the Lord, Jesus Christ. And ALL of the Malawians, and the ex-pats, live in a world where malaria, illness, death and lack of water and electricity are daily occurrences.

Now for some photos:

Caroline, our housekeeper at the Stoms. Since there have been as many as 4 people in this house, her job has been challenging! She is a sweetheart. Today is her birthday - she is thirty four, married with 4 children. Her birthday wish? Rice, chicken and coke for her dinner and maybe a new mosquito net for her youngest child (a 4 year old).

Next you see Jose and I with Charles, one of the guards who has become a friend. (All the guards here are ABC students). He came by for 'going away snaps' last night. He was getting ready to report for duty at a house on the upper campus. Notice his grab - he is dressed for the cold (50's last night). He has a wife and three children, but lives in the far north of the country. However, he applied for and got housing on campus, so soon his family will come and be with him. He served as Jose's translator in several village clinics. One of his classic lines as we are driving through town - 'In America, do they name the minibuses?' (the minibuses here are the main public transport, full to the brim with passengers and cargo, and with interesting names, like God Be With Us, etc.) Ummm, no Charles, we don't even have minibuses! He is a great guy and we will miss him!

Third picture is the two of us with Mr. and Mrs. Whiskas. We stopped by to tell them goodbye and found Mr. Whiskas suffering from malaria. Please pray that he recovers completely!

Lastly is Jose with a box of Orion-Pies - like little tiny Moon Pies that he found in a new store in town (we found yesterday, ahh, too bad so late in the trip) called Chinese Food Stuffs. haha. Actually, these things taste pretty good. (OK, maybe we have been here too long!).

Again, thanks to all who have been a part of this trip. We will be home Wed. afternoon (if all goes as planned).

Ntchisi and other stuff

We traveled to Ntchisi, up in the mountains, to visit Wezzie and Marie Maseko (two sisters to Anne, Eddah, Maggie and Mebble). We picked up the other sister, Angellah, and her little boy Tristen for the trip. Wezzie has a job at the district assembly and there is a house that comes with that post. A nice house! She very much wanted us to come visit her and see the house. We had a great time, even drove to the Ntchisi Forest Lodge to see it, also. Unfortunately, the weather was rainy, foggy and downright cold! We had planned on one last village clinic tomorrow (Sat.) but our contact has malaria AND turns out there is a wedding in that particular village. So, we are canceling our plans. We will leave our left over medications with the nurse at ABC, Becky, and she will pass them on to teams doing village clinics. A special thank you to all who helped in buying medications. We used almost all of ours, but were able to add to our supply from teams who were leaving.

Yesterday I gave a very brief talk to the new missionaries (arriving daily) on ABC campus about 'staying healthy in Malawi' - mainly - don't get bit by anything and watch out for cars! Jose and Becky taught a CPR course, and Jose has turned over those reins to Becky to continue after we leave. We then picked up Mr. and Mrs. Whiskas - he was our housekeeper whenever we stayed at the Assembly of God guest house, and he is retiring at the end of this month. We wanted to see the house where he will be living after retirement and to take them to dinner. He is a wise man, has two houses that he owns, both currently rented. He will move into the bigger house when he retires, and will be re-doing the kitchen and bathroom (both outside), repairing the joists in the roof (termites have eaten through the wood), and repainting the house. He was excited to show us his future home and discuss all his improvement / remodeling plans with Jose! Then we took them to Mama Mia's - the nice Italian restaurant here in town. They had not been there and seemed to enjoy it, even though they ordered chicken and chips, not Italian! Oh well, it was for their pleasure and they love chicken! We had a great time with them, as always.

Pictures: Wezzie's house in Ntchisi, with the girls and I on the front porch and Tristen in the front yard. Jose and Tristen playing in the living room of the house - looks like they are both having fun! Mr. and Mrs. Whiskas on the front porch (konde) of their retirement home, with the current renter and two of her children next to them. Lastly, Mr. and Mrs. Whiskas with Jose at Mama Mia's.

Pictures

These photos should have been with the last blog, but somehow I could not get them to all load. First photo - muffler pipe being held off the ground (so it doesn't drag) by sock. At the game park, Katie, Jose, Alick and myself. Alex and Lidson in the orphan village, and lastly, Katie with twins Jesse and Justina. Check out Youtube (search my name) to find videos of the visit to the crisis nursery, the Majiga clinics, and other interesting tidbits!

Zambia trip, Crisis Nursery, teen boys

On Sunday morning we left early for Zambia, South Luangwa game park. The first half of the trip is not bad - crossing the border is always interesting and time consuming, but the roads are OK until you get past Chipata in Zambia. Then you are on a dirt road for hours. The good news is that they are in the process of building a new road, with tarmack! The bad news: who knows how long that process will take? Enroute to the game park, on one of the bad stretches of road, we heard a loud bang and then a horrible noise from the car. Jose pulled off the dirt onto the grass shoulder and checked - the pipe attached to the muffler had come loose (weld had broken). Immediately a crowd gathered, including about 50 small kids who 'petted' the car, flipped the door handles (?trying to get in?) and literally licked the windows. Ladies with babies showed up and wanted to show us their babies, and a nice assortment of men, who offered to help fix the car. Unfortunately (according to Jose, who was out there with them, while Katie and I stayed safe in the car) they smelled like they had been drinking the local brew. We needed a rope... when Jose asked if anyone had a rope, one of the men went to the side of the road, pulled some long grass and started braiding one right there! (we are planning on carrying wire and rope in the future!) Jose ended up using a strap from Katie's bag, and we were shortly back on the road. Unfortunately, the strap melted through pretty quickly and we were once again on the side of the road, although not so close to a village, and we had made it to the tarmac leading to the park. This time we only attracted a few people, and Jose fixed it with a long sock.. it held!! The lodge in the park has a shop and they re-welded the pipe for a small fee. However, I was - and am- impressed with the sock fix! We spent Sunday through Tuesday in the game park, with Katie getting to see the 'animals' of Africa. The Texas group (Majiga clinics) came on Monday so it was nice to see them, too. The lodge and drives are always fun and it was a time for us to catch our breathe after the last couple of weeks. We had a very nice guide, Alick, who managed to find us leopard one night. Our trip home (to Malawi) was uneventful compared to the 'going' trip, and the weld held! Wednesday, Katie's last full day in Malawi, she did a little curio shopping, picked up Lidson and went to the orphan village, dropping off pictures to the teen age girls (from the last visit) and stopping by the see the guys. Only 4 were at home, the others either still in school or off on an outreach to nearby villages. I did get to see my other sponsored child, Alex. And of course, Lidson always enjoys a road trip in the car! In the afternoon, Katie and I went to the Crisis Nursery, where we got to feed some of the babies and spend some time playing with them. Katie had one set of twins, Jesse and Justina, and I had Shadrack - his twin Meshack was still sleeping. The Ministry of Hope is the organization under which Crisis Nursery operates. You might recognize Ministry of Hope as the group that does some village clinics, where Jose has gone several times. They really do good work here. The Crisis Nursery takes in babies that are high risk of death due to the death - or desertion- of the mother. These are generally village babies, where formula is either not available, too expensive, or there is no clean water to mix it. The nursery folks take them in, clothe, feed and get medical care for the babies. They stay at the Crisis Nursery until they can eat the traditional foods of the villages. If there is extended family (which is often the case), they are brought in to bond with the child, learn basic hygiene, etc. so the child has a place to return to when they are eating. The nursery then does follow up visits to make sure the child is thriving. I know of two cases where the child had to be returned to the nursery because of inadequate care in the village. If there is no extended family to be found, those kids become available for adoption. I know people are concerned when they give money to different groups if the money is really being used for the stated purposes. I have been blessed to see first hand what some of the groups here are doing. If any of you readers are interested in donating to a specific group (or missionary) mentioned in this blog, please contact me! The picture with this blog is of the village crowd we were leaving as we drove off from the first vehicle break down.

Village clinics - Majiga

Wednesday Jose, Katie and I went to Chiwengo and did a clinic for the COTN orphan village there. Of course, people from surrounding villages heard and came. Our main goal, though, was to see the orphans and the staff at Chiwengo. Jose and I were the providers and Katie was the pharmacist. We had a great time and saw about 135 people. We stopped in time to get home right at night fall. On Thursday and Friday, we had already arranged with a church from Texas (Ft. Worth area) to set up a two day clinic in Majiga, a village where their team was setting up a tabernacle. We drove out Thursday and Friday, seeing over 350 folks on those two days. They had not only folks to help erectt he tabernacle, but also a doctor, a nurse practioner, a couple of RNS, a nursing student and lots of willing hands. They did a great job! We had 3 'providers' - Dr. Willie, Kathleen (NP), and Jose -I mainly circulated the first day, answered questions, etc. By the second day, they didn't need so much help so I was able to take on patients myself. The girls running the pharmacy were great (that is one of the hardest jobs), and of course the triage / intake (thank you Katie) is a critical part of the process. The group brought food and all of us ate after the clinic closed, followed by the Jesus Film. This village is about 1 1/2 hours away from Lilongwe, with the last 45 mintues being on a killer dirt road. Two things the photos don't capture - the dust, dust, dust everywhere - in your eyes, your hair, on your skin, on the tables, on your equipment, your pens, your paper, the medications.... And all the patients are covered with this fine red dust. The other part that doesn't come through is the noise, so much noise. Children crying, kids playing and laughing, adults talking, and the church had a ministry to the kids going on with a loudspeaker and music....

The church and their team did a fantastic job. The medical folks were out of their comfort zone but really held up well, they were flexible and focused. It was a great experience, and I know at least one tiny baby was saved by their hard work, numerous other folks got a huge variety of illnesses and diseases treated, wounds cleaned and bandaged, prayers, and generally shown the love of Christ.

A special word for Jose - he is pretty much functioning at a physician level in the clinics - and he was getting most of the 'malaria' patients for the past two days, along with the other patients. He had one family with six people, all at the same time. He also had a Mom with twins - one on each breast that needed to be examined (children, not breasts!). I just wanted to officially say that he is quite extraordinary. He has intentionally worked to increase his knowledge level of the diseases we see here and the treatment options. Not to mention he gets all the 'other' chores, like carrying heavy loads, driving and taking wheels apart when we have car trouble! For those of you who are praying for us, remember that Jose has been the answer to prayer many times on this trip.

Pictures: The tabernacle as we pulled up the second day, with the line already forming. People coming in by foot and ox cart. Kathleen (NP) seeing patients, and four of us at the end, 'pharmacist', Katie, me and Jose.

Salima with Katie

We did a day trip to Salima on Wednesday. We stopped at the Salima district hospital to show Katie a local hospital. The day before we had all toured Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) the big government hospital in Lilongwe. We walked through some of the hospital to find Peter Maseko, but he was so busy he was unable to really give us a tour. We had planned on returning on our way out of town, but those plans did not work out. Sorry, Katie, maybe next time!



After we left the hospital we heard a loud bang and then a terrible grinding noise from the back tire area. We limped to the Maseko house, where Jose took the tire off and found broken metal pieces. We had just put the car in for servicing the day before, including a brake job. Needless to say, we are not very happy. However, once he got the broken pieces out the noise stopped and the brakes seem to still work fine. Our schedule is so busy right now that we will have to wait til next week to have it totally evaluated by the mechanic. Pray for travel / car safety and also a HUGE prayer of thanksgiving for having Jose, with his many, many skills, part of the team! After getting the tire fixed, Emma fixed us a traditional Malawian meal, complete with nsima, rice, cassava, chicken, tomato sauce and cabbage. She also fixed some Samosas - Indian, not Malawian, but a favorite of Jose's. After lunch, we went to the beach side village of Senga Bay. Katie got to walk through a village and then to the lakeshore where the boats were bringing in fish. Mostly usipa (little fish, slightly larger than sardines, that they sun dry and then eat in stews or 'relishes'), some even smaller ones and then another size up - they all have names, but my chichewa is so limited I can't remember them all! However, we had fun, Katie took tons of photos, and even found some chitenges (the wraps that are used for everything here) to buy at the market. After the village, we went to the curio stands and 'went shopping'. Lots of things to buy! And everything is negotiable. Emma had little Alpha (who got tired of seeing the stuff), so she and I headed back to sit in the car and people watch. Very interesting! We saw a young woman with a ice chest come to the market and begin very quietly selling shake shake to some of the vendors. Shake Shake (also called chibuko I think) is some sort of home made beer, they put in used water or soft drink bottles (plastic) and it s a milky, gray color. Looks totally disgusting - Emma said it smells disgusting, too. I thought if the vendors started drinking a lot, I might go and get some really good deals (haha). While we were sitting in the car on the side of the road, a gentleman came up to us - he and his team were also shopping, they were from a Korean church in New Jersey, just finishing a couple of weeks of a mission trip! How funny! Katie made lots of great deals, with Jose being the negotiator - just another of his many skills! We took Emma and Alpha home, then on the way out of town, did a short side trip to see what is reportedly the biggest Baobab tree in Malawi. It was close to dark... once again we had to drive home after dark, one of the things we hate most here - driving after dark. Jose did an excellent job (as usual), even though he was operating on about 2 hours sleep. He is rooming next door with a young doctor, Ty, who just finished his residency in family practice and is here for two months. The nurses called them early Wed. morning for a young patient that was brought in to the campus and put in the inpatient ward, not breathing. The guys did a valiant job with inadequate tools, but the child died (probably was dead when he arrived). What followed was a nightmare of dealing with the family, trying to get the body taken care of, etc. Jose never got back to sleep. He carried on like a trooper, though, and will never know how much I admire him for his willingness to do so!

Pictures:

The baobab tree - you can sort of see Jose and I at the base of the tree, and the children from the surrounding villages running up to see us. Emma and Alpha in the back seat of our car, waiting for the shoppers! Jose and Katie leaving the curio market. A boy on the lakeshore with his fish - they were still alive and flopping - I think he was burying them in the sand to keep them fresh. It looked like his brother was using a little piece of cane / bamboo to fish, so I think this was to be their dinner, not for sale. lastly, Jose jacking up the car to take the tire off.

Pray requests: travel safety - we have a village clinic at Chiwengo today, which is in the north part of the country, not to mention clinics Friday and Sat and leave Sunday for Zambia. Pray that Jose and Ty get rest after their traumatic night. Pray that Katie enjoys the rest of her stay here!

Katie arrives!

My friend and scribe, Katie, was due to arrive on Friday, but due to plane delays, didn't make it in until Saturday. Charles (one of the guards, ABC student and sometime translator at the clinics) had the day off and wanted to come with us. Turns out that a big entertainment for Malawians is going to the airport, sitting up top in the 'spectators' area and watching the planes come in. This was only the second time Charles had ever been to the airport. You can also order food and drink if you so desire. When we got there, the place was packed, people had the chairs up to the railing, watching, chatting, just having a good time. We got a place at the back and ordered lunch. We were there for almost 3 hours and only 3 planes came in - this is not a very busy airport! But when the first one started coming in, Charles was ready to go to the railing and watch. He told us later that was the most fun he thinks he 'has ever had'.

Katie did arrive safely, and not too exhausted. Sunday we went to Flood church where Sean preached another awesome sermon! Our plans for Sunday afternoon involved going to Msilitza village where COTN has a feeding and school program and where there are two teen orhpan houses (girls and boys). We stopped at the main COTN office and picked up Lidson to go with us. Everyone loves a chance to ride in a car and go somewhere! When we arrived, we found that there are currently 10 girls housed in the girls home (there are supposed to be 8..but I don't know how you turn away a desperate girl!!) but many of them are away most of the year at secondary school. This is school holiday, and several are gone back to the their home villages to stay with extended family. One of my favorites, Maureen, is a student at ABC and she is doing an 'internship' at the COTN orphan village of Chiwengo. That is Lidson's usual home, and also where we hope to do a clinic soon. We took the girls some gifts, including toothbrushes and toothpaste (thanks to the Eureka Dental Clinic and Drs Kemp in Weatherford, Texas!!). We also took in some bras, Bibles, books (always a big hit to have different books to read) and a jigsaw puzzle. We started showing them how to do the puzzle - one of the girls remembered from our last visit, but to some of the others it was a new deal. We went outside to take photos, and found that Lidson and one of the male interns (at the boy's home) stayed inside to work on the puzzle. I guess next time, I will be bringing more jigsaw puzzles! Our plan was to go to the boys' home, also, but they were gone attending a funeral. Maybe later in Katie's trip.

A word about COTN - Children of the Nations - this is a relatively small Christian organization that provides orphans with homes or (if they are living with relatives) a feeding program and school. They try to get three sponsors per child, allowing them to provide for a secondary education (high school - which costs in this country) and, if the student qualifies, with education past high school. Maureen (as mentioned above) is attending African Bible College, which is prohibitively expensive for most orphans. I have sponsored Lidson since 2000, when he was 5 years old. If any of you feel led to sponsor a child, there are many wonderful organizations out there, and COTN is one of those. Your small monthly contribution really DOES make an incredible difference.

Pictures: Katie with the girls and Ester (the 'Auntie' of the home), Charles at the airport, Auntie Ester and me, and then Lidson (back turned to us) and intern in the living room of the home, working on the jigsaw puzzle (the 'couch' to Lidson's right is actually a bed where one of the 'extra' girls sleeps.)

Enjoy! Pray that we have a safe, blessed time while Katie is here, in the Warm Heart of Africa.

Whiskas, Lidson, cookies and more

This is sort of a jumbled up post -

Pictures: The bird is a wagtail, in our front yard. Jose making cookies, Jose, Lidson and myself, the dog bite patient, and Mr and Mrs Whiskas and granddaughter Bridgette looking at their new DVD player!

Lidson - my sweet sponsored child is still in Lilongwe for his school break, we went by and saw him again yesterday, taking him a copy of some of the photos we had taken. Jose made cookies the other night - white chocolate (which we brought with us) and macadamia nuts (which are relatively cheap here as they grow in east Africa). And we wonder why we never lose weight here?????

The Whiskas - we invited them for dinner and to give them a couple of gifts. For those of you who do not know, Mr. Whiskas is the gentleman who keeps the house when we stay at the Assembly of God guest houses. We were very sad that this time we could not stay there, but wanted to see the Whiskas and take them something special. He is retiring at the end of August (he is over 70 years old and has worked for Assembly of God for 40+ years). Their son and granddaughter live with them, while their daughter in law is at school, getting a certificate that will allow her to be a school teacher. They are wonderful, kind, hard working folks. They brought Bridgette, who is not too keen on azungus (white people) to dinner with them. We had fun and afterwards, gave them a DVD player and some DVDs! (We had bought these in the US and brought with us - the ones here are cheaply made and very expensive!) It is fun to see how excited they are about it! Look at those faces as they watch some of the movie! I will post a short video on Youtube of their visit (search my name, Donna Ivey, to find my videos).

Medical stuff: The girl with the dog bite to the face came in for her last appointment to have her sutures removed - wow, she looks good! I have enclosed a photo of her wounds. If you are not medical they may look terrible to you, but actually, they look good, no infection and good alignment. I am pleased. Thursday I had a lady (Malawian) with a plethora of complaints, and her translator only spoke a few words of English. The patient was an older woman and apparently was chopping firewood and got a piece of wood in her lower leg at least 2 weeks ago. ouch! Jose came up and helped with the removal (he had not had a chance to do an incision and drainage or foreign body removal before). We did manage to find, buried in her calf, a ~4 inch thin sliver of wood. The smile we got when we pulled it out did NOT need any translation! Jose sutured up the wound and she was good to go! Friday morning a very sick child came into the non-private side early and one of the clinical officers (Danford) began treating him. The child seemed to rally a little, even stating that he was hungry, and Danford ordered some lab tests. The child had come in so early that no one was in the lab when he first arrived. We (Jose, Dr. 'Ty' and myself) got involved when Ty saw the lab - white count - over 70K. For you non-medical folks, that is HIGH. We went to the lab to look at the complete differential and began to discuss the possibilities. (background noise - a wailing, keening, repetitive cry that seemed somehow familiar...) Danford walked by, we flagged him down and got the facts on the case - that's how we learned the child had seemed to rally, expressed hunger, etc. Then Danford said 'Then the mother called me, his eyes were dilated and he was dead'. Now I recognized the cry we were hearing, the same one we heard at Salima district hospital, 'my son, my son'. Life sometimes is so hard here......

Pray for us that we do not get overwhelmed by the tragedy we see. The Malawians accept it as their way of life, even when their grief is so great. We have problems because we know it could be so different...

Thanks for all of you who are praying for us, remember that we have almost a month to go, and any financial support (through ABC) is welcomed and needed.

Birds and the American Embassy

Monday I was in the clinic all day, and came 'home' to chicken enchiladas with hand made tortillas from Jose! It was great!! A picture is posted on facebook. He did a fine job and has really got the tortilla making 'down pat'. I think that will be his job from now on!

Today (Tuesday), I was in the clinic half a day. Two doctors from the CURE hospital (orthopedic hospital) came in the morning and took two of the exam rooms, so my 'room' was the treatment room. Surrounded by all those stretchers, I felt right at home. The girl with the dog bite came back, most of the sutures were ready to come out but the ones re-attaching part of her nose will need to wait for a couple more days. She looks good, really good, much better than I expected. I was praying for no infection and no rabies. The dog is still doing well, also, and the patient is taking the rabies shots, so I feel optimistic about that part of the deal.

This afternoon we went to the American embassy to get extra pages in our passports. Yes, we are almost out of pages and some countries won't let you in unless you have enough 'space' left in your passport. Getting into the Embassy is tedious. Then you have to fill out paperwork to get additional pages AND pay - geesh! $82.00 each!! And they keep your passport for 24 hours. They did make each of us a copy, which is good, as at the police roadblocks they ask for your passport sometimes.

On a brighter note... the pictures!

First is Jose on the porch of the chalet in Senga Bay at Safari beach lodge. The tree in the background has the nest with the bird (hammerkop, I think) that you see in the next photo. The lake is also in the background but the sun was so bright you can't see it. Then the small mammal is a rock hyrax - a small animal that looks at first glance like a guinea pig. They are also called 'Dassies' or rock badgers, and are mentioned in the Bible, Proverbs 30, for their 'wisdom'. Their nearest relatives are elephants and manatees, but this is due to some obscure ancestor and some genetic similarities.. I think it just makes these little things more interesting! Next two pictures were taken out of the living room window this afternoon. These adorable little blue colored birds are everywhere. I think they are blue waxbills.

I hope you are enjoying this blog. We want you feel like you are part of the trip - the good and the bad. Again, thanks to all who pray and donate!

Senga Bay, Salima District Hospital

We picked up Angellah and son, Tristen, Friday morning and journeyed to Salima District, the Senga Bay area, to visit with the Masekos. Peter Maseko (clinical officer at the district hospital) was on call all week end and we wanted to make rounds with him. We have visited the hospital many times before, but never been one on one with Peter as he evaluated the patients, gave orders, contemplated treatment plans, etc. It was quite the experience. We also had a chance to spend some time with others in the family - Emma, Alpha, Angellah and Tristen, and for a surprise, Wezzie came in from Ntchisi so we got to see her, too.

The district hospital again has no doctors - just clinical officers (who do a fine job!!). They also have some clinical officer interns, who also spend time on call, so that is a great help. Peter is in charge of all the OB - Gyn cases, and occasionally he is asked to be the clinical officer on a case outside of his ward. That tends to happen if it is a diabetic. They have no way of testing for blood glucose at the hospital. They manage diabetics using urine dip sticks. However, a couple of years ago we took a glucometer and test strips to Peter, and bring more every time we come (thanks to people who have made financial donations, helping to make this possible!), so Peter is the resident 'diabetic expert'. He had two diabetics that he was managing - one young girl that appeared to be in diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) and a gentleman who was not as ill. Now, you medical folks out there realize that DKA should be treated in the ICU - well, no, she was on the ward (with 8 other patients), with a tiny IV, with the only way to monitor her blood glucose was when Peter came around to check it. The good news is that Peter called me last night and she survived! This time, anyway. The ward was actually 3 wards seperated by a 'half wall' so there were actually 24 beds there with one nurse. The patient's section of the ward had 4 fluorescent lights high up on the ceiling, only one of which was working (the one fartherest from the patient herself). Fortunately she was by the window, so Friday afternoon everyone was using the light from the window to try to start an IV. They were not successful. She did have a tiny (23 gauge) IV in her left hand.

In the OB Gyn section of the hospital we saw post- partum (after delivery) Moms with their babies (if the baby lived), and Moms whose babies did not live - all in side by side beds. We saw patients with complications of pregnancy (probable pre-eclampsia, but who knows for sure because the hospital was out of urine dip sticks that week-end, so no one could check for protein in the urine??), pregnant ladies with malaria, and one very sick pregnant young woman with probable pneumonia - again in beds along side new moms with tiny babies in their beds. You keep your baby in the bed with you unless the baby is sick. We got to discuss the cases and 'consult' with Peter - which consisted of - "this is what we would do in the US, what do you do here?" Interestingly, most of the care is the same, except they don't have the tools / supplies / equipment to carry it out. So although Peter knows how to best manage cases, he is simply not able to always do so because of the 'third world' medicine restraints. The sonogram was not working at the hospital, so he was palpating to see if a woman had twins (she did) and maybe how big they were (big), and since she had a C-section before, decided to take her for a repeat section once she went into labor. He had to use just clinical judgement to decide if woman had retained products after delivery of a dead baby....and take her to the OR. They can do hemoglobins, but no leukocyte counts, no electrolytes, no liver function tests, no cultures (except for TB), only glucose testing is by Peter himself... they can check for HIV, Hep B and malaria. We saw cases that needed so much more than he is able to do there, and yet he tries with all his might. It is a challenge beyond my comprehension and yet he carries on......

While we were in the hospital we saw a tiny sheet-covered body being taken out of the pediatric ward, followed by a group of women, all with children on their backs, except one, who was obviously grief stricken beyond consolation. And that was not the only sheet-covered body we saw that day. Not that all is bad.. we saw happy Moms with their new babies and we saw ladies getting better with their treatments.

Please pray for Peter as he works his heart out to treat / save Moms and babies.

Pictures: a 16 year old new Mom with her sweet baby girl, the sign outside Salima District hospital, Alpha and Tristen Maseko, and lastly Virginia, a nurse that we have met before, and me outside the OR (major theater) waiting for Peter.

Also, if you search my name on Youtube, you will find a couple of new videos - one of the kids (Tristen and Alpha) and one of Anne Maseko Alaniz's project outside of Salima "Pothawira"- the plan is for an orphanage, school, and clinic which will hopefully become a birthing center.

Thanks to all who follow us on this blog, for your prayers and your continued support. May God's blessings be upon you all!

Another week goes by...

We have had another fun week in Malawi! Toni Moffett came in from her posting in Ghana to be a part of the Evangelism Explosion (EE) conference taking place on the ABC campus. She is here for a week with the children's EE. (Her husband, Matt, was here for the two weeks before). We had a great time seeing her again, although we were all too busy to spend much time together. This is her birthday week, so we did have a chance to take her out to dinner at Buchanan's.

Our gardner's little boy, Siliyus Jamu, became ill this week - he went to the clinic and was seen, given an antibiotic injection, and then came back 'here' (duplex) with his dad to rest while dad worked. He just got worse and was near collapse when Jamu (dad) came and got us. Thank the Lord for Jose - he was able to carry the boy into the house, take his vital signs (including blood sugar) and start an IV on him. Jose had brought a big case of supplies up from the clinic as one of his new projects is to make medical supply 'boxes' for the ambulance.... so he had everything he needed right in the living room with him! Then we transported him to the clinic - sounds easy but entailed carrying the boy and IV to our little car (Rav 4), then from the parking lot up the hill to the inpatient ward (for those of you who have seen the short video on ABC campus, you will have an idea of the distance), then up the stairs and into the ward, down to hall to find a bed. Whew! I am glad Jose is so young and strong. Siliyus had wet himself, and there are no patient gowns here, so Jose gave a pair of his boxers for the boy to wear (and have). The bad news, after all the carrying a wet child, the effort of carrying him, etc, we found that the water was out so NO SHOWER for Jose! (the water did come back on later). The good news - after anther 24 hours of IV fluids, IV antibiotics and even a course of malaria meds, the boy recovered. To be totally honest, we never figured out what he had! All the malaria tests were negative but his white count was high..... We don't have the ability to do cultures, etc. here so sometimes we just treat 'everything' that we can. We were just thankful that he was better quickly.

Wednesday we went to see Lidson, a orphan with Children of the Nations (COTN) that I have supported for about 10 years. He is 15 now and grown into a fine young man. He just took the exams for secondary school. After form 8 (8th grade) you take these national exams. The top scoring kids get into the government schools, which are essentially free. Everyone else has to find a private school, which costs money, and most village kids can't afford it. COTN has been busy building their own secondary school. They would love all their kids to get into the government schools, but know that some will not score high enough. Their school will be able to educate their orphans, and also give more one on one attention to the children that need it. The secondary schools here can apparently be brutal on the new kids - lots of harassment, etc. And being an orphan carries it's own negative connotation, so it can be miserable for some of the kids. COTN is finishing one of the big buildings on it's office campus into what will eventually be the dining hall for their new school (of course, they will use it for classes as soon as it is finished). They hope to have the actual school finished in the near future, along with dorms for the students. The plan is that the school will be built from shipping containers. A very neat concept - go to Cargo of dreams. org to see the organization that is doing this great work in third world countries! We are praying that this will work out for COTN (you might even want to get your church involved once you see the web site!). We are also praying that Lidson did well on his exams and will get into a good school!

My week in the clinic was pretty much the same as usual - although 'same' here is not like 'same' in the US!! Yesterday just as I was getting ready to leave for lunch, a young woman was brought in who had been attacked by a dog. Her face was pretty torn up and she had a very nasty laceration / rip on the end of her nose involving her right nostril. Thank you Lord for all the experience I have had repairing lacerations in the ED. The tricky thing right now.... finding small needles to 'numb' with, a terrible light, gloves a size too big, and had to turn the suture room upside down to find thin, delicate sutures to repair her face and lip. The clinic is undergoing some remodeling and many things have been moved, making even simple tasks difficult. Amazingly, with God's grace and mercy, and His wisdom guiding my hands, her face looked pretty good by the time I was done. (And people ask me if I pray - HELLO, like all the time in my job!!!) It looks like we got all her pieces lined up well. I will see her next week and check her again then. Made for an exciting end to the day, though.

Today (Friday), our plans are to pick up Angellah Maseko (sorry, can't remember her married name) and little boy Tristen and go to Salima to visit the Maseko family. Peter Maseko is a clinical officer at the Salima district hospital and is on call this week end. Jose and I are hoping that perhaps we can be of some small help in the hospital. It is always an adventure there! And of course, we will get to see the family there, and eat more traditional Malawian food! So we will probably be off line for a few days.

Pictures: Lovely flower that Jose found on the ABC campus. Outside of the COTN building for the school, then an inside photo - they are close to having it done!! Annie Brown (currently finishing her year as an educational volunteer at COTN), Lidson and Jose, lastly myself, Toni Moffett and Jose at dinner at Buchanan's.

Pray for our continued safety and that we may be wherever the Lord wants us, doing whatever He wants us to do!

Fishermen's Rest

Another missionary found this unique little spot and told us about it. Fishermen's Rest is a lodge about 20 km south of Blantyre. They have a lodge, a cottage and a couple of Bush Hides. The Bush hides are the cheapest, and since we are on a tight budget, decided to stay there. The entire area encompasses about 50 acres, wandering around on the property have some impala and another kind of antelope I didn't recognize. They have a tea room where you can get snacks and / or dinner. We took our own drinks and food for lunches and snacks - this was a beef jerky, trail mix sort of place, for sure. The hide consists of a small building with screened in sides and straw mats for walls, solar lights, a konde (porch) with an unbelievable view out over the great rift valley, and - when you leave the hide you go down some steps and the toilet and shower are outside, facing the valley. A 'loo with a view' as the manager said. There are mats you can let down to give you some (operative word here is SOME) privacy. Fortunately, there is no one around here and the mountain side is quite steep. Enough that you watch your step on the way down to the toilet! We were really looking for a day or so just away from everyone - just some quiet time to read, think, go for a walk and enjoy the view. The only power in the hide are a couple of solar lights, so you are in bed and asleep early. We opened the 'mats' facing the valley and could see the stars before we went to sleep. African skies at night are something to behold. You wake at dawn to the birds, the smell of cooking fires, and the distant village sounds. It was a great stay! We left feeling relaxed and refreshed.

Pictures: Jose in the 'bathroom section', under the hide, with the toilet to his left and the shower / sink behind him. Jose and me on the konde with the great rift valley behind us. Me, standing in the lawn area of the lodge. The Bush hide, tucked in the trees and jutting out over the hillside. Jose on our 'walk about' the property.