4 Stories

                                                                           MARY


Little Mary is 9 years old and on Friday afternoon she was running and fell. She had broken her leg, I was out and got the call to drive her to Nasanji hospital about 40 km up the road ( when I say road this is not a road like at home) it is like driving 100 km . So at around 6:30 myself and a child nurse drive all the way there and if you saw this hospital in Canada it would be condemned. We checked her in and left back to Tiyamike only to find out later that night that there x-ray machine was broke.
Saturday morning I go pick her up and get back to Tiyamike, load up little John( you will see a story later about him) and a child nurse for him and Mary and we begin the 3 hr journey to Blantyre and get into town around 8:30 p.m and no one is around at the hospital, but we get directed to someone who says we need to see a doctor to admit her. So we load her back up and go to the house we stay at in Blantyre. She sits all day Sunday and on Monday morning at 8;00 we arrive and check her in. The x-ray shows a horrible break in her femur and the money issue comes up because she should be covered. We wait all day until 3:30 and find out it will be an exorbid amount of money at this private hospital.So we load up and go to Queens where it is 2 kids to a bed and so over crowded. We check her in last night and find out she will need to stay a month with weights hanging on the leg to pull the broken bone back into place. So now, Tuesday morning Pam is on her way up from Bangula and I will pick her up in an hour so she can deal with the political aspects of this craziness and get little Mary to the right place. Remember that it is Tuesday morning and this happened Friday with no real treatment for her except some pain meds . She is so Strong and never cryed or whined except the 20 times I had to pick her up to move her. Here are some pictures of part of our journey. Amen

Entering Case hospital at around 8:30 p.m

Arriving at the reception room.

Looking around because there was no one to be found.

The gentle set down.

Re-loading little Mary until we return Monday a.m.

Sunday Mary , calm as a Hindu cows chills out and reads.

This is a temporary cast that was put on in Nasanji Saturday a.m when I went to pick her up.

                                                                         
                                                                            BUBBA'S GRANDMA

The saga of the Bubba clan continues. As you know I met Bubba in the market place in Bangula and he was covered in scabies and puss. I took him to the local clinic and had treatment for the infection taken care of. Also his sister caught the scabies as well because the hut they lived in was so dirty and infected with parasites.  I took her to the hospital and had her taken care of as well. In the videos ( last blog) it showed us going to the Grandmas hut and cleaning everything out and giving them a new bamboo matt along with 3 blankets. In the video it showed the Grandma complaining about her leg, so we went back with our bamboo/ wood stretcher ( last blog) and took her to the hospital. They transported her to Nasanji hospital about 2 weeks ago and I had not seen her since. The other day I went to the hut to fix the door that was hanging there with a bungee cord and put hinges on so it worked properly. While I was there I noticed the blankets were missing only to find out the father came by and stole them. I began my trek through the back villages with a Malawian buddy from the centre and found Bubbas dad. After a stern interrogation we came up with the blankets that he had hidden in a bag near the piece of ground he lived and called home. I took some pictures of Bubbas Grandma with her nice new cast and I also found out it will be on for about 4-6 weeks at which time we will arrange for her to get back to Nasanji and have the cast removed.   Amen

Close up of Grandma in her hut, notice the blankets are back. Amen

Grandma with her cast. ( notice no blankets yet) this was before the hunt for the father.

Grandma and the cast.

                                                                    LITTLE JOHN

Little John is 2 years old and has been at Tiyamike since around 1 month old. He can not walk and is barley talking,he is just making sounds but he is the happiest little boy you could ever meet. His feet are bowed out ( like Charlie Chaplin) and he struggles to walk. Since we were at Cure hospital with Mary I set up an appointment with a Doctor this morning. They did an x-ray of his hips and thighs in case there was a break or a dislocation. the good news is that his hip x-ray came out good, no break at all. He suffers pain in the hips but the doctor said it is something that can pass with exercises and walking. This afternoon we took him to see a physio therapist from Australian and he gave some basic instructions and some stretching exercises to do. I just love this little boy and the child workers have 3-4 kids to watch , so I am going to spend an hour a day with little John and get him walking. First we must get him walking then worry about the feet straightening but the doctor thinks that at his age after he begins to walk they may straighten on there own. I have taken a few pictures of John and a video of how he walks, you will fall in love with him too. Prayer would be a wonderful thing and in the near future I pray I can send another video of him walking on his own, in the mean time I will work with him on talking ( english words) and in the future video I hope to have him talking a bit and walking.  Amen

                                                               
                 Little John walking outside Case Hospital in Blantyre, I mention in the video he is 3 yrs old because that is what Gretchen the worker told me. He seemed very small so we took a look at his passport ( (what they keep all there medical info in) and he is only a year and ten months old. The worker did not even know his age, but for Malawii that is of the norm. In another blog I will tell of there culture and howthe Malawians are, it is crazy the way they think and operate in life.

Little John and Mary with one of the workers Alice waiting at Case Hospital.

Little John having Maise and Veggies ( The staple food for Malawi)

John waking up from a nap.

The pictures says it all, how cute he is.

                                               

                                                                ELIZIA - CHARLIES AUNT

A few weeks ago we had to go deep into another village where one of the boys ( Charlie) aunt had an accident. She was cooking maise with a small coal cooker and some how it spilled and it gave he 3rd degree burns on her leg. She was like this for a few days until we could get to her and it was a mess. After talking with the village elders we loaded her up and took he to a local hospital where they could treat the burns. Most villagers have accidents of get malaria and have no way of making it to a place of care because they live so far out in the brush. There is so much help needed here it is insane, so Will and Pam have joined forces with a local doctor and we are going to open a free clinic on Saturdays for local people to have a place to go for the simplest of needs back home but here they would be life changing. Below are some pictures of Charlie and Elizia, his aunt.

Elizia and Charlie in front of her hut.

Elizia and Charlie.

Close up of the burn.

More of the burn, it went up the side of the leg as well, it is just not in this photo.

Elizia at the hospital / Clinic

I have not been to as many hospitals in such a short amount of time with as many people in my life. The bad news is that I am in Malawi and it will probably not slow down. Please pray for all these people in these 4 stories as well as for Baby Graces family. People here have a life that is so hard to descibe to people in North America were life is so good. I thank God everyday that I am here and I did plan on staying for 6 months, the thing is that I know I will be here much longer. This is something that I am very comfortable with. W.W.J.D   What Would Jesus Do, He would come to Africa where help is so much needed and serve, this is exactly what I paln to do. I am in no hurry what so ever to come back to Canada ( to the world) as we know it, but stay here where I am needed much more than back at home.

Thank you all and God Bless