July 16, Saturday

Well, I thought today was going to be a beautiful day to go to the mountain after clinic and see the calves, and while it started out that way, right after I stepped out of clinic, the thunder rolled and within a half an hour came the dark clouds and heavy, heavy rain.  July and August are supposed to be the heaviest months for rain.  I can see why.

Yesterday, Milan had his first day in the local school. During the summer, they have half-day classes to prepare the students for the next school year. Fr. Evaristas asked Milan if he would teach and he agreed. So Friday, he taught math (algebra) from 8-12 to 14 students. It sounded like he had a good time with it. He said they were “blazing” through most of the problems.  He would bring them to the board to work out a problem, and if the student got stuck, he said that other students would be whispering the answer and he would be “Shhhhsh”ing them.  It sounded like he had a good time with it. I was happy for him. He will be teaching them next week from 8-12 all different subjects: algebra, writing, reading, and grammar.  I am excited to hear this goes.

Last night we went to visit Rosie and Bet, the ladies that are working with Project Hope. During the day I had an opportunity to sit in on one of their meetings for a bit, and I learned about the women and their perceptions of health problems.  About 8-10 women were given a camera to use and were asked to capture photos of what they viewed as health problems for women in their community.  The photographs and stories that went along with them were very poignant. Some of the women farmers were injured working on their steep landscapes. The rock/mudslides (due to heavy rain) have thrown rocks at one ladies leg rendering her with the loss of her left lower limb. She had an ill-fitting prosthetic and so could no longer farm, but managed to knit and work around the home a bit.  The mentally challenged and mentally ill are sometimes at a great disadvantage, some abandoned, but it does seem that for the most part, extended families try to keep them and care for them.

Today, Milan was at the orphanage and played mostly with Louise. He has discovered that Terrence and Dzuran are exceptional at drawing, so they do a bit of that as well. For lunch, we are out of the Pseudo-Ramen Noodle Soup, so I tried my hand at some homemade macaroni and cheese with the Laughing Cow cheese that we had.  Milan loved it. Said that it tasted French… ha, I am morphing into ze chef in Njinikom!!  So far we have learned how to properly eat a mango, coconut, and avocado. Next on my list is the pineapple.  I’m not sure how they cut it so nicely, but I will find out from Felicitas!  I hope to try making banana bread here, but we’ll see.

Little Souls

The small, 2.5kg baby was discharged yesterday and doing well, and today we had a new little girl with spina bifida, skin intact.  There is an American surgeon in Mbingo who specializes in this type of surgery so we are hoping that the family will be able to take her there in the next week. It is nice to see so many little babies in the maternity ward…

A few days ago, we had an otherwise healthy lady (with a history headaches), found unresponsive after a fall. After investigating more of the story (there had been no immediate witnesses), it appeared that she most likely had a massive stroke and then fell.  Her eyes were fixed and dilated; there was no gag or corneal reflex, GCS 3.  We had her on mannitol, but there was little more that we could do. She passed away the next day. God rest her soul and bring comfort to her family…

We had another non-diabetic, young lady who was found unresponsive with a sugar of 56. She had been walking around with a septic knee for 3 weeks. Aspirated and cx for MRSA. She is healing well.  We’ve had young infants with hemoglobin’s <6, laryngotracheobronchitis with inspiratory stridor, bronchiolitis, gastroenteritis, malaria, sickle cell crisis, and a bulging fontanel. This week we also had a young child with auditory hallucinations, occasional confusion, 4+DTRs. We ran every test on her that we could to find any other explanation. Everything has come back normal. The family is concerned that she is possessed. The patient always asks us to pray for her. The only antipsychotic we have here is haldol… Please keep her in your prayers.

A couple of days ago at a daily mass on Thursday, Fr Evaristas gave a very nice homily that has stayed with me over these last few days.  It was the Gospel of Matthew 11:28-30, and Jesus spoke, ”Come to me all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy and my burden light.” Father Evaristas shared with us about a poster he had once seen in which a younger brother was carrying his older, bigger brother on his back. The poster said, ‘He is not heavy, he is my brother.’