Tendai enjoyed sitting on Mae Marosa's lap while the two nurses did what they do best this past week! One of the children in our orphan program has had pain in his legs and lower back for several weeks. We had taken him to the hospital once already, where they said there was nothing wrong other than some muscle strain and gave him some anti-inflamitory med and sent him home. This past week we showed up to discover that he had a huge abscess on the side of his one leg, and three on his back. After a few days with no improvement- we took him back to town.. this time to the private clinic. They drained nearly half a litre of infected fluid and blood from the abcess, before he refused to let them do any more. (Its fairly painful!) My hat goes off to Keren, for sitting there with him , holding him, and comforting him, even though she speaks very little of his language.
The abscess on his leg- see those three marks? After much discussion and asking about ten times we FINALLY got a straight answer- he had been taken to the "witchdoctor", or "traditional healer", who had used a straight blade to make small cuts allowing the evil spirits to leave his body. We arent sure if the cuts allowed the infection in , in the first place or only made it worse. It is completly normal here for people to go to the witchdoctors, even those who profess Christianity, as many dont understand the significance of what they are doing. We try to help people make educated choices about their health, but it is very hard to break a cycle of fear, shame, curses and whatnot that make people believe pretty much anything a witchdoctor says!
I cant seem to get this picture to rotate, but this is Lynn trying to assess how big the lumps on his back are. You can see how the one on the left of her hand sticks up higher than her hand is... Thankfully, the doctor at the private clinic ( one of two in town with "decent" health care facilities) thinks that with continued treatment, antibiotics and care he should be back to normal soon. Praise the Lord! I cant wait to see Paulo back to his usual happy, active self!
Rick took Tendai over to the site where our house will be built to do some line marking with him the other day.. (he let me sleep in.. what a sweetie!)
She loved being daddys helper... and the free ride!
Apparently it was hard work though.. she conked out in that thing afterwards!
And finally.. a few reptile shots- Above, one of the crocodiles at a lodge about an hour away from us- they are trying to reintroduce crocodiles into their area (cant say i am terribly happy about that.. im not much of a croc fan, but i suppose there are environmental reasons for it)
And below, Tendai plays with "Daisy" Keren's pet chameleon (for all of one day.. he ran away). Tendai did suprisingly well with him, until he jumped into her lap.. then she freaked out.. screamed.. flailed, kicked... im suprised she didnt squish him! (dont worry.. both Tendai and Daisy survived the incident) (Many mozambiquans beleive if you get bitten by a chameleon you will a) either be stuck with it on your finger forever since they dont let go (?) or b) die since they have strange powers. (?) (neither of which is true of course) So whenever we see em we try to get them to a hiding place (ie.. one of our yards or gardens or into the bush) so they wont be killed by fearful mozambiquans. They are not dangerous at all and in fact eat tons of mosquitoes and flys.. making them handy to have around!
This week has been a long week for us- as I mentioned previously we are trying to get travel documents to allow us to travel to south africa with Tendai next week, in order to pick up ricks parents who are coming to visit. It turns out that we had been advised all wrong as to the process and the order in which things are done. So we have now hired a lawyer (who is hopefully not crooked and will get things done for us), who is going to start the process ALL over- Please pray that God works in the hearts of the Judicial officials and the Judge, it will take a miracle for us to receive the paperwork needed on time.
Thankfully we are all feeling a bit better this week, just in time for the temperatures to skyrocket- its been REALLY hot the last few days!
We are also asking you to join with us in praying for rain- it is extremely dry here, and if we dont get rain soon the maize will not grow. Many will go hungry, and lose their years supply of food. There is no irrigation here for the local people, and when the rain does not come there is nothing they can do but watch their hard work and effort go to waste. Please join with us in praying that rain will come soon, and abundantly so.
Thank you so much for your prayers and support, God Bless, Rick, Heather & Tendai
1 comment:
I know several people in the process of adopting and it is really difficult right now for foreign adoptions. But it seems that getting passports is not hard as long as you have permission from social services to have the child (which I'm sure you do). I'll pray that she will be able to travel with you.
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