Think of the most precious, generous, grateful, genuine, sweet little old lady you know and you’ve got our bibi (grandma in Kiswahili). She’s one of the many older women we have come to know and love, but she alone holds such a special place in our hearts. Bibi lives in a neighboring village, and it is a joy to visit her. She attends church with us, so we usually get to see her every Sunday and Wednesday. If we don’t see her at church we know something is up and we need to stop in to make sure all is well. Each time we greet her, her face lights up as if it’s the highlight of her day. Little does she know that each time we visit her it is, in fact, the highlight of our day. Like any great grandma, she sits us down, asks how we are doing, and it’s not after 5 minutes that she is fixing us something to eat. We had the pleasure of visiting Bibi this week with our friend Mary and the thought of having 3 guests in one day was just too much for her! She said it warmed her spirit to see us. As we sat on her mat under the mango tree talking about life there was a simple joy in our fellowship. One only the Lord can provide, and in that moment we were all encouraged by one another’s presence. Em captured the moment by snapping this picture of Bibi. We are so thankful to know her and see how she lives out her faith daily helping to care for her grandchildren and by graciously giving to those around her. Having very little of her own does not stop her, and her humility teaches us all a good lesson. Please pray for Bibi, that people will see her joy and love and give the glory to God for her sweet spirit! I know I do!
Peace,
Sarah
In other news…Emily has a report on village emergency health calls. Just when you think climbing coconut trees can’t get any more dangerous, add in a poisonous snake wrapping itself around your neck…here’s what happened…So I was out doing some visiting last Thursday evening and Richard, our team mate brings his car to a quick stop and says, “Are you up for a sick run?” Of course I am in and we put my bike on top of his car and ran home to drop it off and gather some supplies. A family had come to Richard’s house asking if he would transport an 18 year old young man who that afternoon had fallen from a coconut tree. This was not just any fall. As he was beginning to cut a palm branch down, a snake wrapped around his neck. He attempted to climb down the tree, but had to instinctively let go to relieve the pressure around his neck from the snake and he fell. He was taken by another car to the army medical center, but they have few resources. So Richard, myself, and members of his family sped off to pick him up from the army medical center and get him to the government hospital. We arrived and he was not in the army medical center, but laying on a mat on the side of the road. Got to love health care in Africa. I assessed him as I was worried about a punctured lung, or other serious emergencies, but he seemed to be stable. Praise God as there is little I could have done if he did have a serious emergency out in the bush. We loaded him and thanks to Richard’s fast driving, we made it to the hospital in no time. His family paid the 1000 shillings (about 75 cents) and we waited to see the doctor. After a fairly short wait, we got into see the doctor and the first thing he does after hearing the story is make him try to stand up and walk. Well for those of you who are in health care, you know the first thing you worry about is airway, breathing, and then circulation. But I guess this doctor forgot that lesson and wanted to see how much pain he truly was in. I later offered to let the doctor use my stethoscope as an incentive to him to listen to the kiddo’s lungs. Maybe I should do some basic life support classes for doctors here. But anyway, he was admitted to the hospital and had to wait 18 hours for an XRay the next morning. Oh and another juicy detail in this whole story is that the hospital had no pain medication except Tylenol. They apparently were “out” of all pain meds. Things like this grieve my heart. I have since visited him and his ribs and chest are fine, but may have a broken pelvis or leg and is having stomach issues, but cannot do an ultrasound until Monday, 4 days after the accident. Join me in prayer for this young man-for his healing, recovery, and that there will not be any major issues this his abdomen or leg. I pray this paints a picture of health care in Africa. But through hard situations such as this I see the healing power of prayer. Countless times I have been sure a child would soon die and we pray and God heals. Actually the half sister of this young man is an example. She was born just before I arrived with severe problems. I took her to the doctor many times and her family refused admission into the hospital and I was sure she only had weeks to live. Now she is doing well, minus the case of malaria she has. She is 9 months old and can sit up, laugh, and is happy. God is working in the hearts of these people.
Thanks for reading, caring, and praying!
Blessings,
Emily
Peace,
Sarah
In other news…Emily has a report on village emergency health calls. Just when you think climbing coconut trees can’t get any more dangerous, add in a poisonous snake wrapping itself around your neck…here’s what happened…So I was out doing some visiting last Thursday evening and Richard, our team mate brings his car to a quick stop and says, “Are you up for a sick run?” Of course I am in and we put my bike on top of his car and ran home to drop it off and gather some supplies. A family had come to Richard’s house asking if he would transport an 18 year old young man who that afternoon had fallen from a coconut tree. This was not just any fall. As he was beginning to cut a palm branch down, a snake wrapped around his neck. He attempted to climb down the tree, but had to instinctively let go to relieve the pressure around his neck from the snake and he fell. He was taken by another car to the army medical center, but they have few resources. So Richard, myself, and members of his family sped off to pick him up from the army medical center and get him to the government hospital. We arrived and he was not in the army medical center, but laying on a mat on the side of the road. Got to love health care in Africa. I assessed him as I was worried about a punctured lung, or other serious emergencies, but he seemed to be stable. Praise God as there is little I could have done if he did have a serious emergency out in the bush. We loaded him and thanks to Richard’s fast driving, we made it to the hospital in no time. His family paid the 1000 shillings (about 75 cents) and we waited to see the doctor. After a fairly short wait, we got into see the doctor and the first thing he does after hearing the story is make him try to stand up and walk. Well for those of you who are in health care, you know the first thing you worry about is airway, breathing, and then circulation. But I guess this doctor forgot that lesson and wanted to see how much pain he truly was in. I later offered to let the doctor use my stethoscope as an incentive to him to listen to the kiddo’s lungs. Maybe I should do some basic life support classes for doctors here. But anyway, he was admitted to the hospital and had to wait 18 hours for an XRay the next morning. Oh and another juicy detail in this whole story is that the hospital had no pain medication except Tylenol. They apparently were “out” of all pain meds. Things like this grieve my heart. I have since visited him and his ribs and chest are fine, but may have a broken pelvis or leg and is having stomach issues, but cannot do an ultrasound until Monday, 4 days after the accident. Join me in prayer for this young man-for his healing, recovery, and that there will not be any major issues this his abdomen or leg. I pray this paints a picture of health care in Africa. But through hard situations such as this I see the healing power of prayer. Countless times I have been sure a child would soon die and we pray and God heals. Actually the half sister of this young man is an example. She was born just before I arrived with severe problems. I took her to the doctor many times and her family refused admission into the hospital and I was sure she only had weeks to live. Now she is doing well, minus the case of malaria she has. She is 9 months old and can sit up, laugh, and is happy. God is working in the hearts of these people.
Thanks for reading, caring, and praying!
Blessings,
Emily
