December 29, 2005

  • Happy Birthday Jesus

    December 26, 2005

     

     

    Well today is Box Day in Zambia…..the day after Christmas is a holiday with government offices and some stores closed.  I’m not sure but I think some people give a present on this day (in a box).  Not everyone celebrates it or even knows about it, but nevertheless when Sal went into town today before clinic hours to pay our road tax…the Road Transport office was closed for the holiday. 

     

                The week before Christmas was very busy and I only told you of the wonderful Christmas presents, but the rest of the week proved very productive.  Last Monday we had our “Under Five Child Health Clinic.”  We were finally able to get the vaccines from the Kazangula Health District and so Monday was our first day.  We saw 22 children along with 40 regular clinic patients.  Sal, Bertha and Anna handled the regular patients and Rona and I took care of the children….it was quite a zoo, but a lot of fun!!!!  We told all the moms that Children’s Clinic would be the last Monday of each month starting in January.  I’m sure the numbers will increase as the word gets out!!

     

                Tuesday we started at 7am drawing our own blood samples from people in order to save time and a second day in town with patients since we already go in on Thursdays with them to the HIV clinic.  Everything went very smoothly and Sal drove into town to drop the blood samples at Livingstone Hospital with our own Sons of Thunder lab requisitions!  The line for the lab was all the way down the hall and around the bend, so it was definitely a timesaver to do our own blood draws.  The lab technicians are very accommodating to us, probably hopeful for extra work in the future. 

     

    Tuesday afternoon Sal went back to town to meet with a government official with the Health Department to see about a well.  One of the villages has a well problem and Sal has been treating a lot of people with dysentery.  The well is just a round dirt hole in the ground and has no pump.  The people asked Sal to come look at their water problem to see if there was anything he could do…so we went one day and visited the village.  We gave some medical care while we were there and Sal took a look at the well.  The trip into town was very unproductive however.  The official took Sal to Family Health Department where their solution was to sell the village chlorine for the water.  Sal told them, “They don’t even have enough money for food and you want them to buy chlorine.”  Set on doing what God puts before us, Sal proceeded to talk with an African farmer who has agreed to go to the village with him to look at the problem.  You might be wondering what does that have to do with Medical Ministries??....but clean water is VITAL for good health. Diseases that are not even heard of in America are very prevalent here and can be in epidemic proportions as they spread through villages.  Please pray for God’s answer.

     

                Wednesday after a normal clinic day, Sal and a few Zambian men worked in the church to try to give it a much needed face lift for Christmas.  All the ugly construction materials located in the back of the church were moved and the large dangerous holes in the cement were fixed.  One of the men began scraping and painting the walls.  With the new budget principles Sal taught the church, they were able to purchase cement and cleaning supplies for church maintenance within just a few weeks.  To their surprise, they were also able to afford all the food for the Christmas meal that had been planned. Praise God!

     

                Thursday was HIV clinic day, but only one out of the three patients who had their blood drawn on Tuesday showed up to go and as it turned out her lab values were not low enough to qualify her for free ARV medications.  She is however in the system now and will be followed.  We were treated with a little better attitude from the staff this time which was a nice treat. We are making breakthroughs!!

     

                Friday is getting to be our Zimba Hospital day!!  Last Friday we took a 16 year old boy (Tito) that we suspected had TB…turned out to be confirmed with a chest x-ray and they admitted him.  Tito had been sick for 9 months, was very underweight and looked like 10 years old.  He lives in a village with a very concerned family who love him very much….there was no money for any treatment…or transport etc.  His father walked with him for over 1½ hours one way just to bring him to us.  Sal saw him, skin tested him for TB, symptomatically treated him for fever and cough and told the father to bring him back to have the skin test read and if it was positive to be ready to go to the hospital.  The skin test proved positive and his dad was ready to go with Tito to Zimba….his dad stayed with him and is still there with him today.  You see whenever anyone goes to the hospital, a family member has to go with them to help with their care…i.e. bathing, assistance to the bathroom, eating etc.  The family member has to provide their own food by cooking it.  This was the third patient we had hospitalized to date, but this Friday was to be no exception.        This Friday we had planned on taking Rona, one of our workers to Zimba because she has a very hard and suspicious mass in her breast and before Dr Emmett left Zimba to return to the States we wanted a consultation. Right before getting ready to leave the clinic a 36 week pregnant female came in saying she was having labor pains.  She stated her “water started coming out the day before yesterday.” This lady was one of our antepartal patients that Sal had been following and as of yet was unable to get her to consent to an HIV test.  It is part of the antepartal care for all women to have an HIV test….if positive, there are steps to take during labor and following delivery. They give the mother a cocktail of medication within two hours of delivery and then the baby is treated afterwards also with a certain protocol.   For some reason, this woman now consented to be tested and was found positive. Her obstetrical history showed 4 pregnancies but no living children, Upon exam, no contractions were felt but with the HIV positive result and no cocktail available yet at our clinic, the loss of some amniotic fluid two days earlier and her OB history, we felt as a high risk patient she should deliver in a hospital……and since we were already going to Zimba we decided to take her along for Dr. Emmett to see.  He could also do a C-section if necessary.  Well, convincing her was not as easy….she was terrified that her husband would find out about the HIV test.  He had forbid her to have the test….hmmm, I wonder why???  But our responsibility was to operate in the best interest of our patient’s health and the health of her baby.  After much assurance of confidentiality, we headed for Zimba….OB kit in the car just in case.  Well, they admitted our pregnant patient with the same concerns that we had….and Rona (with the breast mass) needs surgery.  Dr Emmett said “you got it in time” and it turns out the next team of doctors from the States arrive on Dec 31st and includes a general surgeon.  Hallelujah God!  We are returning to Zimba again this Friday with a couple TB patients and hopefully we will be bringing Tito and his dad back to their village.  We will also check up on our pregnant patient…she was full of emotion when we were with her in the maternity dept and wouldn’t let us pray with her.  She told us,” You can just leave now.”

     

    The monies for all these patients; blood tests, OPD registrations, hospital bills, transport and monies for the family to purchase food to make while caring for their loved one has all come out of the ministry monthly budget so far. We are trusting God to provide all that we need to walk out what He shows us.

     

    Showing the love of Jesus is proving to be effective in changing hearts. People are saying, “If you can do this, then I can......”  People have opened up their homes to strangers, women have made meals for people who stayed at the clinic, other patients have offered to drive their bicycle to other villages to let the family know that someone was admitted to the hospital, the lady at the hospital registration desk doesn’t always charge us the registration fees, people are asking us “why you are doing what you are doing?... and “who are you?” and “what are you?” ….hopefully we are indeed making a difference.

     

    Saturday was a “Happy Birthday Jesus” party at the Children’s Home on the farm…a birthday cake, assorted goodies made by JoAnne and a present given to each child!!  Each child’s present was an outfit for church the next day.  Christmas carols were sung and pictures taken.  The kids all were very excited and sang happy birthday to Jesus. While the birthday party was going on, people met in the church to finish cleaning the benches and sweep, mop and polish the floor.  They even decided to do a little decorating!!! 

     

    The Christmas service was 31/2 hours long and then they celebrated with a meal of goat, rice and shema as they continued singing.   It was a memorable day!

     

     

     

     

                                      "Happy Birthday Jesus!!!!!"