It is only fitting that if we had a Christmas baby.....we should have a New Year's baby!!!!! And that is just what happened.  At 10pm New Year's Eve there was a knock at the door....it was Anephias telling us that his wife was "sick."  That's what the husbands all say when their wives are in labor.   (It's a good thing Sal and I didn't try another hotel excursion!) So Sal jumped in the vehicle with Anephias directing the way to one of our own villages....but  due to the rains, Sal had to be shown a different way and he still drove through water halfway up the side of the vehicle!  LandRovers are great! Eunice was brought back to the clinic....since it was her first baby, Sal got to sleep even if it was on the couch.  At 11:55am Eunice had a baby boy.....first baby of 2008!!! 

Funny....we have about 60 families on the farm.....and both the Christmas baby and the New Year baby were from within the family of Sons of Thunder!!!!  What are the odds of that happening?

And.......there was a wedding on the farm on New Year's Day!!!  Cathbet (another one of our family) and Mildred were married in the church at 2pm.  So a baby and a wedding already in 2008...new beginnings!!!!

So what are you saying God???

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you from both of us!

 Well….to finish the story….Sal picked up Doricah who was three months pregnant and bleeding heavily.  She needed to be admitted and have a drip (IV) started.  That’s what they call an IV here… “a drip”  Janet reached the clinic in beginning labor so he had two patients admitted.  Since it was already 11pm I just fell asleep (remember I’m back at the hotel where we were going to have a one night getaway.) At 6am when I woke up, Sal still was not back, so I called him for a status report. He told me Doricah’s bleeding had stopped and her vital signs were returning to normal.  Janet, he said was going to deliver any minute now so once she did he would drive back and meet me for the breakfast buffet included with the room.  The breakfast buffet was only until 10:30am, so at 9:30 I called again for a report….He said “Things are not going as quickly as I thought, so you better eat without me.”  So I proceeded to go alone to the buffet and while out of my room asked for a late checkout around 12noon.  I found out the hotel was having a Christmas luncheon buffet with turkey and cranberry sauce etc at 12:30pm so I thought maybe Sal could at least make it for that.  I sat in the room until 12 talking with the maid and clicking channels….at 12 noon I called the porter to help me with my bags and went to the lobby.  I proceeded to checkout and then plopped onto one of the couches in the lobby to read a book while I waited for Sal.  After many phone calls, Janet still had not had her “any minute” baby at 2pm.  There was no one else to come and rescue me…all the other missionaries went to spend Christmas day with friends….Herod and Mwanza were celebrating Christmas at the church with their families….Mwanza was even in charge of skits.  So being the problem solver I am, I decided to take a taxi back to the farm which is exactly what I did. 

Once back at the farm, I went in to see Janet who had a very relieved look on her face when I walked into the room. As I looked around the room and later talked with Sal, I found out she had only allowed two people in the room…two older bush women who were friends.  Her family was not with her, nor would she let the other workers in.  So I decided to stay with her for the duration….scared first time mom that needed support and encouragement…a lot of talking things through.  At last at 7:45pm, out came a healthy baby boy…3.3kg or 7,3lb.  So our first Christmas baby born here at Sons of Thunder!!!!

Well….you think the story ends here but no, not quite.  At 4am Mercy’s husband called….Mercy was in labor and it was decided they would meet Sal “at the Hill.”  You see it is rainy season here and most of the bush roads are impassable or under water or full of sinking mud….so even with the Rover some places are out of reach.  So Sal got in the vehicle to meet them except he couldn’t find them….after two hours and multiple phone calls to different people, he found them at one of the schoolteacher’s houses.  He drove her back to the clinic where twenty minutes later she delivered a baby girl!!

December 24, 2007

It is 10:30pm and I am sitting alone in a room at the Chrismar Hotel here in Livingstone.  Since it is our family tradition to celebrate Christmas eve and since we were apart last Christmas with Sal here and me in the States, we decided to have a one night getaway …..just the two of us.  It started this am with Sal seeing 25 patients at the clinic, visiting and exchanging gifts with the other 5 missionaries at the farm and then heading off to town by 12 noon after giving instructions to the on-call staff.  All the inpatients were discharged, even though Mercy had still not gone into labor.  She went home however to be with her family for Christmas and then will return.  She took Sal’s phone number just in case.

The sun was shining when we left so we hoped to spend the afternoon at the pool relaxing and reading.  As soon as we checked in however, the thunder started and before we knew it the downpour came.  The sky got dark and dreary and the rain continued. The electricity stayed on thankfully so air-condition, TV and the teapot were all working!!!! I took a nap while Sal tried to watch NFL football….I say tried because the satellite connection kept going in and out on that station.  Eventually the rain quit, but the sun never came back out so we watched a movie and then got ready for dinner.  We stayed at the hotel where they had a very nice buffet dinner starting at 7pm.  Once back at the room around 10pm, Sal’s phone rang.  It was one of the clinic workers Janet who had just started labor pains with her first child.  Needless to say, my caring husband with paramedic blood couldn’t refuse to help.  He made me stay and told me he would be back soon…..his plan was to examine her, admit her to the clinic, and then leave her there with the on-call person until morning.  I say ‘was’ because no sooner had he left when I received another phone call from a husband of a three-month pregnant female who was bleeding.  Sal would have to meet them halfway and bring her also to the clinic. 

So here I am alone on Christmas eve…..and I decided to check email.  I opened one from my daughter-in-law Rachel (Gabe’s mother).  I cried when I read the struggle of my children….she and my son Shaun had to take Gabe to the ER again this Christmas eve …it was last year on Christmas eve when all this started with Gabe. (If you don’t know the story of my youngest grandchild, you can visit www.carepages.com and then Gabesspecialplace). Praise the Lord that he was able to return home and did not need to be admitted…please continue to pray for him.

 Well, not only that, but Shaun tries so hard to keep the family traditions. So he planned on having the rest of our family over the house for dinner and the traditional Marini Christmas celebration…..but my other grandsons Daniel and Finn are still sick and can’t be around Gabe.  Rachel doesn’t want to leave Gabe to go to Scott’s house nor does Shaun think it wise to take the girls over to where they may get sick and bring it back to Gabe.  I don’t know what Mark’s plans are….So it looks like all the Marini’s will be having a “by themselves” Christmas eve this year. How I wish I could be there to make a meal…make the nutroll….make some cookies…hold Gabe….kiss my grandchildren…pray….give a hug….and just be mom ………but I can’t.

I am on the other side of the world where God has me planted right now.   So as I sit alone this Christmas eve I ponder “What is the meaning of all this Lord?”  “What do you want us to learn from all this?”

This Christmas eve,  my prayer is that we receive a revelation of the true meaning of Christmas and the extent of God's love for each one of us.  Merry Christmas to all of you!

Little Tybo is a two year old that got burned with scalding water.  He is the son of Owen and Rebecca, our primary school headmaster and his wife.  Burns are funny…they always end up bigger then you first thought.  Ty cries the entire time I am changing his dressings….stops when the bandages cover him up and then smiles at me and waves when he’s leaving. I gave him a couple of “snaps” as a present, so he doesn’t know whether to like me or not. He reminds me a lot of little Bristo who we took care of after fire burned him….that was when we first came.  Little Bristo completely healed from his burns, pigment and all, so we’re looking for the same outcome for Ty.  Please include him in your prayers.

Burns are healing well....even see some pigment filling in on his belly

This is Juliet....she had pain in her hip so bad that it took her three hours to get from the tarmac to the farm with one crutch. (It's a 15 minute walk tops).  She had been to two major hospitals including one in Lusaka with no answer....She is being discharged tomorrow walking at a normal pace and unassisted.  

This is Christine....her disease was too far advanced and she died.  We had an opportunity to witness to her and are praying she is with the Lord.

                                                                                                                                                                                            This is Agnes....same disease as Christine and we thought in worse shape, but.......she was discharged on Thursday a walking miracle.

December 6, 2007

This morning as we awake….there are six inpatients in the clinic. 

One patient Mary  is an antenatal who is overdue according to her due date and she lives very far away….so Sal decided to keep her until delivery.  She has three small children with her because her husband won’t watch them at home.

She has two roommates…one is an HIV mom Sheebo, who just had a baby boy and has stayed a few days until today when she will be discharged and given transport home with the  lorry after she gets her HIV meds. Today is Thursday and HIV day at the clinic.  (For those of you who don’t know…We send out the lorry to Kabuyu and back picking up HIV patients along the tarmac in order that they may have transport to get their ARV meds.  Some of them are very sick and would never be able to get to a place to get their medicines if free transport was not provided.). Our new mom had to stay also in order for us to teach her how to give the baby prophylactic medicine for the week.  She was initially afraid to go home for fear she would be beat by her husband….so when the husband was here one day she asked Sal to speak with him…which of course Sal did.  I will just let you imagine  the conversation…..Sheebo thanked Sal and is no longer afraid to return home.

The second roommate, making three in that ward, had a miscarriage…she was in her first trimester and came in bleeding.  IVs and bedrest did not stop the progression however.  She will be going to Gyne clinic tomorrow at Livingstone General for an exam and ultrasound to make sure everything is out.  We have an outpatient also going with her tomorrow to Gyne clinic for possible cervical cancer.  Anna’s husband has been staying by her side the entire time.  This is their second miscarriage.  The first one was at seven months and the baby lived four days.  Anna was encouraged with the story of Hannah.

In the next ward, we have Christine and Juliet.  Christine is an HIV patient who came to us near death with difficulty breathing, fever and dehydration.  IVs, antibiotics, nebulizer treatments, some medicines for breathing etc along with her ARVs and prayer….We are waiting for her TB test results also. Her mother is with her.

Juliet is a woman with HIV also who came by bus from Choma….Choma is two towns past Zimba and way out of our district.  She has pain in her hip and Choma Hospital and University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka did not help so she heard of this clinic and decided to come here! Imagine….sometimes I just have to chuckle and ask God what He’s doing! Well it took her three hours to get from the road to the clinic with her one crutch due to the pain.  So she is on bedrest for a few days with Prednisone and prayer. She is alone.

The last patient is another woman, Agnes, who came to us near death.  We diagnosed her with HIV and TB.  So IVs, antibiotics and TB medicine with nebulizer treatments, breathing medicine and prayer and she has been with us for one week with improvement seen. I stopped in one morning and asked Agnes if she wanted anything and she said with a small smile “Coca Cola.” So everyday I take over a coke with ice and she gets a big smile on her face, perks up and sits up to drink her coke. Such a small thing but yet means so much.  It has become our link. Agnes mother has been by her side.

With all of these patients, it became clear we needed a cook and the smart cost-effective thing would be to grow our own vegetables for “relish” (Zambian term for side dishes with their nshima.)  So we hired Enoch and his wife Winifridah to be in charge of food production and preparation at the clinic.  The three of us went to town Monday and bought supplies and food…..yes I went to Maramba Market and surprisingly I felt just like one of the crowd…Amazing what God can do….  J!  We had a great time! Well, the garden has been plowed, seed planted and the patients have been served three nutritious meals a day all week!!  They are doing a great job!!

God just keeps moving forward here….we never seem to be static.  He obviously has plans for this clinic and our job just seems to be keeping up!!!

While things are hopping here, He is also stirring us to start going out.  There is a settlement of 500 people that has a brand new clinic building standing empty since construction was completed two years ago.  It is right beside one of our planted churches where Winfred is the pastor.  We have been getting a lot of patients from that village and they are walking 20-25 kilometers to get here.  Groups of moms have been coming to Under Five Clinic and three of the last few deliveries have been from there…Sal has driven out in the middle of the night to get them because it is so far.  God is stirring us with setting up clinic one day a week over at the unused building….so we are talking with the settlement council and Winfred to see if the doors are open and people would be receptive.  I’ll let you know how that develops.

Later in the day, a woman came for her ARVs and asked to speak to me….turns out she lives so deep in the bush that it took her two days of walking just to reach the tarmac where the lorry picked her up.  She had only had sweet beer to drink for the last two days (non alcoholic drink here made with roots) and no food.  I gave her some buns and a packet of drink for the trip home along with some kwatcha and together we asked Sal to give her enough medicine for two months.  The whole time she spoke to me about her journey here the thought kept popping up in my head about our company in the states, “Associates in Emergency Care”  and how we take training to people and corporations at their place of business…..I thought about the draw to go to Kasiya.  Are we supposed to take ART clinic to different locations Lord?   Please be praying for us as we seek God’s direction….His next stepping stone.

I am reminded of the scripture from Psalm 139:5

"You hem me in--behind and before;

  you have laid your hand upon me."

He is behind me so I can't turn around and retreat or quit...

He is before me so I can't get ahead of Him...

His hand is upon me so I can't be distracted and turn to the right or the left...

My only option is to just keep moving forward as He leads...........Thank You Lord

Thursday, November 28^th

Today Richard was scheduled to go home.  Yes you caught it…”was” supposed to go home.  And maybe I just didn’t realize what “home” God had in mind. 

Well…. After breakfast, his family took him to the bathroom in a wheelchair to bathe him.  The next time we saw Richard he was being wheeled back into his room head back and unconscious looking.  His family said he just sort of fainted and his head fell backward in the chair.  When we got him back in bed, his respirations were labored and his heartbeat was fast and irregular. Remember we are in Zambia…we had reached the end of available medical care. So, we once again prayed for Richard….for his mom…for his brother….for his family.  Richard died within the hour.  That Zambian mom and Richard’s other brother just sat there and cried silent tears. HIV not only destroys lives here in Zambia , but destroys families as  well and in large proportions.  It is a devastating plague and is killing a nation. This mom has lost two sons….We have families with four sons and daughter-in-laws and children. ….all in the same family.

I keep asking… “What’s the answer God?”

I keep praying… “We need YOU Lord…We need Revival.”

Wednesday, November 27, 2007

First of all, let me give you an update on the 9 month old twins Trust and Trywell.  Mom brought them to the clinic last Wednesday because she ran out of formula. It was about 10 days after their discharge. She comes from such a far distance that she stayed overnight with a Zambian farmer the night before in order to get transport.  Her pastor, her daughter and a friend also came with her to help with the travel arrangements and the babies.  The babies were like different children….bright-eyed and alive, able to hold their heads up.  Trust weighed in at 4.9kg (10.7 lb) and the smaller problem child Trywell  weighed in at 4.3kg (9.5 lb).  Both babies were sucking down formula with their bottles!!! Since they were doing so well and mom travels such a far distance, Sal decided to give them a month’s supply of formula which wasn’t in the Medical budget so we took personal donations from our fellow missionaries to purchase the formula and HEPS porridge for the next month. We will maintain their supplemental feeding until they are out of the woods and at least 12 months old if not a few months longer.  The cost of these food supplements total approximately $150 per month. If this story has touched your heart and you would like to help, please feel free to send a donation to Sons of Thunder Medical Ministries and put Trust and Trywell in the memo portion of your check. Any help would be greatly appreciated since this is outside our monthly operating budget.

This past week has been eventful….two middle of the night calls to get two moms having difficulty with their labors, one with HIV.  The first mom was Josephine, a 45 year old woman pregnant for the 12^th time….but only four children alive. She was scared to deliver at home and decided she wanted to come to the clinic….problem was she lives in Kasiya which is about a 20 kilometer walk. 

Sal went to get her in the short Land Rover (ours is in the shop…another story).  She had healthy baby boy….stayed a couple days for Under Five Clinic to get the baby his BCG vaccine (TB) and first OPV (polio)….then went home very happy. The second woman, Gladys, was also from Kasiya and one of our HIV patients.  She also had a little boy and went home after being taught how to give him his ARV medicines that he will receive for a week.

Just a little information for you….anytime a woman has a baby here at Sons of Thunder they are given a small package of “congratulations.”  The package includes a baby blanket that we have made in town, a onesie, a pair of plastic pants, two diaper pins and a small outfit.  They are also given a photo of the baby and one with mom.  The clothes are donations from people in the states and work teams and things that were leftover at the orphanage.  Diaper Pins and plastic pants are almost obsolete in the US with disposable diapers, but if you find any…we could sure use them.  We also use baby bottles for our HIV moms and malnourished kids like Trust and Trywell.

            Our other admissions this week were two young men in their twenties, both arriving in a condition near death and subsequently testing positive for HIV. Richard was admitted first and the one I  want to talk about.  He was carried in with a fever, vomiting and diarrhea so severe he could not even stand.  He was talking incoherently and over the course of 36 hours pulled out 2 IVs and bit through the third. Trying to regulate his temperature was not an easy feat either….range from 92-103 indicating temperature regulating system in his brain obviously not working!  Well, prayer, temperature control, IV hydration for the loss of all the body fluids, Flagyl for the diarrhea, a broad spectrum antibiotic, ARVs and slow reintroduction of oral fluids/food all with a very caring family…..Richard is almost ready to go home.  He is making sense, eating and drinking, sitting in a chair every day, walking to the bathroom with assistance for bathing….diarrhea has stopped.  His family even cut his long hair!  Continued treatment with ARVs at home and reviews…..well it’s in God’s hands.  For those of you who have been to the farm this past summer and remember Wisdom…well this is his brother. For those of you who don’t know Wisdom….he was a young man who stayed with us for awhile and died in the clinic.  He was also HIV positive.

.   

Despite the outcome with Wisdom, Mom brought Richard, her second son to us. She told Sal yesterday “thank you…you always take good care of us.”

We have seen indifference here in Zambia…we have even seen people left untreated in the hospitals for days consequently resulting in their death

…..people who died waiting for days for bloodwork to be done so they could get a

      transfusion for a Hgb of 3.0 or less!

…..people who were not given TB medications because they were too weak to give 3

      sputum specimens. A week of waiting and wasting without even an IV and they died.

…..people whose families are sent to the drug store to buy medications because the

      hospital doesn’t have them (hospital knows the families can’t afford them)

…..a little boy left in a ward for days with a compound fracture waiting for oxygen to be

      delivered so surgery could be done…no dressing change, so infection set in

And the list goes on….

People in Zambia, like anywhere, just want to know they mattered…that someone cared. Someone tried. I am pondering again…..it’s not the outcome people remember…obviously, but the care and effort that was demonstrated….the love of Jesus that was given. 

                                      Front of Clinic

                                     Clinic Back

The Clinic has a new look!!!!

The clinic renovations have been completed and the final payment made to the Zambian Construction Company….Hallelujah!!!  Let me acquaint you with the floor plan: There is a small front and large back veranda used for waiting patients and inside bathrooms complete with a bathtub and two showers.  The ladies bathroom also has a washer and dryer for laundry. The very large reception area containing file cabinets filled with patient records also has an inside waiting area.  There is a prayer/consultation room that serves as Pastor Julius’ office, a storage room for medications and medical supplies, an exam room, a full service lab, a maternity room, a female ward, and a male ward.  The maternity room is really the labor/delivery suite with only one bed. This room also has an exam table so it doubles for Under Five (Well Child visits and Immunizations) once a month.   Each of the wards has a capacity for three beds comfortably.  There is one last patient area left which use is still undetermined….intensive care, private room, procedure room???  All in all there is a capacity for approximately 9 admissions at a time. Inside, furnishings are still needed such as new chairs in the waiting room, a couple more file cabinets, hospital beds, tables and nightstands, an incubator, a couple desks with office chairs….and I could go on and on.  Outside, all that is needed is landscaping.  

The patient population is increasing along with the severity of illness making the need for more professional help inevitable. As we look at the projected budget needs of the Medical Ministries, we must include salaries and housing allowances for Clinical Officers and Nurses…not to mention monthly medication cost increases, expanding lab supply expenditures and food and infant formula supplement costs for our ever increasing high risk populations. 

Sons of Thunder Medical Ministries is making a difference in the lives of people both physically and spiritually.  People come to Sons of Thunder Clinic looking for medicine, but they always leave with just a little more than they expected….they get Jesus!   Everyone is prayed on and the Word is spoken throughout the day starting with a 10 minute message at 8am every morning. One on one sessions take place throughout the day, resulting in salvations, healings and just plain sharing the love of Jesus.  There is no wonder why people come from all over, walking many hours and many kilometers.  One man said it best…. “We come because you care.”  I continue to ponder:  didn’t Jesus say something about “when you do it to the least of these……..”  Thank you for partnering with us in prayer and financial support.  Your prayers and gifts are spreading the love of Jesus to many.