Life Is A Rollercoaster

As I write this latest blog entry (Friday 21st Dec) I’m sitting in the local hospital. One of the children is in the operating theatre; the other has just come out and is in recovery. Both routine operations but I’m still feeling so apprehensive. In fact I’m feeling so many different emotions right now and I’m tired. I’m constantly in prayer even as I write. I’m praying that God would protect his beautiful children whilst they are so vulnerable. I’m thinking back to the time when I was hospital and how scared and alone I felt. My eyes are welling up as I think of the children lying there asleep. I can’t be next to them, I can’t hold their hands. I can’t be there when they wake up in recovery as there aren’t any scrubs for me to wear. I said I would be there when they wake up but I won’t be. Anyway, this isn’t about me, it’s about a 10 year old boy who when he wakes us will be able to hear so clearly for the first time. No more muffled sounds, perfect hearing at last! The other 10 year old may get is voice back after becoming hoarse a while ago.
Both children are now in the children’s ward. Both were told that they would be returning home the same day, now both are faced with the prospect of having to stay over night. Not because they are particularly sick but because the nurse doesn’t want to fill in all the discharge forms because it’s past the normal discharge hours and she wants to go home. She pokes and prods the children. She sticks a thermometer into the ear of the child who has just had ear surgery. She doesn’t tell them that she is going to take their blood pressure the she brandishes a needle and pricks the boy’s thumbs without any warning. There is no love, there is no compassion and both boys are pouring out their hearts, begging us to take them home. At this point I have very little control; the tears are falling from my face. I get up and wander around the ward looking at all the other sick children and again tell myself that this is not about me and how upset I am that the children might have to stay, it’s about them. I have to be strong. The tears stop. Finally at 6pm after being in the hospital since 10am the doctor comes and discharges both of the children much to the disgust of the nurse. I’ve not eaten all day, I’m emotionally empty but they’re coming home. I can’t describe how happy I feel. My boys are coming home; I don’t have to leave them alone. Both boys finally smile for the first time. I get a hug and a high five- I know they are well enough to come home. Praise the Lord for looking after my gorgeous boys and for letting them come home and eat some ice cream. Praise God for those brave boys. I’m so proud of them both- I can’t stop telling them that.
Thinking back over the week it’s been one big rollercoaster ride. So much has happened this week. Everyday we’ve had some kind of event happening for the Children! We’ve been so blessed! Firstly on Saturday Standard Bank organised a Christmas party for the children, which was a huge success! The big crèche kids and school kids were involved and they had such an amazing time! We had lots of hats, blowers (I think I was nearly deaf by the end of the party), games, songs, dancing and generally happiness! Some of the newer children were a little overwhelmed by all the noise and attention- after all it’s the first time a lot of them have actually had a party! I felt like such a child again- I was dancing away with them all without a care in the world! The only thoughts going through my mind at the time were of how blissfully happy the children looked and how blissfully happy I was too! God truly blessed that party!

On Sunday we went out into the Community again to a church service where Yvonne (one of the management at Rehoboth) was doing a talk on HIV and AIDS. It was amazing to see how a service is a carried out in a Zulu church! They worship so freely and with so much visible emotion! There were a lot of hallelujahs and amens. Nothing ran according to the schedule- the service was supposed to start at 9am but didn’t really get going until 10.30am (yes that’s right- an hour and a half late!) but it didn’t seem to matter as they were still coming to worship God regardless of what time it was! Yvonne really encouraged people to go and get tested for HIV as so many people just try and live in ignorant bliss. There are so many myths going around as to how you can cure AIDS, how you can supposedly protect yourself etc so Yvonne really tried to dispel all the lies and she really spoke out the truth. The kids did seem to have some knowledge about the disease but the adults knew very little so it really would have been a learning curve for them. We watched a program on TV about Iffafa which is another extremely poor area in KwaZulu Natal highly infected with HIV/AIDS. They showed footage of a guy working with kids in school talking about how you can protect yourself by either abstaining from having sex or by using condoms. One girl said that she doesn’t trust condoms- I can actually understand where she is coming from as recently over 1 million condoms had to be recalled, as they were faulty so no wonder they have little faith in them. Another boy said that his girlfriend didn’t like him using condoms as “who wants to eat a sweet with the wrapper still on”. Crude I know but it’s what they think. The problem is huge and isn’t likely to go away for a long time yet. The church has now set up some sort of confidential support service for those who have been tested and are positive- something they’ve never had before so I really think that after Yvonne’s talk that a lot of people will be moved to go and get tested and then receive the support that they need to accept their status and adapt their lifestyle.
Now onto Monday. We didn’t work as it was a Bank Holiday- weird I know as it is so close to Christmas but hey I wasn’t going to complain! It was a fairly nice day so we decided to go to Lake Eland which is actually in a game reserve. It was amazing to see all the wildlife- zebra, giraffe (we were really close!!!), springbok, wildebeest and warthog amongst other things! We had a lovely picnic next to the lake and just relaxed all day. It was so nice to get away and empty my mind for a few hours. Life is so hectic at the village at the moment that sometimes even at night it’s hard to switch off.

On Tuesday morning we took the kids to the movies to see Surf’s Up- good movie by the way! The kids really enjoyed the trip out and it was a great way to keep them entertained as it rained hard nearly all day! On Wednesday we had a very busy day of preparation for the Christmas party planned for the next day. A very generous lady brought KFC for all the kids at lunchtime as a little Christmas gift. Ah they were so happy to get their little kiddies KFC box. A small gift but such a significant gift as the children adore KFC so they were very grateful for it.

Now onto the big day- the finale of sorts! Pick and Pay (a local supermarket) organised a huge party for the children and staff. The festivities kicked off at 9.30am when Father Christmas arrived at the village via a helicopter- man he arrived in style! All the kids and mums were jumping up and down, waving and screaming! It was so wonderful to be a part of all the excitement. Father Christmas then was transported up to the activity centre and gave out some really lovely looking gifts! After Father Christmas left, the mums received a gift in the form of a food hamper. As these ladies live in the community when they aren’t working at Rehoboth it was a very nice gift for them indeed! After gifts we had lots of nice food. The organisers had also arranged a bouncy castle (or jumping castle as they call it here) and a really cool water slide. The kids went wild jumping everywhere and running onto the water slide getting totally soaking wet! By mid morning all the kids were soaked, I had been down the water slide a few times fully clothed and was ringing wet, the sun was shining and everyone was happy. The kids were all running round with such huge smiles from ear to ear. The organisers of the whole event were all so happy and smiley too. For them seeing just how much joy they had brought to the entire village made the whole event so worthwhile and a huge success!

It was such an amazing day for us all but something else for me made it an even better day. When Father Christmas had to leave again in the helicopter guess who was sitting next to him for the ride home- me! I’ve never flown in a helicopter before so I was so excited! The experience was awesome! We flew across the community- I had no idea how big it is! There are little shack like houses as far as they eye can see all closely packed together. The local community stretches over many peaks right to the coast. It was amazing to see everything by air. Now I really can see the extent of the poverty in this area- “now that I have seen, I am responsible, faith without deeds is dead……..”