Bless The Little Children

Unfortunately the first half of this week I was ill with gastro problems and then the second half was spent in the clinic and the hospital so no photos you guys I’m afraid!
So all of Monday and mostly Tuesday I was in bed with horrendous stomach pains- must have eaten something really bad over the weekend although I can’t figure out what it could have possibly been. It really threw me this time as I thought that as I’d been healthy for so long my immune system had adapted to being in this environment. I’m fasting on Mondays at the moment for a good friend but for the past few weeks every Monday I’ve had a niggly stomach. I’ve mostly been able to ignore it as I knew that it was some form of spiritual attack, however there was no way I could ignore it this week. Anyways, because I was ill I spent very little time with the children as I didn’t want to spread it round the village. Also on Monday we had to admit one of the little babies to hospital with suspected TB meningitis. He really wasn’t doing well so I sent out frantic emails to everyone it pleading them to pray for him. He did pull through the night but is still not doing great. He had a lumbar puncture which came back negative for the TB meningitis which was good news but we still don’t know what’s wrong. The hospital has very limited resources which is a worry so we’re just hoping and praying that God will prevail and that he would lead the doctor to a diagnosis so that he can then receive the appropriate treatment. Thanks for all your prayers guys- I doubt he’d have made it without them. We’ve visited him everyday and he’s still in a lot of distress every time we go. They gave him a blood transfusion yesterday as his blood was very low (again a big worry) so they’ve shaved his head- I nearly didn’t recognise him. When you pick him up he clearly is in pain and when you put him back down he still cries as he still wants your attention. It’s so awful to see him like this but with prayer I know he’ll get through/
We then had clinic day on Wednesday where the doctor comes from the local hospital to check out any of the sick kids. The doctor decided to order xrays for two of our recent arrivals- brothers who are 11 months apart. The older brother has been off his food for a few days and has a bad cough. As his mother nearly died of TB it is highly likely that he has it too so we took him for xrays the next day. When looking at the xray the doctor didn’t think it was TB but she was very worried about his cough and he clearly was struggling to breath so she admitted him straight away. He’s on IV antibiotics and has perked up a bit but he’s still very weak. The two boys are next to each other in the hospital which is nice. When we went to see them yesterday it was over 30 degrees and there was no air at all in the ward. They have two tiny fans which just circulate hot air- the children who already have a high temperature have no hope- the sweat was dripping off them both. I’m praying that the hospital sees the need there and buys an air conditioning unit for those poor kids!
So with so much time spent in the clinic and hospital I’ve not got any photos- sorry! Will put up more than usual next. This week has just gone to show that really my illness this week was actually nothing compared to what these kids have to go through from time to time. We spoke to the school children about their status properly for the first time this week too. Most of them already knew or had a feeling so it wasn’t too much of a shock to them and they all took it really well. They understand that as long as they keep taking their pills there’s no reason for them not to live a healthy life for the time being. I was so proud of them and impressed at how they listened and took everything in. God truly is blessing every aspect of their lives!