Matilda

Just another report on Matilda.  When we took her to the hospital for her first injection, the man in charge of the TB clinic said that they were not going to give her injections.  Due to the side effects of the injection medicine, as well as her symptoms already, they are just going to give her the oral medicine.  He said this does not mean that she is getting less of a treatment.  For us it was a blessing since we would have to make sure that we take her every day to the hospital.  We will continue to check on her regular and take her for appointments that we have for her.  Thank you for your prayers, Kathleen

Matilda

Matilda is a 7 year old girl in the Araloosa Village, at the end of our road.  The first team discovered her sitting next to her hut, unable to stand.   At first she was very frightened of us.  But Dan Stimax persisted in talking to her and reaching out to her.  We have all wanted to see how we could help her. 

 

Well, Sena, Miriam, and I spent Tuesday at the Children's Hospital in Lusaka – near SOS village - with Matilda and her father. It is a new, clean, friendly, bright, and lovely place.   Matilda was examined by 2 doctors, had multiple xrays and blood work done.  Her diagnosis is that she has TB of the spine, which has caused damage to her upper spine and caused it to impinge upon her spinal cord.   The result is that she can't use her legs, and has trouble controlling her functions.

 

I didn't realize that you can have TB of many parts of your body, not just your lungs.  It can be of the abdomen, heart, skin, bones, spine, etc.   TB is a bacterial infection that is very hard to treat.  It also isn't particularly painful, so you can have it and not really know until you have damage from it.   Only the lung TB is contagious.

 

Benedict and I will take her and her dad to Liteta Hospital tomorrow with a letter from the doctor we saw today.   She will be on TB medicine that we will get at that hospital to try and stop any further infection.  All TB medications, whether for adults or children are provided free by the government.

 

We will return to the Children's Hospital at the end of October for another consultation.

The doctor, Dr. Swan, is also going to consult with some friends of his, I think from the states.  They are considering a trip to Zambia at the end of the year.  Some of them are experts in spinal surgery.  He said it would be a very difficult surgery and he is not even sure that the doctors would consider it.

 

The blood work shows that her parents are taking good care of her.  Her hemoglobin is good considering.   She has no sores, even though she sometimes is messing her pants.  He said that if they hadn't been taking good care of her, she would probably be dead.

He said that she also has good upper body strength.

 

I asked about a wheelchair.  In the reception area they had a very nice, sturdy looking, little wheelchair.   It was red.  So we put her in it while we were waiting for Benedict to arrive to pick us up.  She had a huge smile on her face and got the hang of it pretty quickly – going forward, backwards, sideways.   Sena was taking her out the door and down a couple of ramps and it was a joy to hear her laugh.

 

Can we raise the money to get one for her?  I'm not sure how much it will be.   A doctor friend of ours here is going to check with a woman he knows who is able to get wheelchairs.  Otherwise we will have to buy one.  I figure if she has a wheelchair, we can get some of the older girls in the village to push her to school in it.

 

Today I was thinking of all of you who have been here this summer and been concerned for her, especially you, Dan.   I thought you would be pleased with our efforts so far.

 

It is good to have a diagnosis.  However, on the human level, it is discouraging given the fact that she has so much damage.   So we believe that God brought her to our attention for a reason.  Let's all agree – from Maryland to Wisconsin to Oregon – to pray for her, that God will perform a miracle and that as the TB goes away, He will restore the functioning of her legs and body.

 

Update later on Wednesday:  We just returned from the hospital in Liteta.   They have a TB clinic there where all the medicine is dispensed.  Because her TB is one of the most serious, she will have to have an injection every day for 2 months, along with oral medicine.   The oral medicine could continue for as long as 8-10 months.  One suggestion was that she stay in the hospital for 2 months while they give injections.   Sounded like a bad idea to us.  So every day we will pick up Matilda on our way to drop Sena off at school, and then continue on the road to the hospital and get her an injection.   We will also take her on the weekends.  We hope that between the Kamau's and us that it will work out without too much difficulty.   Pray that Matilda is cooperative, that the transportation is easy, and that there will be improvement in her condition.

 

Blessings, Kathleen

 

PS.  We do have a mailing address here:  P.O.Box 4          Fringilla     Chibombo       Zambia.  

Update Aug 25

Our second team left on Thursday and we are now only 5 in our house.  Seems kind of empty.  In August we have had 26 people who have blessed us with their presence.

 

The first team from Maryland had a 3 day Vacation bible School at the local Community School.  On the second day there were about 300 children in attendance.  They painted one of the classrooms of the school, made friends and played games and spent several hours with children at the Araloosa Village.  These are very poor children who were delighted to have a soccer ball.  Dan lead morning devotions of our workers for 1 week, Drew worked on a "gant chart" for the construction, Henry worked on the books, and we all had wonderful discussions of what it means to be a Voluntourist here.  The teenagers of the team were a great blessing as they reached out to children and youth here.

 

The second team came from Wisconsin, Calvary Bible Church.  The painted 2 classrooms at the Community School, did an all day outreach at a church in Liteta with about 80+ children, did an outreach at a church in Lusaka and about 60+ children came, did landscaping at our village, and also played with children at Araloosa village.

 

In between, and while those teams were there, we had Tom DeWitt from Oregon and Robert Garrett from Maryland who taught welding to our workers as well as working on our car.  Patrick Meyers came for a few days from Children of Zion Village in Namibia.  Christopher, our son, was here for 2 weeks.  Aaron Squadroni, our nephew from Minnesota, has been here for 5 weeks and has one week to go.  He has worked on site planning, construction planning, and organized a volleyball team in Nyirenda Village.  Finally, Travis Hurley a pastor from Maryland is here for one week.

 

At our Village we expect to receive our first children at the end of this week.  Miriam has moved in as the head housemother.  We also have hired another housemother who should arrive shortly.  I anticipate that we will be receiving 6 boys to start. 

 

The market is doing well and usually sells out of whatever produce we have.  It is fun to see Benedict negotiating with folks as he buys cabbages, and large bags of onions, potatoes, oranges, and more. 

 

Our rabbits are cute little things, much bigger than the pets we have in the states.  I guess that means there is more meat when it comes time to eat them!

 

This week is a transition week for us.  This is Sena's last week before starting school and we will be getting use to fewer people in the house.

 

It is starting to get warmer here, but still the weather is wonderful.  We are thankful for all those who have visited this month, and everyone who is interested in what is going on here in Zambia!

Aug6

Last week we had a special outreach in the local school.  I was in charge of the music portion.   We did several songs that I have used in many of our early childhood music classes at Joyful Sounds School of Music in Maryland:  Che Che Koolay, If You're Happy and You know it, and Walk and Stop.   What a picture it must have made as I walked down a dirt road in the African bush, surrounded by about 10 little children, singing: "Oh well, you walk and you walk and you walk and you STOP."   "Oh well, you run and you run and you run and you STOP."  You don't make much progress when you keep stopping!   There I was in my "African boots" (actually I bought them at Walmart in MD) and my sunglasses and cowboy hat to protect me from the sun.  It is a great adventure.

 

Singing in Africa is unlike anything in the US.  In the African bush, in poor villages, there is no TV, no I-pods, no CD players, no tape players, and very few radios.   So if you want to have music, you have to make it yourself.  Most singing is acapella – no instruments.  Spontaneously there is 4 part harmony.  They don't even have to look at music to know the part to sing that will sound great.  And you never have to ask them to sing louder.   They project!  Even young children can sing harmony.  One group of young children were singing and singing in parts.   In America we wait to have children sing in parts until they are older.  It is a wonderful experience to hear the enthusiasm and joy music brings to people who literally have nothing.

Aug 4

Interesting event from yesterday.  Benedict had to go to Lusaka.  Auntie Hope and Auntie Harriet ask for a ride to attend a wedding.  Since they were part of the groom's family they needed to bring some livestock.  So Benedict traveled the 1 1/2 hours with 5 people in the car, a live goat (in a burlap sack with it's head sticking out), and a live chicken ( in a bag with it's head sticking out).  This is probably an experience Garrett Stimax will never forget since he got to be in the seat with both animals.  That's Africa.