I'm very excited to tell you that Ephantus, the boy from the streets that Alex took to his house, has now been safely delivered to his home somewhere in Thika (I think). He stayed at our house last night and was doing quiet well. He speaks great English, so it was easy to communicate. He ate 3 chapatis that Rach and I made (which weren't too bad), and seemed quite content. Alex took him back this morning and left a little money with the grandmother for food. They are going to try to look for a place for him to go to school. Alex says that no public schools will admit him when the term begins in September (they are off in August) b/c public schools only admit people when the school year starts in January. So hopefully they find a private school to send him to (and no it won't be fancy like some private schools in the U.S.). I thank God for his return home, and I urge us to continue praying together that this boy will continue staying off the streets and be able to go to school.
By the way, this keyboard that I'm using is amazing...it's one of the few I've used that doesn't have keys which stick hence the reason I'm able to use capital letters :) But for some wierd reason yahoo doesn't work today. Only Google programs like this blog. TIA
I just returned from the hospital with Rach and Julius. This was of course a 3 hour event like normal. It ended up that Peter didn't have surgery until Sunday, so all that running around on Saturday morning to sign paper work was completely unnecessary. Rach and I met with the manager of the hospital to try to avoid having to pay for all these days that Peter unnecessarily stayed in the hospital when he could have been discharged. Pretty much I think we just paid for him to stay there and eat chicken. The manager was more helpful than other people and she was able to find us a doctor to talk to within 45 minutes (better than the normal 2 that we wait). The surgery went fine I guess, but now we are waiting 3 days for them to remove the bandages and see if the skin graft took. They took skin from his upper thigh and grafted it on his fibula. This is the first day in many that Peter seemed to be in pain. Please pray that there will be quick healing and that he can be discharged soon.
This morning we were with the street women. We had planned to wash the babies but all the women complained that it was too cold. And it probably was. August is a bit chilly here. I'm wearing a dress and a fleece jacket today, and I'm cold. So we decided to postpone the washing until Wednesday. We're hoping to make it a joint effort where the women do it with us so that we are teaching responsibility. Plus, there is one baby, Mugo, who is constantly smelling like poop. He must never get changed. Just being close to him turns my stomach and Rachel has to encourage me not to think about it. Last week we noticed that one of the women, Mama Vincent, was using a plastic bag as a diaper for her kid. He kept making swishing sounds as he walked around. Actually I think it's a pretty resourceful idea really. I mean at least his clothes aren't always soiled. We were sad today b/c Mama Vincent was doing drugs when we arrived. She has been clean and drug free for weeks since we met her. We pulled her aside to discuss this and she said it's because she is very stressed since she lost her house a few weeks ago. I fear that she will slide down the same path as the rest when she clearly has a chance to make it out of this situation. She speaks great English and she was wearing this cool bracelet that she made today. I told her she should sell them to make money. She said, "I make one and you buy it from me." And I said that maybe we could trade the bracelet for food. Money would be a bad idea I think.
Rachel and I discussed with the women about all being part of the body of Christ and looking out for each other. We made them work in partners to make bracelets, and they did a good job with the teamwork. And then someone started playing with my hair and before I knew it, 4 women were standing around me braiding my hair. I love when people play with my hair, so it was nice even though it looked pretty ridiculous. I think women are always surprised at how white people's hair doesn't easily stay braided like the Kenyans'. Somewhere during our time one of the babies was pulling on my very large hoop earrings, until I yelled, "Hapana" meaning, "no." And Mama Vincent commented that the baby was trying to turn me into a Masai (since their earlobes are very largely gauged). Alex jokes about Rachel's ears since they are gauged, saying she is turning into a Masai.
On a good note, the landlady agreed to let us stay in the house for 2 more weeks and only pay half month's rent, which she previously wouldn't agree to. I figured she'd come around since she has no other renter. So Rach and I are happy not to have to move our stuff around. Also I am feeling better. I self diagnosed myself and got some amoxicillin (no you don't need a prescription here). And I should also mention that I'm enjoying the food much better this time. Rachel and I have learned to make quite a few Kenyan dishes and I think we are much more content since we get to decide what to have for dinner everyday. I'm about over the whole peanut butter thing though since I eat it almost everyday for lunch. We make it our mission to eat as many mangoes and pineapples as possible since they are amazing and cheap. Even the bananas taste better here. We make jokes about how a lot of my pants don't fit, which I like to think might be because I've lost a little weight, but I think mostly they get stretched out during washing and never shrink back since there's no dryer. And although I'm really ready not to have dirty feet everyday when I come home, I'm really not ready to leave here in 2 weeks. Yes, things are hard some days, but there is so much to love about the people here and the work we are doing.
No comments:
Post a Comment