Today is Erin’s best friend, Lucy’s birthday. Erin cried today. She misses her friend. I took her to the AIM office to email Lucy. She seemed happier after that. Would someone please call and tell Lucy that we’re thinking about her and we all miss her, especially Erin? It seems we’re all missing our family and friends.
Today seemed to be even harder for the team than yesterday. Teresa’s group went to the hospital. They didn’t know what to do. They felt totally incompetent. Something was freezing them.
My girl Nesepo is still sick. She slept a lot today. When Autumn put her down, she cried. She said her foot was hurting. It’s swollen. We don’t know what’s wrong with her. She can’t walk home, so we offered to take her. We walked through the “squatter camp”. I was shocked at how many houses are back there. We got to Nesepo’s house. There were people outside sitting around drinking moonshine. Women sitting on straw mats. There were two babies — twins. One of the men started talking to Doyle, asking him about President Obama. I heard Doyle say, “Well, I didn’t vote for Obama, but he’s still my president.” I then heard Doyle say that having relations should be with your one wife. The man didn’t want to hear that. He changed the subject. How do you convince them to stay with their one wife (and not spread HIV/Aids) when the king of Swaziland has 13 wives? Nesepo went inside and changed clothes. She’s very quiet. We stayed for a long time. It was getting dark. Then we found out that a girl had been left at the carepoint who doesn’t live in the squatter camp. She walks a couple of hours to get to the carepoint, and her older sister had already left. We decide to drive her home. I didn’t get to go, but when the others came back, everyone was very upset. Even Titi was crying. Then Doyle broke. It was the hardest home visit Titi had ever experienced. The Dad has pneumonia. He’s been sick for three months. He had a good job, but now he can’t even get out of bed. He’s going to die. The team prayed for him. There was no electricity. They don’t have food. They could barely see inside the small hut, much less the man’s face. But they prayed for God to heal him. The mother was very appreciative that we brought her daughter home. The little girl was estatic that we would visit with her family at her house.
Thursday, June 18
My team went to the hospital today. It was a great experience. The girls suggested that we prayer walk around the hospital first thing. Erin was car sick (she had to ride backwards). I stayed with her while Caleb, Autumn, Angela and Anna prayer walked. Then we went into the children’s ward. There weren’t as many children there. I spoke with the little boy who had stomach surgery. He had colored the majority of the pages in the coloring book. I gave him another. His babe and make were there with him. I prayed for their family. Then I spoke with the woman who lived in Virginia. Her father works for the Swaziland Embassy and was in Virginia for five years while she was growing up. Her baby is sick. She asked Erin to give him an English name. She named him Elijah — Eli after Madelyn’s brother. She said she was a true Christian. She had been in America, and she’s lived in Swaziland. She knows that there are evil spirits and witchcraft and she can feel their presence. She said the evil was very present yesterday. All of the babies lie next to one another on the “changing table.” Her son was on oxygen. The baby next to her was healthy, almost ready to go home. He died in the middle of the night. Then another baby died. She said evil had won and had taken those babies from their mothers. I told her that God was in control and that those babies were with Jesus now. She said she knew that. She just didn’t think it was right for those babies to die. She prayed all night for her baby. She didn’t want any evil to “jump” onto her baby. I’m glad she told me this story. It confirms what Teresa’s team was feeling yesterday. I told the make about how the team felt. She asked me why we can’t overcome evil sometimes. She then thanked me for coming — thanked US for coming. She said that it helps when we’re there at the hospital.
I went into the malnutrition room. THAT WAS SO HARD! These babies are skeletons. They’re so small. They should be in incubators. Not being held. The babies cry a lot. One mother told me that her baby was a triplet. I asked where the other two babies were, and she said only God knows. She didn’t know. She gave them away. Another mother asked what was in my purse. It looks big. I’m carrying my wallet, my journal, and medicine mainly. I gave her some chewing gum. She wanted the medicine. It was nighttime cold medicine, and yet she took it right then. We kept telling her it wasn’t candy. I don’t think she cared. She then asked me again what else was in my purse. I knew I didn’t have to answer her, but I thought “What do I have that could help her?” I gave her some antibacterial wipes. And then I brought out the camera. She asked “How much?” I told her it was Erin’s camera. She wanted me to take a picture of her baby. That started a whole chain of events. I took pictures of almost everyone in the malnutrition unit. The mothers thanked us for coming. Said it was a good thing that we were there.
When we came outside, we were blocked in by another car. We waited for 1-1/2 hours to get out of the parking lot. We prayed some. And then Caleb, Erin, Angela and Anna walked down to the soccer fields to watch the school practice soccer. Yesterday, there were soccer tournaments. All of the schools wear uniforms. There was every color of uniform along the soccer fields. Hundreds and hundreds of students. It was crazy to watch! The soccer fields today were empty compared to yesterday.
We drove back to the carepoint. I didn’t get out of the car. It was past time to go home. It was getting dark. One of the kids opened the door and honked the horn. Oh my goodness! That was amazing to them. They all took turns honking the Kumbi horn. It was hilarious. They laughed everytime it beeped. Simple pleasures.
We’re all doing fairly good. We can’t believe that the team only has a week left. We’re planning to go on a safari tomorrow (hopefully). It’s our day off. Josh has been having stomach problems. He threw up last night. Please pray for him, and for all of us. It seems that everyone has experienced some type of stomach ache. I pray it’s not the water! We were told that it was okay to drink the tap water at the house. Then others said it wasn’t okay. Oh well.
Thanks again for your prayers. I hope these blogs are not too long. I’m trying to document everything that I can. Please continue to pray that we are the hands and feet of our Lord and Savior.
Blessings!
Tonya
