Hi everyone,
Thank you for all your prayers and I have enjoyed reading about your news. Sorry if I have not been able to reply individually but internet is quite limited here. This is my second email since I have been in South Africa and it has been non- stop here, making me feel that I have been here months rather than just weeks! While travelling about this week I have seen things and said more than once ONLY IN AFRICA. For example men selling various things including bin bags and other stuff on the side of the road when you stop at the traffic lights. ONLY IN AFRICA you would get a group of children doing a dance on the side of a busy main road, ONLY IN AFRICA would you get a guy balancing a load of his bananas on his head walking up and down the side of the road and finally ONLY IN AFRICA would you get someone on a skateboard holding on to a back of a car going up a mountain! These things have reminded me over the last few weeks what a wonderful country I am in. We have been blessed with a long weekend and was able to see many parts of the Western Cape including Whales, Wine Festivals and more but with the nice side of the country also comes the heartaches, poverty and injustice which the people face everyday! Despite having a lovely long weekend it really helped the volunteers to bond.
I have been doing some work, I promise. Since my last email I have been
involved with hospital visits with our children again. As you can imagine with it being winter over here and our children having low immune systems because of HIV, they are very susceptible to infections and two of our children had chest infections - one with possible TB. Again, as last year, it was a long wait at the day hospital outside in the cold, but we managed to get them antibiotics. Last Wednesday one of our children, “A”, who has HIV, brain damage and delayed development (he is 10 but very small for his age) became very sick. “A” suffers from Chronic lung disease so is extra susceptible to infection and has been
battling with a bad chest for around three months now being on and off
antibiotics. We took him to the doctors and they said he needed to go to hospital we tried to get hold of his doctor at Red Cross Children's hospital in Cape Town to get him admitted there without success so we had to go over to HHH in Sommerset West. But the doctor told us we did not to go through A&E and gave us the name of a doctor who was expecting us. However Déjà vu from last time made me think it would not be that easy. I offered to stay with “A” at hospital so Lees and I took him down and ended up waiting in A&E for 4 hours to see the doctor!! “A”s temperament is similar to someone who is autistic and is hard to keep still even when he is ill but he is so lovely and amazing and won the heart of every person in the A&E. I am sure he brought many blessings to the people! Lees and I where taking turns in taking “A” for a walk around A&E until he was called. When the doctor finally called him I went to get him and the doctor told me off, explaining that we should not let him walk in his conditions and I abruptly explained that if they where that worried, why did they keep us waiting 4 hours and what do they expect us to do with a ten year old boy who has brain damage! When the doctor saw him he was extremely concerned about “A”s oxygen levels and said he needed to be on oxygen straight away. So we where transferred to Red Cross hospital in an ambulance. This was all very bizarre as Lees had left before the ambulance set off and “A” and I had a fun journey with him trying to pull off his wires, stand up and see out the ambulance!
Once at the hospital we where told that his doctor would be expecting him but it turned out he was not there at all. I battled so hard with the nurses to try and get his doctor to see him. It was difficult to be assertive and humble trying not to be rude!! Once on the ward it was difficult to settle “A”, as the doctor who fitted the IV was extremely rude to him and not comforting at all, which may have brought back bad memories as this is the hospital that “A” was abandoned at. “A” was confined to his bed as he was on oxygen which was difficult as there where no curtains so all personal care was in front of all the other patients which was hard, especially when “A” had sickness and diarrhoea. It was so sad seeing the tiniest babies and all the sick children. One little girl was only 1 and had no parents or
visitors, which made me sad, but the reality of how many orphans there are dawned on me. Staying with “A” just made me realise how hard it must be for parents of sick children. At one point in the day “A” was being challenging as he could not leave the bed and we had hardly any sleep. I nearly cried. I just prayed over him and he fell asleep and when he woke he was a lot calmer. It was not until I came home and one of the house mums took over that I found out how serious it was. “A” may have to be on oxygen for the rest of his life and will not be able to come home to the VoH. They also had to put a plan in place where they put a “do not resuscitate” note on the plan. It was all too much and on the Friday I became ill with a sickness bug. Everyone was praying for “A” and a couple of days ago we found out that he had come off the oxygen and yesterday he was allowed home. This is a true act of God and although it was not nice for him to go through this, I really think that God used “A” to bless everyone he met at the hospitals! We are all so pleased to have him home and he was excited when we picked him up yesterday! After the fight I had to get the doctors to speak to me instead of to each other I thought how hard it must be for people here, where they do not feel able to speak up and the whole power balance.
During another hospital visit they had lost the file and if we hadn’t been there to share the medical history it would have been lost as a lot of the mums don't know the history of their children, as nothing gets explained. Empowerment is so important here. Despite being in hospital I have also been involved in taking the kids to school, sorting through toys and arranging activities for the children. I have spent more time in the unit and noticed how the children have different emotional problems and the amazing job the house mums do. I have also been involved in the community doing sports club and have been able to get to know the children and to speak to them finding out more about their lives. Most of them are being brought up by siblings or grandparents or have parents who are
alcoholics and the amount of violence that is witnessed.
God has really helped me these last few weeks about completely trusting in Him and knowing that I can only do things in His strength and making sure that
everything I do is for Him. God is helping me in my battle of comparing myself and being good enough. So thank you for your prayers. I just love the way that God pushes you out of your comfort zone and really challenges you differently. For example the owners of the VoH are coming back to the UK and I have been put in charge of the netball club in two of the communities and I am the most un sporty person you know! Also Barbara, another long term volunteer, and I have been asked to take a more senior role whilst they are away, Barbara being in charge of the volunteers and myself certain areas of the baby unit. Scary!!!
Daz and Lees are still around so we are not solely in charge, thank goodness!
Please continue to pray :
for “A”’s health even though he is home
for the Grabouw
for the parents struggling against injustice
for the children witnessing violence and facing rejection
for our children
for Barbara and myself to have strength and wisdom whilst all are away
Sorry for the extra long email please email me your prayer points.
Love Em xxx
sent 12/08/2010
