Maruri Slum Day 4

Today was the first day I woke up feeling rested and it was a good thing!

We went to Maruri slum. Brenda needed to meet with the sewing ladies there and weekly visits with an elderly lady named, "Grandma".

First however, I got to meet Pastor Frances who is a dentist but left dentistry years ago to pastor a church. Now he his being asked to rebuild what once was a medical clinic. Altho his congregation and colleagues are turning their cheeks and not helping him he is not complaining and moving forward with his own money. He is very excited and provided me a tour of the building. It will mainly be for maternity, sick visits and denistry. You will have to see my pictures. Let me just say you don't want to have a baby there or teeth work done. But for these people it will one day be a safe haven, a place to be cared for and a place for treatment. They do have a "doctor" some hours of the day now. They were very thankful for all the medicines I took them. At present if you have your baby there you can stay 8am to 2pm and then come back 5pm to 11pm. In between it is back to your slum bed. I feel a really deep pull to that clinic. It is the type of place I am comfortable at and can quickly identify so much need. At one point later in the day I found myself pacing the hall, trying to come to terms, praying and gaining control over a flood of emotions. Keep reading.

Anyway, once again meeting 2 ladies from the sewing ministry, Sarah and Monica was an absolute joy and encouragement. The possibilities and effects of this sewing ministry has already been amazing but the potential is so much greater. These woman are excited and believing and willing to work hard. Unfortunately at the moment they are out of funds and out of material. So pray for that for them! And if you would like to contribute anything I can make that happen. Just let me know. But for now, just pray for these woman and read on.

Next we found Grandma. She was in her usual state of filth. She doesn't walk anymore, lived her whole life in the slum. She spits by accident, drools, I think curses..but speaks in another language I can't remember at the moment. But anyway, Brenda introduced me and she held out her hand to shake mine. That is the proper greeting here I think, because they all do that. But I have to admit I looked at that hand and was difficult but I shook it. My friend, Brenda has fallen in love with the cranky, crazy old lady and so wishes her mind to be clear and for her to know the Lord. A couple of weeks ago Brenda had someone carry Grandma behind her "house" and Brenda bathed her. I am a nurse, I have done a lot of things, but.... really??? I mean really. You have no idea the dirt...not to mention poop.

Her daughter and grandchildren live in the slum, too. Of course. Brenda found MomMary(Grandma's daughter) and she was so excited to meet me, see Brenda, she invited us to her home. Here we go again....but honestly this home was worse. Dark literally, dirty literally(altho straightened, they try hard to keep things nice). But they don't even have water lately...their clothes are not getting washed.

More importantly was the spiritual darkness, it was present. The oppression was palpable, my heart even started racing. MomMary while polite and inviting is not a believer. She makes brew daily to make maybe 2 american dollars a day. She is drunk most of the time. Her feet are sore. The sight broke my heart. Mom Mary has a husband but he is gone a lot... sometimes for years. He last saw her 2 years ago, leaving her carrying her 5th baby. Kevin is his name and he is now just over a year old. At first I did not know this. I don't know where the baby was when we were in her home.

But we entered and all sat down. She thanked us for coming. Sarah and Monica came too. Their homes even though in the slums are much better. Monica translated for us. KaKuru...I think that is the language Mom Mary speaks. Anyway, Brenda asked if her older daughter was reading the bible to her ( a bible Brenda had given her). She answered yes and showed us the bible and asked us to read to her. I opened the bible and began reading Ps. 139.

The word of the Lord being spoken to her was powerful, she began to weep uncontrollably. We continued through the passage has she nodded in agreement and expressed thanks. And me crying too at this point. You know me. Afterwards, Brenda spoke with her and she accepted Christ as her saviour. She raised her hands in praise. We talked about walking with the Lord and how she can now have hope and now has eternal life and how she must stop making and drinking brew. She agreed. Pray this woman can find other ways to earn money. She doesn't have the strength to sew. Some of the other woman in the slum who are believers are talking about helping her in one of the vegetable stands to sell vegetables. We laid hands on her praying for protection and provision and peace and hope. In the darkness of that home there is now light. "...even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like day, for darkness is as light to you. " Ps. 139:12.

It would have been enough for one day; however, earlier while we were walking a little beautiful, dirty girl ran up to me and when I reached down for her I my heart sank because she was burning up with fever. I could tell by my touch on her back and then I reached for her forehead. After praying with Mom Mary we were walking to the school to meet with Pastor there. The little girl was back and I told Brenda she was burning up with fever...altho running with the kids still. Her cough was bad, her nose was bad, etc.... I just kept watching her. A lot of them cough, but I knew this little girl was feeling horrible, but was just used to it. Brenda mentioned it to pastor and he encouraged us to take her to the medical clinic.

It turns out her name is Beatrice, she is 4 years old 5 months. Brenda spread the word to get her mom...who turned out to be Mom Mary. Mom Mary came nursing a baby. I had no idea she had a baby and this was one of her daughters. We put them in Brenda's car and drove them to the medical clinic...just another area of the slum. Kaitlyn and Jessica held on to the bakc of the car. Don't worry John and grandparents they are fine. There we learned the baby was sick too....actually no surprise at this point. And Brenda had told me she has been worried about the baby because he nurses and nurses and she knows there is no way he is getting any milk. Mom Mary is malnurished and drunk a lot...remember.

At the clinic we were told they need to go urgently to hospital. ...esp baby....Kevin. What do you do in the slums??? No ambulance, no car, no money.... We opened a can of worms...that is when I began pacing the clinic hall...I had to step out of the exam room. The depth of their illnesses became evident and the depth of their need great. We can't fix everything, we can't fix everyone...We were faced with a series of quick decisions for our children we had with us...that had not eaten...who needed emotional rest from the situation, etc....

In the end...we found swimming and friend option for our girls, kept baby Brayden with us and took Sarah,(to interpret) Mom Mary, Beatrice and Kevin to the hospital in Brenda's car. Praying for favor and provision on the way. Well, we found favor. We were checking in an a young women came out of nowhere. Thinking back I still don't know why she walked up to us. She is a medical student here for the summer from Ireland, told us she is working in maternity. We were not in the maternity section. We explained to her what was happening and she moved mountains to miraculously have us seen almost immediately. There was some rumbling in the hall by others waiting but the doctor seemed unaffected. He was kind and patient. He was able to speak enough for Mom Mary to understand...we think.

Beatrice is 4 and 5months.. They put her on the scale. She weighs 22 pounds. I took a picture for evidence. Also, when he went to exam her she screamed no, no, no (in her language). She at 4 years of age is another victim of the violence to women/girls/children/babies in the slums. It was Brenda's turn to hold her, while I stepped away to cry, gain composure and think about how I can get this girl a bath and home with me...home to America that is. So besides being abused, malnurished she now has pneumonia.

Kevin, the baby was also examined. Determined to have pneumonia, doesn't have all his immunization and is malnurished. He is a little over a year old and weighs 11 pounds. He barely keeps his eyes open and if he is awake he only stops crying when he is nursing. He is starving to death. The doctor explained their levels of malnurishment to me and his is the worse...protein, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins...all missing. They did not want to hospitalize him because his malnutrition is so severe IV's could kill him. Something I am familiar with with cancer patients back home. But back home we know how to slowly care for that and have staff and training to monitor blood work, protecting ones heart and kidneys from refeeding syndrome. Did I say I cried yet??? Are you crying? I am so sorry but this is so real. He is pitiful. He may not live.

From the exam room we were sent to pharmacy....where Brenda and I were a really good team. I was good at understanding all the medication we bought at the Maruri clinic and the ones the doc was now ordering and speaking to the needs and prioritizing. Since they wouldn't give us everything I managed to talk them into giving each child of dose of the vitamin A right there. The pharmacist did it. Brenda was good at standing firm in our request for financial help and representing missions here in Africa. We didn't get everything. We were out of money. This was unexpected. And guess what we have to go back tomorrow pick up baby take him for immunizations and pay to receive the rest of the medications. I just pray he lives through the night. But I know that whatever happens he is in the Lord's hands and that MomMary will have comfort.

Helen showed up again and found us two small syringes. I showed Mom Mary how to use them to get milk into him tonight. Brenda had left Monica with money she said she could get milk in the slum and would help with that tonight. Bless her. She has her own children in the slum.

Brenda still upset that the baby might die and should be hospitalized but I had peace that this was the best we could do. A hospital stay was not going to fix this baby, and sending Breatrice back to the slum without her mom would be horrible. This way they had medicines for the night including vitamins and they were together in at least what was familiar to them. I really think in that moment my years of working with cancer patients and end of life, helped me let go. This is their journey, God is with them, we answered the call to the best of our ability. We were exhausted. Brayden (who is 2) was toughing it out, but filthy. Our girls needed us and we needed to answer that call, too. And after all, now there is light where there was darkness. Mom Mary was saved today. We will see her walking streets of gold one day and her feet will not make my heart sad.

A final note to this long story is just the thought today as I learned these 2 precious children have pneumonia....my daughter is home with pneumonia.... yet, I am grateful!

Keep getting well my sweet girl. I miss you. We are so blessed.

HOWEVER