The morning went great -- we sent the kids teams out to the gardening and construction sites and supplies were organized. I was feeling good. I was feeling like I may not have much to do. I was thinking -- YEA! I can play with kids. I waited until the last bus was about to leave to go into the informal settlements. As I was boarding, on of my leaders who was already on site called. "Rachel, it's Bryan -- we have a really sick kid out here. Can you get someone from the medical team to come out?" My immediate reaction was to say that there was nothing that we could do. But, that wasn't right -- there was. We have a pediatrician with us (one of Liz's residents) and a nurse from Cincinnati Children's. I had to take my own advice and just jump in. I got the doc and the nurse into a taxi and we headed to the site. When we got there the medical folks went to see the child. He is three but looks like he's one. It's a sad site, and the caretaker is a 17 year old neighbor. Not the mom, not the grandma -- a 17 year old with a big heart. The medical peeps convince her that he needs to go to the hospital. His eyes are moving but nothing else is. He lost the ability to walk a few days ago and his stomach is swollen. Witness, the 17 year old gets in the On the way to the hospital, the doc who is with us starts to feel a little nervous. We call Dr.Jeff in the states. It's 6AM, but he answers the phone (after I called 3 times). THANK YOU JEFF!!! We end up at Mamelodi hospital for the next three hours. Finally, he gets a file and gets into the system and starts treatment.
Here is the only shot I could take in the hospital:
Back at the ranch, it was kids program Day One. I would have never guessed, but here is the turnout:
I think that it was about 400 kids. We sang, danced, and made all kinds of crafts. It was pure joy!The kids of Charity and Faith were in full force. Here are a few of them:
Check out my cameo on the trip blog today -- had to write there, so this one was short. We'll catch up tomorrow. www.crossroadscommunity.net/go
3 comments:
ohmigosh it is so great to read what you are doing each day! I loved "being there" on day 1 of the service projects! It sounds like you had a blast with the kids. If there were 400 today, I can't guess how many will be there at the end of two weeks! I'm so sorry to hear about the sweet sick baby. Don't worry. There are many prayer warriors lifting him up tonight after reading your blog. We love you tons...be safe.
HEY Rachel and Andrew it's Chris.I hope you are having fun in South Africa.What's with ShineonRachel.Dune Bashing sounds fun.Rachel you looked frightened in the picture when you were dune bashing and andrew looked surprised.Rachel tell Andrew I say Hi.
Rach,
All I have to say is amazing and you are only a few days into the trip. The story of the little boy with the "disease"...heart wrenching. His face...oh my, etched in my mind. And I have to say I am a bit jealous of your Dubai adventure. Dubai is definitely on my list of places to see one day. Keep doin God's work girl!
Kristin
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