Hospice

I thought about those babies all weekend!! As it was raining here with some thunder and lightning, I wondered if they were scared or sound asleep like my children??
This morning there was a new baby at Mother Theresa's, she was 7 weeks old and had already lost her mother and the aunt that was taken care of her had been put in Hospice. Here, Hospice does not come to you, you go to a Hospice hospital to stay. Mother Theresa's campus has a community school at the front where children from the neighborhood come for school with the children in the orphanage. The middle of the campus is where the nuns live and the little children live. In the back of the campus are two big hospital rooms seperating males and females and housing the Hospice patients, there were about 70 people per room yesterday. The campus also has gardens to sell vegetables and also to eat, there is a workshop where a man was doing some woodwork and a few playgrounds for the children.
As I walked to the babies, I met one of the caregivers in charge of washing all the clothes and hanging them on the line. There were also 3 ladies sitting on the ground emptying cans of formula into a plastic bucket to prepare bottles. So many loving hands needed to care for these children.
I was a little late so Eneka (the Dutch lady) had already gotten most babies out of their cribs and they were outside playing. They were so happy to see me- not really- I was so happy to see them. They were in much better moods yesterday. They played for a couple hours then they would stop dropping off like flies. I would take one baby inside, change the nappy, come back out and there would be another one asleep on the mat. Ok- let me tell you about the nappy- now remember, I am the crazy woman that thought I would have my child wear cloth diapers- Poor Chelsea with the constant diaper rash. These babies have a handtowel folded over in all different directions to fit their size then these clips that stretch that I have never seen before then they would wear the plastic pants over that. Now, as Erik can tell you, I have the Super Sniffer- which is definitely a plus when someone is baking but when there are wet cloth diapers around- it is a curse!!
After the babies were all fed, nappies changed and down for their naps, Eneka took me back to Hospice. We walked into the women's side which was one huge room that had cots everywhere. Each cot was made and had water jugs and cups by it. The women were scattered about the area either eating or visiting the clinic or sitting and chatting. We met one of the caregivers, Loveness, who took us behind some curtains that were hung to seperate the room. There were probably 20 cots with women sitting on them. A few women were just sitting and talking while others were getting a bath. These women were in their final stages of AIDS. It was a picture that I have seen many times- they were soooo thin, some with sunken eyes, some too weak to sit. The nuns give them medicines to help with pain and some antibiotics to fit off viruses. The women did not look in pain just looked very tired. My heart broke for them- What a terrible disease!
The women that were in their early stages of AIDS would be assigned jobs to help care for others. They would cook or sew or garden or whatever to help. They were truly a group of women caring for each other in their last days. As I left Mother Theresa's that day...I began to think that I just saw one Hospice filled with patients, if I were to drive another mile or so...there would be another then another...This Country knows sickness so personally!!

Please pray for the sick at Mother Theresa's Hospice:
1) They have Hope in Jesus alone...
2) They make the transition into Heaven quickly with the least amount of pain...

Weekend Update!!

Saturday morning- Girls off to volleyball, boys off to baseball. Chelsea's team, ISL's U-15 girls, finished in 2nd place. They won their first two games and lost in the final match. They played great and looked much better than the tournament they played in one month ago. It was also definitely more exciting than the previous weekend's basketball tournament. It was a super hot day and finally the cloud coverage came for the final game. Erik and Bradley also made it for the final game- Chelsea was happy!!
We left the tournament around 1:30 just in time to make it to the 2:15 showing of Open Season 2. The best part, air conditioning and popcorn. The kids have a new favorite candy, Jelly Tots- Chelsea describes them as similar to Dots but with sugar on top.
We came home and made Taco Salad as we bought some homemade chips from the Shaw's houseman, Daniel. They were delicious!! We taught the kids how to play Hearts and tried our hardest to all stay awake until the Gator game at 10:30pm. Erik and I made it to game time and were happy to hear the Gators score 21 points very quickly but that was as far as we made it. We kept the internet on all night so as we woke up we could check the score but we didn't wake up again. What an exciting game, according to ESPN's write up the next morning!!
We met a new couple at Bible study last night, Christie and Brad with their 3 daughters from Birmingham. He is working for UAB and they have been here for 2 weeks. Last week we met 2 men from Birmingham that worked here doing medical missions. It is such a small world. UAB has about 30 people living in Lusaka doing HIV/AIDS research.
I also spent two days this week in The Shack. Wow, what a good book! If you haven't had a chance to read it, I encourage you to. I love the way it was written.