ONE PERSON CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

From Amanda Goble Sent: December 13, 2007 5:25 AM

Today was an emotional day. I spent my day in Kitale District Hospital with a three year old girl that was dying of malnourishment. Eva Joy and Caleb's organization sponsors a school in a nearby slum called Tuwani. They do a feeding program for the 85 children at their school. For most of their kids, the meals they get at school are the only meals they get at all. One of their little girls has a broken leg so they went to visit her yesterday at her home. Three of the five children in that family go to their school. When they got to the home they found the younger sister dying because of a lack of food. She was so bloated that one eye was swollen shut and her entire body was puffed huge. Her name is Esther. They asked the mom, a recent widow, if they could take Esther to the hospital because she was obviously in bad condition. Since the three older kids go to the school, they are feed regularly. Eva Joy and Caleb stayed with Esther all day so the mom could stay at home with the other children and the mom came for the night. This morning they resumed their shift of staying with Esther and eventually called me to take my shift and to bring some more supplies. I stayed until 4pm.

I want to attempt to paint you a picture of Kitale District Hospital. The district hospital is known for its bad conditions. The dirtiest I've felt in all of Kenya is at the hospital. There are blood drips on the floor, the walls are filthy, and there is an overcrowding of people packed into every crevice. When you are admitted to the hospital you have to provide your own bedding, food, medicines, etc. So that means going and buying the IVs and fluid bags and any other possible needs. It is unheard of in the children's ward; ward X, to have your own bed. Most beds have at least two patients, sometimes three and their parents. So as I sat in bed 25 of Cube 5 in Ward X with another baby and her mother I saw children suffering from all different things, every one of them with some sort of IV either through their hand or their head. IV bags hang all over the

door-less room from a cloths line that is drawn across the room and tied on with string. District hospital is very understaffed. There are times during the day when there are NO doctors at the hospital and only one matron in charge of the entire ward. I heard a story recently of a missionary here that got in a car wreck and was taken to this hospital and died because there were no oxygen tanks to be found in Kitale! I was able to manage decently well today, but then I had a breaking point.

Another girl from Eva Joy and Caleb's school showed up around 2 with her mother. This girl, Gillian, was suffering from Meningitis. This poor family has had a rough time recently. The mother is employed at the school as a cook and her younger children attend. Only a few weeks ago the 16 year old son passed away in the night from a preventable problem, but there was a lack of care and now the 6 year old is being admitted for meningitis. I think this poor mother, Isabella, is about to crack emotionally. So as I sat there with Isabella while Gillian was being tested and admitted, another boy sat across from me in his mother's arms. I'm guessing he was about 9. He has been at the hospital for a bit already and has been on IVs, of course. He was naked from the waist up and had unzipped trousers with a sweatshirt tucked into the back of them, instead of underwear. He was not coherent and was having some sort of convulsions. At one point he began to vomit so the mother pulled the very, very soiled sweatshirt out of the back of his trousers and had him vomit on it. When he stopped vomiting she wadded up the sweatshirt again and put it back into his trousers. That was the breaking point for me. I began to lose it emotionally and had to talk myself out of completely bawling in front of all of these people. This is normal life for them. This is what they expect when they go to the hospital. This is as good as things are going to get for them.

I walked out of Kitale District Hospital this evening with a huge knot in my stomach and a weight that I have never bore before. I walked out with a broken heart. I walked out questioning why God allows these things and knowing that he is sovereign and in control. I walked out today in a state that I have never been before and will return again to tomorrow to be faced with these things all over again.

Please pray for Esther and her family, Gillian and Isabella.

Esther is 3 but is the size of a 1 1/2 year old. She only weighs 9 kilograms (not real sure what that is in pounds. somewhere around 20 I think?).  She is very puffy and has sores all over her body.  

Update:  I went to visit Esther and Gillian this morning.  Esther was sleeping but I could tell that her swelling has gone down more and she is slowly getting better.  Gillian, though not appearing any better, was actually smiling at me.  I took her some crayons and paper, but she still isn’t able to bend her neck any from her stiffness, so she can’t draw quite yet.  I'll have to see how she's doing tomorrow.  If she still can’t bend her neck I'll just have to draw a picture for her and hang it by her bed! :)  Please continue to pray for them and their families!