1 Year B-Day catch up post #4

OK, It’s no surprise that Shaddy and Meesh are our favorites at Crisis. Their birthday was December 22, so we decided to throw them a mini birthday party. We made brownies and brought crates of drinks for the mommies that staff the nursery. We let the kids have some of the brownies as well, and it was a disaster. The kids, I guess, had never had something that sweet before, and the moment Caroline (one of the mommies) sat on the floor and tried to hand each kid a small brownie, they swarmed her and the plate of brownies was all over the floor! We also brought balloons, but most of the kids were afraid of them. Kondwani (one of the older kids) ran away from me, terrified of the balloons. Of course it was entertaining so I chased him around the nursery with the balloon. Meesh had fun trying to bite the balloons and after the first two popped I decided he didn’t need to be playing with the balloons anymore.

We were able to sing happy birthday to Shaddy and Meesh, and we got to Skype with my mom and sister for a bit. They also sang them happy birthday. It was fun to get to celebrate their one-year birthday, because birthdays are not celebrated very much at Crisis. It is very busy and stressful for the mommies, and there are more than 20 kids there, so it’s hard to remember EVERY single child’s birthday. That’s why I’m glad that we were able to provide a tiny birthday party for them. It’s fun for the kids, but also fun for the mommies. After we got back from the party I was looking through my pictures of Shaddy and Meesh when we first arrived in Malawi. They looked tiny compared to their one–year-old pictures. I think it’s neat how fast children grow and change, and I don’t think I realized how much Shaddy and Meesh had grown until I saw the pictures from July.

Anyway, Shaddy and Meesh have recently gone to a foster home (late Feb is when they were placed in the foster home). The foster family goes to church at IBF which is on the ABC campus. I have not seen the boys since they’ve been placed, but I hear they are thriving and doing well. While Jeff and I miss them terribly, we know they are in a great home being loved on and raised in a Christian environment. And now we’re extra happy we took pictures of them when we got here up until now, because we can share those pictures with the family. So when the boys grow up they will be able to have pictures of themselves when they were younger!

Happy Birthday Shaddy and Meesh!

It’s ALL About Jesus,

Carson

Birthday boys!

I like Shaddy's sweet smile in this one!

Whoah, surprised Shaddy in this picture!

This was the "attack of the kids" moment...notice Meesh reaching in for more brownies

This picture was taken when Shaddy and Meesh came to stay with us for a weekend because both of them had really high fevers. Amazing what Tylenol and Ibuprofen syrup do around the clock. We had them playing and splashing in the tub in no time!

Shaddy had figured out how to splash himself in the face...

splash wars!

the plastic bottle was more interesting than any of the toys we had for them to play with

oh, Jeff's hat was more interesting than the bottle

sleep-drunk Shaddy

random day at crisis

Shaddy's Mr. T hairstyle is in full swing in this picture!

Esime-catch up post #3

In early December Crisis nursery had received another baby from a family about an hour from Lilongwe. The baby was tiny (2kg or 4.4lbs), and the 7^th born in the family. The mother died from post partum hemorrhage (a VERY common thing in Malawi) and the father was too overwhelmed/couldn’t care for this baby as well as the 5 others at home (the 6^th born died from HIV complications at 2 years of age). Upon receiving the child at Crisis, the director (Mwawi) called me to come get Esime. She was very concerned because Esime had a rattly chest and was breathing very rapidly, as well as being malnourished. I brought her to Tiyamike (our children’s ward) and Dr. Young assessed her. She was placed on strict feeds and antibiotic injections. Esime thrived and grew very quickly. She was only at our ward for about 2 weeks, which looking back on it now was incredible. These kids that are brought to our ward are simply amazing. Becky, Dr. Young and I always say how astounding it is that these kids can thrive when all the odds are against them. It’s moments like these that remind me of how powerful God is, and how there’s no earthly explanation of why these kids thrive. It is simply the work of Christ. That is why I really like our motto at the clinic, “We Treat, God Heals”. It couldn’t be more evident than in these kids. I’ll be posting a recent picture of Esime soon, you won’t believe how big she is now!

It’s ALL about Jesus,

-Carson-

Gosh, she's just huge, isn't she? NOT! 

TINY!

I think she was tired of me taking pictures at this point

I think she's saying, "enough already!"

Zikomo-giving

Zikomo is thanks in Chichewa. Actually, zikomo can mean a lot of other things as well, but it’s the word used for thank you. Anyway, this Thanksgiving was fun, different, and memorable. We had most of the “normal” American foods. We even had sweet potato casserole (my favorite!). Initially I was kinda bummed because I wanted sweet potato casserole, but sweet potatoes weren’t in season during Thanksgiving. BUT momma Dehnert is smart and put some sweet potatoes in her freezer to have to make sweet potato casserole to share with everyone for Thanksgiving. Turkey, dressing, veggies etc were all served. Of course, there was pie. Lots and lots of desserts were available, and the most coveted dessert was the pumpkin pie Becca Hiroto made. When it was time to serve dessert everyone rushed to the table to get a small slice of her pumpkin pie. Becca was smart and had some pumpkin puree from the States shipped, so the pie was not only good, it tasted like home. I tried to make pecan pie with the pecans the Franklin’s sent us, but I didn’t have corn starch, so I kind of made pecan pie/pecan mush. Either way, it was tasty and it too tasted like home.

Also, Chisomo had been improving so well he was able to attend Thanksgiving dinner! Becky and her family are fostering to adopt him (after all the crazy paperwork goes through) so below are some of the pictures of him. He looked 10 times better than when we had rescued him only 2 weeks prior to that! He was the center of attention, and he loved every minute of it!

So this is my catch-up post #2.  I hope to be caught up to present day soon!

Carson

Yes, I was a LITTLE over enthusiastic about the sweet potato casserole. Thanks momma Dehnert!

Chisomo and Jeff at Thanksgiving dinner

He is such a ham!

Chisomo playing with Becca and Kellen

I couldn't post this picture in my last post because the internet was too slow to upload the picture, BUT this is the picture of the things the lady heaved up. The rock was not in that paper we just placed it in there for the picture. But the note was ripped up, and that is the red string that was tied around the woman's abdomen.

Fuel Shortage

Since last Saturday, April 2, there has been a fuel shortage in Malawi. Friday I got out of school at 1:10 and went to sit in a line of cars waiting for fuel. The tanker had not actually dropped the fuel off yet because the tanker was not in Lilongwe. I waited about 2 hours before the tanker arrived with the fuel. Once the line started moving I was thinking it would not take very long. I was wrong! Once I got close to the front, I realized they were letting people with all types of bottles and cans get in line to get fuel as well. As far a I know that is actually illegal in Malawi when there is a fuel shortage. Then they were letting cars in 2 different entrances which created an even bigger problem with traffic flow. I finally got to the front and heard they were only allowing people to fill up with 5,000 kwacha (about $30) worth of fuel but we were on empty and needed about 10,000 kwacha. I started talking to the manager about 3 cars from the pump and asked him how much I could have. He asked how much I needed so I told him, “10,000K.” He talked to me until it was my turn and filled me up! I took a few books to read while waiting and I am glad I did because I sat in line from 1:30-6:10. I was actually never frustrated or mad because I went in thankful that fuel was even available. Pray that the fuel problem ends soon as it is still not readily available!

Because of Jesus,

Jeff

Singanga

I know it’s been QUITE a long time since I have posted. I sure hope everyone had a great holiday season. Believe it or not, the holiday season in Lilongwe was still just as busy. Even though we didn’t have the constant commercialized reminders that it was Christmas time, we were still just as busy. So, I figured I’d post the latest happenings one post at a time until I catch up to current day.

On Monday, November 29^th it was a normal Monday at the clinic. About 7:45 am a woman arrives with her husband. Her husband said his wife woke up in the night unable to move her legs. I immediately thought, “oh great, drama before 8am.” We get her to lay on the bed and when we ask what’s wrong, the woman can’t speak but mouths that her belly hurts and she’s unable to move her legs. We take her vital signs and nothing is abnormal. Dr. Young looks in her mouth and there’s nothing obstructing her throat or anything. We start asking her husband multiple questions and the woman starts heaving violently. Becky and I grab an emesis bucket because she looks like she’s going to puke. After a full minute of the woman heaving, a rock, piece of plastic and piece of paper come out of the woman’s mouth. No mucus, no vomit, no spit, the paper was dry and the rock was about an inch in diameter. We were puzzled. Then the woman was grabbing her stomach so we pulled her shirt up and saw a red piece of cloth tied around the woman’s abdomen. This is a sign that the singanga, or witch doctor, had been to visit her. I opened the piece of paper and it had 3 crosses written on the top. The letter was in Chichewa, but the husband said it was a death note. It was a definite indicator that the witch doctor had come to visit this woman. The husband was spooked and asked if he could take the contents to his church. We wanted to burn them, but he insisted that he take them to the church the couple attends weekly. We allowed them to take them, but not before we got a picture of everything. The husband was asked to gather family members to pray and sing over his wife. People arrived and they sang and prayed. About 2 hours later, the woman was able to walk out of the room on her own two feet with no problems. Weird? Yes. Crazy? Yes. Explanation…Jesus is in control and the devil is very much alive.

            Jeff and I constantly say how much we try to rationalize things like this when in fact they’re complete evidence of how God is in control and the devil is working. Could there be some scientific explanation of why this woman’s airway didn’t close up? I’m sure. But the truth is the devil is alive and working all around the world. We were very scared and spooked by this whole situation. When asking some of the college students around campus about these types of incidences, they all can give some sort of account of an experience they had with a singanga. But if these things were to happen in the States we would blow them off and give some sort of “rational” excuse of why it happened. It’s very interesting to me how much we can “rationalize” situations in the States, but here in Malawi they accredit these incidences to the singanga. I almost feel as if they have it more figured out than we do, like they give God the “credit” more than we do in the States.