My Back

I recently received word from my dermatologist that I had to have a bump removed from my back as soon as possible. After much searching, I found a good doctor about an hour and a half away by bus. He removed the bump for me at no cost (what a blessing)!

Here is my scar as it looked on 10/24/08.

It's a bit sore....

Their local anesthetic isn't the best, so I had the privilege of being quite aware of some of the cutting and the stitches.

I'm thankful that everything went smoothly, though! God is good!

Afro!

I really couldn't resist these pictures. :)

I Still Need Money

Thank you again to those of you who so generously gave money so I could come to Africa. A few of you still continue to give, and I am incredibly grateful!

I do still need to raise more money. I still need about $1500. A portion of that I will leave here at Cradle of Love when I return to the United States.

I know that most of you who are reading this blog have already given. In that case, could you please pass the word along to friends and family? Any donation helps! Ask your church family. Post a notice in the bulletin. I can send brochures or other information. Just ask! Also feel free to check out the website: www.cradleoflove.com.

If you decide to donate directly to Cradle of Love through the website, please let me know so I can include it in what I am "leaving behind" as a donation. Keep in mind that donations directly to the baby home do not help me with my expenses.

As always, keep praying!

Thank you and God bless!

Quick Update

I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm all better! Not sick anymore! Yay!

Thank you SO much for all your prayers. God is answering my prayers and taking care of me in ways that I wouldn't expect. He goes beyond all my expectations.

Sick :(

Unfortunately I had an unpleasant experience this weekend. On Sabbath night I woke suddenly very ill. I stayed sick all day Sunday. I won't go into detail, but it wasn't pleasant. I think I may have some sort of parasite. Not fun! This morning (Monday) I started antibiotics. Hopefully that'll knock whatever it is out of my system! I am thankful, though, that unlike Sunday, today I had the energy to move around, take a short walk, and even play with the babies a bit! I was bedridden all day Sunday, without even enough energy to sit up. Now, just a day later, I am feeling much better! Thank you for all your prayers!

I have also learned to be thankful for my strong stomach. I've never been one to throw up when I'm ill, which sometimes means that I have to suffer through nausea longer than others. When I realized that some people who get parasites throw up so much they can't keep down water or medicine, I decided that I'm very thankful I never throw up!

Despite my not-so-happy weekend, I am in great spirits. I'm just thankful for medicine, energy, water, and people who care. God bless!

Just Another Day

The other volunteers were gone today, and Davona went to church with her family. I was assigned to be a nanny from 7am to 1pm so I didn't get to go to church. My job as a nanny consisted of feeding, bathing, changing, putting down for naps, etc. for 6 babies. I was replacing a nanny who is on holiday for the month. I have the afternoon/evening shift tomorrow.

After my shift I rode the dala-dala into Tengeru. I just needed to get away, get some exercise and get some sunshine. It really helped! I talked to a few locals, as I always do when I go into town, and tried to learn more Swahili.

Here is a picture of Rachel, one of the shy babies who loves me:

Bahati Is Healthy!

Yesterday afternoon Davona, Batilda (the nurse), and I performed an HIV rapid test on Bahati. It consists of drawing a small amount of blood and mixing it with some solution. A piece of paper reveals a pink line if the blood has HIV, and no line if it doesn't. We waited anxiously for the 15 minutes that it takes to complete the test, staring at the little strip of paper, praying we wouldn't see a pink line. And there is no pink line! Bahati's original diagnosis was wrong, as the doctor suspected. He doesn't have HIV!

Please keep praying that Clinton and Helena will also test negative for HIV.

A Ray of Hope

I mentioned earlier that 3 of our babies tested positive for HIV. I was wrong; four of our babies tested positive. One baby, Rahma, is definitely positive and has started antiretroviral medications (ARVs). She will take them for life. The others recently had a blood test to determine if they need ARVs.

The other volunteers and I drove into Usa River today to find out the results from the last blood test. The doctor, an Italian man, gave us some good news. He said that the antibody count for three of our babies is actually very low. Often a baby whose mother is HIV+ has antibodies in its blood for about a year after birth, even if they don't have the virus. Since the count is so low, the doctor thinks that those 3 babies don't actually have the virus! One child, Bahati, is getting tested again a week from today. If the results are negative, then he is perfectly healthy and HIV-free! If the results are positive, then we have to wait another 4-6 months and test him again. The other 2 babies are only about 6 months old. We have to wait until they are a year old to do more testing.

I'm so excited, and so hopeful! Please pray for these precious babies.

Flood

Today I had the privilege of driving all the volunteers (there are 6 of us) into town to pay a visit to the immigration office. An immigration official stopped by the other day and told us that our visas aren't good enough and we have to get work permit/class C visas. Which means we all have to pay another $120. I left 4 of the girls in town and came back with Emma. I was a few steps ahead of her as we walked into the apartment, but I stopped short just as I got inside. Our whole apartment was covered with TWO INCHES of standing water!

Before we left, the tub was on because some clothes were soaking. Then the water suddenly cut off (as it does often), and we thought we turned off the faucet, but apparently hadn't turned it all the way off. While we were gone the water came back on and flooded all our bedrooms, our bathrooms, and our hallway. All my books are ruined, and some of my stationery is a little disformed. The only book that survived completely damage-free was my Bible (what a blessing!!). Luckily that was all the damage I suffered. Emma's computer may be ruined. We're still waiting to see if it will turn on. My other roommates seem to have not lost much, if anything. I'm thankful for that!

The water took 2 hours to clean up. I wish we had a pump. Instead, Emma and the gardener, David, mopped it all up with mops and bed sheets and towels. I had to go to a meeting and could not help.

The meeting I had to go to was Cradle of Love's 1st administrative council meeting. Davona, the director, and I are the 2 administrators. Our council also consists of Zahara, the staff coordinator, and Batilda, the nurse. We had a great meeting (there were a lot of issues to discuss!). I really like being part of the administration. I feel respected and valued, and like I can make a difference. I've also started to become a sort of mediator between the director and the other volunteers. There is nothing bad to mediate; I just help make sure that scheduling is communicated, etc.

I'm glad the water is cleaned up, but I'm still lamenting the loss of my books (most of which were brand new).

I'm also relieved, though, that the administrative council seems like a group that will work together very well.

Lions and Zebras and Elephants, oh my!

Today we went on a safari to the Ngorongoro Crater! We had to leave Usa River at about 6am so we could make it to the crater by mid-morning.

Before we looked at the animals in the bottom of the crater, we stopped at a Masaai village and took a tour. They even danced for us! This is me with one of the Masaai men outside his hut made out of dung!




Here I am holding elephant bones with a water buffalo skull at my feet.

We saw all kinds of animals in the crater: elephants, water buffalo, wildebeast, hippos, lions!, zebras, warthogs, dik-diks, many birds, a hyena, and rhinos!

In the picture above, you can see that the safari vehicles are following two lions as they walk down the road. How exciting! We also had the rare opportunity to see a lioness hunt and kill a zebra.

1st Birthday Party

The other day we threw a birthday party for 4 of the babies' 1st birthday!
Another volunteer and I made the cake and icing completely from scratch. We were so proud of ourselves! We even had to sift the flour and mix the powdered milk.
After giving every child a small piece, we just let the toddlers have at the cake. They made such a mess, but they were so excited the whole time! We even had fun cleaning up. :)