Saturday 9 May 2009

More Goodbyes

I've been saying goodbye again - this time to a volunteer team. Most of the 3rd team left yesterday, although 5 of the team of 12 went on to a pastors conference in Lumley where they will be until next Wednesday. As always I was sad to see the team leave and it seems really quiet here now with just me and Becky here.

We spent today at King Georges doing office work and sorting through the aid left by the team. I had promised to give one of the boys (Lamin) computer lessons which we started today - he'd never used a computer before, but he's picking it up really quickly so I don't think it'll be long before he gets the hang of it. By the end of the lesson he was getting used to the keyboard, had setup an email account and had sent his first ever email.

Yesterday morning I took the team to visit Mahanaim before they left - I think everyone enjoyed the visit and the kids there love the attention they get when we visit. Ramatu is continuing to improve each time I see her. The picture here of Ramatu taken the first time I saw her stand. She is so much happier now, she has friends at Mahanaim and is taken care of and gets food every day - I'm hoping that eveuntually she'll be able to go to school. Sadly Ramatu's mother hasn't been in touch or been to see her since she went to the home over 6 weeks ago. Becky and I are planning to go to Church with the children from Mahanaim tomorrow.
.

We have a few days work to prepare for the next team who arrive on 22nd May, and then Becky and I are going to take a couple of days off - we've not decided yet whether to go to the beach or to head off into the provinces.

Friday 1 May 2009

Team 3....Margaret & Abu

Here's a photo of Margaret, the girl who was burnt with boiling water - her burns have healed so well. The only problem is that she seems to relate the pain she went through with the burns and the treament to me.....and so is scared of me! It's great to see her out of pain and to have healed so well.




The 3rd team have been here since Monday - we've had a couple of days working at the Grafton City of Rest site with them, working on the generator house and digging the well. Today we went to City of Rest in town and cleaned and painted two of the mens dormitories there. This afternoon we visited the Leonard Cheshire home and sang with the children there and then played some parachute games. We have twelve people on the team altogether, 5 of which will be leaving us next Tuesday for a pastors conference in Lumley......leaving us with a small team of 7 for the rest of the week.


The Abu situation is much the same as the last time I posted - he's still staying with another family (Shaka's family). Once the team have gone I'm going to have a chat with Shaka's Mum and see how she feels about having him stay there and if she's happy to have him long term - he seems happy there and so far seems to be fitting in ok and is being looked after.