Abibatu

Abi

If you've visited Mahanaim you might have met Abibatu, she doesn't live there, but she takes care of some of the young ones.

Abi passed away yesterday giving birth to twins, one of the babies died as well. the remaining baby is tiny but healthy and the family are deciding who is going to bring him up.

I saw her husband today and he is devastated. Everyone at the home is deely shocked and terrbily upset about losing Abi.
 

I don't know what else to say......it's so very very sad.

City of Rest Photos

Here's a few pictures of the Mission Direct building project for the City of Rest at Grafton. We are hoping the the residents will be able to move in this month.



The Accomodation and Chapel Block




Back view of the Accommodation and Chapel Block




David demonstrating that the well is working

Hit and Run

I spent a whole day at the hospital with this lovely lady this week. When she was picking up her grandson from school she was hit by an occada (a motorbike taxi). The driver just drove off, he didn't even stop to see if she was ok

Her grandson came and told me what had happened so we took her to hospital at Waterloo the next day.

The hospital doesn't have an x-ray machine, but the doctor was able to tell that the arm has two fractures and has put a cast on it- along with doing some very painful traction!

I'd thought that I would be just dropping her off and arranging the treatment, but the lady had other ideas - she was scared and wasn't going to stay at the hospital unless I stayed with her! The hospitals only doctor had an emergency operation to perform, so we ended up there the whole day!

I have no idea how old she is, and neither does she, but she is getting on in years. Please pray for a quick and full recovery for her. She is the sole carer for her grandson and does all the cooking and takes care of the house on her own.



Medication

When I made the request for financial help for the Waterloo Hospital to be able to purchase medication for the cholera epidemic I never expected such a fantastic response! Thank you so much to everyone who has been able to send a donation for the medication. They have made the first purchase of medical supplies shown in the picture below and more are being purchased next week and more donations have been pledged!!

 

 

Many lives have been saved and I am very grateful for the donations and prayers, as is Dr Koroma and his staff and patients.

 

Here's a message of thanks from Dr Koroma:

 

"I would like to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to you and the people that donated this money to us for the purchase of drugs to help in the treatment of cholera, indeed we have tried by our own means to handle these cases since the starting of the epidemic, and so far we have treated 112 cases, and only 3 deaths, and I think this is a good effort through God's help even though we have been struggling to buy the drugs and the fluids, but we have done far better. The epidemic is still not finished even though it has reduced, and people are now coming at an earlier stage than before, but we still need more drugs and fluids to be able to handle them proper"

 

Urgent Request

I spent some time with Dr Koroma from the Adventist Hospital at Waterloo this week. He has been very busy as Waterloo has been quite badly affected by the cholera epidemic. His biggest problem at the moment is lack of drugs due to the increased demand.

 

Cholera is easily treated, but only if the necessary drugs are available, and of course as always malaria and typhoid are a big problem

 

They had completely run out of drips, I was able to give enough for them to puchase around 100, but they won't last long.

 

The items most urgenty needed are:

Chloramphenicol, Dolycyline, Metronidazole, Albendazole, ORS, IV fluids (R/L & N/S) and Ciprofloxacin. (apologies for any spelling mistakes!).

 

All of the drugs needed can be purchased here.

 

If anyone feels they are able to make a financial contribution towards these much needed drugs please contact me and I can give details on how to proceed.

(This is the hospital I was admitted to when I had malaraia)
 

Sheku

This is Sheku, another of our sponsored children. He has cholera. He lives with his grandmother who took him for treatment straight away and he is recovering well.

Sheku is due to start a new school next week so we pray for a quick and full recovery for him.

Boima and Bohboh

Good news!! Boima was well enough today to be discharged from hospital! He sent a message to me earlier to say that he's at home and wants us to continue to pray for him. He also said that he's feeling much better, but wants some vimto! I have promised to send him some tomorrow. He was very pleased and grateful when I told him about all the people who have been praying for him (people in UK, Canada, US and even France and Germany if my blog stats are to be believed). It's such a relief to know that he is on the mend, when I saw him yesterday I was shocked by how ill he was.





Boima's little brother Abdul (better known as Bohboh) was much more fortunate than Boima, his illness was picked up on quickly so he received treatment much sooner. He's a little quieter than usual and still a bit off his food, but apart from that he's ok. Here's a picture of him taken when he started to feel better..

 

Bohboh is a lovely boy but I do wish he wouldn't call me 'Alison Potato' (I have no idea why he calls me that and think I'm better off not knowing!) and more than anything I wish he'd stop telling people that I have a large behind!!
 

 

Both of these boys are sponsored through the Mission Direct Sponsorship program and there is a provision in the sponsorship agreement for emergency medical care......it was through this that we were able to pay for Boima's treatment.

Boima



I went to visit Boima this afternoon. I was quite shocked when I saw him, as I last saw him only two days ago and he was fine then. I almost walked straight past him as I hardly recognised him at first - he looked like an old man lying there.

 

He's in a clinic that has been setup just to deal with cholera patients. He has had 5 drips today to rehydrate him, and now he is taking oral rehydration salts. He was complaining of stomach pains and cramp in his feet and he was obviously very uncomfortable. The nursing staff wanted him to eat some rice but he was refusing - we were able to convince him to have a few mouthfuls while I was there. He was desperate for a soft drink, but we were told that he wasn't allowed - I've promised to buy him some when he is better!

 

The clinic was an eye opener, we had to wash our hands and feet in chlorinated water as we arrived and as we left. The first room I went through was full of chairs with holes cut into the seats and buckets underneath. The ward where Boima was (a meeting hall converterted for the purpose) had 40 beds, all with holes cut into the middle with buckets underneath. Visitors aren't normally allowed and we weren't allowed to touch the patients. It broke my heart when Boima held out his hand to me and I wasn't allowed to take it. I have to say it was all very clean and seemed very well organised.

 

Boima's family have asked me to share the picture below of him that was taken today and they have asked for prayers for him,

 

 

A Very Poorly Boima



Sponsorship Work

I'm currently working on the education sponsorships in Sierra Leone, we have around 80 students on full sponsorships and another 40 or so that we assist with fees and uniforms. Most of my time so far has been spent checking their report cards, so far this year we have two who topped their class and a good number who are in the top 10 in their class. We only have three students so far who have failed to promote to the next school year and will have to retake the year.
 

We have 7 students waiting for their WASSCE (West Africal Senior School Certificate Examination) results, 9 students waiting for their BECE (the exams taken after the first three years at secondary school)  results and 4 students who have promoted from primary school to senior school.

 

We have a tailor working hard to sew the unforms for the students ready for the schools opening next week. Ibrahim, who helps me with the sponsorship program, has been to the schools and paid the fees. On Sunday we have a big meeting with all the parents and guardians of the students to go over any issues and to give the school supplies for the students.

 

Over the past two days two of our students have gone down with cholera, they are in hospital now receiving treatment.

 

I have heard through the grapevine the some more of the King George residents have passed away, but due to a breakdown I've been without a vehicle for the past week. Now that I have my wheels back I'll be able to visit there to see how everyone is.

 

I've also not been able to visit Ramatu, so I'm going to pop in there tomorrow and see how she's doing.

 

Trouble (the dog) has really grown!! I'd love to be able to post a picture of him, but he's so excitable that he doesn' stay still long enough to have his photo taken - I'll have to try to creep up on him.
 

Ramatu April 2012

Ramatu has had a good month, she has had very few fits and is continuing to get stronger. Her speech is also getting better. When we visited with the last team she joined in with the singing and the last few times I have visited days she seems to be mingling more with the other children. She still isn't well enough to go back to school, but she seems much happier recently than she has for a long time.

Sore Foot!

Just before I was about to leave Sierra Leone in February a friend called and told me his mother had a problem with her foot, he seemed very upset so I said I would go to visit her. I was expecting perhaps a boil or a cut with a bit an an infection......when I arrived at the house I was confronted with the foot you can see in the photos here. I was able to provide some money for medical treatment which is still ongoing.

Please join me in praying for healing for this lady. 

Safe and Well



Ali with his Mum and Sisters

After being missing for 4 days and 3 nights Ali is  back home with his family!! Thanks to everyone for their prayers.



Missing Child





This is Ali, he went missing in the Kissy area of Freetown on Monday 9th April. Please pray for his safe return to his family.

There will be appeals made on local radio and TV today and we are hopeful that he will be found safe.

RIP Mr Roberts

Mr Roberts

Sadly Mr Roberts (also known as Blind Daniel) passed away in January. Mr Roberts was a long time resident at King George VI Home for the Elderly

Team members will have fond memories of him playing his harmonical for us, singing with us and telling us about his life and working on the railways when he was younger.

He will be especially missed by his parner in crime Mr Charles.

Ramatu

This is Ramatu, the girl with epilepsy who was abandoned in Kissy back in 2008. As well as the epilepsy she has also been diagnosed with Sickle Cell.

She has had a difficult year and has been hospitalised a couple of times, but at the moment she is doing quite well - she is hoping that she will be able to get strong enough to return to school.



Ramatu - March 2012



Samuel AKA Fabrigas

Samuel - March 2012

Back in March 2010 I posted about Samuel, a boy who was malnourished (see here), then in November 2010 I posted an updated of him looking much better (see here).

On the right is a picture of him taken today (March 30th 2012), he's grown into a lovely little boy.....although he's usually much more cheerful than he looks in this photo!

No-one calls him Samuel these days....he's much better known as Fabrigas, after the footballer!

I seem to have grown on him too and he doesn't cry whenever he see's me anymore.

Here Comes Trouble!



This is Trouble - he's going to be my guard dog!



Long time.....No Post

How can it have been almost a year since I've updated this blog? Where on earth has all that time gone?

Quite a lot has happened since my last post.....I've been back and forth to Sierra Leone three more times, I've had malaria twice, we've had 4 short term teams come and go, I no longer have the cat, but have acquired a dog called Trouble. We continued work at the City of Rest and build a Palava Hut for the hospital in Waterloo. So much has happened, there's no way I can list it all!

I've just had a 5 week break in the UK and came back to Freetown a couple of days ago to prepare for the teams who will be coming out in April and May. Tomorrow I will be joined by Adele who will be working with me for the next couple of months, Adele has been to SL on 4 short term teams and has such a love for the country and it's people that I know she is going to be a great asset to the team.

Our first team arrives on 1st April, also joined by Steve who will be our constuction manager. The team will be spending some of their time painting at the Adventist Hospital in Waterloo and the rest of the time replacing the flooring at the Evangelical School in Kissy.

The hospital the team will be working at was the very first project I worked on during my first trip to Sierra Leone in 2006. We were building accommodation for visiting medics, the building are now being used as private rooms for patients. It was here that I was admitted in December 2011 for treatment for malaria - I was so impressed with the care and treatment I received there. I was always worried about the medical treatment I might receive should I ever become ill in Sierra Leone, but I needn't have worried as the care I received was excellent.