Moving on

So with a few months away from Africa we will be returning at the beginning of May. Not at all sure what that will look like so life continues to be an adventure. Maybe I'll have something exciting to share when I get back there so until that time arrives I will be silent!!

Saturday 12th December 2009
The school year has come to an end. This year’s production was ‘Noah’s Ark’ for the lower school and ‘Oliver Twist’ for the upper school. Thursday evening the performance was put on for the young people from swazi200 and on Friday for the local community. A lot of work had gone into the production – from the children learning their lines, music being found to go with the scenes, to costumes being made that were just fantastic. It was a truly incredible end of the year event. Hubby was master of ceremony of the whole thing and he was very proud to finish on such a good production.
Earlier on in the week, there was a pizza and salad evening for the staff at the lodge; this was followed by silly games and a few tributes to people leaving. I don’t think it has really sunk in that hubby is leaving the school, seems surreal somehow. However, my take on things is slightly different than hubby’s, we have in-depth conversations about what the immediate future looks like and I think our ‘Bulembu experience time’ is up, He is not sure and so we are praying for clarity in this situation.
The clinic was well blessed these last two weeks with the medical crew from swazi200 and my niece – last year med student. Sometimes we had more staff than patients but they got excellent care and we all learnt a lot, to have a paramedic with all his equipment was a blessing too and he saved the life of one woman for sure in the middle of the night. On the other hand the Piggs peak hospital continues to be a challenge every time a patient is taken in there because of their lack of experienced staff and equipment!!
The most exciting thing we have to look forward to in January is the birth of our first grandchild, yeah I know I’m sure I’m repeating myself but that excites our hearts and we are so looking forward to our trip to the states in January to visit our daughters and son in laws.
Am also really excited to have all the family together and see all the kids and partners - we are so blessed. God is so good to us................

Anything is possible!

Friday 4th December

The town is busy, Over run with young people doing an amazing job of painting, art work, teaching, medical work. These students give up two weeks of holiday to come and serve in Bulembu and get a lot of work done, the clinic is definitely benefiting this year, they are giving the outside a good paint and freshen up and have supplied us with a paramedic, a registered midwife and two medical students who are seeing patients and responding to Emergencies. Sometimes it has seemed a little overwhelming attending to medical needs especially since it has only been my Canadian colleague and I for the last month. My niece is also visiting and as a final year medical student her expertise at the clinic is appreciated.
This week the new midwife started too, she is efficient and seems to know what she is doing , however, coming from another place she is doing a few things quite differently than we are used to but I am sure things will all fall into place and she will settle in well. This means we can recommence antenatal care and PMTCT (prevention of mother to child transmission) again which is needed here in Bulembu.
School is busy rehearsing for their end of year production and closes for Christmas on 11th Dec.
I feel our time in Bulembu is coming to an end, not by our choice though which is sad but by rules and regulations put in place by the management here. Ultimately though I know that GOD is in control and whatever the outcome is I believe it is the right one for us whether it is staying here or leaving! Many things are changing, people being shifted from place to place, new people coming in, many younger models, and many people getting hurt unfortunately as they are replaced by more accommodating individuals.
Fortunately during our stay here we have formed relationships throughout Swaziland and know that if we have to leave Bulembu then the Lord will open up another door here in this country until it is time to leave Swaziland.
I believe that the Lord has placed our children all over the world for a reason and one of the best things about it is that we can go and visit our children and ANYTHING can happen! WE are flexible and want to follow the Lords call to wherever he places us – Isn’t that exciting? I love to travel and am happy to follow the Lord wherever He wants to take me and my hubby.
‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight’. Proverbs 3 v 5 & 6.

Adoption

Sunday 29th November
Wow don’t the weeks fly past?
This week we were busy getting police clearances, certifying all our important paperwork for the adoption. We are hoping to get a court date this week. Still a lot to do before we can take our new daughter to America, passports, wavers, all bureaucratic #~@’:;/.,
The sun is shining and we have 210 university kids in town, to paint, to help out wherever and to give them a life changing experience! It happened last year and there were twice as many. I have the job of making waffle batter every morning for two weeks before going to work – that should be fun.
We have a new midwife starting at the clinic this week, at last, we can restart antenatal care, PMTCT which will be a great help in our little town.....
This is going to be short today, I am recovering from a stomach bug – was really sick yesterday, threw up and had the shivers and temperature so I am not feeling 100%. Hopefully more news to report next week.......................

Visit to ER and personal update.

Friday 20th November 2009
We got a call at 12.20pm, an accident in the forest, send the ambulance. Julia our ER nurse went with Bert our ambulance driver. Deep deep into the forest on the outskirts of Bulembu. Whilst workers were felling trees, a branch had fallen on a 25yr old guys head, a freak accident, he was bleeding profusely from several puncture wounds on his head and out of his left ear. He was barely conscious, Julia bandaged the head and ears up, she cannulised and started an Intravenous infusion. On their way back through they pick me up and I sorted out the IV as there was air in the tube so on the bumpy road to Piggs peak I changed the tubing and pushed fluids. Julia held his head as we thought the neck may have been injured too. It was touch and go, he was having trouble breathing, and we used the ambi bag at one point. We were praying all the way that he would make it to the hospital! The journey to Piggs peak usually takes about 30 minutes – we made it in just over 15 by Berts expert driving skills.
We called ahead of time to the hospital to tell them we were bringing in a serious head Injury from Bulembu.
On arrival at the hospital there are no doctors in sight. A nurse comes and shows us into the mini theatre where there is at least a trolley with essential equipment to intubate a patient. The nurse administers dexamethazone and then the doctor arrives, the patient vomits and again nearly stops breathing. He vomits a lot of blood, suction and Oxygen is brought in – he is suctioned out and finally intubated by another doctor. This is Africa and Piggs peak Hospital is so badly equipped it’s horrifying! At least they have intubated to stabilise him, He is put into their ambulance and transported into Mbabane (the capital) another hour’s drive away, to be admitted into the Government hospital. He is sent to ICU and the next day we hear he is still alive barely, we continue to pray for the young man from the forest............

Hubby has been asked to step down from being Principal of the school at the end of this year. The NGO Ministry feel he is not the right one to take it forward to cater for the ever increasing numbers and conflict has been growing as we see ourselves as missionaries and BMS want to see us as employees. They want to employ people who have the right career motivation, experience and qualifications. They agree he has done a wonderful job of building the school up to where it is now and the new job description for ‘Director of Education’ looks like the exact job Hubby is doing right now but they say he has to apply if he wants the job!!!
Probably too complicated for me to explain here and I’m pretty confused about the whole deal anyway so not sure I can write it down. But we would appreciate your prayers as to the next step we should take regarding the whole thing. God is faithful and I believe He engineers circumstances. He’ll lead the way and knows what’s best for us.

Weather changable.

Friday 13th November
The weather is getting warmer, every morning the sun comes up and then it shines all morning, the usual pattern for the afternoon is rain, followed by thunder and lightning. That’s pretty regular, the roads suffer terribly this time of year, because every time we have a storm, it takes another bit of road away again. Getting to Piggs Peak is a pain as you never know what to expect, fortunately we have a 4 x 4 car so we can usually manage. The weather this evening is deteriorating and the power is dipping on and off, that mean no internet either so I won’t get to post this until tomorrow!
It’s been another busy week! It looks like we should get a date next week with the Magistrate in either Piggs peak or Mbabane to do the adoption. Our foster daughter is looking forward to being part of our family; and the family are looking forward to her joining us as our new daughter and sister.
Bulembu continues to be a challenge, healthcare is essential and yet there seems little interest in people wanting to donate and support this. There is a lot of promised money for orphan care, for businesses like the bakery, the honey and the dairy but no funds available for healthcare and the school. These two essential services are obviously dear to hubby and my heart as we are involved in them, so there seems to be a lot of hardship right now and a lot of choices we have to make trying to manage both the clinic and the school with little funding.
We are being stretched way beyond our comfort zones at the clinic, emergencies come in and working in a rural setting with no doctor is way beyond my abilities so I am learning a lot from my Canadian colleague being ER trained and very competent in this area, I am also learning how to manage the other 3 staff and becoming an expert at ordering medicines, diagnose many different conditions and communicate with the locals through translators as I still have absolutely no siSwati in my vocabulary. A real learning curve totally. What the future holds I have no idea, I have to take one day at a time.

Don't give up!

Friday 6th November
What a week! It started with another resignation from the clinic. The male RN gave me his resignation with immediate effect. Why, was the question we were all asking? Clinic conditions – small wage and not enough staff, well it is only going to get worse! It leaves me and my Canadian counterpart. Thankfully she is still here until February. We both speak really good English but no siSwati ! My next task was to go and see the decision maker and find out there is no money for healthcare so no one else will be employed.... what about the ‘on call service’? I have decided to stop that from Monday next week. It is too much for two of us to manage with working 7 – 4.30 Mon – Friday. We are in a battle in this place, fortunately I think that means we are making an impact here in Bulembu. But it’s been a tough week in all areas, so much so that I have no idea what the future holds. In the village a local swazi woman is spreading rumours around that I have not cared for her properly because of an incident that happened concerning her. But this is Swaziland and unfortunately she knows of no other way to behave, she is an individual that has no care for her children and is keen to make trouble for others. All I can do is turn to Jesus and give all these troubles to him!! 1 Peter 3:8-9 " Finally all of you should be of one mind, full of sympathy toward each other,
loving one another with tender hearts and humble minds. Don't repay evil for evil.
Don't retaliate when people say unkind things about you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing.
This is what God wants you to do, and He will bless you for it " (NLT)
All I can do is look forward and take one day at a time .On a very positive note, we went in to see if we could get the international passport for our foster daughter, the passport office in Swaziland said they need the adoption papers before they will issue an passport for her. As we are ready for this to happen, we are hoping this will speed up the process and get sorted before the end of the year…we are really excited about taking her out of Swaziland and into other interesting countries. We have seen a big change in her since she has been with us full time, she is relaxed and even catching some of that skinner humour! Being adopted will give her a British passport and a world of opportunity awaits her.