With just a week to go before we return to the UK we went full circle this week and took Ivan back into our care. We first had him just after we arrived here. He has gone from underweight.....to too plump.....back to losing a lot of weight in a short space of time. It transpires that they have been forcing him to eat with the result that he now reacts by vomiting. At least we think that is the problem. He certainly has lost his appetite but is it psychological? By slow and careful feeding we have got him to the stage of not vomiting but he is not taking in enough nutrition. We tried him on goat's milk to see if he had got beyond his intolerance. I then had to endure a day of a very grizzly Ivan so I guess that's a clear 'no'. I reinstated feeding from a bottle which suits him no end. They admit he can't take from a cup properly and to be honest, I'm not much good at cup feeding little ones so the bottle was for mutual benefit. The Carers will have the problem of getting him back to cup feeding....Oh dear!
At last Doreen has her chair.
Not to be outdone, the Carers wanted their photos taken too. So poor Doreen is in the background whilst they take centre stage.
I am delighted to say I can name all the Carers in the picture....I can't name all the children however. With their haircuts they look very different. It can be hard to know if you are looking at a boy or a girl.
Emily returned this week and Ruth, PV Fundraiser came too. We had a meal together on Friday and made the mistake of being lazy and not washing up afterwards. Saturday was Charlotte's birthday cum DVD night so yet more cooking and food preparation.....but with no water or electricity. The only water was from the storage tanks on site and it was green with wiggly things. I momentarily considered if you could boil potatoes with Dettol in the water! I have never been more grateful for running water from a tap, that although still needs boiling, looks ok.
Mike is currently in bed in the middle of the day, having been up with one of the prem babies during the night. We have 2 prems that were doing ok but developed problems to the extent that he baptised them, not expecting them to survive. Two days on and they are still with us. Our latest two had very sad stories. One was born at 7 months on the road. The mum was trying to walk to the Hospital. She had lost 2 previous babies at this stage and it is thought she may have an incompetent cervix. Anyway the baby arrived very cold and covered in gravel. From the gravel pattern it is thought he may have dropped out and landed on the ground on his head. Despite being a better weight than our other inmates, he died. The next was a failed abortion at 6 months. Failed in that the baby was born live. The membranes were ruptured but it was several days before she gave birth. Apparently the stress the baby was under can mature the lungs so that has been an advantage to him. The baby has pulled back from his blip but is still very vulnerable. The mother seems to be ok about his survival but time will tell as it was a mutual decision by the parents to attempt the abortion.
At some stage we will start organising ourselves for our month's return to the UK. We leave here on June 4th and expect to be back in Kisoro around July 8th. Still, we don't need to bring much back just some clothes that would benefit from a good wash in the washing machine.
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