Sunday 25 May 2014

It takes an hour to make a sandwich or a pair of crutches.

 

 

 

It's great to have talent around. Having injured my foot I needed help walking. In one hour Festo had made me a wonderful pair of crutches. I don't know what I would have done without them. After 4 weeks in plaster the prospect of a new nurse arriving plus a team of 15 people convinced me it was time for the plaster to come off and for me to get around with greater ease. I could not afford the time for a huge wait in Hospital so spent 4 hours one evening with a metal ruler (to stop me cutting my leg) and Stanley knife to remove it. As it was a synthetic bandage, soaking it would not have achieved anything. Sheer determination prevailed.

 

 

 

 

We have had 2 new babies this week. One, Mugisha, is an abandoned newborn baby. He was brought in well fed and warm which makes our Social Worker suspicious that he was not really abandoned. She went to the village who brought him in and said she wants them to come forward with the truth before the Police get involved. We shall wait and see. The other baby, Tangiwahe (or something like that!) was a prem baby born in a local hospital. The mother died the day after birth and the family asked if the baby could be transferred to us. We arranged with the family to collect in the afternoon having warmed up the incubator and got the hot water bottle etc. ready for transporting. The father suddenly appeared with the baby. The hospital told him it was ok to take the baby in a cloth and come on a motorcycle. Oh well!

 

 

 

Promise struggles on. Yesterday she was baptised by the local Catholic Priest. It was felt she was not well enough to go to the mass baptism in the church today so I dressed her up and she was baptised in a service on site with her father and some relatives and staff. Following baptism she has been renamed Judith....which we all struggle at associating with her. She will always be Promise to us, I think.

 

Sometimes the speed at which things get done is amazing. One Monday we decided in the senior Staff meeting that a canteen would be a great addition. On Wednesday building began, by Friday it was complete. The medical centre is getting a lot busier so hot drinks and food for families and visitors would be good. Also, cheap hot meals for our staff could sell well. We have given the business to someone not employed by us so the responsibility is not ours. We have paid for the building out of funds donated to projects of our choosing. Once doing well, we will charge rent for the building and use the money recouped for other projects.

This last Thursday Nadia arrived. She is a neonatal nurse from New Zealand and working here for 5 months. We can tell she will fit in very well. Yesterday a team of 15 arrived from the UK . They are Diocesan visitors but include the Chair of Potter's Village UK Trustees so have an interest in us as well. One of the group is an artist who has brought her paints to paint a mural for us. An electrician has brought equipment to find out why we melt plugs in the medical centre; a technical person is going to see if they can mend one of our incubators; an upholsterer is going to cover a rather chewed looking bench....they are only here for 10 days but we look forward to the impact they will have.

Thanks to Leonard's gardening, we have had our first rhubarb crumble. Couldn't do the correct crumble topping as we don't have a suitable oven dish but a muesli topping sufficed.