Yesterday at midday, Rev Florence our Chaplain appeared at our door. As Saturday is supposed to be my day off I tend to wear trousers in recognition of that. Florence eyed me up and down and said..'you make a good man' Not knowing quite how to respond to that I thought...and moving on...
Florence sat on the sofa and said ' God has told me to take your glasses'.
She produced a piece of paper with very small writing which even with her existing glasses she could not see. It was a form to be filled. Thinking it was an error of translation I thought maybe she wanted me to read it to her. No, there was no error. 'It's 9 pages', she said. 'I want to take your glasses'.
Part of me quickly thought...how do I explain varifocals?...another part thought...and how am I supposed to see? Did I bring a spare pair of glasses with me?
I told her that I didn't think my glasses would be right for her but just before we'd left the UK someone had given me a spare pair of glasses in case they would be useful to someone. They were sitting on my office desk. I went to fetch them.
'Aiee', she shrieked. 'Praise be to God'. She got up and clapped and danced. ' I told you God had said I was to take your glasses and look, He provided a pair for me'. 'This is the first miracle I have seen this morning. How many more will I see before night?' With that she sashayed along the verandah waving her arms in the air.
Mike and I just laughed. She's a real tonic.
We've had several visitors this week. Nsaba came along for Community Support and showed off his walking skills. He is one chubby little boy but still with the same gorgeous smile and dimples.
Peace, on the right, came along with her sister. Peace was a girl we had taken in with severe malnutrition, feet covered with jiggers, HIV and a Grandmother who couldn't look after her. She is now fostered locally and doing very well. Her sister Maria was also brought to us for care and the foster mother has taken them both. Peace is 6 1/2 years old, her sister is 4 yrs. You can see from that how very stunted Peace is.
Our other visitors were goats and sheep to be handed out to some of our Community Support children. Geoffrey had visited to check that suitable animal housing had been constructed, he had chosen the animals from market and they would be dewormed before handing over.
Young Ivan took charge of his goat but it rather looks like they are heading in opposite directions!
Beth is our latest Potter's baby. Her young mother bled to death after delivery. She is now 2 weeks old but has not been well. She is on lactose free formula milk. The vomiting has stopped and the diarrhoea has improved but she won't feed by mouth. Up until yesterday she was being fed by a syringe pump which meant she was being fed very slowly. Now she is being fed by nasogastric tube. Every day there is a little improvement.
