This true story will help you to perhaps understand how difficult it is sometimes to work with people who have limited knowledge on how medicines work.....
Sister Grace and I where manning two seperate out-reach dispensary tables at a big maasai celebration meeting, and after the initial rush of patients, I settled myself down to watch some 400 maasai morans start their amazing jumping techniques. After a while, a maasai came over to my table and picked up the water jug and a throw-a-way cup. Still intent on watching this spectacle, I just happened to turn around just in time to see a handful of tablets been placed in this guys mouth and swilled down with water......'Sister Grace', I shouted, 'what tablets have you given this man'? 'Why', she said, 'Because I think I've seen him swallow a full course of tablets in one go'. 'What?!' she asked incredulously. She waltzed over to him, took the plastic bag from his hand, and laid into him about what had she just explained to him about taking the medicine........?? 'What is he saying Grace', I said, breaking into the conversation, "He says; that he didn't want to wait 5 days to get better, so he thought he would take all the tablets in one go and get better quicker, he's just said, "Why would I ask such a 'silly' question?
mama lynn
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For a new webpage on the subject of the development of the new Tudor Village project the webmaster would appreciate receiving any related picure files that our 2007 volunteers may have available.
Please send your entries to webmaster <at> lightinafrica.com
Asante Sana!
Paul
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For the many volunteers who know my daughter-in-law Godilla, who is Light in Africa's co-ordinator based at Malaika House, I'm thrilled to be able to inform you all that at 6am today Godilla gave birth to
a 10 lb. baby boy by caesarean section.
AND TODAY'S MY BIRTHDAY!!! wow, WHAT A BIRTHDAY SURPRISE.
Marcus and Godilla have chosen the name Christian for him,and mother and baby are doing well. So I have just dashed the 90 Kilometers from Seliani Hospital - Arusha to Dot Cafe in Moshi to share our joy with you, of this wonderful news, and also let you know that Sophie and Emily are being filmed today for Calender news in the UK. A blessed day for us all.
mama Lynn
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Just some weekly updates for you, and to thank our webmaster Paul for the great job he is doing in updating the site, I have received so many comments from previous volunteers who are following all the news about the different projects that they were perhaps involved in. So many thanks Paul in keeping everyone happy.
On Tuesday, Sister Grace (LIA medical midwife/nurse) visited the Food Kitchen site to prescrive over 360 worm tablets for the many children attending the program. She was also able to spot some physical handicaps which could be improved by surgery and she found a small maasai child with a swollen fractured arm. After consultation, the child had received no treatment and she was brought back to our main center for x-rays and treatment. How these dear sweet children suffer due to lack of money that their families do not have.
The disabled maasai child who we found using both hands to feed herself. Well, our Chairman, Vincent Songoi who is himself a maasai visited the encampment, and their are a lot of issues involved. The elders did not want us to help the child unless we were prepared to help all the other children!! Not a problem for us, we worship a God whose bank account wont break..... We are now going to fund at least two of the children to go to school with fees paid and uniforms bought, and to hopefully see all the other children attending school also, Sister Grace wants to do seminars on Health and Hygiene in the area, as the encampment was in a really bad state...... but now for a
story of a different kind.
I do not wish to get embroiled in the abortion issues, but I do want to bring something to your attention which might just give you an insight into the abortion issue.
This is a photograph of a beautiful little girl (whom I will refer to as Lucy) and she is part of our family at Light in Africa. She has reached all of the milestones of a normal child, but her's is a very special story indeed...... At 15 yrs of age the childs mother tried to abort her. As a result the mother died in delivery and the baby which was born at 24 weeks was taken to a local hospital and placed in an incubator, no one thought that this child would survive, how could she with the limited medical facilities available for special needs babies, plus she was carrying the deadly virus, her immune system would not be able to cope. After a short time Lucy was brought to the baby unit at Mailisita, she was so small, we had to cut nappies to fit her and for her to wear dolls bonnets to keep the warm. Today Lucy is over two years of age and doing very well and we thank God that she survived all the many obstacles that she had first to endure.
Mama Lynn
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Hi everyone, I am happy to give you the good news that dada Doreen is making good progress and she can now sit unaided and has movement in her right arm and leg.
Thank you so much for your prayers, we are just so pleased that she did not lose her power of speech, and she is now quite 'chirpy'
mama lynn
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Hi everyone! Greetings from Moshi in Tanzania.
We have now nearly two weeks of the Food Kitchen under our belts, and we can see where improvements need to be made, and how much food needs to be increased. How have the staff coped with such a large amount of children? Do we need to change the system we originated, etc., etc..
The first issue that was decided upon after the social worker visits to the maasai encampment was to have three full days of home assessments, to see if we were reaching the very vulnerable children.
A team of 4 visited homes and shacks and found a further 200 desperately needy children. These are now included in the Food Kitchen program.
One of our immediate problems is that we have no vehicle in the area which requires a landrover for the untarmacked roads with its horrendous pot holes. The only means we have of transporting the food and water to the kitchen is by a Kockatani which is a steel wheelbarrow with motorcycle wheels, so this is our major problem at the moment as we cannot transport the vulnerable children who are too young to walk to the food kitchen.
Warm regards,
mama Lynn
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The LIA website has been completely restyled.
We welcome you to visit www.lightinafrica.org
If you have sound on your PC, then make sure
your speakers are 'on' before you go there.
We trust you will enjoy it.
Thank you!
webmaster
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After seeing the desperate hunger of the disabled maasai child, Grace, LIA social worker the next day made a home visit. She walked at some length to the maasai encampment and found where the child lived.
She was shocked to find 6 naked children inside the one room boma (round house) and the child's mother herself disabled.
Grace then visited the grandmother in the next boma only to find in one room 13 children all varies ages, sleeping on a small cow skin stick bed.
As I mentioned on an early blogg we will be opening the dam doors when we open the Food Kitchen, and I think this is an example of how much help is required for these desperate children.
Mama Lynn
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With over 100 invited guests arriving for the opening of the food kitchen on the 25th September, I guess nobody can say that it did not take place.!
Light in Africa staff members where warmly welcomed into the community as each village chairman gave his speech of welcome, and cut the ribbon for their village to access the 'free' food for their orphans.
One of the nicest comments that the village Director made was that Light in Africa had brought the community together. As upto that day, some of the village elders and community members had never met! And I pray this is the seed that has been planted for co-operation and harmony in this most desperate of districts.
After the opening ceremony we invited the guests to lunch on the food that the children will be given six days per week. They will then have full knowledge to speak about the program. The many muslims present who were unable to take lunch, as they were fasting, were given food to be taken home and eaten later.
The following day, the children arrived for their lunch. Our social worker Grace was much needed as we saw children with severe malnutrition and disabilities.
Our one shock was when a disabled maasai child of approx 8 years, when given her plate, sank to the ground there and then, and with both hands stuffed as much food as she could into her mouth, we just stood watching this poor child.
We quickly fetched Grace to witness this impacting situation, and she is going to follow the matter up and do a home visit, it was pretty obvious that as the child was disabled, she was ostracised and starved.
So here are the long awaited photo's of the opening of the food kitchen.....
Praise God Hallelujah.......
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Dear blog-readers, here is a special request from the new parents of baby Christa :
Our little girl is adopted from Light in Africa, and we like to ask if anyone has information or pictures of Baby Christa, who was at LIA from January-October 2006, we would greatly appreciate it!
If there are any volunteers from that period reading this blog, we would especially value pictures or stories from when she was first brought into the orphanage.
We want to collect as much information as possible so that she knows her story when she is older.
Thank you!
Gil and Amy
pictures can be sent to the webmaster who will forward them to these proud new parents
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