Hair Silliness!

So this post is completely for fun...here's how long my hair was about a week before I came to Moz last year...Here is me about a week ago in South Africa...(gorgeous place!)Can you believe my hair is that long??? I'm a bit in shock myself! I will have to admit that I don't like either of these hair styles (you can read my blog after I got that crazy short hair cut about a year ago and hear my VERY girlie rendition of how it happened...and now my hair is just long...really long for me). I'm not sure what to do with it ever. But its about to get hot so there is NO chance I'm cutting it off again. With it this long it can go on the top of my head as far away from my neck as possible EVERY day when it hot!
And I think I'll just keep it growing until I'm home for good...locks of love here I come!

Look Who's Walking!

FERNANDA!

Fernanda started walking last week! What a miracle?! She is all over the baby house now...nothing can stop her! She's gaining confidence every day and certainly can hold her own against all the other little ones now!
Just take a look how far she has come since March...
On arrival...A few weeks later at her lowest weight...Today...chubby and able to walk!Praise God for His love, mercy, and healing power!

Cheetahs!

Leah (a good friend from nursing school) made it safe and sound to stay with me last Friday! She has been quite the trooper when it comes to "African experiences" as I have begun to loving call them. Saturday morning we took off for South Africa. Only after I spent over 3 hours waiting for our rental car...only to get a car with expired insurance. Anyway after we finally got on the road the South African strike caused us some difficulties. We waited at the border for over 4 hours to get stamped into South Africa. We were sun burnt, hot, and annoyed when finally after 3.5 hours a security guard came up to us and said...oh you have American passports...just go through that line over there. What he basically was saying was...are you stupid? You didn't have to stand in this line for 4 hours...you can go over there in that 10 minute line...SERIOUSLY! I just started laughing it was so ridiculous!
Anyway we finally got through the border and had a wonderful adventure in Kruger (the safari park)! We even made up our own rendition of "In the Jungle"...it went a little differently every time but sounded much like this...
In the Kruger, the mighty Kruger the lions play today. In the Kruger, the mighty Kruger the lions play right by the road...with their babies.
I hope you are laughing! Well, at one point a verse became the lion playing with is buddy the cheetah by the road. I said to Leah...at least say leopard...that's more realistic. I've never known anyone to see a cheetah and many people, me included, have spotted leopards. Well not 2 seconds after this came out of my mouth we drove up on a jumble of cars...what were they all looking at?? CHEETAHS...not just 1 cheetah...4 cheetahs!
AMAZING! It was AMAZING I tell you!
So Kruger was a HUGE success and then we headed into Nelspruit for the night. Our bed and breakfast was adorable, and Leah even let me have McDonald's for lunch...a taste of America! Then by the favor of God I got another visa...it took us 2 hours of waiting at the office for them to decide if they believed me that I had a plane ticket for November but finally they said yes. So I'm legally back in Mozambique and good to stay until November 23! (I know I have not explained my future plans and many of you are probably wondering since my original year here at the center was up last week...I promise to explain soon.)
So...that was my weekend away. I'm not so sure how relaxing it was, but it was fun and filled with laughs and I'm very thankful I had Leah to share it with!

3 AM!

That is right...at 3 AM last night my phone rang. I've gotten calls at 10pm even midnight before but I think 3am wins! The tias in the Baby House nicely introduced themselves and told me Vasco was sick. I promptly said...I'm coming. But then I stopped and asked...what's wrong with him?? Thinking that if there was nothing really wrong I was not going to get our of my warm bed at 3am when it was pretty windy and chilly (for Africa that is) and walk all the way to the Baby House...that was the logical part of me, not the caring motherly nurse that loves little Vasco. Anyway, they said, "He's breathing a lot." All of this in Portuguese of course. So I told them I was on my way once more. I jumped up threw on a jacket, zipped it up (to cover up the girls of course), found my flip flops in the dark and took off. (That makes it sound like I jumped in the car to get to him in a hurry...in reality I opened up my front door and walked across the playground/sand pit to where he lives.)
When the tias unlocked the Baby House door for me they were all smiling. May I remind you it was 3 AM and I was FAR from smiling! I thought...wow they are chipper but went to the task of assessing and responding to what was going on with Vasco. As soon as they said he wasn't breathing well I anticipated exactly what I would be walking in on. This is the 3rd call in a year I have gotten like this..."Vasco is breathing a lot," is always the description of him. A little background for you medical people...Vasco is an almost 4 year old little boy who's first presentation of a chest infection is respiratory distress. Each time I have been called he's been retracting to his backbone and "breathing a lot" as the tias like to tell me. We have diagnosed him with asthma in the last year, but he continues to have frequent exacerbations even though he is on an inhaler morning and night. Anyway, I tried out his inhaler to solve last night's issue...no such luck. Next came a nebulizer which did the trick! After all of that activity and using our nebulizer that sounds like a jackhammer, to put it lightly, in a place where 34 other babies were sleeping (NOT ANY MORE)...and remember its about 3:45AM at this point. Anyway, after the nebulizer Vasco was looking better. I quickly wrote up some medical notes, a note for Aurora to assess Vasco in the morning (our Mozambican nurse that would be in at 7:30), and then I said to Vasco..."Do you want to go back to sleep?" His answer was, "No Mana Meghann, I want to eat food." I laughed and said...sorry buddy you need to go back to sleep for a little bit before it's breakfast time. He looked at me funny, but followed me back out to the tias.
At this point it hit me...disaster averted, I should ask them what was so funny when I walked in at 3AM. They looked at me when I asked and all started laughing again and someone in a small voice said, "Ajude-me" or "Help me". They then started to tell me that before they called me cute little Vasco had laid in bed and said, "Tia ____, adjude-me" filling in the blank with each tia's name until they woke up. I know what you are thinking...why is this funny? Remember it was 3AM, remember he lives in a place with 35 other babies and 5 tias who care for them, remember he is only about 4 years old, and remember it was 4AM now...I hope you are laughing now! I then went on to tell them that he wanted food not to go back to sleep...seriously they were basically rolling on the floor in laughter!
All I can say is...at least I work with women who find humor in the adorable children they mother and serve! And praise God for a nebulizer machine that saves lives and continually saves us from traveling to the hospital that is 45 minutes away in the middle of the night!!!

Meet Ibrahimo!

Ibrahimo is an adorable 2 year old who came to us today. He used to live in another children's center in the city but due to space issues he has come to live with us. His older sister came about a month ago to live in our girl's area but due to mumps and Africa being what it is he didn't make it until today. We don't know anything about his family, but God willing I pray we find them and one day get these 2 reunited! He seems relatively healthy for now. He has some skin issues...but I'm sure with some TLC they will be solved very quickly! He doesn't seem to be malnourished at all and is absolutely adorable!!! Meet Ibrahimo...

Absolutely Adorable!

So today I was working in the Baby House...I think you all know by now these are my absolute favorite days of the week! Well at least they usually are but starting at dinner last night I got this mind splitting headache...seriously horrendous! And I was sure I had a temperature...although my handy thermometer said no. Anyway I spent the night trying to sleep through a headache and times of being freezing and others of being super hot. It was pretty awful. But I got up and headed to work to give out medications by 7:30 this morning.
Well by about 9:00 I was having trouble thinking needless to say preparing medications or assessing little ones. Cute little Sina, after she played with ALL of our nursing equipment while I talked through the stresses of the day with Tracey (awesome missionary in charge of the Baby House), said she wanted to pray for me. She laid her little almost 4 year old hand on my head...it was so sweet!
These are the moments I thank God for the absolutely adorable little kids and babies in my life! I do love them even when they bite, hit, cry, show me every little tiny scab on their body until it disappears, tug on my skirts until they begin to fall off, choose to not understand my Portuguese...and countless other things. Through it all I love them!

Isaura

Isaura is the little girl I have been telling you about who is in the hospital. She is going to be discharged tomorrow!!! Our reintegration team has decided she will be going back to live with her grandmother. I am excited for her to be with family but the nurse in me questions how well she will do directly out of hospital after being so sick/malnourished. I pray that somehow we can get a message to her grandmother about her discharge. We have called her neighbor and let her know hopeful she will tell the grandmother. And I pray for God's provision over this family with one more mouth to feed (totaling 11 children). I was filled with joy and relief to hear that today, almost 9 kg (almost 20 pounds) Isaura was running up and down the hospital ward and no one could keep her in her room needless to say her bed for more than a moment. She is eating everything she is given and smiles ALL the time. That report makes me believe she's a fighter and will make it! That report gives me hope that God has chosen her for greatness and will protect her! Just keep joining us as we pray for Isaura and her family! My final prayer of desperation for her is that if something does happen to her health her grandmother will bring her to us to ask for help...I am begging for God's protection over her!

Play Date!

Last week I had a play date with 2 of my favorite girls outside my house. The Baby House kids (ok any kids on the center) absolutely love getting to come to our houses. You don't even have to entertain them, just having one on one attention is enough for them. Just knowing that there is only 1 or 2 other kids to trample them or take their toys instead of 100's is enough for them! So here is a glimpse into my adorable play date with Lucia and Lena!
Yes, I know, they are absolutely adorable! And they played nice and quietly until they saw the cats that live around me...apparently cats are the most vicious things they have EVER seen. There was panic, screaming, clinging to me...but they soon forgot about the trauma and returned to playing!

My New Room!

Ok...so I moved into my new room quite some time ago but I just haven't found the time to get pictures taken and posted for you. Today I found the time...maybe because this weekend I finally cleaned up all my belongings in preparation for my special guest! Leah (one of my best friends from nursing school) will be here Friday morning to spend 10 days with me!!!
Anyway, here's a tour around my amazing new room! Thank you to all those who spent countless hours cleaning, painting, trimming, scrubbing, carrying, interior decorating, and even falling off ladders to make it possible! I love you all dearly and think about you every morning when I wake up to my BRIGHT white ceiling and admire once again the awesome placement of furniture! The walls are a light light blue...fresh and clean! And don't you Clemson people worry there is still room for plenty of orange even with a red bed!
Here's the view from my front door...Here's my awesome desk, "kitchen", and amazing big round chair (Thanks Erin!)...check out those Tiger Rags (best computer covers ever)!!!!Here's my absolutely fantastic hammock chair (I even researched boat knots to get that thing hung)...Here's my "changing room" as everyone around here likes to call it...And last but not least, here's my cute bathroom (complete with African animal prints)...I absolutely love my new space! It is so great to have a space of my own even if my "kitchen" is a tiny fridge, water kettle, coffee mugs, and a fruit bowl. And again thanks to everyone who helped me...and no thanks to the amazing friend who thought painting turquoise and tan was a brilliant idea (I still love you just not your paint choices)!

The Hospital

So Saturday I ran by to bring some more diapers to our little girl in the hospital. She has been having for diarrhea so the tia needed a few for diapers. Not a fantastic photo...but here is how she is looking...Just keep her and the tias staying with her in your prayers. She is certainly still fighting for life and could use all the prayers she can get! Thanks in advance!

Updates

Our friend in the hospital is looking much better today. I got to run in and see her for just a few minutes since I had 2 sleepy and hungry babies in the car! Anyway, she is taking her milk again by mouth (they took her NG tube out last night) and she has only vomited once today! She still isn't smiling but the tia said she plays a bit and will even sing with her sometimes. The swelling in her legs is much better. No more pitting! She is going to start eating papinha (a kind of baby cereal) tomorrow! On to solid foods...that's a major improvement! Just keep praying for her please!
Also 2 other points of prayer for her...#1 a 5 year old little boy died in her room in the night last night. Just pray that this does not shake the hope our tias or we have for her life to continue to improve and thrive! #2 A bit of background first...there used to be another children's center not too far from ours. The man who ran it was bad news to put it nicely. Finally before I came it was shut down by the government and we took 20 of their children in one day. The kids were wild. Just to tell you how bad it was they were basically given their food in a big pile on the floor and had to fight to get some. Seriously the stories I've heard make me want to sob. Well one of the little boys in our little girl's room is from this man's new center. How exactly he has been allowed to reopen I'm not sure?! But no matter what, the fact that helpless children with no family are being taken in by him again makes me sick. Please pray!
Oh, while I was there I also got to meet the grandmother. Our team went to her house today and found not just 7 children but 7 and the twins (less than a month old). The grandmother wants them all and is doing her best to care for them but just does not have the means. We will be looking into what we can do to improve her situation and who if any of the children we will be taking in to help her for now. I just prayed joy of her. She seemed such a sad and worn down lady but with a HUGE heart for her granddaughter. Praise God we have contact with her and may He show us exactly how to help!
Finally I'll just share a thanksgiving with you...the favor we are finding at the hospital right now is absolutely miraculous! Seriously, we are able to go in at all hours of the day (not just visiting hours) and the nurses and staff are remembering us! Our children are receiving good care and us asking questions isn't causing division or issues (asking questions about what is being down or how I child is being treated is really not done here). The other mothers with their sick children are opening up to us and our tias. They want prayer. They want us to lay hands on their children. They want to know this God we know and trust. It's amazing! Praise God for this huge change may we relish in it and follow after all that He has!

Quick Update...Prayers Please!

Our little girl who is in the hospital has taken a downward turn in the last day. She has stopped wanting her milk. This morning they had to put an NG tube (feeding tube) down to give her milk that way. She is also having lots of diarrhea and some vomiting. Her medication hasn't changed for now. Sheri got to take a peak at her this morning and says the swelling in her legs is down a bit...which is good news! And yesterday she still weighed 8.5kg (just under 19 pounds).
As for her family...our reintegration team (the group that visits family houses and does their best to get kids back to their families as soon as possible) has located her grandmother! They will be going to meet with her tomorrow to discuss her situation and how exactly we will be helping this little girl once she is discharged from the hospital.
I'm asking you to join us in prayer for this little life. I pray she once again has an appetite and wants her milk. I pray her diarrhea and vomiting stop! I pray she feels peace and comfort every moment of the day! I also pray for the tias who are with her that they may turn to God as their strength and comfort in the midst of a tough situation. May God's will reign in her life!
I'll be going to see her tomorrow afternoon so look for another update then!

Growing by Leaps and Bounds!

Manuel 2 has been with us for almost 7 weeks now, 2 of which he spent in the hospital receiving blood and IV antibiotics. If you don't remember...this is what he looked like when he arrived...To quote myself..."He is 1 year and 4 months old. He came to us yesterday weighing only 5.71kg (about 12.5 pounds). He is severely malnourished, unable to sit or roll over on his own, has large sores on his head and bottom, and is severely anemic." He ended up in the hospital 4 days later.

Now after only 7 short weeks LOOK AT HIM!He's a hard kid to photograph because if he's not on the move he's talking...but he's always cute! He now weighs 9.1kg (20 pounds) and is becoming quite the chunky little one. He absolutely loves to be held, talked to, tickled, and kissed! His idea of a kiss is a mouth wide open head butt...it hurts a little but is quite cute!Thank you for all your prayers for this little guy. God has certainly done a miracle in his life over the last 7 weeks. His uncle (who is probably 15 or so) did not even recognize him Sunday other than the wound that we are still covering on his head...but even it has gone from this...to this...An absolute miracle! Just look at the cuteness! That's Manuel 2 everyone after a miracle!

Our Newest Addition...

This little one is 2 years and 4 months old. For now she is on the malnutrition ward at the hospital severely malnourished...suffering from kwashiorkors (a form of malnutrition caused by an acute lack of protein and micro nutrients). She weighs 8.5kg (under 19 pounds) when normal weight for a 2 year old is about 28 pounds. And if I'm honest a lot of that weight is from the edema. If you're a nurse/medical person...she has at least 2+ pitting edema in her feet and legs. That means her feet and legs are quite swollen. Here's a close up...it's kind of hard to tell the edema but her skin is pealing off (just like Fernanda if you remember) because of her malnourishment as well. I wasn't able to take amazing photos because the head doctor of pediatrics was in the room while I was attempting to snoop in her chart, figure out what meds she was on, ask as many questions as possible, and get to know her as well...all in about 15 minutes!
Here's what I found out...she is on a 100 calorie milk (F100 it's called). She is getting 150mls every 3 hours. And she gobbles it down in about 2 seconds flat! She hasn't been vomiting or anything and is without fever or any other real sign of major infection. She's a bit anemic but doesn't seem terrible. She is on 2 IV antibiotics and multivitamins at the moment. I was quite encouraged by the care she's receiving actually. And amazingly the nurse remembered me and I got to tell her how well Manuel 2 is doing (I promise pictures soon)!
So...you might be wondering why we even know about this little girl or why she is the newest addition to our crew. The clinic all of our HIV+ children attend called us to tell us her story. Her mother recently died and has left this little one's grandmother (who already has 7 children in her home...new twins included) to care for her. When she was put in the hospital because of infection and malnutrition her grandmother had no one to stay with her.
***Side note...if I haven't explained before...if you have a child in the hospital a female member of their family has to stay with them ALL the time. They must sit by their bedside in a terrible metal chair day after day. So if there are other kids at home and no one to watch them this proves impossible for families.***
The clinic contacted us to see if we could help. We have not officially accepted her as one of our kids but our tias are staying in the hospital with her for now.
My prayers for her are this...for peace, health, growth, and joy. I pray she bonds with the tias who are caring for her and that they are each able to treat her as their own child. I also pray that we are able to contact her grandmother, that she is not a completely abandoned child that has only a small chance of ever being reunited with family again some day (for now we don't have much information to go on in finding the grandmother that has not visited the hospital since Friday). Please join me in prayer for this fragile life!

Milk Program

As I said...Jannie is away until the end of September so I have taken on Milk Program. The goal of this program is to aide families by providing powdered formula (something that is too expensive for most Mozambican families to buy) for babies from birth to one year. My job is to oversee. I chart all the babies' weights and do my best to talk with the mothers if their baby isn't doing well. I also talk with any mother who wants to start on the program. We don't just accept anyone. There has to be some reason why she cannot breast feed and needs assistance. Many of our mothers are HIV+ (we either have them breast feed solely for the first 6 months and then start helping them telling them to only give formula from 6 months on or if they have already given formula we encourage them to only give formula from that point on) or have other health problems themselves so they are unable to breastfeed. Some of our babies' mothers have passed away or have abandoned them with other relatives...meaning formula is the only sources of milk for them. It has been said telling a mother not to breastfeed in Africa means the baby will die...our goal is to combat this one baby at a time! Here are some of the faces of the amazing babies I get to see each Friday...

Tchau Mana Rebecca :(

This past Thursday we said a tearful goodbye to Mana Rebecca (a missionary who has been here for almost a year from Virginia).We were all VERY sad to see her go. She was the glue that held our group of young girls together. She always made it a priority to get us together and come up with new fun things for us to do. She worked with Laura's dorm of boys, so she is the one I did all those crazy afternoon programs with last year. God has called her back to the US for now, but we had all sorts of special fun times before she left.
We planned a special surprise taco dinner for her (Mexican is the food most Americans miss the most while they are here!).We also put together a book of memories and pictures for her just from us girls...it was absolutely amazing and even included our favorite recipes and a list of words translated into Australian, British, and American English...so funny!And that same night we even had a sleep over just to remind us of our teenage years. We stayed up most of the night watching movies and just laughing and chatting how girls do!We also had a joint Happy Birthday Natalie (our newest missionary) and farewell Rebecca dinner at the Thai restruarant in the city. There was gift giving, great food, tons of laughs, and memories shared by all!And our final surprise for Rebecca was a bit ruined but fun nonetheless. Natalie and I made a picture of all the boys' finger prints in the shape of a car...because Rebecca loves cars and so do little boys! It was all a wonderful surprise until Rebecca was taking pictures off my computer and ran across this one...Oops! She still loved it though!
And finally Thursday we said a sad goodbye from the airport but are all VERY excited to see what God has for Rebecca next. For now she is at home in Virginia with her family for a little bit while she searches for a job! Know we love and miss you!

Cook Out American Style!

Two weeks ago we had a cook out one night! We lit up the grill, cooked burgers, and even had smores to top off the night! When the question was asked...who knows how to grill? I spoke up and said I can...and Dad you would have been proud. I did admit that my skills are better on a gas grill but I did quite well (with lots of help from everyone)!We all enjoyed the spread of meat and devoured all the salads our Mozambican friends had brought over! (Getting a good picture of all the boys was impossible...but...Ollie is one the left- he is Emily's little brother who is here with her family for 2 months, then Vovote, Joao up top, Mito- who lives in American studying to be a doctor but is back for a visit, and last Chico!)And how did we finish off everything...a rousing game of HIDE AND SEEK!

City Dates!

The last two weekends we have spent out Saturdays in the city. It has been so much fun! One weekend we even brought some center kids with us! They had a blast and so did we. We did quite similar things each Saturday...but no matter what we had fun!
Each time at least 2 if not more of our party had to ride in the back of the truck...the extended room of fun as it was named when Fiona and I took our turn in the back...the 2 missionaries who get car sick the easiest mind you!Our favorite cafe (which is very American I might add) is always one of our stops! There is time for a milkshake or coffee and some sort of amazing bagel or cake! They have a sand box for the kids to play in...and even though our kids live in a sandbox they still enjoyed it.Next came a stop off at the beach! We all hung out about 10 yards from the Indian Ocean and ate an amazing chicken lunch. So so good (even if we did have to wait an hour)!Here was a view of Maputo from the table! Absolutely amazing!I had so much fun running up and down the beach with Ryan (a little boy who used to live in the Baby House but now lives in a transition dorm) who was with us. Sometimes it's hard to imagine the kids in our center ever having really normal lives. But when you get them out one on one or in a small group and get to do things with them like chase them up and down the sand...it starts to feel normal. The second weekend we spent time on the beach as well and did eat the same amazing chicken lunch...but took it to go and frolicked in the sand like little girls! Here's Emily and I reading...And we even had our pictures taken with a wedding party! That's right a guy taking pictures of a bride and groom came up and we all thought he would say...can you take a picture of all of us together...but instead he said can I take a picture of you...so funny!Each Saturday we also spent a bit of time at a nice hotel in the city that has a piano bar in the lobby. Rebecca and Fiona (2 other missionaries) LOVE to play the piano and the rest of us sipped on hot chocolate while they played. Mother Rebecca was smart enough to bring the kids sheets to color so they were happily occupied as well!
Altogether they were wonderful Saturdays filled with fun, laughter, and friends!