Can I just start this day over?? So far the day has been a big FAIL, and it’s only 10 AM.
This morning I woke up and one of the girls told me that the head teacher says if I don’t call the school every time one of the girls is sick, they’ll expel them for 2 weeks. (We’ve had a virus going through the house, so someone has been home each day). So I wrote a note to this teacher explaining that my 8 orphans-no-more can easily tell the teacher when one of their sisters is ill, AND if she expels them for MY mistakes, they will never return to the school. Keep in mind, I pay them to teach my children. It’s all silly really. There was no need to threaten me or the children with potential expelling, but just ASK me to call. That’s the grownup thing to do, right?
Then, as I started teaching my History class, my students were sluggish, so I asked them to wake up fresh… as I was joking about starting the day afresh, I got the phone call every mother fears—Teresa, my 12 yr old, was HIT by a cyclist while walking on the way to the school and is at the government hospital. I asked Johnny to go and see what was up as I was in the middle of teaching.
A few minutes later, Andrew informed me, “Mom, you’re being called by Daddy.”
“What do you need Johnny? I’m teaching.” I shouted from the classroom. Again, Andrew mentioned that Johnny was still calling me, so I stepped outside to find him lying flat on his back in the mud. At first I was frightened, then I thought he was just joking with me. “I’m hurt, and I can’t get up.” he whimpered. YIKES. In his rush to get to Teresa, he slipped on the wet steps and hit his knee hard on the cement walkway. It was swollen. I put a pack of frozen beans on it, and left him lying there with doggies sniffing and licking him, the baby sitting on him, and Emma asking him for sweets. He had to fend for himself as I went to check on Teresa.
No one should ever go to the Government Hospital in Kenya. It’s a horrible place. However, Teresa was hit by a cyclist while crossing the road right in front of the hospital, and my girls took action and brought her there. By the time I arrived, Teresa was just coming out of X-Ray, They X-rayed her chest to check for broken ribs. As soon as she saw me, she started bawling. I just hugged her and comforted her. She was having a hard time breathing from being hit in the side, a bit of hair was skinned off her head where she hit the ground, and her knee was badly scraped. I couldn’t help but think about Johnny lying there on the ground at home with a hurt knee waiting for me to come back, as well… It was rather surreal. The doctor said she had no broken bones and told us to get her a pain shot and a Tetanus shot. While we waited, we heard screams from ill patients. One lady kept screaming, “Help me. Help me….Oy oy… help. Help.” Then we heard vomiting and others moan. It started to get to me. Finally the doctor said he could only find the tetanus shot but NOT the pain meds. He removed the needle without washing his hands or putting on gloves and tossed it on a dirty piece of paper. I noted it, and informed him. He put gloves on and, without cleaning the injections site, jabbed her upper arm with the vaccine. He told us to wait for him to come with bandages and the pain meds. After a while of watching him walk around the ward like a lost puppy, (I began wondering if he was really a doctor or an escapee from the mental ward), we decided to stop waiting on him to find the pain meds and band-aids. After all, I am a MOM. I can do wound dressing at home so we just paid and left the hospital.
After arriving home, we found Johnny walking around pressing through the pain. He’s ok, Teresa is cleaned up and is ok, so all is going to be well... However, I received an email from a dear friend as I walked in the door. There was a misunderstanding… which is never a good thing.
Then while typing a very long email in response to her, Johnny’s computer got the blue screen of death….
That’s where I leave you at this moment. Johnny’s computer is rebooting. Hopefully things get brighter!
We did get a new puppy this week, and we have food, clothing, water, shelter… Things aren’t all bad, but it IS the 2nd child I have taken to the hospital this week, and it’s only Tuesday. Yesterday it was one of my older girls who has PID (pelvic inflammatory disease) and possibly Ulcerative colitis as well. We have to take her back for a barium x-ray in 2 weeks. Labs, x-rays, meds, viruses—it’s just life with so many people.
Thank you for caring for these children like we do. Keep sending your love and encouragement, ok? We need it!
