The team is out on safari and I have a meeting with administration and orthopedic surgeon on the possibility of bringing a special program to their hospital which would help a lot of people this afternoon. Please pray for the knowledge for all of use as we explore how Hope Ministries can collaborate with Selian.
I went to Selian Hospital this am and checked on all of our patients and paid the bill. We have many stories to share of the patients that we helped but I will outline a few of the cases that your donations are helping.
We had a beautiful 26 year old young lady come in limping and struggling to walk and was crying. We examined her and determined that she had infected wounds. We took the dressing off and on the one leg you could even see the bone. She reported that she had been battling with these wounds for 10 years and had been going to a clinic for dressing changes. This was hard to believe because the wounds were so deep and severely infected. She screamed when I removed the dressings. She had such excruciating pain and the student could not believe how large and deep the wounds are. I would post some pictures but I do not think you could handle looking at them. I then cleansed the wounds and then put on some sterile dressings and made a referral sheet out for her to report to Selian Hospital on Monday. She did not have money for a bus fare, so Hope Ministries gave her the money. The general surgeon saw her and we did labs to see if the infection had gone to the blood, but praise God it had not. She was admitted to the hospital and will be in the hospital for a long time. They will do daily dressing changes and is receiving antibiotics to treat the infection. Once the infection is cleared she will be taken to surgery several times for surgical debridement and then will have to have skin grafts. This will be a long process, but we will pray for success. Hope Ministries will assist with the costs because this young lady has no money and can’t work because of these wounds. I don’t know how she can stand the pain. This will be life changing for this young lady.
It is hard to believe the amount of suffering these people need to endure because of lack of assess to health care and/or the can’t afford to go to the doctor. Then because of their health problems they are unable to work and or no one wants to marry them.
The team is just shocked at the conditions and diagnosis they see with these patients. We have some of the same things in the US but they are treated right away. We don’t see the patients until they are end stage and it make it very difficult to treat them. This makes the surgeries very difficult.
I can’t thank my donors enough, because of the treatments and surgeries, these people are now happy and now have a chance at life. The look on their faces and the smiles and the many “Asante sana (thank you so much) and the many (Akubariki sana (God bless you) my heart is warmed and I praise God for bringing these patients to us so we can help them.
Just talked to the team and they had a great safari today. They went to the Ngorongoro Crater and then to a coffee plantation. They sent me some pictures to share.
Sending a lot of love and prayers to my family and friends. Miss you all. Please continue to pray for the team as we prepare to fly to Mwanza on Sunday am to work at Bugando Medical Centre.
