Friday, January 7th
I talked to team on safari and they had a great first day. They went to Tarangire Park and saw a lot of elephants , giraffes and other animals. They then went and visited a Maasai Village and got to dance with the Maasai. Steve showed us that he is multitalented and was able to jump high and dance with them. Who says a spine doctor can’t dance! Julius said the excitement was high in the safari vehicle
Today they went to the Ngorongoro National Park, one of my favorites and saw lots of animals. They enjoyed a box lunch at a picnic sight at the park and will leave early tomorrow morning to hunt with the bushmen and visit the Daytona and Hadzabe tribe. Another one of my favorite days. They sent some pictures to me that I could post.
I had an appointment at Selian Hospital today to sort out my patient bills with the accountant. I was there for 3 hours to get it all straightened out. Why I was sitting there, some of the patients that we helped and had surgery, were being dismissed and they smiled, waved at me and said “Asante sana”, which means thank you very much. This made the bill not seem so bad when I saw the smiles and know that their lives will be changed forever. Thanks to all the donors that support Hope Ministries, because you are making a big change in many lives here. You are giving them a chance for a future.
I then checked on our other patients and they were all doing well. Talked to Dr. Robert’s and the young boy that I looked for a hallo to insert to stabilize his cervical fractures was doing much better and being moved out of the ICU. Praise God.
I then went to the hospice office to meet with the staff so we could collaborate on a family in which the young father is paralyzed and in the hospital and the young mother is home caring for the three small children by herself. When the team visited with the mother, she told them the children had not eaten in over 24 hours. I send food to all the hospice patients and the hospice staff said she cried when she received the food. We talked about some long range goals about working with the mother to set her up with a small business so she can feel good about herself and can bring money into the family. The concern was feeding the family. Hope Ministries will be assisting with food on a monthly basis, so I gave them money to purchase food for 4 months until I return again. I had them make a list of food items and their costs. I visited the father in the hospital, and you may remember him from our July trip. We admitted him to the hospital and he had horrible bed sores, urinary infections and sepsis. He had limited motion of his arms and I had the physical therapist work with the patient and he can now feed himself. The sad depressed man now looked at me with a smile. This is going to be a tough road for this family.
I told Hospice they needed to do weekly visits and then the volunteer visit the other days to help the mother get the patient up and upside and keep an eye on any skin breakdown. I now feel better that we made some long-range plans for this family. My heart goes out to them and between Hospice and Hope Ministries we will continue to support them to help them through this. It is amazing how God guides us to the ones that need our help the most.
Freeman, my driver and I were invited for a cup of tea with the hospice team and then we stood and prayed together and the tears flowed. They are some very special people that really really appreciate all we do to help them with supplies, food for their patients, and medical help for their patients. Their prayers humbled me and as I cried they all cried. To God be the glory.
Please continue to pray for the team as they finish their safari tomorrow and we will then pack and fly to Mwanza.
Love and miss all my friends and family. Sending alot of love and thanks.
Mama Gayle
