Friday, March 10, 2006

Medical Update


As the nurse for the boys, I am 'on-call' to help with various illnesses and wounds and the like. I am also training the Nigerian staff to care for the boys, so that they will not be dependent on me. A missionary is always trying to work ones self out of a job! Recently, I was asked to look at one of the boys, Caleb. As soon as I saw him, I knew he had the mumps! Now, I have never seen mumps before in my life, since the States provides the mumps vaccine. So, from the medical viewpoint, it was exciting. But poor Caleb, and then two other boys after him, were in a lot of pain. We are so thankful that the complication of sterility did not affect them!


Joseph was carrying boiling water in a bucket on his head and tripped. The water burned a portion of his back and chest. Very painful, but no infection or dehydration has resulted. We also tested all 58 of our boys in Gyero for HIV and all are negative! One of our boys was in a motorcycle accident. The witnesses told me they thought he would surely die because of the severity of the accident, but no broken bones! In the 10 years of this ministry, not one boy has died! Continue to pray for protection and wisdom for those of us caring for the boys.