Helping old friends and making new ones

Hello everyone, 

We hope you are feeling well informed about what we are doing here in Burundi. We are aware a lot of you, particularly those who donated to help her are wondering how Anesie (Mama) is doing. Well we have a wonderful update for you! Nadine went to visit her this week and found that Mama as always is in good spirits, bringing joy wherever she goes! The first part of her surgery went well. She now has eyelids over both eyes which will ensure she keeps the sight in her right eye whilst protecting the left. The tissue on her skull is slowly starting to granulate, so in time a skin graft should be possible. The photo we have attached of Anesie is very special, you can see her smile and are able to imagine what she would have looked like before the accident. All of the surgery she has had is due to the hard working staff at Kibuye Hospital. It is so precious to see how God is using them and Mama's courage to literally rebuild her. The money you raised for her benevolent fund will continue to fund her care, and the high protein diet she requires to aid good healing. You will be pleased to know that Any funds remaining will be put towards helping our next exceptional patient........



Meet Joyce, she is 19 years old and lives in Mwaro which is miles away. She came to Shammah Health Center to receive good quality care, but it cost her 6000 Burundian Francs to travel by motorcycle to get to the clinic and home again.

To give you an idea of how much this costs to her.....the average unskilled labourer earns 2000 Burundian Francs per day! She does not appear to have any close family and few friends. Every time she comes to the clinic, she appears ashamed of her situation, unable to look at us directly or hold her head up. Each member of staff has been impacted by meeting Joyce.....she is truly humbling. She first came to Shammah approx. one month ago, because a parasite had burrowed into her big toe and then died, resulting in a nasty infection that became an abscess. At Shammah we drained the abscess, but she needed dressing changes every other day. Due to lack of money to afford the dressings on top of travel she was coming barely once a week.

This has meant over time the infection has spread to her bone, so now she is in a situation where she may need her toe amputated. With the money left over from Anesie's funds we have been able to send Joyce to Kibuye Hospital for surgery and follow up treatment. We hope one day to witness this girl walking out of Hospital with her head held high, knowing her debt has been paid, because people like you have helped her. What better gift is there than that?

Finally we would like to ask you to pray for another patient who has come to Shammah this week - her name is Irakoze (46 years old). She came to Shammah Health Center and upon entering appeared distant. We sensed something spiritual and so thought she may be a witch doctor, as her attire was different to most Burundians. This turned out not to be the case, she is in fact a practicing Muslim. Hannah believes she may have been anxious about being at Shammah because she had heard we were Christians. Nevertheless she was embraced by the Shammah team. She was seen by Doctor Zenon, but even before Hannah was asked to do a dressing on Irakoze she could smell an offensive odour coming from this lady. She was asked to dress the woman's left breast. Thinking it would be an abscess Hannah naively entered the hospitalisation room. Hannah was very moved by what she discovered .....Irakoze did not have an abscess but advanced breast cancer that had occupied the whole of her left breast, to the point that the weight of the tumour had caused a tear in the breast that was raw and ulcerated. Upon further examination by Josh's father (Craig = Doctor) who is staying along with Jan, a further mass was found in the right breast. It was clear that this was metastatic cancer that had spread throughout the body, so Irakoze is unlikely to survive much longer than a year. Sadly she is palliative. We tried to explain this to her without causing her to lose hope. We believe she understood.........we dressed her wound and told her to return with her husband so Hannah could teach him how to do the dressings at home. Once again we were able to use one of the maternity bras donated to aid this ladies comfort. She was so grateful! (If any women reading this blog would like to donate old maternity bras please email Hannah athappyhansie3000@yahoo.co.uk). We asked Irakoze if we could pray to our Jesus for her, she said not in her presence, but in private yes. However when she returned at the end of this week with her husband. Hannah asked again. They both said yes, this was a very special moment. Over the coming months as she comes for reviews we will continue asking her if she would like us to pray with her. We have told her we will walk this journey with her and we believe although it is awful that she has limited time with her husband and five children, maybe God brought her to Shammah, so she may come to know Jesus in a personal way and be pain free in paradise for eternity.......

We are well and enjoying our life together in Gitega. We want to thank those of you who have encouraged us to have 'date night' weekly. This time is a real blessing to us, we are able to reflect on things together, which in turn brings us closer in our work. We have both had amoebas/parasites in our stomach and more recently bacterial abdominal infections, but due to treatment and your prayers we are both in good health now!

The orphans in Homes of Hope are well. We love them so much! They have just started drum lessons courtesy of Josh's mum (Jan) and her woman's group funding this back in Canada. This is to increase awareness of their culture. In the past drums had been a large part of Burundian culture particularly when introducing any Members of Burundi's Royal Family.

At the weekend I was attempting to hand-wash my clothes, the girls at the orphanage are always quick to point out how I can improve, but for this I'm grateful! Maybe one day my socks will be white again :)

Please do stay in touch with us and remember we are fundraising for a midwife.....so any donations towards this, small or big would be gratefully received (£2500 per year pays for an experienced midwife here.....this is 1.5 months wage for a UK midwife).

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God Bless,

Love Andy and Hannah xxx

Us with the volunteers, and Jan & Craig Guenther (Josh's parents)