Note - There are some graphic photos below (see at the end!)
Well, here we are two weeks away from leaving Burundi for Nairobi and we have some great news to share with you! Anesie (Mama) who we met at the beginning of our stay in a Burundi, working at Shammah Health Centre came into the clinic at the end of last week. We were shocked to see her arrive on the back of a moto, giggling as per usual! She had her face covered with a shawl as she had when we first met her back in April. Only this time as she got off the moto and came into the clinic, Andy lifted the shawl to find a very different picture........
Anesie was smiling, because she knew she had surprised us in more than one way, not only was she at Shammah again, but Anesie looked completely different. Where her skull had once been exposed from the severe burns, the skin graft we told you about, approx. 1 month ago has taken and she now has tissue covering her entire skull. Along with this her eyelids are healing well and she has been blessed by Kibuye Hospital with glasses to aid the sight in her right eye. The irony of the day Anesie chose to visit was that a girl who works at Homes of Hope (Belyse) came in with nasty burns to her face and neck from an accident with boiling water. To see how God has worked in Anesie's life and how he has healed her emotionally as well as physically gives us hope he can do the same Belyse. Please pray that after the care she received at Shammah Health Center, she continues to be healed at the clinic Burundi YFC transferred her to.
Thank you to everybody who has walked with Anesie on her journey, whether this be through prayer, words of encouragement or donations towards her medical care. I can not begin to tell you how blessed we were to see her pain free and just visiting Shammah so she could get some diclofenac for arthritic pain.....I bet she never imagined one day she would just need to attend the clinic for a common ailment like everybody else. When I look at Anesie I am reminded how God can bring such joy out of such suffering and it puts me in my place. I thank God that we were in Burundi for such a time as this, that he used us as his instruments to get Anesie the care she so desperately needed!
This week on Wednesday we handover the care of Shammah Health Center back to Josh and Nadine. It will be strange to say goodbye to work at Shammah and we will miss the Team terribly, but we also feel that we are moving onto Kenya at the right time and trust God for this next phase. We are looking forward to next week when we will be in Bujumbura saying goodbye to some of the good friends we have made in Burundi. It will be a good time to relax and reflect on what we have learnt over this past six months, so we can use our newly acquired knowledge to benefit the work of LINA Medical Health Services. We are really excited to see Hellen and her family and to have our good friends Grace Hart and Sam Bridges coming to work with us in Nairobi, Kenya.
Some of our funny moments with the staff in the last few weeks have been doing basic life support teaching with them. They relished the opportunity to learn this new skill and were very good during the demonstrations. Andy did a teaching session on family planning with the male staff.....they found it hilarious, but said it was very helpful! (Any excuse for Andy to be cheeky!) Visiting Matabishi (Lab Technician) and his family with Chris and another new volunteer Josh. Hannah learnt how to be a good Burundian wife, she now knows how to make banana frites. Seeing Mamert's (Guard) English improve massively - he loves joking with Andy! The staff celebrating Anesie's recovery and singing and dancing for Chris when he left last week. These are just a few snapshots of the fun we have had with the Team in the lead up to this week! It has been great working with such vibrant Burundian people, we have learnt so much from them!
Finally before we go, just so you know the ambulance for LINA has now been shipped. It left Kent Dock on 27th August and should arrive in Mombasa, Kenya on approx. 27th Sept!
Thank you to everybody who has made the dream of providing LINA with an ambulance a reality! Please continue to pray for its safe journey across the ocean and that when it arrives nothing is stolen and the vehicle is released without difficult! This is God's ambulance and we hope and pray we can use it to impact a larger community in Nairobi, including the Slum.
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| The actual ship! |
We hope you have felt well informed during our time in Burundi and thank you again for coming on this adventure with us. It's a rollercoaster at times, but we are holding on!
God Bless,
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