Yesterday was one of my favorites here so far in Rwanda.
There is a program through the hospital where the community’s elderly are given
a pound of beans, rice, salt, a bar of soap, and a warm meal (porridge and
bread). This is put on quarterly. However, if someone sponsors it (it costs about $300), they can have the program every month. Sheree (the pediatrician who I have been shadowing) raised money for this event to
happen because she has been a part of it in the past and it was such a joyous
occasion that she wanted to do it again. In order to qualify, you must be in
need and above the age of 75; most are widows. Usually, they prepare for about
100 people. Sheree invited Kim, Beth, and I to join her in this event. Before we
passed out the meal and the sacks of food, we spent time singing and dancing
together and singing praises to the Lord. Man, these women could dance! I have
never seen a group of older people with this much spunk and energy! After we
danced and prayed together, we passed out the porridge and bread. Then, one by
one they came up and got a bag of food. Their eyes have seen a lot in the
world; they have seen horrors, pain, suffering (they were all alive during the genocide, which was only 20 years ago). But they live life with joy, awe, general gratitude and today they
were just so appreciative that people saw them and reached out to provide for
them. It was a moment that I will cherish.
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| The women were dancing with such joy and energy! [Not pictured: us dancing with them after the picture was taken] |
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| The elderly patiently waiting for the program to start. (They had to take off their shoes before they sat on the straw mat). |
Then today, a 7 year old child died in front of my eyes.
Sheree warned me that this child did not look good. She had
encephalopathy, and they did not know the cause. They had given her every single
medicine that they could think of, yet they did not have the proper imaging to
see what was going on. She seized off and on throughout the night. Today, her
heart rate spiked to over 200 then it gave out. What was worse was that when we
needed to manually bag her to help her breathe, there was not a mask around so
there were several minutes where we were hopelessly trying to find a mask. With
as little clinical experience as I have had, I felt like an amateur in there.
One of the nurses mistakenly first grabbed me and showed me the child when its
heart rate was in the 200 and asked what we should do. Once they started
bagging her and manually making her breathe, her heart beat a few more times
then frothy blood became flowing from her nose and her heart stopped. Part of me thought
that something would kick in and she would be fine. On this trip I have seen
many sick kids in these precarious positions and they always manage to pull
through. An hour earlier I was listening to her heart and lungs and
thinking—wow! I have not heard a heart beat this fast (which I was told
was due to the atropine that they gave her). I really did not understand
the gravity of her condition.
But even with Sheree’s warning, I thought that the little
girl was going to be okay. I have personally seen the God work to heal many
sick children here. A few days
ago there
was a very sick girl about three years old who had pneumonia and after
the
doctors had given her every medicine they had, she still had a
respiration rate
of 70. They were giving her nebulization treatments often, and there was
no
improvement; she was starving for air. Sheree said that she would tire
out and would probably die through
the night. Every time I was in the girl’s room, I would pray over her.
It was
hard to watch her struggle to breath as she stared with us with
frightened eyes, begging us to help her . On top of that, the mask that
we had to
put on her for the CPAP machine really traumatized her even more. When
we went back to
check on her that night before we went to bed, she was still in the same
state.
However, the next morning her respiratory rate was coming down and by
lunch she
was nursing! I could not believe how quickly she recovered. The next day
she was moved out of ICU.
Hours before the girl died, the nurses, doctors, hospital pastors, and family circled
around her bed and prayed for her. I could feel God’s presence in the room as
we prayed. I thought for sure that she was going to turn around and begin to
improve. God has the power to heal. I had seen it! Why does he choose who he
does?
After she died, we had to resume with morning rounds. I have
now found that when kids are crying, if I play the videos from the Lutsemba
(meaning hope in Siswati) in Swaziland of the children singing, they usually
become mesmorized by the video and stop crying. As I heard these children
praise God, I too was comforted by the words, Lord, let you presence come.
Lord, we proclaim you now. With your mighty power and your awesome majesty.
Lord, come upon us now, release your power, and let your presence fall. The
little boy who was crying because he was frightened by the mzungo doctor was pretty confused about why I was now crying too.
I am still trying to process death. But I am comforted to
know that God’s presence is very much alive here in Africa, and that He knows
our pain and is now holding this little girl closely in His arms.
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| Mark 10:4: But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God." |
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