Small Pieces in a Big Puzzle

Snake bites and
miracles…
Ndudusi was sleeping in his small family hut when a spitting
cobra curled up next to him and bit him twice; first on the right arm and again
on the left. The child ran out of the
hut screaming in search of his parents, and when he found them they rushed him
to the hospital for treatment. No one had seen the snake except Ndudusi and the
best they could do was take a guess at which anti-venom to give him.  The
anti-venom saved the boy’s life but did not get rid of the venom. The boy’s arms quickly became badly infected.
 He was taken to the hospital a second
time and told that his arms would have to be removed. His father refused to let this happen to his
son, and took him home. 

A couple of days ago our team stumbled across this young
boy. One of the care point teachers asked if we would come pray for a friend’s
child and nothing could have prepared us for what we were about to see. The infection had become so bad that the boy’s
skin had rotted away from his shoulder to his elbow revealing the muscles. He was in bad shape and needed urgent medical
care.

The girls took pictures of Ndudusi and rushed back to our
campsite to try and find someone to help us help the boy.   The owners took a look at the picture and
called their daughter who happened to work with snakes. She agreed to meet us at the hospital in the
morning and informed us that BBC had been looking for a story like this.  

So the next morning, Krystle, Miathili, and I took our
second dreadful trip to the hospital. We
went early in the morning to get the boy only to find that the father would not
let him go. We promised the father that
he would not be admitted to the hospital and we would bring him safely home at
the end of the day with both arms. We
were all convinced that his arm would need to be removed but we were praying
for a miracle….  and God came through!

After meeting Ndudusi, the owners’ daughter said she would
do everything possible for the young boy and assured us that they could save his
arms. They took him to a specialty
hospital were they started treatment for the infections and have arranged for
the boy to be transported to and from the hospital daily so that he would not
have to be admitted. Ndudusi still has a
long road ahead of him with medical treatments, skin grafts, and physical
therapy but infections will no longer threaten his young life!  

Baby Snethemba…
Since we were already going to the hospital, we took Dudu’s
Mom and Aunt along to visit Dudu. When
we picked them up they had baby Snethemba with them and I knew that it was God’s
blessing. I had been praying for an
opportunity to get him to the hospital for further testing.   After the boy with the snake bite left for
another hospital with Miathili and the other lady, I asked for permission to
have the baby tested for TB and I’m so glad I did. The doctor did a physical and took an x-ray
which revealed that he did have TB. I was
completely alone when the doctor asked me if they could admit him and if I
would take financial responsibility for him. I was physically shaking when I agreed to both of those requests with no
idea if I was right in making either one of those decisions. All I knew is that he was only four months
old and he needed to be treated. I
promised Dudu I would take make sure he was ok.  

So baby Snethemba and grandma are at the hospital for five
days of treatment. I will be returning
on Sunday with a translator to pick them up and talk to the doctors about the next
steps in treatment. Please pray for
complete healing of Snethemba! I want to
assure Dudu that he is healthy and ok.      

A Visit with Dudu…
Sadly, I did not get to spend as much time as I would have
liked with Dudu, but Krystle did. She
was able to sit with her the whole day while I took Snethemba to the
doctor. Dudu is getting worse and her
body is nothing but bones. I’m amazed
she is still holding on. She was all
smiles when we walked in the door and it was such a blessing to spend a little bit
of time with her. 

Krystle painted her nails and encouraged her for hours. She
kept assuring Krystle that she wasn’t going to die and it broke both of our
hearts. We presented her with a card
from our team and she held it for hours and thanked us again and again.   Before we left we told her we loved her and
she made us promise to return again. On
Sunday I’m hoping to bring letters and gifts for all the girls in her
room. It is still emotionally taking a
lot from both Krystle and I but we really do love her. 

Pray for my time with her on Sunday. Krystle will not be with me and I’m nervous
to go alone. Pastor Gift and I have been
talking about the need to reassure Dudu that it is ok to die. That her children will be taken care of and
it is time for her to make decisions about the baby. It will be a really difficult
discussion. Pray for God’s presence
while we all sit down and talk.