This Link: http://www.lightinafrica.org/stories.html takes you directly to the Stories page and there you select Loving Education from the left-hand menu.
Warm regards to all
Paul
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Hello dear friends!
IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A QUIET SUNDAY, WITH QUALITY TIME WITH THE CHILDREN but I should have known better when I had a lay-in and slept until 9-30am, which was quite unusual as I am up quite early to start the days chores. I had spent the night in a tent at Tudor Village Site, and it was just so comfy that I had crashed when I hit the deck.
All the volunteers had disappeared, either to church, or to have a Sunday service at the children's homes, so there was just Pastor Frank, myself and Maria and Upendo. As we have only one vehicle it is quite a difficult job to spread it over all the work that we have to do, so I said to P. Frank, that if he would take me back to Mirerani, he could then have the Serf for all the jobs he had to do the following day. He readily agreed, so two hours later we pull into Fleeze House, to the many children singing the chorus of " Welcome, Welcome to Fleeze House, we’re happy to see you, happy to greet you " etc etc.
No sooner had P. Frank switched off the engine, and then Dada Manuer was at the driver’s side, explaining she had an emergency. The very sick lady who I previously had written about, needed urgent help. We drove to her 4' x 4' single room, and as often is the case, we were shocked.
She was laying on the mud floor, with no mattress, no blanket, just a piece of material wrapped over her and her 7 month old baby. I picked up the baby and her other 3 year old child waiting outside the door and placed them in the car, whilst P. Frank, assisted the mama onto the back seat of the car. She looked back at the mud/stick door as we drove away, probably knowing it would be the last time that she saw it.
We pulled up outside Fleeze House and I took the children inside for bathing and feeding. I said to the mama: 'You know this is a God incident that Pastor and I are here today, I never expected to come to Mirerani today'. She replied: “I have been praying all night that mama wazungu would come and take me from this miserey and care for my children”. I asked P. Frank to take and admit her into Dr. Minja's surgery for medical care.
Whilst sat having a cup of tea, I watched our staff to what they do so well, and change these two little ones into clean and polished children. I was shown the malnutrition of the smallest child and now knew that, whilst in the care of LIA, she would never go hungry again. Twenty minutes later, P. Frank dashes into the gate, "Mum" he shouts, “get into the car quick, we have a real emergency on our hands"...…He pulls up outside Dr. Minja's surgery and I'm whisked into a room where a mama has just given birth to premature twins. One of the babies had already died and was laying at the end of the bed, a heat lamp was warming the other twin who must weigh approx 1 lb. "Please take this mother and child to the hospital as quick as you can” requests Dr. Minja, so he gets a piece of cloth, warms it with an iron, and wraps the little bundle in it, he then wraps cotton wool around the outside, and I place the baby under my tabard. We now have a journey of 1 1/2 hours to get to the hospital, to try to save this child's life. With headlights on full beam, with horn honking we passed though the police check points without stopping, until we arrived at the hospital.
I dashed into casualty, ran down the corridor to the post-natal ward and delivered the little bundle into the hands of a nurse to place in an incubator. "Whats his name” she asked, “I don't know, I'll go and ask the mother who is being admitted....”. \By now the mother is being pushed in a wheelchair to the ward for examination. “They need to now the baby’s name” I said; she weakly replied that she would call the child Mohammed. I went back to the ward to give the file and name to the doctor. It was now 6pm and we had not eaten since the morning, so we had a quick bowl of soup at the hospital canteen and then it was back to dropping P. Frank off at Tudor, whilst I returned to Fleeze House. It had been quite a day.
Two weeks ago, I received an email from a girl guide group leader who said her troop of girl guides had raised thirty pounds for LIA. I responded with thanks and told them that this would be the first donation towards a desperately needed maternity centre in Mirerani, where in the district 60% of the mothers die in childbrith, or other related conditions.
Since I made that commitment, I have received nearly 2000 pounds to build a maternity centre on our 15 acre site at Mirerani. Yesterday’s incident could perhaps have been averted if a) the mother had received regular medical check-ups, b) there was specialized medical care available and, as in the previous case of Mary the disabled lady, a facility for caesarean operations to be carried out. The cost of transport to the main hospital by taxi amounts to $100 dollars, so if you are poor, there is no way that help can be given.
Yesterday, we were there and with a vehicle to assist. I wonder what would have happened to mother and child if we hadn't been there...God only knows.
Blessings.
Mama Lynn
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Hi Everyone,
Lots of things are happening at Light in Africa at the moment, with lots and lots of volunteers helping us to make a big difference in the lives of children and unsupported adults.
Some of our volunteers are working very physically hard at the Tudor Village site where our 5th house has started to have the foundations dug.
Some volunteers are enjoying there trips to Kenya living in a maasai encampment amid the warmth that is shown to them from these impoverished nomadic people.
Everyone returns from this trip, which is very basic indeed, actually living in a boma in a manyatta encampment, with no home comforts at all, but they love it!
Medical Students are heavily involved in medical out-reaches dispensaries, and the 5 electives return home exhausted but thrilled having delivered 4 babies on the maternity wards......
I myself have had a busy day that started in Mirerani this morning with a seriously sick mama arriving with a tiny baby on her back. She attends our daily food kitchen, but I don’t think she will be able to care for the child for much longer and so our social worker will go and do an assessment on Thursday to bring the baby into care.
Then pick up a Landrover to drop me off at the top of the road, and then a coaster to Mailisita. Whilst eating my breakfast at 11am a vehicle arrives from the local hospital bringing a 2year old little girl who is disabled and has been abandoned by her mother whilst a doctor was looking at the child.
So another child joins our ever-expanding family of Light in Africa.
I will be posting more updates shortly on the Tudor Village and a story about an amazing child who has exceeded all expectations after such a bad start.
Be blessed,
mama Lynn
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Time for an update so another 100 or so images are ready to be shown on your screen for you to enjoy, while mama Lynn is busy attending to the almost 50 volunteers (and lost her voice answering their many questions).
We have been blessed with the visit of Jake Lyell this past December and January. Jake, professional photographer, returned to Light in Africa where he previously took some impressive shots of our children and work.
This time Jake shot well over 850 pictures which is simply too overwhelming a number to place on the website. But we still aim to share Jake's point of view with our faithful blog-audience: you.
Every month a slideshow of approx 100 pictures will be shown on this weblog. Here is part 2
But there is more:
also visit jakelyell.com and also check out his blog jakelyell.com/blog for a story about AIDS and Light in Africa
And there is even more:
1) the complete photo-series will also be available on DVD. If you would like to reserve your personal copy, send an email message to donations @ lightinafrica . org and then we can work out the details.
Just imagine: an hour full of adorable smiles and happy faces, the wonderful "Lights of Africa", ready to show to your friends and family
2) a new volunteer experience from Ron & Sue has been documented by them and added to the website. Select their story from this menu
Enjoy!
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Hi everyone,
It's lovely to be writing to you all again after my recent trip to The Netherlands and the UK.
I am sorry it has taken me so long to update the blog but when I returned there was just so much 'catching - up to do' that only now can I happily chat away on the keyboards.
There are just so many people that I need to thank for the wonderful welcome that they gave to Mama Koupa - (Light in Africa's Treasurer - making her first visit to the UK and to myself as we visited two schools in Huddersfield and where mama Koupa was able to demonstrate her "carrying a bucket of water on her head" to gasps of awe from the children to visiting Leeds and meeting once again our dear friends, where we enjoyed a game of bingo, another first for mama Koupa, then off to Scarborough University to visit Gemma and see her new flat, and of course whilst there we had to take a walk along the coast and try out the cockles and mussels (sorry Laura, we were late back, and I received a parking ticket on your car - all sorted though) An African evening at Laura's new home meant that mama Koupa was able to cook some real African food to our friends in the Grimsby area, and then it was off to the South of England for three days via London where we were able to see some historic sites. We were met by a previous volunteer who drove us to our lovely accommodation - and the following day we had lunch at a Grammar school. All I can say is school dinners where never like that when I went to school: poached salmon and prawn sauce for lunch or a choice of food, amazing.
We met some wonderful people during our tour, I cannot thank everyone, or express our gratitude, but you all know who you are. Thank you for everything.
Then the great event that Laura, Lou, Allison and Deborah had so carefully planned, for such a long time: THE BALL. I think the photo says it all. A wonderful memory for Mama Koupa and myself - Bless you all for all the effort that you put in and for all the guests and previous volunteers who attended.
Thank you once again!
mama Lynn.
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Hi everyone,
I am so delighted to show you the picture of the disabled mama with her new baby she has named 'Lightness', (she tells me she wants her to grow up and be a Light in Africa). Mum is just so happy that she now has a child of her own, which was something utterly unconceivable with her severe disability.
The taunts and the neglect that she had to suffer until we rescued her and placed her safely at Mailisita until her delivery are now all a thing of the past. She only has one desire and that is to show her family her wonderful baby, and then return to LIA.
Mama will be employed to repair the many torn clothes and make new clothes for our children, as she is a seamstress. A great ending to a very disturbing beginning. Just a thought; abortion is not an option here in Tanzania. How different this situation would have been if the lady had lived overseas: professionals would probably have told her to abort the baby. She would have Rape Counselling, and be given all the reasons why she would not be able to care for the child.
Comments like, 'it would be in yours and the babies best interest to abort' given your disability, probably would have been said. I think sometimes people forget about the power of love that a newborn brings into the world.
Having witnessed the love and care this mama has for her new child reminds me of the adoption party that I attended at the weekend. A new young adorable life has come to a couple who thought it could never happen to them because of their age, their lives have completely changed, new plans must now be made and they see the adoption as an amazing gift of a child that has been given specially to them. A gift made in heaven.
A new baby is born out of the misery and tragedy of Mirerani, and as the photo's show, the desperate plight of the people who lost there homes in the floods. We are very grateful to our present volunteers who have responded magnificently to their plight and have assisted the people of Mirerani in many ways.
One of the quotes I often use is that "I am sold out on the youth of today" and I quickly receive the response that a lot of people would not agree with me. Perhaps not, but the young volunteers that we receive at LIA, are young people who often have to take on one or two jobs as well as study to enable them to come over and make a difference to children's lives and the community where we live. We have with us at present two young 16-year boys, who briefly visited with us last year in a school party, and made the decision to save up and come over by themselves. What remarkable young men Tym & Matt are. They have built a pig sty - tomorrow they purchase the pigs - they have helped in the disaster at Mirerani, they have given unstintingly of there time, as I write, I am waiting for a call to say the children they have taken to the HIV/AIDS hospital clinic have completed there assessments and they are ready for collection. Tomorrow is their last day with us, and so they have arranged for a Sport's Day to be held. What compassion, what love for our children! As I say; 'I'm sold out on the youth of today'.
Be blessed
mama Lynn.
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seeing these images of some of the devastation and after the various press articles about the many lives lost, we can only hope that the survivors can pick up life and have faith in a better future.
Thank you
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... and Light in Africa was there to assist the desperate people whose homes where swept away by the torrential rains.
The medical and social worker teams of Light in Africa where utilized to the maximum in helping the desperate flood victims in the mining town of Mirerani, Manyara region, of Tanzania over the last three days.
As reports of the miners deaths hit the national news, the medical teams and social worker teams assisted over 100 desperate cases, some people waiting over 10 hours just to have their needs met by the outreach team.
It had been decided that an outreach program would be conducted at the food kitchen on the 28th March and that although there had been heavy rains, we considered the need to take more food supplies which normally feed the 500 people each - six days per week was needed to sustain the program.
Arrangements were made that the medical team would travel in one vehicle, and a volunteer would be with mama Lynn, whose vehicle was filled to the top with packets of food, and containers of water, as in Mirerani the water is undrinkable.
Two kilometers from the airport the first of the flooded roads was encountered so great care had to be taken. A phone call was made to Anthony Kimaro not to use his vehicle but to come by local Landrover with the medical team. Cautiously, the car continued down the flooded road until it reached a low point where the water on the fields were running in a torrent across the road.
We waited until two cars crossed the river. I then steadily moved forward into the water, but the torrent covered the bonnet and the vehicle stalled, and quickly filled with water.
Removing the volunteer’s seat belt, she was instructed to go into the water and go to the side bank. By this time the water was up to the drivers seat and with the release of the side door, I was then able to slowly open the driver’s side door, drop into the water and safely reach the side bank. Ten men quickly appeared to help push the vehicle to the other side of the road, so re-entering the water, I climb back into the vehicle and the men pushed me to the other side, where water streamed from the vehicle.
The phone was 'hot' with messages flying over the airwaves. A very kind man driving a CelTel vehicle stopped to give us assistance - when we looked for our towrope it had disappeared. He then went off to a garage to return with a chain to pull us the remaining miles to a Mirerani garage. We are deeply indebted to this Good Samaritan who would not receive any payment for his kind deed. I was so pleased I was a CelTel subscriber!
In the meantime dr. Minja is being bombarded with enquiries as to our whereabouts. The outreach was set to start at 9am and it was now 11 am. and the food kitchen was packed with waiting people. On our arrival we were met with loud cheers and whoops that we had made it. I then spoke to the waiting people that I now knew how a baby felt wearing a wet nappy, as we were wet to the waist, and had to stay like that all day whilst assisting the clients. The medical team arrived later and set to work assisting the sick.
The decision was made that as we had not been able to help all the people,(64 names went down for the following day) that sister Grace and I would stay the night at the children's home and Anthony and the volunteer would try to return home, as more funding would be needed as the garage bill was expected to be high. That night the heavens opened, and torrential rain fell, Steven our kitchen manager was called upon to help people in distress whose homes where being swept away, he even had to tie a bed to a post, so the women didn’t lose it, and for her to search in the water for her pots and pans and place them on the bed.
In the morning the devastation was clearly to be seen, we quickly heard of the mining tragedy in tanzanite one who lost 70 miners, and the independent mines that had lost other miners. After breakfast we walked to the food kitchen passing uprooted trees that had swept down the road, knocking down mud-stick homes where the poor lived. Before we arrived at the food kitchen we knew we would have more people than the day before waiting for us, and we were right.
We worked through the day, drying tears, comforting the hopeless, giving out hugs and resources to meet there individual needs. We continued to dark, with only a Tilley storm lamp for light, and all we could see in the beams was still a long line of people quietly sobbing until it was their turn for their story to be told of the previous nights misery. We walked home in the dark, through the flooded roads, totally mentally and physically exhausted, but also to know that at the children's home there would be waiting for us a bucket of hot water for a shower, and a hot meal, a basic need that would be denied so many people that night.
Some of the cases that we assisted:
1) A mama with a huge elephantiasis leg had her mud brick home demolished, her granddaughter returned to us late evening to tell us they would sleep at a neighbors house, and arrangements were made for a rented room and food to be provided. A house re-build would be required
2) Rented rooms were paid for 4 other widows whose homes also had been lost. The bed / bedding / and cooking facilities still have yet to be provided.
3) Three mothers with the aids virus, asked for their children to come into care of Light in Africa as they could not support themselves anymore, as their homes had been damaged.
4) A woman who was infected had been told to leave her room, as the landlord had heard she was attending the food kitchen. A seminar was arranged to educate the village elders on stigmatizing the infected.
5) An elderly Masai mama's home had fallen on her fracturing an arm and leg, the Masai family did not want me to take her to hospital but chose for her to have the limbs pulled by a traditional doctor.
6) A further case of a mama with elephantiasis, struggled to see us to tell us she is now unable to access the food kitchen, as she is struggling to walk could she now have her meal delivered?
7) Our doctor for the day had two rooms and his toilet disappear in the flood.
8) A mama came with an 8 year old child, who had been pledged in marriage to an elderly Masai man, she had already been circumcised and had suffered sever infections......... I did a runner with her........
9) 4 families where paid transport money for re-location to their families homes.
10) A 14 year old girl has been raped and was asking for medical assistance as her family had thrown her out of the home. She is believed to be 7 months pregnant and has yet to seek medical assistance
.....and on it went. Light in Africa present volunteers have today been given all the referral cases to see if they can assist the poor, with either house builds, blankets, beds, etc.
Now for some wonderful news.........the disabled lady has now safely delivered a healthy baby girl, she is still in hospital, but is hoping to return to us in the next few days, praise God and thank you for all your prayers.
God bless
mama Lynn
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Dear Wangani's (friends)
First of all I need to ap0logise to everyone who has read the previous
data that I gave from our medical team. I'm sorry for some reason I
had a 'senior moment" when the previous years figures just popped into
my head and I'm glad to say the figures were incorrect...
Today I will write part of the report that Sister Grace, Medical Team
Leader gave at our recent AGM followed by Social Worker Grace
report.....
MEDICAL TREATMENT REPORT - ANNUAL REPORT SEPT 2006 - AUG 2007
REPORT WRITTEN BY SISTER GRACE MASSAWE - LIGHT IN AFRICA NURSE
The following report represents the Medical Treatment and care given
to the children who are resident with Light in Africa and many village
people within the Hai District, Mirerani Simanjiro, Manyara Region and
Lemongo - Kenya.
The conditions which were mostly treated by the medical staff where:
1) Respiratory Tract Infections.
2) Malaria
3) Worm Infestations.
4) Gastro Intestinal Infections.
5) Diabetes
6) Cardiovascular Diseases
7) HIV/AIDS related illnesses.
8) Councelling services.
There were 228 cases reffered to local hospitals, where cost covered
by LIA were hospital fees, medication and any surgical operations
that may have been required.
SEMINARS
LIA medical teams conducted and facilitated seminars to the community
to educate the villagers on the following.
1) HIV/AIDS transmission and prevention awareness.
2) Nutrition and healthy eating.
3) First Aid for burns, resuscitation, choking, fractures
4) Malaria Prevention and environmental care.
Seminars were also conducted at LIA facilities to the children in
their care on health education, the importance of hand washing etc.,
STAFF TRAINING
LIA medical team have also conducted training for the staff of LIA on
the following topics.
1) HIV/AIDS Transmission and prevention.
2) ART and ARV's Drugs.
3) Child care and child rights.
4) First Aid for burns, choking and resuscitation.
XXXXXXXXXXXX ACHIEVEMENTS XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
THIS PERIOD OF THE YEAR LIA HAS HAD AN EXCEPTIONAL YEAR IN HELPING THE
POOR BY PROVIDING SERVICE TO A MASSIVE AMOUNT OF PATIENTS WITHIN THE
COMMUNITY AND LIA
THE FOLLOWING ACHIEVEMENTS HAVE BEEN ATTAINED:
| patients treated | |
|---|---|
| CHEKORENI OUTREACH DISPENSARY | 2489 |
| LERAI OUTREACH DISPENSARY | 203 |
| TINDIGANI OUTREACH DISPENSARY | 210 |
| LIGHT IN AFRICA | 7205 |
| LEMONGO | 243 |
| MIRERANI OUTREACH DISPENSARY | 1555 |
| HOME BASE CARE (HBC) | 135 |
| REFFERAL CASES | 228 |
| MAJOR SURGICAL OPERATIONS (ADULT) | 15 |
| (CHILDREN) | 10 |
| THE TOTAL NUMBER OF PATIENTS | 12,293 |
WE GIVE THANKS TO GOD - TO OUR HARD WORKING MEDICAL TEAM WHO SOMETIMES
HAVE TO ENDURE VERY LONG HOT DAYS JUST TO SERVE THE HUNDREDS WHO
ATTEND THE OUTREACH CLINICS - VOLUNTEERS WHO PURCHASED
ALL OF THE DRUGS FOR OUR DOCTOR TO USE, TO PEOPLE WHO HAVE
FINANCIALY SUPPORTED LIA - ANTHONY AND MARCUS FOR THEIR DRIVING SKILLS
ON SOME SCARY TERRAIN - WE BLESS AND THANK EVERYONE INVOLVED.........
JUST AN UPDATE ON THE NEW ADULT FOOD KITCHEN. WHICH WAS RECENTLY STARTED.
THE NUMBERS OF ADULTS WITH THE HIV/AIDS VIRUS WHO ARE ACCESSING THE
FOOD 6 DAYS PER WEEK HAVE INCREASED TO 110..... ON WEDNESDAY A MAN
CAME UPTO ME AND SAID 'MAMA LOOK AT ME' I HAVE GAINED 11 KILOS
SINCE ATTENDING THE KITCHEN, I FEEL ALIVE ONCE AGAIN' AND ANOTHER MAN
WHO, THE LAST TIME WE MET WAS SUFFERING FROM TB AND I SENT HIM OFF
TO THE LOCAL HOSPITAL, WAS THERE AND HE LOOKED JUST SO WELL, I HAD TO
ASK 'IS THAT REALLY THE GUY WE SENT TO HOSPITAL?'.
I AM JUST SO THRILLED AND GRATEFUL TO FLOYD AND KATHY AND EVERYONE
INVOLVED IN GETTING THE FOOD TO US SO THAT WE CAN HELP THESE PEOPLE.
GOD BLESS YOU ALL. MAMA LYNN
... PS WE ARE STILL AWAITING THE BIRTH BY CAESAREAN SECTION OF THE
DISABLED LADY'S BABY.... MORE LATER WITH GRACES REPORT
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Hello everyone,
That was a surprise this morning to see Jake's photo of me and my boys staring at me from the blogg page that Webmaster Paul had placed on over the weekend.
And it's nice to hear that Jake is returning again for a short break before he goes off to 'shoot' some more amazing photo's for other charities. He just can't keep away, our children are just sooo infectious with all there huge smiles and laughter it really is contagious, volunteers just keep coming back to visit us. Wonderful.
Here are two photos of a happy young masai boy, who when he was first brought to our out-reach dispensary, could only hobble on one foot.
One leg was shorter and only his big toe touched the ground. Now thanks to the surgery carried out by Stemms Medical Mission of America, the child is now walking on two straight feet. He returned to his masai home on Saturday. And we greatly appreciate all the financial support and care that was given to the child by this organisation.
Two pics of the masai boy, in plaster and standing up on his two legs
On Saturday we held our Annual General Meeting to elect the Executive Committee for a further 5 year period. I can only say it was an AWESOME TIME to hear from each department on what they had achieved over the last Finacial Year Sept '06 - Aug. '07
Bearing in mind that it is our policy not to ask for finances or materials, or to send out proposals or use any marketing machinery accept this website to inform, but to be totally reliant on God's Provision. And He has been a faithful God, providing for His children abundantly. Sister Grace, our team leader for the medical sections, reported that over 10,000 patients had received 'FREE' TREATMENT AND DRUGS AND THAT 25 MAJOR OPERATIONS HAD BEEN CARRIED OUT AND PAID FOR BY LIGHT IN AFRICA.
Our Social Worker Grace reported that over 900 families had been supported, with either children being placed into eduction with school fee's paid, school uniforms purchased, provision of books, older children accessing Veta training life-skill courses, food provided, milk bills paid, blankets, mosquito nets, mattresses, two houses built for the poor, and much much more.
We give God the Glory for all that has been achieved. And look forward to another year of amazing blessing to help the poor and unsupported children and adults in this country of Tanzania.
Have a blessed week,
mama Lynn
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