Kids!

Many of you have asked for more pictures of the children that are seen here at the Beit Cure Hospital.  Thursday was the day!

I went into the children’s ward with Na, part of the Spiritual Team (she is married to Harold, the Spiritual Director).  We spoke with several of the guardians (adult caretakers of the children – mothers or fathers or older siblings, uncles or aunts – each family sends whoever can best be spared from home, or whoever can best care for the child – sometimes changing places during the child’s hospital stay) and two of the older children.  About half spoke English well enough for me to join the conversation – for the rest, Na spoke to them in their own language.

On the left is a picture of twin boys.  They are about 6 weeks old.  The little guy on the bottom of the picture has spina bifida, and had surgery last week.  His twin brother,  on the top of the picture, is unaffected.  They are the 2nd set of twins (& the  6th & 7th baby for their mother!)

This picture is of a little boy who came in to the hospital with a club foot.  He had been seen at other hospitals, but had not received treatment until he came to the Beit Cure Hospital in Zambia.  His father told me that he is very happy with the care they received at our hospital – which is always nice to hear!  He is smiling because he is being discharged today – he and his father are delighted to be going home!

This fellow had surgery on his right leg – I’m not sure what procedure he had.  When Na asked his mother if I could take a picture, she agreed, and she changed her blouse for the picture!  The hospital has each guardian sign a form that we can take pictures of the children – but I did not want to overstep those boundaries, so I edited the mother out!  You can just see the lovely fabric of her blouse on the left of the picture.

This baby has spina bifida -she was admitted for surgery last week, but had to wait to go to the OT (why is the above blue? – how to fix?!) until the hospital received some units of blood for transfusion during the surgery – I was happy to see that she finally had the surgery.  Her mother speaks no English, and was happy to pose her baby for a photo, but did not want to talk, even through Na, who could translate.