Turning tables

Boy oh boy, what a day it was on Sunday.  By the end of the day I was so mad I had a headache and went to bed somewhat early (10 pm).  Now it’s Monday evening and I’ll attempt to catch you up.

Before heading out for the day Albert, C4KK Outreach team member, came by with his son and a gift for us….a chicken and it was delicious for dinner that evening.

Afterwards we visited Catherine’s mom and dad and they too gave us a chicken (another delicious dinner).

Then as we walked to the truck we visited a children’s home which is run by Catherine’s cousin.  This home is called Julius Dora Children’s Home.

Then it was time to head to the mission field and treat more jiggers.  On our way to visit Bebabeba we saw some beautiful landscape.

Upon arrival at Bebabeba’s we found him on the ground, inside his room because he is unable to walk due to jiggers and he is literally being starved.  This is basically where my day started to go very, very bad.  His mother lives in a home in front of his and his brother lives in a room with a common wall to Bebabeba’s.  His brother is healthy and able to work manual jobs so we asked why he wasn’t giving his brother food (no reply…as usual).  Then the work began on Bebabeba (his name means ‘carrying carrying’ because he used to work as a public transportation conductor yelling ‘bebabeba’ to let people know they would ‘carry’ them to their destination).  Oh and he is only 56 years old, his wife left him because he is “cursed” (that’s what many believe about jiggers) and neither of his daughters visit him.

These are the church goers who attend the church just steps away from Bebabeba’s home. They sang and praised God then simply looked at Bebabeba on their way out and practically walked over him and didn’t do or offer any assistance.  They missed their opportunity to attend to Jesus’ wounds.  I feel very sorry for them and yup, this is when I got angry and kept thinking of (not the same circumstances but I was so angry I could have overturned tables if there were any to overturn):

 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.  “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”

The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.

 “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him.

“Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read,

“‘From the lips of children and infants
    you, Lord, have called forth your praise’?”

And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.

Here I am standing in Bebabeba’s doorway and the building you see in front is the church, actually I don’t know what to call it….maybe simply a gathering place for people to pretend to love God (whoa, forgive me my bitterness).

This is a water filter we’ve seen at several of the homes we’ve visited here in Luanda.  We are told an NGO handed these out, telling people the filter would need to be changed every year but they never returned with new filters…..so now they hang, useless in people homes.  By this time I wanted to rip them all down and throw them away.

This is his room, completely empty except for a broken chair, a small table and a tiny, aluminum bowl in the corner.

He is carried outside so his wounds can be attended to, the guy on the right is his brother.

This is how we found Bebabeba.

While Joseck was treating him Chuck and Catherine went to purchase him a bed, mattress and other necessities.  Unfortunately they couldn’t get the bed (that was done today, more on that later) but Bebabeba slept on a mattress that evening.

We also brought him some bread and milk.  When we first got there he kept asking if we had brought him any food because he said he was hungry.  After his treatment Chuck helped him with the bread and milk.  He devoured the bread and milk like a wild animal and Chuck had to tell him to slow down, there was more.  We told Bebabeba we would be back the following day (today) with a doctor and we bid him a good night’s sleep on his new mattress.

Then it was time to pick up the doctor so he could check on David.  The doctor did more cutting on him to get all the jigger egg sacks out.  The white dots you see are egg sacks which need to be opened then the foot or hand is soaked in baking soda to dry up all the eggs and kill them.

David was certainly a trooper throughout the treatment.  We also had a guy come by Okemi’s (that’s where we were treating David) start verbally abusing the older women there to which Joseck quickly told him to stop (he was speaking in the native language so we had no idea what he was saying).  Then he told us about his father who has jiggers and wanted the doctor to come to his home.  Chuck told him the doctor was busy but he can take his father to the doctor’s clinic and have the jiggers treated for free.  The man kept insisting the doctor come to the home and said he was “too busy” to take his father for help.  Chuck kind of lost it on the guy and told him to take care of his dad by taking him to the clinic.  Unfortunately the guy just wouldn’t listen so we simply went back to assisting David.  He didn’t help my day any and the kids gathered around were so inconsiderate all I could think was ‘this is the next generation of ignorance in the country of Kenya’.  Parents are not instilling any type of morality in their children, they go to school but aren’t learning and have absolutely no respect for another human being.  It just made my day even worse and before leaving Chuck was going to hand out sweets but I told him not to do it because none of the kids lifted one finger to help clean up the compound (I went around and picked up trash) and it would simply perpetuate the idea they can sit around and do nothing and then expect something from the “whites”…unacceptable in my book.  Plus they really caught me at the end of a very bad day.

After dropping off Dr. Raphael we went home, showered, ate and I went to bed.  I couldn’t even stand to watch the news, just more of the stupidity and ignorance of a country built on greed and selfishness.  As you can see I’m still a little touchy on the subject and forgive me for being a bit harsh, but I’m so sick of what is happening to the citizens of this country by their own government and each other.

Ok, let’s move on to today.  We headed over to Okemi’s to check on the toilet construction and to say goodbye (we’ll be leaving tomorrow for C4KK).  The only thing left is cementing the toilet seat to the form so they will no longer have to squat to use the toilet, better on their old knees.  They both told us how grateful they are that God would bring someone to help change their lives.  They can both walk and are healing….praise God!

Before leaving the area we had one more case of jiggers to work on.  Joseck is now letting everyone know the doctors will treat jiggers for free at their clinic but will continue to assist on a one by one basis.

We had a bit of time before we were supposed to pick up the doctor so we went back home and had a quick bite to eat.  Then it was on the road again to pick up Dr. Raphael and head over to Bebabeba….after picking up his new bed!  For my doctor friends in the US…..these doctors do it all, even putting beds together!  Please keep these ‘bush doctors’ in prayer as they continue helping the poor of the poor.

Bebabeba was so happy with his mattress he kept saying to his mom, “they brought me bread and milk and a mattress, who would do that?” He also told us he had slept very well last night and no mosquitos because of the new net. He was like a different person. The doctors told us if he had not been attended to he would be dead in 2 months. God brought him into our lives for a reason and he now needs nutrition for healing and gaining strength. I pray his family will help him on this road to recovery, please keep them in prayer.

Then they both began working on Bebabeba and both were exhausted by the end of the 2 hours!

Took the doctors back to the clinic, got some medicines for Bebabeba (pain killers, blood boosters because he is extremely anemic and antibiotics), said our goodbyes (we’ll definitely be working with these guys again through Joseck) and went home for a cold shower (it’s been so hot and dusty here the cold showers have been wonderful!)

Now we are getting ready for dinner (it’s about 9pm here) and then hit the sack for an early morning to head back to C4KK. What a blessing this entire trip has been and I must say a big thank you to our host and hostess, Joseck and Catherine.  They made us a part of the family and showed us their part of the country.  May God continue to bless Joseck in this ministry as he goes out into the village day in and day out reaching to the least of these, those with no hope and telling them and showing them the love of Jesus Christ.  Please keep this ministry in prayer and consider becoming a monthly supporter.  Visit our website donation page for more info on how to begin.  Thank you and God Bless.