Very often it is easy to think that life as a missionary is just an advaneture. Well, some of the time it is. However, very often it is a time of sorrow and tears. I remember a vivid time when I had to help a woman deliver a baby with no help, no water, no nothing - just in the bushes literally! It was difficult for me, but the poor woman is the one who really suffered! I ended up using a string from my slip to tie off the ambilico cord and keep the woman from bleeding to death.
Children came and got me as I was walking home from the junction of Kamonkoli. I had gone to get some onions and carrots to use for dinner with a little beef. As I was walking they came and grabbed my hand and kept telling me that someone needs me and I should go with them.
When I got where we were going it was not far from my home. The lady was on the ground screaming in pain and was not doing well at all. She had a fever, though I had no way of measuring what her temperature was. I sent one of the kids to my home to get some good clean water and call a worker at home to come and help me. We had hot water now, a dull knife and nothing else to help me to deliver this child. I had no experience at all. The lady was crying and screaming. I gave her a big stick to hold on to. She told me that the baby was not due for some time but she was sick.
It turned out that she had very high malaria and did indeed have a high temperature causing the baby to be born premature. It also turned out that the woman had AIDS. She had a baby girl and it was so tiny. I was scared and not sure what to do. We got her cleaned up the best we could and found some men to help us lift her and get her to the nearest clinic. But it was too far away so she ended up in a guest room at my home. I kept the baby warm as I knew this was important and put lanterns around her so that it would generate heat. The woman was happy but because of the malaria she had no milk for the baby. I got some fresh milk and boiled it with some water and let it cool and then preceeded to find a midwife to help me before feeding the baby.
I found a midwife who said that the baby was doing well and that she should live. The mother was happy. Later on the father showed up and he was not happy that the baby was born early. He began to cry that we should kill it now, it is going to bring to many medical bills and we will not manage. I did not understand his attitude. I went to get a car to take them to the hospital in mbale for better care, and when I came back the baby was dead - suspecting that the father killed it. When I had left to get a vehicle, the child was doing fine. I was only gone twenty minutes.
I was saddened - they had named the baby Katherine, which only made it worse. Well, these are the kind of things sometimes we go through as a missionary. The Lord was with me and I still felt that He impacted this woman through me who was a Muslim.
Two years later she accepted Christ and then died two months later. Her husband had another wife - all of them were infected with AIDS. They are all dead now.
Children came and got me as I was walking home from the junction of Kamonkoli. I had gone to get some onions and carrots to use for dinner with a little beef. As I was walking they came and grabbed my hand and kept telling me that someone needs me and I should go with them.
When I got where we were going it was not far from my home. The lady was on the ground screaming in pain and was not doing well at all. She had a fever, though I had no way of measuring what her temperature was. I sent one of the kids to my home to get some good clean water and call a worker at home to come and help me. We had hot water now, a dull knife and nothing else to help me to deliver this child. I had no experience at all. The lady was crying and screaming. I gave her a big stick to hold on to. She told me that the baby was not due for some time but she was sick.
It turned out that she had very high malaria and did indeed have a high temperature causing the baby to be born premature. It also turned out that the woman had AIDS. She had a baby girl and it was so tiny. I was scared and not sure what to do. We got her cleaned up the best we could and found some men to help us lift her and get her to the nearest clinic. But it was too far away so she ended up in a guest room at my home. I kept the baby warm as I knew this was important and put lanterns around her so that it would generate heat. The woman was happy but because of the malaria she had no milk for the baby. I got some fresh milk and boiled it with some water and let it cool and then preceeded to find a midwife to help me before feeding the baby.
I found a midwife who said that the baby was doing well and that she should live. The mother was happy. Later on the father showed up and he was not happy that the baby was born early. He began to cry that we should kill it now, it is going to bring to many medical bills and we will not manage. I did not understand his attitude. I went to get a car to take them to the hospital in mbale for better care, and when I came back the baby was dead - suspecting that the father killed it. When I had left to get a vehicle, the child was doing fine. I was only gone twenty minutes.
I was saddened - they had named the baby Katherine, which only made it worse. Well, these are the kind of things sometimes we go through as a missionary. The Lord was with me and I still felt that He impacted this woman through me who was a Muslim.
Two years later she accepted Christ and then died two months later. Her husband had another wife - all of them were infected with AIDS. They are all dead now.
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