update on Maureen's family

Thank you for your prayers for baby Jack.

He was doing slightly better today. Though he just laid in the play pen and did not eat anything or even drink his milk.  Maureen said he only was drinking juice and so she ran out of juice and was giving him sugar water. So I gave her some orange juice I had.

 

This morning though she was quite concerned about her son Richard who is 10. He lives with her sister in the Copperbelt.  This same sister is the one that raised Maureen. Her mom died when she was 4 years old.

I am slowly learning more of her family and background.   She also has a brother who is a chief in a village in the Northern province.  (Maybe more on that another day)

 

They thought Richard had malaria again. (He had it a few weeks ago)  So her sister gave him the strong dose of anti-malaria medicine, and they took him to the clinic.  The male nurse on duty was drunk and gave them the wrong prescription. He started getting sicker today from the malaria meds as well  and they took him back to the clinic in the morning and  got the right prescription.  It was very scary and Maureen was quite worried about him.  I told her she could take time off to go and see him or bring him here, but she said with Jack being sick, she couldn’t go on the 5 hour trip (one way)  to get him.

She mentioned as well that he has severe nose bleeds and is sensitive to light and will get headaches too.   So this was compounded with this recent illness.

When she talked with her sister again at the end of the day, she said he was starting to feel better.  But please do pray for him as well.

 

 

I couldn’t imagine the clinics that the poorest of the poor go to.   We talked briefly about that. Even bringing maureen and Jack home from the clinic the other day  I was asking her a few questions about what the doctor said, etc.. and she said, “They don’t tell you anything”.  They just look at the child,  do some tests and then give you a prescription.  There are so many people there to be seen, so you wait a long time and they move you through without much thought to explaining things to the patients, or their parents.

 

A few weeks ago Jack was sick with a cold and was having trouble breathing. She took him in, and when they asked her how long he had been having trouble breathing she said just today, it started in the night.  She said they told her, “No. You are lying.”   

 

I told her I was sorry she had such a hard weekend, and she said   “ yes.  I was just asking God,  what is going on?  When Jack is sick and I can’t go and be with my other son.”

She has a 12 year old daughter that also lives with her sister.  They have been there since December. I haven’t asked yet,  why or how long they will be there.  I am assuming  she wasn’t working and so couldn’t take care of them.  It is so common to send your children to another relatives for them to care for when times are tough.