Autumn in June...

So... I just deleted the sentence that said I didn't really have anything to write about, because after taking 2 more seconds to think about what to say I realized that there are always a truckload of stories I can tell! It's strange how things that I would have counted as "big news" before can almost be put at risk for becoming "ordinary"...

The thing that I am finding the most odd at the moment is the fact that we are now right in the middle of fall in South Africa. Leaves seem to almost attack your car as they fall constantly from the trees while you drive down the street. (You can't really walk down the street here, even in your neighborhood unless you're with a group that includes at least one big man... and I haven't found many of those yet, though I'm holding out hope :o) )

Now for a story or two...

It is amazing how often God does miracles here. And not even the casual joke kind like "Wow, the grocery store finally had the kind of pasta sauce I wanted - it's a miracle!" But honest, "You shouldn't even be alive right now" miracles! A VERY exciting one from last week is that the baby who had open heart surgery back in April - you know, the one we took off of life support with doctors saying he would live an hour at most - came off of the oxygen he's been dependent on for his entire life! For the first time in his two years he is breathing completely on his own not hooked up to a single machine and has also learned to sit on his own for over an hour at a time.

Another absolute miracle happened last Sunday. I honestly don't think I've ever been so scared in my entire life. I was lying in bed early Sunday morning having just wished by brother a happy birthday when my cell phone rang again. I didn't recognize the number so I debated not answering thinking that it would probably be someone wanting something that would require me to get out of bed... but I answered anyway. It was one of out management team and she said "Kelli, a child's been run over by a volunteer's car at one of the homes and you live the closest!!!! Can you go now?!" She was in such a panic and I felt the adrenaline start rushing through me as I pulled on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt over my pajamas before even hanging up the phone.

I phoned the child's house as I drove (won't say how fast) and the assistant told me that the child was still lying under the car screaming and the ambulance hadn't arrived yet. I drove through every red light figuring that if a policeman tried to stop me at least he would end up at the home to help at the same time that I would. I prayed so hard during that drive, both that the child would be okay, and that the ambulance would get there before I did so that I would not have to be the only one in charge of trying to manage what I imagined to be a horrifying scene.

I drove up to the house and immediately saw that the ambulance still wasn't there (it had taken me 10 minutes to get there) and started running down the driveway hearing this 10 year old boy screaming from beneath a car that was tipping over a retaining wall. Just then we saw the ambulance drive past the house so I ran back out to the street to wave it down. As the paramedics came running in I ran into the house to make sure that the other 9 boys couldn't see what was happening. Thankfully their house mom had locked them in the living room with a security gate so all that they could see was that an ambulance was at their house (very exciting to most 5 and 6 year old boys!). I ran back outside (don't think I've run so much in quite a long time!) and the paramedics had lifted the car and pulled the child out and were giving him oxygen on the ground. As they loaded him into the ambulance they told me that it was critical - I started praying minimal internal bleeding.

I drive to the hospital in between the ambulance and fire truck, both with sirens blaring, and once there they immediately whisked him into a trauma room for a full body scan. While he was being assessed, I asked the volunteer what happened and she said that while they were loading the boys into the car for church he had taken the keys to unlock the door but then also leaned in and started the engine without anyone noticing. The car had been in gear and so started jumping forward and when the volunteer reached in to try to turn it off they both fell, with him underneath the car and her wedged between the car and a wall. His head was being crushed face down between the undercarriage of the car and the brick ledge that the car was teetering on. Thankfully the volunteer's body just stuck in such a way that it stopped the car (she was fine by the way) just before it would have taken the child's head off.

An hour after we arrived at the hospital we got the news that the body scans had come back completely clear. The house mom began crying with relief and I had to sit down with my head between my knees because the adrenaline that had been keeping my upright was suddenly gone.

To have seen the after-effects of the accident has made me so amazed by how God so perfectly saved this child. He had deep cuts along both sides of his head from his cheekbones to just behind the ears, one side from the car and the other from the bricks. There had been so much pressure that he couldn't chew well for days because his teeth hurt so badly, and his face swelled up to the point that you couldn't see his eyes very well. Now that the swelling has gone down, the whites of his left eye is red like blood from the blood vessel that burst under the pressure. I don't know how he could have had that much weight on his head without crushing his skull except for the grace of God.

He has the innocence of a child and told me on the day of the accident, "I'm so glad God saved me. He saved me from Hell!" I asked him what he meant by that and he said "Under the car! That was HELL!" I told him that it was so good that he had been screaming under there because then we knew that he was awake and his lungs were working. I also said that it was good that he had been kicking his legs because we knew his back was probably okay. He answered "No, I was kicking because that lady on top of my feet was fat and I wanted her to get off!" The honesty of children...

He started back to school yesterday and said "My friends at school are NEVER going to believe this! They didn't even know that my head is like Superman and can hold up an entire car!"

Such amazing miracles....

On a note to vent my frustration for the day... one of my favorite little girls (though I know I'm not supposed to have favorites) is 2 years old and was born with a twin brother. She is HIV positive while her brother was negative. Because of that, their mother kept the brother but abandoned this little girl (who I think may be the smartest 2 year old I've ever met!). Her "mother" wanted to come visit her today so we took her out of preschool and she played with me in my "off-y" (her word for my office) while we waited for the "tummy lady" to arrive. (I started calling her the tummy lady because I can't stand that she would call this woman "mom". I just told her she lived in this lady's tummy before she was born.) Well, once again, this woman failed to be there for her child. Drives me absolutely crazy that someone like her can even have the right to visit. Since she's only come once in the 2 years we've had her little girl I think the child will probably start screaming if she tries to hold her of she ever shows up again... and frankly, hope she screams a lot! Okay, that's pretty horrible of me, but at the same time, another wonderful woman is the one getting up with her daughter 3 times a night to help her get potty-trained, so she is the one who deserves to be called "Mom"!

Okay... back to work :o)

Xenophobic Violence

Right: Crowds gather to try and find saftey at a police station

Left: A man beaten by the mobs

Over the past week waves of xenophobic violence have been happening in the townships and squatter camps in and around Johannesburg. It has been horrifying to see the images of violent beatings and even murders that have been committed by South African nationals against immigrants, many of them refugees, from other African countries. It seems that some people here have a very short memory of what it is like to be the ones treated as less than human because of factors outside of their own control. Images in the news here yesterday, though I will spare you from having to see them, showed a man who had been set on fire in the street while the crowd gathered around him laughed. He later died in a hospital with burns to 100% of his body... Unimaginable. One of our assistants told me that as she was coming from a township on Monday morning, people were being pulled out of the taxis to be beaten in the streets. I can't fathom how one person can do this to another...

In my opinion, what is going on largely stems from the huge populations still living in abject poverty here. The native South Africans (and to be fair, it is a small minority who are committing these atrocities) involved in the violence, don't have enough food, and often lack proper shelter, with winter quickly coming on. They are looking for someone to blame for their own circumstances and so are blaming the immigrants who they are claiming have stolen their jobs, homes, and are taking advantage of what little government services there are available to them. Thousands of people have been gathering to sleep in police stations to find some semblance of safety as their homes and businesses are the targets of violent attacks as well.

Yesterday we received a call from the Department of Children's Welfare asking if we had the capacity to take in some of the children who have been displaced by the violence. Of course we said that we would and I have been blown away by the responses of our house parents. Even the parents of one of our homes, who already have 13 boys to care for, have offered to take in another. They had a family meeting with the boys, explained the situation to them, and then asked the boys if they felt that they could help in some way. They boys were in unanimous agreement that they would share their home with whoever would fit within its walls. What an incredible blessing it is for our older kids to be learning in such a concrete way that God has blessed us, and them, with so much, and it is out of that abundance that we are called to give all that we can. They are learning for themselves, that when another human being is suffering, we have a responsibility to step up and do all that we are able. Please be praying for the violence here to end quickly! (And FYI - I am not in an area that would put me at any risk, just to ease your minds Mom & Dad!)

Moments that leave you speechless...

Today I had one of those moments... One of our little girls, she's 11, is going to camp with her school next week. She is HIV+ and for the first time will need to be somewhat in charge of taking her twice-daily ARV's (anti-retroviral medication) by herself. She had been told that she was HIV+ over a year ago, but it had gone over her head a bit when she was 9, so her house mom and I decided that I would take her out for ice cream and explain it to her again. I tried to choose my words so carefully, not wanting to scare her, but also wanting her to help her understand how important it is for her to take her medicine right at 7am and 7pm each day. How to help a child not be afraid when they're told they have the same virus that they saw their mother die of 2 years ago is difficult...
Here's how the conversation went:
Me: I'm so excited for you to go to camp! You'll get to be in charge of your medication all by yourself, do you think you can do it?! (with a smile)
Her: Yes!
Me: Do you know why you take medicine sweetie?
Her: No.
Me: Well, it's because you have something called HIV, and your mommy gave it to you, and the medicine is what makes sure you stay strong and healthy. Do you remember when your mommy got sick?
Her: Yes.
Me: The reason she started to get sick from HIV is because she didn't have the medicine that you get to have. HIV is something that lives in your blood and tries to be in charge of the cells that keep you healthy. If the HIV gets to be in charge then your body has trouble staying strong, but if you take the medicine exactly right, then it can help your cells stay stronger than the HIV, so that you won't get sick. But that's why you go to Bara (Baragwanath hospital in Soweto - a township - has an AIDS clinic that many of our kids go to every few weeks) so that they can check your blood to make sure that there aren't too many HIV cells. Because if there are they will need to change your medication a little bit. So the medicine you take is what is going to help you stay healthy so that you can be an old granny someday!
Her: So I'm going to have to take medication even when I get big?
Me: Yup. When you get big then you'll be in charge of going to the doctor all by yourself for them to check your blood. But you know what? Lots of people in South Africa have HIV, and even lots of kids. Kids can get it from their mommies sometimes, like you and your little sister.
Her: But she takes different medicine then me.
Me: I know, and it's because everybody's HIV is a little bit different, so they give you the medicine that's exactly right for you.
Her: So if I don't take my medicine, will I die like my mommy?
Me: (as I took a deep breath and prayed for the right words) Well, if you stopped taking your medicine, then you would get very sick like your mommy did. But she didn't get to have the medicine like you have, so with your medicine, you will get to be much older then your mommy was. I think she was so sad not to get to see you grow up, but you are going to get to grow up and be such an old lady! That's why your mommy brought you and your sister to Acres, because she knew that we could give you medicine to keep you healthy and she loved you very very much.
Her: Okay.
Me: Do you have any other questions about HIV?
Her: No, but I'll think about it. Do you know what my favorite kind of pizza is...?

And so ended a conversation that took my breath away...

Last week I talked one little girl through her first period and a teenager through her first kiss - this job is a little crazy, but I love it!!!! Nowhere else I'd rather be...

And yesterday I went to help fetch a two month old baby who's dad was offering to pay people to take him. He's the most perfect baby boy and it's hard to imagine what must have been going through the dad's mind as he placed his son in my arms. He was shocked, and a little relieved, when we told him that we didn't want money from him, we just wanted to make sure his baby was safe...
What a weekend this has been! (oh, and today I attended my first Mother/Daughter Mother's Day Tea in which I was the mother - pay no mind to the fact that I would have been 17 when having my "daughter") :o)


Happy Mother's Day to you Mom, and to all of my mom friends :o)

Short & Sweet...

As I type this I'm laying in bed in my newly rented cottage!!!! Yay for having my own bathroom and kitchen again :o) I'll try to take a few photos (as soon as it's a little more decorated) and post them up here. As is evident from my lack of posts, things have been so busy...
The sweet baby boy I mentioned last time sailed through open heart surgery beautifully and was discharged from the hospital a little less than a week ago. His house parents came down with the flu on the day he was supposed to go home so he came to live with me for two nights instead. :o) We did some significant middle-of-the-night bonding and he even convinced me to let him sleep in my bed. Well, okay, he can't talk, but he was saying it with his eyes (and whining!).
Safari was awesome last weekend - saw a leopard kill a warthog and then drag it up a tree right in front of us! Crazy to be in a safari jeep and driving over trees taller than the car (this could be a Land Rover commercial). A family of probably 15 elephants crossed our path too!
Okay, sorry to be so short, but I'm off to bed!

Did I Mention I May Not Be Good At This???

Hello all! So sorry that I've now been in South Africa for 2 months and haven't posted an update for half of my time here! Life's been a little more than a little busy and I actually haven't even been on my computer in the office very much because of hosting visitors and kids in hospitals... Here are a couple of highlights from the last month:

• A sweet baby boy arrived just under a month ago and has become our most recent miracle. He is a two year old angel who has Downs Syndrome which it at the root of some significant heart defects. Two weeks ago today we took him to the hospital with a fever and he ended up being admitted and then suddenly crashing that afternoon. After being on a ventilator for 2 days the doctors suggested that we take him off and let him go because there was little chance of him ever making a meaningful recovery. Our whole staff was so broken over having to watch a baby die, and this little one's mom even came to kiss him goodbye at the hospital. Well, to make a long story short, after rotating a constant bedside shift with him for 2 days he began getting BETTER rather than slowly slipping away. He is now a giggling little ball of smiles and hugs and, though still oxygen dependent, is going in for open heart surgery tomorrow morning to try and repair the 2 large holes in his heart to give him a chance to make it to his third birthday and beyond. The biggest risk will actually come after the operation, when he's back on the ventilator for a few days, when the doctors will watch to see if his pulmonary artery can handle the pressure of normal blood flow. We have all fallen so deeply in love with this baby boy! Please pray for him to live a long and healthy life!!! (I've attached a photo of him with me in his favorite position - sleeping with his head over our hearts :o) )


• The next little story was my first time being pulled over in South Africa! I got caught driving while talking on my cell phone (I was getting an update on the baby - no one cares if you don't wear a seat belt or use a car seat here, but NO talking on a cell phone! :oP) When I pulled over the policeman said "Well, that's a R500 fine (about $55)" and looked at me. I had my wallet and said "I don't have R500 on me (thankfully I'd spend all my money that morning!) I just have R20 and a $5 bill." He said "Well, what do you want me to do?" and I suggested that he mail me a ticket or something. He said "Okay, I'll take the $5 bill, but don't do it again." So, I've paid my first police bribe here, giving me infinite faith in the South African justice system... But, my bank account is definitely thankful that I didn't have to pay the actual ticket price!


• I get to take a little prop plane up to Kruger National Park next week to go on safari with some visitors for a night! Yay for a night of not working :o) And the "younger crew" from work and I are planning a trip up to Victoria Falls (we'd be staying in Zambia) in June, so that's fun to dream about too!
• AND I think I may have found my own little cottage to move into which would be AWESOME! I'm head over heels in love with the little girls in my house, but there really is just NO space or time where I don't feel like I'm at work when I'm at home, so it will be really nice to come visit them A LOT from a place where I don't share a tiny bathroom with two teenagers :o)

Okay, gotta be at the hospital at 6:45 tomorrow morning for the baby's operation so I I better go to bed since I haven't slept more than 6 hours in 5 nights now... I'm a peach of a person at the moment on not enough sleep! Won't go so long between posts again!!!!

Love to all!

Learning to Balance Two Worlds...

South Africa is definitely a country of contrasts. Rich and poor, black and white, big city and safari wilderness... It is so strange sometimes to think that, according to global economy standards, South Africa is a first world country (the first heart transplant was done here, and it's the only country to have voluntarily disarmed its nuclear weapons arsenal) and yet by far the vast majority of people live in third world conditions here. Almost all domestic workers who are employed in middle and upper class homes (including ours) go home to a shanty made of tin and plywood. Most domestics make about R100 per day (about $13). They work so hard all day for less than most Americans (including me) make in an hour. So many are in their 50's and 60's, and have experienced infinitely more under apartheid than I will in a lifetime, and yet they have to ask me for permission to miss work for a day so that they can wait for hours in a clinic line to get medical care. Others are mothers who leave their children home alone so they they can go take care of another person's children - just to put food on the table.
And then there is the other side of South Africa, the night club I went to last week with a friend here, where you would think everyone had just walked off a runway in Paris - Fashion TV is the name of the place! We just got dinner and drinks, but watching the people there gave me such conviction for how, though I am here to serve these kids, my world is still so different from the vast majority of South Africa's black population. You see the evidence of apartheid here everywhere only 14 years after the end of such terrible oppression. Many of the streets are still named after leaders in the apartheid government, though slowly they are being changed to traditionally African names (which DOES add a lot of confusion if you don't have a new map!).
Just a few thoughts for the day...

So I'm A Slacker...

...who hasn't updated her blog in 2 weeks! So sorry about that! Things have been wild and wonderful and... exhausting!!!! I am loving every moment, even on the worst day here - where I am so frustrated by something, or even by one of the children - I feel so blessed to be able to be here as a newly consistant part of their lives.
Just under two weeks ago, one of our toddlers smashed his thumb in a security gate - nearly sliced it off from just behind the finger nail. Generally this would have meant putting him to sleep briefly so that they could stitch and we could have been on our way. In the case of this little one however, he is 18 months old and oxygen dependant most of the time (though he can run and holler like any 18 month old, he has lung disease as a result of exposure when he was abandoned as an infant). This constant need for extra oxygen meant that he would have needed a very expensive team of specialists to monitor his vitals if he was put under anesthesia. Because of this the private hospital we generally take our kids to sent us to Johannesburg General Hospital, a great specialty hospital, but a terrible one for general care. It is a government hospital, meaning that you only pay based on ability - since he is a government dependant his care would have been free.
We ended up waiting in that hospital for over three days, each day being told that his operation had been moved to the next day due to space availability. It was horrendous to see the neglect of the other children who didn't have family staying with them. One abandoned premature baby in the bed next to him wasn't changed or fed for HOURS and HOURS, so mothers of other children began caring for her. We had debates about whether her name should be Hope or Grace instead of "Bed B-143". Our team was getting so angry with the fact that our baby wouldn't be given food all day because he was going in for surgery, only to have it postponed at 6pm. On Sunday (the injury happened on Thursday) we decided we'd had it and I finally put my foot down with the nurses and removed him "against medical advice". It was so frustrating to see how this baby's house mother had been treated so disrespectfully by the nurses because she was black (the nurses were black as well, but for whatever reason didn't feel the need to treat people of their own race with any human dignity). It is infuriating that the fact that I'm white had them bending over backwards to get his paperwork completed and he was released less than 20 minutes after I had told the nurses that I was taking him home.
We took him back to the private hospital, where an orthopedic surgeon agreed to do the operation that same day because he was so horrified at how long this baby had to wait. The team there was amazing, and though we will probably have to pay through the nose for the care, it was SO worth it to have our kids and house parents treated with love and care.
As I alluded to before, racism is still so palpable sometimes in this country. Oftentimes actually. Even the quality of services available to whites verses those that are affordable to most blacks... Thankfully there is a growing black middle class, but it still feels so absolutely wrong to me to have a black man or woman, often twice my age, cross their arm when they shake my hand (a sign of submission and respect.) Everything in my wants to say "I should be doing this to you!!" but to reject their offer of respect would be seen as incredibly rude.

On a happier note, I took 6 nearly-adolescent girls to the movies last weekend in celebration of the fact that they had been wearing their new bras for an entire week! :o) Celebrating the small milestones I guess. They had been so resistant, saying that they were uncomfortable and on and on, so I finally resorted to all-out bribery. After a whole month of none of them missing a single day, we will go ice skating... (yes, I realize that I can't ice skate AT ALL, so I'm still trying to figure out how exactly I'm going to get myself out of actually having to be on the ice.)

SO... there are my notes for now! A team of Americans arrives on Wednesday, so the tour guide in me is preparing itself :o)

Love to all!