Return home
After a few hours of dealing with the hospital bureaucracy (and a few trips up and down the stairs to the ninth floor), Ruthie was discharged and allowed to return home. Her condition is much improved, and she was brimming with joy!
Without detailing her exact condition, she may have died within months if left untreated. And if she had gone through with the procedure suggested by the first hospital to examine her, a fatal episode may have come even sooner.
And, before anyone gets the mistaken notion that I have done something heroic (I hope this isn’t the case!), I must reiterate that the first hospital was the one I unknowingly brought Ruth to a few weeks back. Thankfully, God works in unexpected ways, through good medicine, through serendipitous encounters; both good and bad decisions become the soil for the wonderful fruit of God’s grace.
Unfortunately, here is the greater challenge: Ruth likely will need to remain on medicine the rest of her life, a prescription that currently costs about $3.50/month, a sizable amount of money for Sukuma villagers. This will put untold strain on their family; additionally, when choosing between food and medicine, or between medicine and your children’s school fees, the more immediate need receives priority.
When we arrived in Lubuga, Ruth’s husband, Urbano, was anxious to show me the progress he had made in his garden. He is hard at work implementing the principles demonstrated at the agricultural conference in Zambia, and is already teaching others the principles of composting and soil enrichment. After playing around in the dirt and manure for a little while, we talked about Ruth’s medicine, why it is so important, and how much it costs. Urbano reminded me that his only income was selling off things, like his trees for firewood.
(It never ceases to be awkward living with one foot in the richest economy in the world, and one foot in one of the poorest. Conversations like this don’t help.)
Suddenly, the garden project ceased being a “project”. Perhaps the soil will yield more than one kind of fruit, a fruit we all will enjoy, regardless of where we are planted.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
We start housing construction tomorrow. And I am both excited and terrified. I hope to post some pictures soon, hopefully before the livestock is evicted from the house!!!
After a few hours of dealing with the hospital bureaucracy (and a few trips up and down the stairs to the ninth floor), Ruthie was discharged and allowed to return home. Her condition is much improved, and she was brimming with joy!
Without detailing her exact condition, she may have died within months if left untreated. And if she had gone through with the procedure suggested by the first hospital to examine her, a fatal episode may have come even sooner.
And, before anyone gets the mistaken notion that I have done something heroic (I hope this isn’t the case!), I must reiterate that the first hospital was the one I unknowingly brought Ruth to a few weeks back. Thankfully, God works in unexpected ways, through good medicine, through serendipitous encounters; both good and bad decisions become the soil for the wonderful fruit of God’s grace.
Unfortunately, here is the greater challenge: Ruth likely will need to remain on medicine the rest of her life, a prescription that currently costs about $3.50/month, a sizable amount of money for Sukuma villagers. This will put untold strain on their family; additionally, when choosing between food and medicine, or between medicine and your children’s school fees, the more immediate need receives priority.
When we arrived in Lubuga, Ruth’s husband, Urbano, was anxious to show me the progress he had made in his garden. He is hard at work implementing the principles demonstrated at the agricultural conference in Zambia, and is already teaching others the principles of composting and soil enrichment. After playing around in the dirt and manure for a little while, we talked about Ruth’s medicine, why it is so important, and how much it costs. Urbano reminded me that his only income was selling off things, like his trees for firewood.
(It never ceases to be awkward living with one foot in the richest economy in the world, and one foot in one of the poorest. Conversations like this don’t help.)
Suddenly, the garden project ceased being a “project”. Perhaps the soil will yield more than one kind of fruit, a fruit we all will enjoy, regardless of where we are planted.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
We start housing construction tomorrow. And I am both excited and terrified. I hope to post some pictures soon, hopefully before the livestock is evicted from the house!!!
posted by Kevin at 12:14 PM
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