Friday, September 19, 2008

Sad news today. . .

Isatu's baby died in the night. She was devastated. We transferred her back to Holy Mary and all the women were so sweet, welcoming her back into the fold of their sisterhood. We contacted a new friend Cathy, a pastor from Ohio who is travelling all over Africa with her Emergency Room doctor husband Dan, and they came over this afternoon. We gathered all the women and Cathy led a wonderful service for the women and all the staff to honor Sarah's and Isatu's babies who have died in the past 48 hours. Jackie, the head nurse translated into Krio and Kadiatu (the cleaner who is also a patient) translated for Sarah into her language and Poppa (the driver) translated into Temne for Isatu. Everyone was so sweet and loving. It felt like it was important to bring everyone together. The singing was lovely and uplifting and I would challenge anyone not to have shed a few tears.

Tomorrow we will tackle the organising of the container goods. Ongoing preparations are underway for Dr. Maggi and Amanda's arrival on Monday.

Love, Helen

PS: I forgot to mention one thing that made the service (and all the evening prayers) special is that they all do Christian prayers and then Muslim prayers regardless of their faith. It's very moving to see "interfaith" really at work in terms of how much they all support and care for each other despite religious differences.

Also we caught a rat!!!!

No comments: