Coincidence?

It turns out that Joel did not have blepharitis. In fact, it was something more serious.

The way I found out was through an incredible coincidence.

On Wednesday morning, I set out to look for the eye cream we thought Joel needed, for blepharitis. Home school had to be postponed, the children farmed out to neighbours, while I went on foot with MAF friend Sue to search the chemist shops of Juba.

One hour and 6 pharmacies later, we returned to the MAF compound. Without the correct tube of ointment!

I resolved to email the Interhealth doctor in London and ask for advice: what should I do next? Andrew had taken Joel to see a local doctor on Tuesday evening, but this doctor had very little idea of what the problem was. Unfortunately, he could not really help us. It was hard to trust his advice to keep washing the eye with warm water, in the hopes that it would improve. By Wednesday morning, I knew that ongoing email advice from London was the best option.

However, when I opened my computer to type my email, I found an email from another Interhealth doctor I had met in London. Amazingly, she was in Juba for a couple of days, running a medical training course at a nearby rest-camp! Her colleague in London, with whom I had been communicating, had contacted her to ask if she was able to help us while she was in Juba. And yes, she was willing to look at Joel's eye for us! Fantastic! What brilliant timing!

Andrew was out flying and would not be back for several hours, so I asked various staff members and found a helpful MAF friend, Rob, willing to drive Joel and I to the nearby campsite at lunch time. Once again, kind neighbours looked after Esther and Ben back on the compound.

Rob, Joel and I arrived at "Afex" campsite in the overwhelming heat of  the South Sudanese midday. With relief, we entered the first tent, the Reception area. It was blissfully air-conditioned. The Receptionist, seated behind a smart desk, was helpful and efficient. I explained why we were there. She told us that the doctor was still busy in a training session, but she would let the doctor know we were there.

Despite being busy, Dr. Helen came straight out to see us. I cannot adequately express the relief I felt, seeing Helen again (in a rather different context from the modern Interhealth clinic in London where I last saw her!).
Now I felt that Joel was in capable hands.
Now I could get first-hand medical advice, from a doctor I trust.

After a couple of minutes of looking at Joel's eye and asking him a few questions, Helen asked if I would step outside so she could explain the situation. We stood on the shady veranda of the tented Reception area, the heat engulfing us as we stepped outside. Helen began by saying, "I don't want to frighten you, but this is actually quite serious. What Joel has is cellulitis and if he were in England, he would have been admitted to hospital 2 days ago, to be put on an IV drip to fight this cellulitis".

It was one of those moments when the temptation to cry began to work its way into my mind. But I resisted. This was not a moment to be weak! It was a moment to listen carefully and find out what I should do next. "Should I try to get Joel onto a flight to Nairobi, to go to hospital there?" I enquired. But it seemed it was too late for that. What was needed was a complete blasting of the germs in Joel's body by using antibiotics, as soon as we could, here in Juba. A double dose each day, three times a day, for seven days. I needed two different types of antibiotics. It was time to brave the pharmacies of Juba once again, in quest of amoxicillin and erythromycin syrup!

I thanked Helen. It was heartfelt. If she had not given up her time to see us, we would not have known the exact problem that was causing the discomfort around Joel's eye. Joel could have become very ill as the cellulitis spread.
If Helen had not been in Juba when we needed her medical expertise, we would not have known how important it was to treat him for the "periorbital cellulitis" that his little four year old body was battling.

Was this doctor being in Juba at the exact time we needed her help a coincidence? I think not. I think it was an amazing gift, a blessing in response to all those prayers which are said for our good health. You know who you are who pray for us. And we are so thankful for your time- and for those answered prayers.

We found the medicine (this time, it only took 3 pharmacies before we found the correct medicine!).
We started the treatment.
The improvement is amazing. We even bumped into Helen again on Thursday evening at a local restaurant; she was satisfied with the improvement in the condition of Joel's eye. This was another happy "coincidence"! Joel is still not 100% but he is definitely getting better. We will follow up on the doctor's advice to have his eyes checked by an optician when we next get to Nairobi in October, but for now, you can see the difference over the last few days...

Joel's eye photos

Tuesday

Thursday

Today, Saturday

Blepharitis

I had never heard the word in this title until this morning. It is an eye condition that is painful and causes nasty swelling.

The reason I now know this medical term is because I sent the photos below in an email to the doctors in London's Interhealth, asking if they could tell us what is wrong with Joel's eye.

Thankfully, the doctor there knew straightaway that Joel has "blepharitis".
He also knew that I needed to get Joel started on antibiotics as soon as possible, which we have been able to do.
The doctor additionally informed us that Joel needs an antibiotic eye ointment, a part of his treatment that he needs quickly. Unfortunately, we have not been able to find this elusive ointment...

As I go to bed tonight, I hope I can sleep, rather than worrying about what we should do next, or whether I will be able to find the ointment tomorrow when I brave the security restrictions and head out to search for it on foot, accompanied by MAF friend Sue....

Normality

Despite an awareness that the security situation here is potentially volatile, compound life is carrying on as normal!

Our children are not aware of the political events in the wider community. They have not noticed that we did not go off-compound this week. The go-bag is well hidden to ensure the children do not feel insecure and tomorrow we plan to go to church as normal.

We are pleased to say that all remains peaceful and calm. The most dramatic conflicts we have experienced this week have all been contained within the 4 walls of our home. They are mostly to do with Parker sibling disputes along the usual themes: who gets the biggest piece of cake, who needs which piece of lego to build their model, who should tidy up the bricks all over the lounge floor...!!!

Reassuringly, our daily routine continues to tick along.

Andrew has been flying and returned home safely in the evenings.

The weekly MAF Nairobi flight came up on Friday as planned, bringing with it some very exciting freight: all our school materials from England for the upcoming academic year!

Once I have had a few days to go through the Y5 and Y3 materials, we'll be able to get started with the new school year in early September...

This week at home-school, in our brilliant out-of-the-house classroom, Joel has joined us (his pre-school is still on their summer break). Joel has enjoyed making collections of objects beginning with different letters of the alphabet, as well as painting, gluing and basic computer activities. Meanwhile, Esther and Ben have had great fun learning about volcanoes and even greater fun creating a model volcano and making it erupt!

Mr. Kintu, the market-man, has continued to bring my fruit and veg orders from the local market to our compound. I text him my order and he comes a few hours later with the healthy produce (usually freshly imported from Uganda). Joel is a great help at bringing the goods back into the house to be washed:

On two evenings this week, we have enjoyed having friends to join us for dinner. And this morning, some of the other MAF kids joined us while their parents nipped out for an anniversary coffee at a hotel close to the compound: 

I have also been a little preoccupied this week with nursing a painful case of sunburn. We took the children swimming at a local hotel last week, before security restrictions. But I carelessly forgot to put on sun-cream!! Such carelessness, especially when living so close to the equator!!
Thankfully, aloe vera plants grow on our compound. The natural juices in their leaves are so wonderfully soothing on burnt skin!

Despite the normality of everyday family life on our compound, slight uncertainty lingers in our minds. This underlying theme is tiring and sometimes manifests as irritability on my part. A couple of mornings this week I have woken up at 4am with a vague sense of tension, causing my ears to be sensitive to the slightest noise, alert for any possible hostile sounds.
It is a strange state of affairs, to carry on with the routine whilst living with uncertainty: wondering if we should perhaps be more vigilant OR perhaps be more relaxed?? But for now, the news is good, the city is calm and we live life as normally as possible...

Go-Bag

I remember reading an excellent book by Australian Naomi Reed. The book is her journal of the time she, her husband and three children lived and worked for a missionary organisation in Nepal. At one point, they literally had to flee to safety from their mountain home, as fighting had broken out. They were caught in the midst of in-country fighting. Naomi mentions that she had already packed the family's "go-bag" so when the time came to evacuate, they had that one essential travel bag ready to grab and go.

I remember thinking, "What would I put in our family's 'go-bag' if we had to leave our home suddenly?"

This week that question has been answered.
We received an email yesterday telling what we should pack, just in case, should we need to evacuate suddenly. Now I have a very clear document telling me what to pack! Not that I have packed it yet- life has just been too busy, as it always is with young children at home. But I will do so very soon...

The same email also advised us not to leave the compound unless we have to. and if we do, to record our time of leaving, to leave our mobile phone number so we can be quickly reached and to record our time back in at the gate when we return.

We have also been advised to have our food supplies in store for a few days, in case the situation here deteriorates and we find ourselves unable to leave the compound to purchase food. And to have a plan in mind should we need a"lock-down" at home, with a safe, secure room that can be locked and used as a place to keep items safe. Or perhaps ourselves.

We find ourselves this week on "high alert", carefully monitoring the security situation. Events here are uncertain at the moment. It is hard to know where recent current affairs, to do with the signing of a peace deal, are going to lead:
To trouble?
Or to peace?
Thankfully, all is calm right now. But in the interim, we are taking every precaution and our management is ensuring that we are prepared... just in case things become difficult.

Tonight, we had our weekly staff prayer meeting. Not surprisingly, peace is the topic that people are praying about.
 For praying people who read this, we would appreciate your prayers for both peace for this country and for safety. Although we are being cautious on the ground, our pilots are still out there working and flying, so safety is a paramount concern.

We started our meeting with a song. Its words are so apt when applied to our situation here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0gu0nOaFsI

To read more information on the current situation, you can click on this BBC news link:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-33957744

For now, though, it is time for me to go. I have a go-bag to pack...!

P.O.C.

P.O.C. stands for Protection of Civilians. Since fighting broke out in this country in 2013, many thousands of people have fled from their homes and are now living in tents, in camps set up for their protection. The camps are called POC camps. People live here to escape the danger that they fear would be waiting for them elsewhere. The camps are guarded to protect the residents from violence because of tensions between people groups.

Living conditions in these camps are rough, to say the least. Last week, the South Sudanese pastor, Bernard, from our Juba church, told us that he had been working with residents of these POC camps. There are are four such camps on the outskirts of Juba. They can appear pretty organised when viewed from the air in a plane: see below. 

The camp is the white area at the bottom of the picture, situated on the outskirts of Juba:

But appearances can be deceptive.

Although these camps have been established to protect people, there are now so many people living in them that resources are severely stretched. Water is scarce.  There is not enough grain for the families to feed themselves. Bernard was sorry to tell us that women are fighting one another just to get water or grain to make food. The mothers are desperate. They fight just for the basics to feed their children. If I were in their place, I think I would be the same. It must be so dreadfully frightening seeing your children go hungry and getting dehydrated;  I can understand them vying with each other to provide for their own.

Bernard went on to tell us that he was emotionally drained after a week of working and meeting with groups of people from these camps- from listening to their harrowing stories of survival to trying to find a way to help them. It was disturbing to hear him relate this suffering, right on our doorstep.

Bernard explained that bigger projects like setting up water pumps were fraught, as they became so political. Arguments and politics often create huge obstacles, preventing such projects from actually being completed. What a sad state of affairs. So we wondered what we could actually do to help....

As we spoke we Bernard after the Sunday service, he mentioned that some of the women community leaders from the POC, with whom he had met, were humiliated by the lack of basic supplies like sanitary towels. He wondered if perhaps some of the ladies could help out with this?

So that is how I found myself traipsing around Juba this afternoon with my lovely MAF friend Sue (a fellow Brit, out here for a year with MAF). We were on a mission to find the best value sanitary towels in town!! We had $100 US to spend, which had been raised over the course of this week. 

We had a very hot hour visiting various pharmacies, but finally trudged back home along the baking, dusty streets with 100 packets of sanitary towels! These will be passed on to ladies at a POC camp. It feels like such a tiny contribution, so insignificant, but I have to believe it is worthwhile if it can make just a small difference to one of those ladies living in such difficult conditions.

Sue and I got some very strange looks as we carried these delicate supplies back home! Some packets were disguised inside a bright yellow carrier bag, but I was carrying some rather obvious boxes under each arm, with bold labels that shouted their contents to all passers-by! A little indiscreet, perhaps, for a product that really ought to be the most discreet of toiletries! But the slight embarrassment I felt is nothing compared to the humiliation of countless women who need these goods, so it was definitely worth it!

World Travellers

Just about 2 weeks ago, our kids boarded their final flight in a round of 6 flights for our MAF Home Assignment:

 Joel's expression just about sums up what he thinks of flying these days, especially since our flight back to England in May was yet another experience involving sickness, as Joel had a high fever and a an unfortunate bout of vomiting on the overnight BA flight from Nairobi to London :-( At least in the picture above, this is the last flight he's likely to take for a little while!

 When we got back home, we found some very exciting parcels waiting for us, including some Easter chocolate sent by my Mum back in March!! :-).
In one of these fabulous parcels, we discovered some wonderfully personal bracelets from Auntie Claire, with bead patterns to portray the flags of all the different countries each mini-Parker has lived in: five for Esther and Ben and four for Joel. What a great idea for these young world travellers! :-)

Pleased to have us back...

Judging from the bites on my legs and on our kids, the mosquitoes are definitely enjoying having our fresh English blood back in Juba:

Highlights

Our Home Assignment in England already seems so far away, even though we have only been back in Juba for two weeks.

We enjoyed seeing so many friends in England- it was great to have so many turn up at our MAF talks during our UK time. If you came along to any of the MAF events we did, thank you: your support is so appreciated!

We visited churches, church groups and a couple of youth groups in Liverpool and Lathom, in Burscough and Ormskirk, in Yorkshire and London. I didn't take my camera to most of them, but did get this picture at a Saturday meal and talk at St.Leonard's, Bootle. It was good to be back at the place where I grew up -such a long way from South Sudan! 

During our time in England, there were many highlights in addition to seeing so many lovely friends at MAF events.

We had one week away with my parents on a canal boat- life could not be more different from Juba than sailing along a rural British canal at a maximum speed of 4 miles per hour! Andrew exchanged his aeroplane controls to command this more leisurely canal boat: 

In Africa, Esther has travelled a few times in the front seat of Dad's MAF plane, zooming through the African skies; in England she got a different kind of experience, as Dad taught her how to drive the boat:

We may have been on holiday on the canal boat, but the children kept diaries for the duration of the Home Assignment, so even on board our barge there was some school work to be done. This time, however, Nana could be teacher instead of Mum!

One of the great things about being in England was being able to take advantage of so many cultural opportunities for the children, to fill in the gaps for educational field trips which are not available in Juba. Here are a few examples...

The Victorian classroom at the Museum of Lancashire. This time, I got to be a pupil with my children instead of playing Teacher! It's hard work, doing maths in shillings on a slate board and I think Esther did better than me!

After studying the Tudors at home-school in Juba, during Term 1, we finally got to visit a real Tudor home at Liverpool's beautiful Speke Hall:

We uncovered more history at Winchester Cathedral, which has an excellent children's guide, making a tour of this incredible building a fascinating visit:

Wolvesey Castle was a great chance for the children to think about history from centuries ago and to stretch their imaginations. There are few opportunities in Africa to see remains of historical buildings from several centuries ago, so this visit prompted some great discussion and imaginative play!

Winchester Mill was a fun visit, seeing how the Mill operates and watching the mill at work: a bit of technology in action!

In London, Joel and I discovered Wonders of the Deep at the aquarium. Joel was very close to this shark...but there was very thick glass to separate the shark from a potential dinner of a small blonde boy...

There were other treats in London. Uncle Ian treated Esther, my Mum and I to an amazing theatre trip to watch the fabulous "Lion King":

And we had a special family outing to eat with the wild animals at London's Rainforest Cafe, amidst the realistic sound effects of tropical storms. Our children, who love the tropical rain storms of Africa, were a little disappointed that no real rain actually materialised! However, they were mesmerised by- even a little afraid of-  the moving animals who come to life when the "lightening" flashes!

Whilst in London, we were able to enjoy a bit of time with friends from our days with MAF in Tanzania. What a contrast in our meeting place- from the startlingly blue skies of Dodoma where we last saw each other, to the blustery grey of  the Thames Southbank! It was good to catch up and reconnect:

Of course, the major highlight is always to spend time with family. We enjoyed time with both sides of the family, up and down the country:

For Esther, Ben and Joel it was also special to have time with cousins in England. It is always lovely to get together with our extended family and to spend time with them. Sadly, I seem to left my camera behind on too many occasions, as I also did when I got to meet up with lots of wonderful friends. But here are just a couple of reminders of another major highlight: time with friends, which is always so valuable when you don't get to see each other that often, as we live on different continents!

 

Back in Juba- well, almost all of us...

Just over a week ago, on Saturday afternoon, July 25th, we five Parkers landed back in Juba! Back to our African home...

Four days after arriving, Andrew had to travel back to Nairobi for his six-monthly pilot's mecial. This was a check-up that Andrew was supposed to have on our way through Nairobi the week before, as we passed through Kenya on our way to Juba. In fact, Andrew had turned up for that appointment, only to be told that it had been cancelled; but no-one had let him know! This meant a second trip to Nairobi had to be arranged, for a second attempt at getting the medical check.

So we waved Andrew off early last Wednesday morning, fully expecting to see him again by Friday lunchtime.

A few hours later, I had a knock at the door and there stood Andy, our MAF Operations Manager, looking a little serious. 

"Do you want the good news or the bad news first?" he asked.

For a MAF pilot's wife, personal house visits from the OPs Manager during work hours can only mean one thing: he is bringing some unexpected news about the flight or pilot. I felt myself tense as I tried to block out the scary thoughts that suddenly clamoured for attention in my now super-alert brain.

"Give me the good news first," I replied, trying to read his expression for a clue to the news I was about to receive.

"Well", he started, "the good news is, Andrew is fine and the MAF flight has safely landed in Kenya".

Instantly. the fear that had begun hovering disappeared like a burst bubble and I felt the tension leave me. 

"Oh good," I said, with relief, "If Andrew is OK and everyone on the flight is OK, then there can't be any really bad news".

Mr. OPs Manager smiled and then went on to explain that Andrew had encountered a slight hiccough -and probably would not be back in Juba until the following week...

"Never mind! As long as he is fine, it really doesn't matter!" I felt quite cheery, despite being told that I was now to be Home Alone in Juba with the children for several nights. The relief that Andrew was fine eclipsed the fact that he was stuck in Kenya longer than any of us anticipated!

The reason for Andrew's delay was because of his visa. We had all entered the country on July 25th on a Single-Entry visa. We had forgotten this fact and now Andrew was in Kenya- and would need a new visa to get back into SS. Although this procedure can be done easily enough in Nairobi, it had all become rather complicated on the ground in Nairobi. Andrew had arrived too late on Wednesday to put in an application for a new visa at the immigration office.

On Thursday, the SS immigration office was closed for a national public holiday. 

On Friday, they do not open for visa applications. 

Nor are they open on weekends... so Andrew's return to Juba had to be unexpectedly delayed! With only one spare outfit and not enough underwear, Andrew was thankful for kind friends in Nairobi to lend him a washing machine, help him find somewhere suitable to stay and even feed him at their homes! I was grateful this end for thoughtful neighbours who helped out with the kids and meals in a busy first week of settling back in, unpacking and getting back into home-school.

Thankfully, the matter is now in hand and Andrew made it back home this afternoon! Horray! 

Today. Esther was reading Aesop's Fables as part of her English lesson at Home-School. We had to discuss what a "fable" is and the importance of the moral at the heart of each story. Over the past week, we have experienced our very own Juba story with a "moral" that we would do well to remember for the future: never begin an international journey without first checking our visa requirements!