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: