Mangwanani shamwari! (Good morning friend)
Darara kana mararawo. (I slept well if y0u slept well)
---
Actually I did get 10 hours of sleep last night - still trying to make up for jet lag.
---
I am doing well here. I enjoy Zimbabwe, though I don't think my brain will get over that I am not in Swaziland. Sometimes words or greetings come out that are Swazi words instead of Shona words. There is also a song that the kids sing here that is the same song as one in Swaziland, but of course it is in a different language. It will take some time to learn the words and stamp them into my memory.

Cali and I have been at Karanda hospital for 3 days now. Her days are spent gathering, organizing, and trying to fix broken medical equipment. I will see her running aroun outside to and fro all the time. I think she is making progress! Yesterday she was locked in the library where she works. Haha! She was hidden by stacks of boxes that people piled in there yesterday, and when the man who locks the doors peeked in there and couldn't see anyone, he locked the door. He did shout "Is anybody in here." ... but in Shona, so Cali had no idea that she was supposed to get out. Luckily there were people standing utside of the window, so she had a lovely conversation with them (aboout the weather, Zimbabwe, the US, and of course Barak Obama) until they asked why she was talking to them through a window. My nurse friend named Bote was around to unlock the door for her. Bote told me the story later and she was laughing and laughing and laughing.

The Shona people have a hard time pronouncing my name, apparently. They all call me "Ellen." So one lady gave me the name "Ruvarashe" which means "Flower of God" so it matches my Swazi name.

My days are spent with Naomi in the pediatric ward. The day I arrived a patient was brought in with 40% of her body burned. She is not a kid but that ward has a private room so people are not gawking at her. The story is that she was requested to go somewhere that and he father would be ashamed of her, so she poured parafin all over her clothes and lit herself on fire. (To shame your father is a HUGE deal, so don't think that she had some sort of mental breakdown.) That was 3 days ago. Since then we have kept our eyes on her 24/7 and she is stable. Everyday we wrap her burns with lots of gauze, which takes 2.5 hours. Please be praying that God puts his healing hand on her and delivers her from his pain and loneliness.

Working in a hospital like this brings a lot of sadness. Yesterday especially. Here is an entry from my journal last night:

God have mercy. Please be the kind of God who allows babies into heaven. This baby was never allowed the chance to proclaim your glory. I pray that she is in heaven now drinking utof a well that never runs dry.

While we were in with the brurn patient trying to get fluids into her, Naomi popped her head in through the door and told us to get out in the ward. This infant, just under 4 months old, was rushed into the peads ward. Skinny little thing. Weighed less than Emma Mei did when she was born. Arms no wider than my finger. Temperatue of 205. Dehydrated. No meat on her bones. Tiny, tiny veins so no way to get an IV going. Feet to cold and too small so the pulse-ox would not read. There was nothing to do. We gave her to her umbuya (grandmother) to hold until she stopped breathing. Mercy. I held this baby's feet to warm her up. All the while she was trying to pull her own. Shame shame.

All of this tragedy- burn patient and dying baby- in only 3 days. Only God can give me the strength to make it 5 more weeks!

Today is saturday, so not much work to do today. Go in to help with the burn patient. AWANA will be starting "just now", maybe I will see what the kids are up to.

Fun words I want to stamp into my vocabulary:
*just now - means anytime from now until when i leave to go home
* the loo - bathroom
*trolley - shopping cart. medicine cart. drink cart on the airplane
*jersey - sweater
and the list will surely grow!

Cali is making french toast that will be ready just now, so I better go help.

Go in peace.