We set off on our bikes a little late this morning because we had a bit of rain which delayed us. We arrived in B. and went to the clinic, where we were supposed to meet them. Sure enough, there in the long line of mothers and children, were Martina and her lovely grandmother, who obviously loves her to pieces. We greeted them and Vicki said in the M. language, "We go to your village (house)." So we headed down the street with the grandmother carrying Martina, followed by many curious stares from people on the street, clearly wanting to know why we were walking down the street with this elderly Mabaan woman and her granddaughter. It was fun to use the Mabaan we know to try to communicate with them. We had no choice--no translator today! Vicki and I were both so excited to be out visiting by ourselves.
The grandmother led us over to where she lives and Martina's father, who speaks some English, came out to greet us. We caused a great ruckus in the neighborhood and about a gazillion smiling relatives came over to shake our hands and find out what all the fuss was about. We started talking to Martina's father to find out how she is doing and how the feeding is going. She has finished all of the medications that we gave her to treat a broad range of infections. It sounds like he has taken seriously our advice about giving her goat's milk every 2 hours and feeding her many small meals throughout the day and that she is feeding willingly. However, she does not appear to have gained any weight or any strength back. Vicki is concerned that she may have TB, perhaps in her abdomen. Unfortunately, we cannot test for TB yet without our lab up and running in D. and we won't have permission to give TB medication until we have the lab. So Vicki expressed her concern to Martina's father and said that when our clinic opens, we will see what further tests we can do. He wanted more medicine for her but we explained that we've given her all of the medicines we can for now and that the best medicine for her now is the careful feeding and lots of love and attention. Today we gave them an empty 500 ml plastic bottle and explained how to add sugar and oil to her goat's milk to make high energy feeds. Vicki says it may take several weeks of good feeding to see any difference in her, especially if she has TB. We also gave the family a mosquito net for her (and anyone else they want to put under it--it's huge!) since she is very susceptible to severe malaria with her weak immune system.
We then had the opportunity to share how much God loves her and that He has the power to heal in ways far beyond what we can do. We asked if we could pray for her again and knelt there on the ground beside her grandmother, who was holding her tightly in her arms, and entrusted her to the Lord. The presence of God with us felt almost tangible to me and it was one of those moments where I knew for sure that I am where God wants me to be.
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