Back at Karanda

Mangwanani.....

I hope this again finds you in the midst of your work for the Lord. Life here in Zim continues to be a daily adventure. My family and I returned from an excursion to Victoria Falls a few days ago. Wow....talk about beautiful. I think Katie and I agree that it is the most impressive of God's creations that we've seen as of now. On the way to the falls we spent a night in Hwange Game Park (the largest game park in Zimbabwe). We caught up with the giraffes, zebras, cape buffalo, wildebeasts, hippos, and the like. Its was just incredible! At the falls we "walked with lions," canoed the Zambezi, and feasted on some of the local cuisine (wart-hog, ostrich, crocodile, eland, cape buffalo, lamb, and maponi worms). On our way back to Harare we stayed at Antelope park. Again it was an amazing place to overnight and view the wild game. All in all an unforgettable time with the fam.

We are now back at Karanda and excited to get back to "work." I must say that I have never looked foward to "work" like I have here. Everyday promises unbelievable stories, beautiful loving people, intense medical cases, true reliance on God, and the continuous development of new relationships. Who could ask for anything more? What an undeniable blessing it is to be here now.

This is Trish. She is about 8 months old and is currently being treated for hydrocephalus. I'm not quite sure how common this is throughout the country, but we sure do see our fair share of them here. It sounds like we're 1 of 2 hospitals in the country that will place VP shunts, and you can only go to the other hospital if you have the means to do so. So, with that said, we always seem to have around 3-5 patients in the peds ward with hydrocephalus. We do therapeutic taps until we can fit them on the surgery schedule for a VP shunt placement. Most of them do alright in the hospital after the shunt is placed, but some don't. As they get older various cognitive deficits can declare themselves, and some will have no deficit. Anyway....back to Trish. She's been here since I arrived due to some blood-tinged CSF. Now that the CSF is clearing, she finally had a permanent VP shunt placed. She went home today.

These two siblings here are dealing with a protein-energy malnutrition syndrome classically known as kwashiorkor. If I would have taken their photo a week earlier, you likely would not have recognized them. As with this syndrome, they were both incredibly edematous in their face and limbs. It really is amazing to see how they have improved over the past few days. It's a bit difficult to see in this photo, but they also have severe muscle wasting as well as thin light colored hair. I still can't believe how different they look now compared to how the look upon admission. It's nearly unbelievable how proper nutrition can have such an immediate impact.

So we had a visitor to the male ward the other night. I guess a cobra decided to stop by and hang out for a bit. Word is that he just slithered in the main entry to the male ward. It cause quite a ruckus up at the hospital, but thankfully no damage was done.

I have a specific prayer request for you all. We now have a seven year old with cerebral malaria on the peds ward. He's as sick as they come but has made slight improvement the past couple days. Please be praying for his complete recovery. His name is Tatenda.

In HIM>
Kevin.