Sally Test

Today (Wednesday), we got to take the morning off to sleep in, so after a solid 12 hours, I woke up, ate breakfast, and Anna and I sat in bed until 2 o’clock reading and writing our paper (aka blogging, creeping Facebook, and listening to music with a blank word document open). The wifi here is really not so great either, so sorry for the delays in posts! At 2, we all went back to Moi Hospital to spend the after noon in the Sally Test Pediatric wing. Sally Test was started by Sarah-Ellen Mamlin (Joe’s wife) and is sort of a safe haven for children in the hospital. Some were just visiting for a couple of hours from their wards, while others had been there for years, abandoned by their families in the hospital or brought in by social workers. When we first walked in, a little boy about 2 years old ran up to me, buried his head in my knees, and stretched his arms up for me to hold him. I picked him up and he snuggled into me and we walked around and played for a little while. Then Andrew started pushing him around the room in a wheelchair, which he loved. I spent a majority of the time holding a little boy who I initially thought was a newborn premie. He was 6 months old. He and his twin brother had been neglected by their mother, and, after being admitted into the hospital twice for malnourishment, she finally just left them there and never came back. As I held the tiny baby, I looked up at Anna who was holding his twin brother and started to cry. I wanted to take them home. I wanted somebody to want them… to care about them like their mother hadn’t. He had an IV hookup in his wrist and you could see every tiny bone in his body. His arms couldn’t have been bigger than my thumbs and I could wrap my hand around his body and almost touch my middle finger to my thumb. Every breath he took shook his little body, and when he opened his eyes, he just stared at me. I held him tight and didn’t let go… I couldn’t. It was hard saying goodbye, but I knew he was in good hands; the nurses and volunteers are so gentle and loving with the babies and toddlers.

For dinner, we went to an Indian restaurant called the Sikh. We were invited by the Mamlins; every year, they have a dinner for the university students and workers in partnership with AMPATH and their friends and family. There were 85 people there from all over, it was so cool being able to talk and interact with them! Now we're home and packing up our stuff to send home with Njau and Nixon in the morning. They get to drive 9 hours and we get to fly...yay:)

:(

poor little guy