Trusting God (or not)

It's remarkable how easy it is to trust God when you don't need to. This has been brought home to me again this week, as we found ourselves again in a situation where we had no choice.

Caleb started throwing up on Tuesday morning, and carried on (every 10 to 30 minutes) all day and night and into Wednesday morning and afternoon. For want of any other options, we took him up to DCMC (Dodoma Christian Medical Centre) - the best of the clinics/hospitals in Dodoma. It is new built and well equipped, but has been having staffing difficulties so only has one, relatively inexperienced, Tanzanian doctor. We were concerned about dehydration and needed to check it wasn't malaria - although he didn't have fever. He was very sick though.

They injected him with an anti-emetic, and then tried to put him on a drip for rehydration. Unfortunately, being a Simkins, he has no veins, so this was something of a fruitless exercise! They then tried to encourage him to drink oral rehydration fluids (1 litre!) If you've never tried this it is the kind of stuff that makes you feel sick even when you're not, so trying to give it to a nauseous 4 year old is (as you can imagine) another fruitless exercise.

With not much else in the way of options, we took him back home. The anti-emetic worked (in the sense that it stopped him vomiting), but unfortunately it made him feel continually like he was going to be sick - which made getting him to drink anything even harder!

Which brings us to trust. We had no alternatives to trusting God at this point, with the knowledge that even with a medical evacuation it would take 4 hours to get him to any kind of emergency care. Unfortunately we find that being obliged to trust God is not a comfortable experience! It might be easier if we knew that no children of Christian parents ever died in the mission field of tropical diseases. But unfortunately, that isn't the case. :( So we can't actually trust God that he will be OK, we can only trust God that he knows what's best (and hope and cross our fingers that God thinks the Caleb being OK is what's best!)

He is much improved now, up and about and pickly as usual - but he is still not eating properly, and has thrown up a couple of times today. So your prayers would be valued, and who knows - maybe God can be persuaded :) Please pray for faith and endurance for us as well - this on top of the stresses we are already facing is not making life particularly enjoyable at the moment. As my friend said this week "This is just not how you expect 'ministry' to be before you come out. What happened to 'the joy of the Lord'?" It's a good question - and one I am still struggling with finding an answer to. All I can say is, the longer I'm a Christian, the less I understand how it works :)

[This is a rare Daniel post, in case you didn't spot it!]

some new photos

Pizza

It is now school holidays here for 5 weeks. Pray that it will be a good holiday. There is so little to do here, that I find holidays quite challenging. This week the compound is completely empty. I am enjoying this very much, although I think the kids miss their friends. A new American family has moved in just a few minutes from our compound. this is very nice for Bethany, who having had rather a lonely school term, now has two new girls to play with. It is supposed to be winter here, but the temperatures are still quite high in the afternoons, so we can make it to the pool for a freezing swim.

Daniel is still carrying on with his dual role. He is OK, but is frustrated at not being able to do everything he would like in each job. There are just not enough hours in the day. There are a lot of changes happening in MAF Tanzania at the moment so please pray for Daniel as he tries to steer everyone in the right direction and that it will not get too much for him.

Caleb amused us at the weekend. We went out for pizza with some friends. We ordered a pizza for Joshua and Caleb to share, which they ate and then Caleb disappeared. I thought he had gone off to play in the play ground and a while later he came back. Following his return a waiter arrived with another huge pizza. We apologised and said we hadn't ordered any more, and there must be some mistake, when a little voice piped up, " that's my pizza mummy, I ordered it myself"!

Trip to Kenya

Sorry we have had problems with our internet, so this is rather a late post.

Almost two weeks ago now we set off on our trip to Kenya to meet up with my sister and her husband. We drove to Dar first for Daniel to do some work and then set off for the Kenyan coast. It was too far to travel in one day so we stayed overnight in Tanga close to the border. Tanga is around 7 hours non stop driving from Dodoma. We then drove on a terrible road to the border, road is rather overstating it, it was more like a dry river bed. It only took us 1.5 hours to get through the border which wasn't too bad and then it was on to Mombassa. Caleb said he saw a kangaroo just over the border. We didn't bother to disuade him otherwise, he was pretty convinced. What we didn't know was that central Mombassa is an island and much to the childrens delight we had to take a ferry to get across to the centre. We then found ourselves suddenly in the middle of a big, very busy city, stuck in a traffice jam, quite a shock when you are used to Dodoma. (See photo of central Mombassa)
After making our way through the traffic it was another 2 hours up the coast to Watamu. We had a fantastic week there relaxing, playing table tennis, darts, water polo, canoing. We also saw a variety of wildlife including huge crabs and turtles on the beach, crocodiles, pythons and a camel. The thing the boys enjoyed the most were the rabbits and the guinea pigs, they were not so bothered about the exotic animals. One day I played tennis with my sister surrounded by baboons who came to watch. It was one of our best holdiays here ever, depsite the very long drive, almost 30 hours of driving time, not including stops and being stopped 7 times by the police!

Trip to Kenya

Bits and pieces

A few more photos from last weekend.

We are heading into winter now which mean in the daytime it is around 30 degrees Celsius and the evenings are freezing about 24 degrees Celsius! I have started wearing socks in bed. Not sure I would ever survive a European. winter again. Life carries on as normal. Daniel is very busy, but enjoying himself being the boss. Bethany has had another ear infection this week and has been off school. This time there was an Italian Doctor staying in the guest house who was able to look at her. It is very tiring having to scout around for doctors when your children are sick, but God always provides one.

We are enjoying a very quiet compound at the moment. Our neighbours on both side are away for a few months. We still have one couple down at the far end, but they don't have children so don't make much noise. That just leaves our children to make the noise. I just asked Daniel to check the children outside and see what they were up to. His response was " they're fine, we don't need to check them". I asked him just to check them anyway, do I trust them, no, and with good cause! Daniel found Caleb had climbed into the taka taka pit (the pit we fill with rubbish to burn) to get a dead mouse which he had in his hand!!!

Alana and Davina (who some of you know) moved out of their house to go to Kenya last month. Last weekend they came back with a lorry to collect their stuff. We heard yesterday that the lorry had been involved in a serious accident near the Kenyan border and all their stuff had been destroyed. I don't know all the details, but the lorry was driving too fast and then rolled over and then either caught fire or the stuff was looted.

A few photos

A few pictures from the weekend. The children after a birthday party and Caleb helping Daniel and Bert build the hen house!

Currently...

Currently reading: Just finished the biggest book with the smallest print that Daniel could buy in the airport in South Africa: 'The Persimmon Tree' by Bryce Courtenay. (Libby)
'The Road to Nab End' by William Woodruff,(Daniel) 'Double Act' by Jacqueline Wilson (Bethany),'All because of Jackson'by Dick King Smith (Joshua)

Currently watching: 'House'

Currently not enjoying:my dilemma of whether or not to ride Caleb to school on my bike or not. Usually I take Caleb to school on the bike a few times a week. The last few weeks I have been wondering about the safety of this as I dart in and out of daladas. (Local minibuses whose drivers are sometimes under the influence of one kind or another) About two weeks ago a Dutch Volunteer girl was killed cycling her bike back from work. A taxi hit her bike from behind and she was thrown off her bike onto the road. She died in hospital from her injuries. I just like doing it because it means I take Caleb to school and then my exercise is done for the day and in the cooler part of the day. (Yes you should be doing 30 minutes of exercise a day!)Even Daniel has actually started playing badminton in the hangar this week. He has been meaning to do it for about two years. I suggested that this week would be as good as any to start! Time will tell if he keeps it up.

The various illnesses that have befallen the children after almost a year of not much. Following on from Caleb's strange virus, Bethany has had an ear infection. In the picture she has a heat pad over her ear. After a few problems working out how to treat her, (there seem to be a number of theories about this) an American doctor flew in in his helicopter and examined Bethany in the hangar. (He was coming anyway, he didn't just come to treat Bethany!!) She is now fine, but last night Caleb start throwing up about 1am. He continued to do this every half hour until 10am this morning.

The freezing cold pool. We are heading into winter now and although the afternoon temperatures are still quite high, the mornings are cooler and with them the temperature of the pool has really dropped. This may not sound like a hardship, but remember the pool is one of the few places to go.

Currently enjoying: Joshua is enjoying messing around on Google Earth and looking for different locations.

Caleb still enjoys climbing trees bugs and swimming.The photo of Caleb is of a snake we found in front of the house. According to him it was a good bug day. He also found a bee and a big black thing that looked like a locust-Great!!!!

Currently praying for: MAF Tanzania strategy process; School; how long we should stay in Tanzania, where we should go next. We just past the 3 year mark and have 1 year left on our contract. Daniel's skills are in demand and there are a number of other programs that could use him. Mostly on the list of places I do not even want to visit. Pray that God would show us the way forward and give us peace about any decision we make.

Currently working on projects: Daniel is helping a friend build a chicken shed.

Currently wishing for: A haircut. I haven't had a proper one for almost a year now and I am really beginning to feel it. More places to go and visit at weekends and holidays. Actually anywhere to go at the weekends and on holidays.

Swine flu-again

I read this article from 'Time Magazine' and as it so nicely expanded on my previous thoughts on the virus I thought I would include it here.

"If the fast spread of swine flu suggests the world is small, the global response to the epidemic reminds us that in many ways it's still light years apart. Swine flu has been making headlines in the Western world, but in places like India and Africa, where "pandemic" is just another part of the daily vocabulary, no one has so much as stifled a sneeze.

In Africa, malaria kills more than 3,000 children a day; in South Africa, HIV/AIDS has taken 2.8 million people and infected 5.3 million more. Every day in India, 1,000 people succumb to tuberculosis. Those are just the big diseases. According to the United Nations, a recent cholera outbreak killed nearly 4,000 Zimbabweans and infected 80,000, while in India diarrheal diseases kill an estimated 600,000 children under 5 every year.

So, when the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that deaths in Mexico from the H1N1 swine flu leapt to nine, you can see why the news didn't make the front page in Africa or India. (The two suspected cases of swine flu in South Africa turned out to be false, and only one case has been confirmed in Asia, in Hong Kong.) Any concern in these regions has so far centered on sports: specifically, whether any new travel restrictions will affect the Confederations Cup, the international eight-team soccer tournament due to be played in South Africa in June, or the Indian Premier League, a new cricket tournament featuring players from around the world, now being played also in South Africa.

Still, the WHO has urged all governments to prepare for an imminent pandemic. "The biggest question is, 'How severe will a pandemic be?'" Dr. Margaret Chan, the WHO director-general, said in Switzerland. So politicians have to make like they're doing something. Gabon and Ghana have banned the import of pork, even though the flu virus cannot be contracted through eating dead pig. Kenya, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe say they are checking arriving passengers at borders and airports and have response plans of varying sophistication should an outbreak occur. In some places, they've gone much further: Authorities in Egypt, which was affected by bird flu last year, have begun slaughtering the country's entire unfortunate pig population of more than 300,000.

But given that many public health systems in Africa do not have the skills, equipment or resources to protect their citizens even against the lethal health crises they battle every day, the truth is that the threat of another disease — even a pandemic flu — tends to elicit shrugs in this sickness-struck continent. If asked what preparations they are making for the possibility of swine flu's arrival, most African governments opt for the same kind of wordy non-statement issued by African Union chairman Jean Ping on Thursday: "We hope to establish a continental plan for prevention, and if necessary a mechanism to fight this outbreak that has not yet affected Africa."

Driving in Africa continued.

It can be interesting driving in Africa!!