A few Headlines (Libby)

Toddler rallies after chicken pox bout

Caleb is still spotty, but the chicken pox hasn’t been too bad. We kept him inside quite a bit to keep him cool and fortunately the weather hasn’t been too baking hot.
I don’t think he really realises he’s covered in spots. He’s very concerned about the one spot he can see on his hand, which he thinks is a bite, but is fairly oblivious of the rest.

5 year old is victim of unexplained bites

Joshua seem to be getting rather a lot of bites at the moment. We’re not sure if there is something in his bed or he’s getting bitten when he gets up to go to the toilet in the night. Today I washed all the bedding, all the soft toys and sprayed with my bug killer spray,so we’ll see what happens. Maybe he's just tasty!

Youths injured in violent mugging

The son of the programme manager here and his friend were mugged and violently beaten on Saturday night as they walked home between our compound and the other MAF compound. They are in Tanzania for 6 months to work at the school and have only been here a few weeks. They were walking back to compound A ‘the short cut way’ about 10pm and were set upon by three guys with sticks. They had everything stolen, including shoes, glasses, necklaces and were badly beaten. They managed to make it back to compound ‘A’, but their head injuries were so bad they ended up being taken to Dodoma general hospital, where they spent the night. They were given a ‘private’ room, and the doctor there did a good job of stiching them up. I’m not sure if the sheets were clean, but there were mosquito nets and for 7000 TS a night (about £3) you can’t really complain. One of the MAF guys discharged them in the morning and the total medical bill including the accommodation and big tip came to under £15.
They are now on compound B where one of the American doctors came to check them out and decided they didn’t need to go to Dar for further treatment. They can be seen once a day walking up and down the compound very slowly and heavily bandaged. Please pray for there quick recovery both physically and mentally.

Man attacked by bull

On Sunday morning a few people went to the scene of the attack to see if they could recover any personal belongings, specifically glasses. It’s an area of wasteland where there are often cows grazing and, unbeknown to us, a bull. I have often walked this way (maybe not any more) and never noticed a bull. Anyway, the bull appeared from no where picked up one of the guys with his horns and pinned him against a tree. I guess he must have been a bit worried at the time, but now it seems quite funny. Anyway he managed to get away with only a few scrapes. Good job really as everyone had had enough drama for one weekend. I now have 2 reasons not to go the short cut way!!

Girl dies from malaria

One of Sarah’s nieces died on Saturday from malaria-possibly! She was only 18. People often seem to die here for no particular reason, I guess they must die of something, but no one seems that bothered to find out the cause. I never know what to say, it happens so often. In some ways you become hardened to it, say you're sorry and carry on with what ever it was you were doing. It’s difficult to find the right degree of emotion for something which is so huge but at the same time happens all the time. I think it’s only in the long run that the sorrow of it builds up and you break down much later on at some seemingly trivial event.

Small boy questions God’s judgement

To end on a rather less depressing note. Joshua said to me tonight “ Mummy why did God make mosquitoes, that was a bad idea”!!!!