OPERATION RESCUE SAVES 2 LITTLE BOYS FROM STARVATION
For several months, 2 little boys and their mother “ORERA” (name changed), an intelligent woman who is now mentally ill, have been in our food program. Orera’s illness made her restless and she roamed the streets a lot with her children in tow, making it hard for us to determine how well she was caring for her children. On May 15th, Orera came for her food hand-out, and it was obvious the 3 year old was seriously ill with malaria and bronchitis. She refused to allow us to take her to the hospital and ran away, refusing treatment for the little one.
Since the inspectors were here, I brought this case to their attention. Orders were called to the hospital’s doctor to evaluate the situation, which they did on Monday, May19th. (took us that long to find her again).
When evaluated, the 3 year old was SERIOUSLY malnourished and anemic (unable to stand). It was the first time she had allowed any of us to see his little body.
Seven long hours later, both boys were in our care with proper medical treatments in hand, and the mother was admitted for psychiatric supervision and malaria treatment.
She escaped twice from the hospital that first day, but by spreading the word, we were able to locate her by sundown, and get her back to her room.
This scenario continued for the entire week! She escapes from the hospital, tries to kidnap the children from our foster homes, we subdue and return her to the hospital for further treatment. It was EXHAUSTING and STRESSFUL on all our staff to say the least.
After 5 very DRAINING days of dealing with this scenario, the hospital’s doctor transferred her late yesterday afternoon with the help of our truck, 2 guards, 2 family members, a psychiatric nurse, and our office manager. As of today, she has not managed to escape the regional hospital, PTL! And will be further evaluated to see what treatment might help her become more functional.
THREE year old, LINDO, (means handsome/beautiful) has 4 problems (malaria, severe anemia, bronchitis, and severe malnutrition).
He was unable to stand as his muscle mass is non-existent in his legs.
In reality, he looks to be about 18 months old, and won’t eat unless someone hand feeds him, because doesn’t like spoons.
His brother told us that is the only way his mother fed the little one and it is all he knows.
He LOVES PEANUTS, so the 2 foster mothers caring for him fixed him special Moz. dishes with peanuts. He loves his new mothers, and is totally content and doing well. Food, Hypo and vitamins to build his immune system, and a LOTS OF LOVE are the key to any child’s heart, and Lindo has responded beautifully!
CANETO, the 5 year old, is fairly healthy, but TERRIFIED of his ill mother.
When we found where she had abandoned him, he told us he had not eaten in 2 days! I immediately got him some food and he wolfed it down.
He told us that when his mother did give them food, it was only cookies and sometimes beer as she liked to drink it.
With good medical treatment and high protein diets, both boys are showing a fast recover and even a small weight gain in the last 5 days.
I gave Caneto a little Hot Wheels car that a visitor had left behind. He actually didn’t know what to do with it, as he’d never seen a toy car before. Showing him how to play with is was truly a JOY! He never lets go of it now as it is in his little hand every time I visit him. He loves hugs which makes me happy too!
Rescuing these 2 little ones, and helping their mother, pretty much consumed our time this week, but saving lives is what we are all about.
As I write this, I received word that both boys will be transferred to the SOS home in Pemba later this week, so they can be with their 2 siblings who were taken from this same mother over 3 years ago. SOS is a high security orphanage with foster care homes similar to ours, and a great place for these 2 little ones to grow up.
We are not set up to handle constant problems when the mother is released, so totally agree that this is the best place for the boys. We also want them to grow up with their older sister and brother.
One thing is for certain. Without our intervention, both boys most likely would not be alive today.
I am very happy, God had us in the right place at the right time.
These 2 precious little ones are precious in HIS SIGHT!
GEORGE BARKES ARRIVED WED.
George is an experienced prison minister and Bible teacher who teaches in Uganda. God placed us in the same Victory Church meeting in Tulsa last year where I spoke a few minutes on what we had accomplished. I jokingly told him “come see us sometime” and George did just that!
Bringing over valuable supplies for our children that can only be obtained in the USA, he was a super blessing even before he arrived!
One of the things he transported was the super strong SWIVELING SWING MOUNTS for our playground.
The kids are going through ropes faster than a hot knife through butter. That isn’t hard to do when those swings don’t stop moving for 12 hours a day! With the new “ SWIVELING” swing mounts, all 4 swings can be mounted with chain, which will last much longer.
George can only stay a month, and will assist me at the barns as the corn starts rolling in JUNE 2nd!
ERIC PROUDLY INTRODUCES GEORGE TO LINDA, HIS PET SPIDER
He’s a practical, eager to help, kind of man and I look forward to introducing him to our mass food storage process.
George owns a farm and horses back in Oklahoma, so is no stranger to bulk feeds.
But it was fun watching his face when I showed him the 97 tons of beans in the barn. Tee Hee
Two more visitors will be arriving next week to also help out with the corn harvest.
Will tell you their stories next week.
Blessings,
Bush Bunny Brenda Lange
Eric Dry
George Barkes
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