A letter from Martha Sommers in Malawi
January 2012
Dear Family and Friends,
A mother with her child at Ekwendeni Hospital
We are in the children’s ward’s busy season at Ekwendeni Hospital. The rains, which are good for the crops, are accompanied by increases in people sick with malaria, gastroenteritis, and pneumonia. The most vulnerable group to these diseases are the children, and the number of admissions to the children’s ward skyrockets. Last year, thanks to our devoted staff, ETAT (Emergency Triage Assessment and Treatment) training, and medicines from the African Mission Healthcare Foundation and donations from so many of you, we mainly succeeded in meeting their needs. Only two children died.
This year is different. Already six children have died and two arrived already dead, and we are not quite halfway through the season. These children are indirect victims of Malawi’s national Forex, medicines, donor and fuel crises that began last year. Many of the moms who are now mourning first brought their children to the government health centre that was nearest to them. But the needed medicines were out of stock, and because of no fuel there was no transport faster than an oxcart or bicycle to reach the hospital. So the children arrived hours to days too late, comatose, having seizures, or gasping. We are doing our best to quickly obtain intravenous access for medicines and administer oxygen, and blood when appropriate, and thankfully succeeding for the vast majority.
Dispensary workers at Ekwendeni Hospital
The medicines and supplies needed to care for these very sick children are much more than when they come in earlier, and medicines and supplies are running short. The African Mission Healthcare Foundation has stepped up to offer matching funds for antibiotics and antimalarials for children at Ekwendeni Hospital if you give for this through the Medical Benevolence Foundation. Contact Fred Kingston at fkingston@mbfoundation.org if you need details of how to do give through the Medical Benevolence Foundation. You can also give directly at http://www.razoo.com/story/Medicines-For-Ekwendeni-2012.
Our nurses—a story to describe their dedication: Last Friday morning one of them seemed shaky and not herself. She was dizzy from the quinine she was taking to treat her own malaria. She switched to tasks that she could do mainly sitting, as she was unsteady on her feet. When advised to go home and rest, she countered that the children needed her, and motioned to the tens of children her colleagues were struggling to care for. Finally, two days later, as things quieted down a little, she agreed to stay home and rest to recover.
May we experience God’s mercy as we persevere. Thank you all for your untiring support.
Love,
Martha
The 2012 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 106
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