Day 11 - God's Detour for My Day

“WE HAVE A SHORTAGE OF AIRCRAFT – FLIGHT IS CANCELLED!” That was the news I got at about 9am this morning as I called to confirm my 4pm flight out of Mekelle today. Fortunately, they had gone ahead and re-booked me on the flight for tomorrow early, so I will only miss out on my evening in Addis and my dinner I had planned. I rescheduled those for lunch on Friday and took a deep breath that all those things I was not able to finish would not definitely get done today. I ran errands to buy a blind student a tape recorder he needed since he is also disabled in one arm and cannot write his own Braille to take notes. I went to the bank and had to reassure the bank teller that I was, in fact, the person whose photo was on the account and that even though my signature was only a 60%match by the computer, that I was that person, Pam Zicker. He gave me the money. I used part of it to buy a refrigerator for the girls home/guest house. We went to the lab to get the medical results on the kids…some of the HIV results (cd4/cd8) were pretty high in the range, so I tucked the reports away to be able to consult a specialist when I return to the states. I really want to understand more about how the virus works and what to look for in our kids. We are up to 5 kids in our HIV care home and they are all so lovely…I really don’t want to lose any of them, but want to know what will be the signs if that is imminent. After lunch I worked to organize the structure of a couple programs with existing staff and got to see yet another HIV positive child admitted to our home. This one, however, looked more sick than I had ever seen and I was really fighting back tears during her intake. She was 8 and had come from the countryside having had no treatment and no school. Her parents had already died and she was emaciated, had loss of vision from the virus, the tiniest limbs for arms that I had ever seen, and her ribs were bulging from her jumper. Gulp…it was really tough to smile and be brave, but I tried my best. I asked her story and she told me a bit on video. I told her how she would love the home and that all the kids are between 7 and 10 and she will fit right in. I told her how she would eat eggs and drink milk and get medicine. Gulp again. We stopped in to check later and got to introduce her to the housemother and to the other children. The other HIV positive girl in our home has been the only female for a year. She was so giddy about having a sister to play with, she just beamed from ear to ear. I showed the HIV positive mother the little girl’s bony elbow but the strong, brave woman simply shook her head and said, “no problem…medicine, food, no problem”. I wish I had her confidence. I told the director that this was my first time to see a child in that condition and it was really tough. He said a lot of them come that way, but then they fatten up and improve once we get them on their medication schedule and on better nutrition. Please pray that this is the case for this little girl. This precious life, shortened and shattered so far by disease and loss. I’m still shaking my head as I think of her while I am typing this. The evening was delightful, as the staff prepared a campfire with dinner outside for me and all the children from our main orphan home came and joined us. We ate, the children sang songs, and we laughed as we skipped home taking funny photographs. Saying goodbye at the cell home tonight was hard. I really love all of these kids – the teenagers, the little brand new ones, the 11 year olds who sometimes go unnoticed. I know that God has such big plans for each one of them. I feel blessed to get to witness some of those happenings first-hand. The bigger boys lingered at the gate as they said goodbye to me…”God’s blessings to you Pam…we love you…we will see you next year!” Gulp, I hate goodbye’s.