Ambassadors for Christ

Today's sermon at church was about being ambassadors for Christ. To spread the word of God with the talents you already have (not to seek those you do not possess) and where you currently are, not striving to be in a place God does not want you. Thank you all so much for your emails and messages of encouragement about my previous blog - God is amazing. I know God has an incredible plan for my life but unfortunately I get so impatient at times and Satan then seizes his chance and does his worst. But as you can see from today's sermon God is continuing to talk to me and encourage me. I am feeling so much more upbeat this past week and have really enjoyed a busy 7 days. Although we didn't have any theatre operations till the Thursday I was still busy with a Monday children's clinic in the morning - the Children come from all over Malawi, and sometimes surrounding countries like Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Mozambique. It still hits me every time I see a new patient the poverty and problems these people endure. It breaks my heart EVERY time and I can't get over how resilient they are.

On Wednesday 6 people from England arrived in 2 Toyota Land Cruisers that had been converted for ambulance use here in Malawi. They had driven all the way here from England through Europe, the middle east and down into Africa which took them 2 months. They had raised the money for the trip and the trucks, and extra for medical equipment to donate to the hospital. The Charity is called AMECA and the lady who runs the charity is also funding the new extension to the private wing being built onto the hospital so we can bring in more money operating on adults so more can be done for the children (who are treated free of charge). It was interesting to see their reactions when shown around the hospital. The private wing here is very much like the English side rooms of the NHS - one or two beds per room with a TV! The children's ward however holds around 60 beds in an open plan huge room and is split into 6 bays of 10 beds each. The guys looking round had tears pouring down their faces whilst walking around the ward. The children were laughing and playing as usual whizzing around in the wheelchairs, on the donated toy trucks, or on the specially designed wooden tricycle that you pedal with your hands (it also has a trailer attached that several patients are towed around in!), even though they have bad deformities of their legs or arms with plaster casts or metal external fixators around various limbs to correct them they still have enormous amounts of fun as children should.

So on Wednesday night I went out for dinner and drinks with the AMECA guys and some people from the hospital to celebrate. Thursday was spent continuing my project here. I'm designing a video on powerpoint to teach student midwives how to recognise common birth defects like cleft lip/palate and clubfoot plus many others so they can refer the patients to get the right treatment early. The main problem in this part of the world is lack of knowledge about these very treatable defects, which means the child grows up without them corrected and faces a lifetime of abuse and rejection. One of CURE's hopes is to teach the relevant people that these deformities can be treated very successfully and the child can live a normal life.

Friday afternoon me and Hollie learnt how to play golf on the 9 hole Blantyre golf course with Aaron, Nathan and Tim (3 of the guys from bible study). It was actually quite fun. We then went back to the McGrath's to help out at youth group (approximately 100 secondary school age kids!) We then went to the food Court (AKA Spices) for fried chicken and chips with ice cream and sodas - very Malawian!! p.s I also thrashed Tim and Martyn at the air hockey in the games room :-) They weren't impressed a girl beat them! We didn't start watching a film Knight and Day till about midnight so went to bed very late. It's weird how out here I've got used to going to bed at the very latest 10pm (which is basically Malawian midnight) NOBODY stays up past this time, so going to bed at 3am was knackering. Yesterday was spent at Aaron's having a Braai (Afrikaans style BBQ), very yummy - steak, hotdogs, and potatoes, washed down with lots of sodas. We also played football and a bit of hockey, and Mario Kart on Nintendo Wii :-) We were all really boiled after running around we jumped in the McGrath's pool to cool off then had coffee and chocolate cake! Today has been much more sedate. We went to the McGrath's church for the first time (previously I've been going to the pentecostal type church which Bianca had introduced me to which is nice but it didn't really feel like home. But the church today was lovely, it very much reminds me of Thorpe Acre back home but on a smaller scale (about half the number). I think I will continue to go there, and I know a lot of people there already from Tuesday and Thursday bible study, whereas at the other church I only knew the few people from work there. I am on call again today as no one else could do it but hopefully that means I won't have to do another Sunday till November :-) It's nothing like NHS on calls anyway - only had to clerk a few patients!

Please continue to pray that God keeps encouraging and speaking through others to me, and also that the various parcels you have all posted get here safely!

H xxxxxxxxxxx