Hospital Visits

Today seems to have been dominated by hospital visits for Dean as he went to see Patrick at lunchtime and again tonight. At lunchtime Patrick was still in casualty and eventually stayed there for just over 24 hours. Thankfully by the time I visited tonight he had been moved onto a ward. Patrick is very confused about his situation and also angry with his family for not coming to see him yet.

The reality for Aunty Kuku (Patrick's wife) is that she's enjoying the break from him and is reluctant to visit the hospital (although this may in part be because she is not very well herself).

Aunty Kuku has to care for Patrick and their disabled grandson who is regularly dumped on them by one of their daughters. Life is hard for the family and as such Patrick's absence from the home is a blessing in disguise. Dean spoke to the ward sister tonight and expressed his concerns regarding Patrick's hygiene and the nurses have agreed to give him a very thorough bed bath.

Whilst at the hospital, Dean also saw Christine from CNP. Christine ha been in hospital for almost a week but appeared to be picking up tonight. Dean will take her some fruit and juice tomorrow.

Please pray for Patrick and Christine, they really need your prayer support as does the whole community, sadly there are many more sick people in CNP and as winter moves in more and more will fall sick and the mortality rate will dramatically increase.

Paula witnessed a miracle today at her cell group. We have been visiting and praying for Lorraine who is very sick with AIDS. She has a 14 month old daughter and on Sunday we all thought that she wouldn't make it through the night. Obviously we all prayed and some from CNP sat with her through the night. Today, amazingly, she walked through the church doors into Paula's cell group carrying her baby and wanting to give thanks to God for bringing her through the past few days. She was remarkably strong and wanted to share her testimony with the group. There wasn't a dry eye in the group and we all laid hands on her again and asked God to spare her life, at least for a few more months to see her daughter grow a bit older. The way she is handling her illness and the grace with which she faces the indignity of AIDS is inspirational and we are praying that many will come to know God through her.