The end of another week

It's been an eventful week, and I'm quite thankful that school was closed on Friday due to the Nairobi show. I was able to get my food shopping done and a few jobs at home, and generally relax a bit. Yesterday I was thinking of going to a church event but it was all day and I'm feeling a bit under the weather so I decided against it. And today I might actually finish this post which I started yesterday, although it's been a busy day with church stuff (a good one though!).

On Tuesday I posted about being worried about a boy from school who was off sick. His name is Osman; the boy I thought was his brother isn't, but is a friend, and he's called Adan. Anyway, Adan was back at school on Wednesday, and he's the one who knows where Osman lives, so I spoke to Lucy (the headteacher) and Benson (the administrator) and we decided we should go and visit Osman and see what was happening.

We drove there and Adan directed us up a maze of 'streets' (really just alleyways between the market stalls, filled with people, motorbikes etc). Adan was extremely excited to get a ride in a car, and very proud when he was asked to guard it while we went to speak to Osman's mum.

She said she'd taken him to the doctor/hospital (government one) on Friday and she was told he had malaria. Apparently he had been given an injection (we don't know what) and then they gave the mum amoxillin and piriton to give him. When we arrived he was lying in bed and seemed very poorly, and when we tried to say hello to him he just cried, it was so sad. He clearly wasn't responding to the antibiotics and he should have been by this stage.

Osman when we found him

So we decided to take him and his mum to the hospital; she also seems thin and unwell with a cough and apparently she gets a bad pain in her stomach and is vomiting at times. We went to a place called St Odilia's which was founded by missionaries. We had to pay but it was reasonable, and the doctor seemed good. I had noticed Osman's breathing seemed too fast and shallow, and the doctor listened to his chest and was suggesting pneumonia as a possible diagnosis, so he ordered a blood test to check for this and for malaria. He also ordered one for Osman's mum to find out about her stomach problems.

The outcome of the blood test was that Osman doesn't have malaria, but he does have a bacterial chest infection. The doctor prescribed him paracetamol syrup, multi-vitamin syrup (I think because of his lack of appetite) and cefadroxil, an antibiotic. The mother was also prescribed a few different things. So we got all these and then Lucy also went with the mother to buy food - she really has nothing in the house - and we left her some money for water and fuel. We took them back home, which is the worst home I've witnessed - five children and their mum living in a tiny room up an alley which is opposite the place where they slaughter animals - one of Dagoretti's main industries. The whole place smells and it's so limiting, there's nowhere these children can play and run around safely.

Edited: One thing I forgot to write about is that I was so determined to get him to smile, nothing had worked that day but then we were travelling back to his house in the car and my hair was blowing around. I made a joke of it to his mum... and he smiled! After that I just had to wave my crazy hair at him and he was instantly cheered - I never dreamed my hair would come in that useful!

Osman when we'd made him smile!

Anyway, the good news is that we've heard Osman is doing well and has more of an appetite. He's been taking his medications (we explained to the mum exactly how and when to give him each thing) and we're hoping he will be back with us soon. The bad news is that this case is not a one-off, there are other families in similar dire situations with parents unable to get work and therefore to provide the basics for their children. The staff of Mahali and the Seedsowing Network do such a vital work in helping these families out, but they also need long-term solutions and not just hand-outs. One thing we are hoping to start up very soon are some sessions with the mums in particular, teaching them a skill (currently we are looking at jewellery-making and handmade cards) so that they can produce products for sale and earn some money to support their families (and also Mahali itself) - look out for more details once this has started up!