A crazy week

This week has had its joys, sadness, frustrations, challenges, moments of grossness, and interesting invitations.

On Monday we took in a new boy. Latifou. He is 2 and a half and weighs 5.3kg, I don’t think I have ever seen a more malnourished 2 and a half. He is lovely. Do pray that he settles into an eating pattern and gains weight. Please see the photo.

As one life arrives on the centre here - to try and give a future too, another life is lost somewhere else in the world. Child death I will never understand. We have found out this week also one more of the kids here is HIV positive.

This week I have seen kids entertain themselves by using a piece of cardboard as a sledge and sliding down the concrete bank, a plastic bag and string as a kite and just be really thrilled to see it float in the air. Driving in the city I have seen a Porsche (granted the plates were from South Africa), but I have also seen a convertible in one of the poorest neighbourhoods in the city.

For a moment or two on Fri eve I could have been anywhere in the world. A group of us had gone out for a leaving meal for one of the girls here. We went to a Thai restaurant which was lovely. Then driving back in the car we were singing along to Elton John – it just felt like I free and it was a normal thing to do in Africa. For a few moments last night it was the best feeling in the world. I miss listening to music while driving.

The other really strange thing about Friday was going into a bookstore to find that they stock Sound on Sound!. It’s the magazine for sound engineers that over the years I have had many subscriptions too. I couldn’t get over that in Mozambique – one of the countries among the 10 poorest in the world had this on its shelves.

I have been invited to the Irish Embassy to celebrate St. Patricks day on Tues… what is a girl to do but go, its tough living in high society!. What really is interesting is that I was in a shop last week and a lady came up to me and said – “What part of Ireland are you from?” My first thought – Is it that obvious, then I remembered that I was wearing my Ulster rugby shirt which had Bank of Ireland printed large over the front of it. Kinda gives it away! She was from Galway and has been living here for years – so it would appear there is a real nice community of Irish people here.

My other invite was to go out this afternoon to visit one of the worker’s houses’ in the community. When you have nothing else in your diary on a Saturday afternoon it feels like a nice thing to do. I will write a separate blog about it.

Warning – gross part coming up – DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE A SENSITIVE STOMACH

Tonight I get to the baby house to be told that they had pulled a worm out of Adilson’s head. Now the nurse went to look at it – it wasn’t a worm so much as it was a maggot, which had somehow got into his head and they found this morning, so the nurse this morning thought she would leave it for Erin tonight. So she kindly brought the maggot in for us to see. THE THING WAS STILL ALIVE AND MOVING. I was almost sick knowing that it had been in his head moving around.