Kasensa Report July 2012

K

asensa Report – July 2012

“The helpless put their trust in you. You defend the orphans” says the writer of Psalm 10.  God hears the cry of the poor, the orphans and the marginalized.

Praise God for that and thanks to all of you who continue to be God’s messengers of hope for these kids! The children, their families and all of us involved continue to be so grateful!

While Canada has hopefully been enjoying summer, Zambia has experienced winter. July was cold! Night time temperatures sometimes dipped as low as 4 degrees and with no central healing we bundle the babies up inj warm sweaters, hats, sox and keep the wee ones covered with fleece blankets. But, some of the kids still succumbed to coughs and sneezing! Keeping 9 babies who live in the same house healthy all the time is a challenge. As well, an “outbreak” of diarrhea in the area resulted in 6 of our babies having many dirty nappies. That was not fun for them or for the caregivers who at times had to hand wash nappies due to Zesco (the country’s power company) being off for 3 long days this week.

But….despite all that our babies continue to grow well and bring much joy to us! Some have gone home to be with family and in the next month there is possibility that 2 more will be reunited with their families. .

·         After being with us 10 months Potius, age 16 months, left Kasensa to live with his grandmother, Katherine at Bbilili about 60 km. from here. “Po-Po” as he was nicknamed, returned last week with granny to pay us a follow-up visit. He has bonded closely with his granny and after only being away from us for 3 weeks we noticed a great increase in his vocabulary! They will return in a few months for another follow up visit. Your ZMF-C donations, assists this granny with transport money – as she and her husband are subsistence farmers, having no great source of income.

·         Lumaamba, now 11 months, may be going home with his parents later this week. Lumaamba`s mother has been battling TB, but is now stronger. If both parents think they can manage then the parents will take him home. This family seems to have a strong support system so we anticipate that he will be well cared for. They also will return for follow-up visits.

·         Cornolius is now 9 months old! He remains a very content baby. He’s trying hard to crawl and has such a happy disposition. Family visited yesterday and the plan is for him to return home next month.   

·         Abraham was discharged to his parents– but after 3 weeks at home he returned to Kasensa as mom’s health was failing again. Both parents are HIV positive and mom has struggled to respond to the current regime of meds. I visit with both parents and the 4 sibs weekly as they live within the Kalomo town area. This family is a delight and if they had the ability to care for Abraham at this time they would. A set of grandparents live very nearby but they refuse to be caregivers for the family. Such is life – some families have strong supports, and in Zambia as everywhere in the world, some families have very dysfunctional supports. Prayers for this family would be most helpful!

·         Abigail’s eczema has improved greatly following meds prescribed by a Lusaka dermatologist. She started walking at 18 months – later than most babies. One thing that has become quite evident for me and is indicated in the literature of Best Practices for Child Care for Developing Nations is that for every 3 months a child spends in an orphan home there can be a developmental delay of one month. I see this played out over and over here, even though our caregiver to baby ratio is low and even though the aunties have been receiving information in the child care course on helping babies to achieve normal developmental milestones. Even though we are trying very hard to provide the best care possible it is so true that the best place for a child is within their own family! Back to Abigail – besides being slow to become mobile, she seems quite often to be distant, vacant in her gaze. I anticipate that she’ll require some special education – and the sooner the better for her. Her dad has not visited in months! This is another challenged family – with HIV and some obvious dysfunctional traits.  

·         Twins – Chipo and Chabota are now 6 months old. Chabota weighs about 1 kg. more than Chipo, but developmentally they are at about the same level. They can both sit up and they both “babble and sputter” lots. Their dad visited about a month ago and said he plans to remarry – and then he’ll be able to take the children. It will be interesting for a new wife to receive a pair of twin babies for a wedding gift!  J We’ll see what transpires.

·         Sibajene is now 11 months old! She is a happy little one who is trying hard to walk. We call her the kabwalala – in Tonga, the “thief”. She regularly steals from the other babies whatever she can – toys, bibs, drinking cups…Her aunt and uncle live on the next farm and they are planning to take Sibajene into their already busy, but healthy household. Fortunately, her aunt and uncle both work for a tobacco farmer. But, unfortunately, they get paid so little that having one more child to care for will be a financial challenge. But…they have big hearts and want their niece to be with them.

·         Baby Chipo is 4 months old. She has become a very fat baby in a short period of time. She has a precious smile and clearly makes her needs known. No clear discharge plans are set at this time.  

·         Rozina spent 3 months at another orphanage after her grannies decided they couldn’t manage her at the village. We brought her back to Kasensa after much discussion with family members as it appeared the change was a bit too much for her. After about 3 days at Kasensa Rozina was up walking and now, one month later, she has gained 1 kg! She talks pretty well non-stop and is a funny little character, wanting to copy the behaviour of adults she sees – like cleaning and organizing (or disorganizing – pulling all the clothes out of a cupboard in no time flat!). Planning for Rozina’s discharge will likely be challenging due to many factors including trying to return Rozina into an already full polygamy family.

 

 The Kasensa Bunch - 

 Our youngest, Chipo 2, Cornolius (not a good moment of the day!), Abigail (picture taken after a full morning outside playing and all she wanted to do was go to bed), Sibajene (striped shirt), Chipo 1 – showing off her good sitting!, Abraham, Chabota (also showing off her good sitting), Lumamba (standing with help from Judith), Rozina – chubby little cheeks and probably trying to help Lumamba who outweighs her by a few kgs! Lenty, the gal in the red striped shirt is a gr. 11 student who walks about 5 km each morning and night to “volunteer” during her school holiday time and in return Richard and I partially pay her school fees. Shelly is slightly behind Lenty and is one of our casual workers. She is always a delight to work with!

The milk program has assisted 20 families this month. Kasensa has budgeted for 15 families to be assisted, but at times we stretch our numbers because of need. Yesterday was “milk day” and 2 our clients brought gifts of oranges in thanks for the gift of milk formula for their baby. I am grateful for their gifts, but tell them the real thanks goes to God – the Great Provider and to the generous donors in Canada. 

Favour and Fiona Simoongwe and their 3 children of Cochrane, Alberta arrived a few weeks ago. Favour and Fiona are both teachers in Alberta and Favour grew up in Southern Province, Zambia. Together they will manage Kasensa for the next year and so we’ve been spending our time helping them learn their new roles. They are eager to do the work and also to be closer to their Zambian family.

Again, we appreciate this opportunity to serve alongside our Zambian brothers and sisters and we also appreciate your prayers for these wee ones and for the work of ZMF-C.

Faithfully,

Sue and Richard