One Monday afternoon when we returned from the Bible teaching, we found a little girl and her aunt waiting for us. Maria, the little girl, fell from a tree and cut her tongue with her teeth. She was a mess of blood and tears.
I didn’t think that I could deal with this emergency and took them to the closest clinic (about 8 km away). It was late afternoon and the light inside the two-room clinic was already dimming. They (still) don’t have electricity… As the clinic is close to the Henderson house, I went to deliver something and on my return found the aunt in tears… and the little girl pinned to the examination table by a man (volunteer) while a male nurse and his assistant tried to put stitch in her wiggling tongue… Her screams were blood cuddling; the whole situation nearly unbearable. The aunt who tried to be strong for her niece, was nearly collapsing and I had to take her outside. It felt like hours later before they were finished. The poor girl. On the way back we had to stop twice as she started to vomit from shock. (Afterwards her mom said this was the first thing she said when she could talk again: I got sick in Nadia’s car!).
Sometimes… Sometimes the reality of life hereĀ among the Mwinika peopleĀ is simply blood curdling.
Photo: a few days later when the swelling was down.
Pray for the Mwinika.