Worried sick

Insomnia is recognised as a very real problem among Cambodians. A very high percentage of people do not sleep well because they are constantly anxious. Any news that promises peace of heart is good news in this nation.

Souen came to us nearly two weeks ago with chest and stomach pains. Sue had the word 'anxiety' impressed on her the first day that she saw him. She asked him what it was that first caused him to become so anxious. This lovely, gentle-hearted man began to cry. No-one had ever asked him that question before.

Two years ago his daughter married. As a dad, he fronted the wedding costs. People give money when they attend a wedding in Cambodia. As is often the case in the villages here, many of the invited guests had no money, so they did not come. Souen was left with a shortfall of US$250. He was in a deep hole. A later snakebite set him back another $200 in medical costs. He was now in a very, very deep hole.

Souen fretted so much that he began to have panic attacks, leaving him unable to function at work. The pains began ... leading him to our door. Souen does not need medicine - he needs hope and peace.

Beautiful hand-woven silk from Souen's wife

Souen's wife and his daughter weave silk in their home village. The traditional woman's silk dress is very beautiful and worn to special occasions, especially weddings. A length of silk for one dress (1 metre x 1.8 metre) takes 15 to 20 days to weave and costs around US$40.

In the spirit of seeking to give 'hand ups; not hand outs' we are able to buy four lots of silk from Souen. Two lots should be on the loom as I speak (or write, as the case is ...). Maybe in the future we can do more so that this most lovely man is released from the burden of debt in an edifying way. Souen has headed back to his village now with a medical all-clear - and greater understanding about how to take steps out of the worry that cripples life.

And ladies, if you have a wedding coming up soon, may we suggest ....

Bye bye babe

Baby Alisa together with her mum Navy left us yesterday. Alisa continues to do just great. She has put on weight, tries to pull herself up and readily responds with a smile or baby noise to our voices. Now, Navy has moved on to her boyfriend's place who, we have learned, is indeed also blind but not paralysed.

Alisa in Sopheap's arms earlier this week (above) and goodbye hugs from Bonna as the little family are about to leave (below).

We are committed to on-going care and contact for the next six months tho'. Our daughter Melody is a supreme baby-lover. On her own initiative she has found some friends who are giving money for baby milk formula to Alisa. We will deliver the formula (not the money!) weekly and keep a good eye on things.

Talking about ongoing contact, we saw Dar (the guy with the horror pressure sores plus all the other challenges) yesterday. He has a lovely smile and is doing well. Phanna was also there at the time - he went up to the hospital three times over the week to pray with him and read the Word to him. Sopheap also visited on Thursday.

Our mission is now to fatten him so that he can start skin-graft treatment. We've left him with a tin of 'Ensure' (a powdered drink that is a nutritional meal in a glass) and food. He's in a hospital room with perhaps 14 other patients. Many of them are amputees. It is incredible, the amount of suffering still in this nation.

Hopping back 'home'

Srourn came back to us yesterday, after three months in hospital. He's looking really well and we're thrilled to see him again. He is likewise thrilled to be back, hanging out for the last week to be able to come back 'home'. He's a bit shorter on one leg but he appears pretty well settled with the amputation situation (mid way between knee and foot) and chats away about getting a new piece of machinery fitted in the near future.

Srourn (on the right) with Navy (Alisa's mum) and Dtouch. Dtouch also is a returnee from the same hospital as Srourn was in. He's had a skin-graft that is still needing a bit of healing to take properly.

We continue to have folk coming and going. This morning a patient left so we were in a position to say that we had two spare beds. Four people walked in this afternoon. OK - so a bit of juggling and pulling out a wheelie bed ... and everyone should have a mattress tonight.

Our other six folk at dinner this evening - four patients and two family members. They are a good natured bunch!

Sad times and glad times

Wonderful things are quietly taking place among our patients. At the same time we have been greatly saddened. Yorn, a lovely guy who was with us three weeks ago felt better and went home - very much against our advice. He died last weekend, most likely from septaecemia and very likely completely needlessly. By the time a family member said 'help' he was unconscious and beyond critical - then he suddenly died.

The flip side is a sudden surge of reports coming back that thrill our hearts. Remember Long? - the little guy with a terrible skin disease and legs the size of a thumb. Donnie saw him last weekend. There is no sign of any skin disease - and Long is walking now.

Long back in October 2008

These last two days Sak has been back with us. I used to (silently) call her 'Sad Sak' as she was thin, very weak, anxious and had been diagnosed with heart problems. She was back with us for a specialist check-up in Phnom Penh - and looking so well and healthy. The doc said 'no heart problem at all' yesterday. She's headed home today with a smile a metre wide.

Sak with Sopheap - also in October last year

Rin, our comatose lady who had been shut down for two years and on the verge of starvation, is now cooking, feeding herself and cruising off to neighbours in her wheelchair. Her mind is still not in as good a shape as her body tho' - but there is amazing progress to this point nonetheless.

Marty McKone praying for Rin - August 08.

Horrendous

Susie is a pretty seasoned girl in the nursing world, so when I heard her use the word 'horrendous' I knew that things were pretty desperate.

Dar came to us from a provincial village on Monday. He is just 23 years old and together with his little wife he looked shy and very uncertain. Seven months ago he fell out of a tree and became paralysed from the waist down from the resulting back injury.

That was not the issue. For much of the last six months he has been sitting in a wheelchair, without feeling and seemingly oblivious to pressure sores that have turned into unimaginable gaping holes. Sue is not exaggerating when she says she could put her closed fist up to her wrist into two holes on his bottom. I watched a French surgeon wince and moan yesterday as she examined him. In addition Dar has many inner abcesses that have turned his stomach rock hard.

Waiting outside Sihanouk Hospital yesterday

Donnie took Dar to a clinic on Tuesday. They were quite hopeless and did not examine him at all. We tossed thru' Tuesday night and first thing Wednesday took him to 'Centre of Hope - Sihanouk Hospital'. Against all odds they agreed to taken him in - fully expecting him to be 3-5 months in a very, very valuable hospital bed.

Next step was to get 4-6 units of blood donated. Donnie got some church people together and we were taken by ambulance! across town to the blood donour set-up. Well ... that is the quick version - really, we waited, were interviewed, waited and waited, transport, waited ... stuff takes serious time. In the end they settled for three units of blood and I was number four in the line-up.

Susie and Donnie having all the fun

We were back today just as Dar was waking up from surgery part 1. His mum has come to be with him and his wife has (we understand) returned home (work commitments??) This will be the start of a long different road for us too, putting daily support structures into place for the long haul. Sue will take Phanna up tomorrow for what will likely become 2-3 days/week visiting, praying and encouraging for him. All prayer greatly received!

Fishing boat

Ever since Mike Brewer took me to sea off Urenui, NZ in his 2.4 metre inflateable last month, I have realised how much I miss the bite of a good fish on the line. It may have been a small boat but the fish were non the wiser - they just kept falling into the fish bin

So, I was one happy fella when I pulled into the petrol station today and saw a boat with great fishing potential get towed in. 'Royals Royce' was emblazoned all over the very flash tow vehicle - and the boat. She was perhaps 9 metres of James Bond machine, with enough rocket-looking propulsion units on the stern to run the Titanic into an iceberg. Very nice ... but no flat surfaces for a good bait board. I'll stick with the Mike unit.

Toys for rich boys - just what can this machine be used for on the Mekong??

Susie Samaritan

When Nicole was with us she had been visiting a Cambodian friend's dad in hospital - and came home with a horror tale. An Austrian lady had been attacked and bashed at the beach in Sihanoukville. She ended up in the bed next to the dad - alone, no memory, no English language and desperately confused. In her freaked out state she was yelling at the doctors and refusing treatment.

Sue and Elizabeth visiting with Marie yesterday

Sue heard about this last Sunday and took action. Through Hagar she connected with a Swiss guy with German language - and they went to visit. Sue's been visiting with Elizabeth (wife of Swiss guy) since, taking clothing (she had nothing - literally), toiletries and meal-in-a-glass nutritional drinks (Marie has lost her teeth in all of this). Susie even got hold of the German embassy (who act on behalf of Austrian nationals) and has ongoing contact with them.

Marie is doing better now, but still has memory loss and possibly inner-ear damage. Through other folk we know who happened to come across Marie on the beach just after the attack, the story has emerged. Two teenagers took a concrete slab (about 5kg) and smashed Marie on the head as she lay sunbathing on the beach at 4pm . Her backpack contained maybe a book and a dollar.

We understand Marie's sister-in-law is flying out this week to take her home. It may be a week or three until she can climb on a jet bird. We'll be keeping tabs on her meanwhile.

Spinach, anyone?

As a kid I prayed against it, but we've become friends over the years. Now it looks like the spinach is going to be the first vege to be harvested from the garden put in by Jason and Julia.

Spinach doing nicely

Susie has always been the keen gardener in our family. However, I'm getting very keen on the greening of our back yard. Every late afternoon I pump water out of the well and give the garden a good dousing. Today I did some re-planting of beans as something with jaws has been visiting our patch.

Bok choi to the left; beans growing like crazy in the background. In other patches we have tomatoes, ginger, passionfruit and sweet potato. The luffa has been munched to extinction so I've re-planted that today also.

Numbers

In a couple of days we mark six months since the Healing Home was opened. It seems a long time ago - in a very positive way.

I've done some paperwork counting and make it 40 patients to date. That does not include family members who often come to stay also. They would more than double this number of people who have stayed in the home.

Overflow bed - Choy camping out in the front lounge area. We moved him because he was in a lot of pain and was not hiding that fact at all. People here are often very, very fearful in their sickness. Peace and trust are places we seek to bring them to.

Over the first three months we had a low turnover, with a number of our patients staying four weeks or longer. The last three months has been quite different, with a lot of flowing through and much shorter stays. For example we've had four people leave since the week-end (including young Pisit who had his jaw operated on today in a Swiss-run hospital) - and four new patients come in today, all from the same provincial village.

So, 40 it is by my reckoning - but there are a few holes in the paperwork department and it could easily be 50. Anyway, I believe that the Healing Home has finally drawn ahead of the Bonnevie House of Boarding. I now make it 24 friends and 13 'hospitality extended to' (and some of these are now friends too!) people who have come and lived at our pad. Folk have stayed anywhere from three days (Kerry, Angie, Peter Denholm) to three months (Pat and Dorothy).

Our newest folk arrived tonight for five days - a Swiss couple visiting their daughter and son-in-law here. When I get to it I'll let you in on the incredible connection between them and the story of the poor mugged Austrian lady whom Sue has been caring for this week.

Happy camper heading home

Nicole Willinks, our happy kiwi girl, has headed down-under today. She's spent two months with us ... well, kind of. She's a most social young thing who is ever surrounded/covered with people/children so we've certainly shared her around! It got to be that when I turned up at the Healing Home, the local kids running in the street ask me 'where's Nicole?' Classic stuff.

Like MacArthur, she vows to return. As I explained to our staff girls today, it is not so much the country as the people in the country that capture your heart for this place. Nicole has been thoroughly captured.

Airport farewell - as ever, buried in people!

Bouncing baby

Little Alisa is such a different wee babe compared to 10 days ago. She has filled out remarkably and so enjoys her milk formula drink - in fact she has started holding the bottle by herself!

We're getting lots of smiles from her now too. Sue introduced her to a new culinary sensation yesterday - the humble mashed banana. One banana went down the hatch. This morning it was stewed apples. They were thoughtfully munched on between inquisitive looking around and little smiles.

Stewed apple for brekkie - Susie doing the honours

Navy is really thriving in the home too. She's actually blind but real capable. Our understanding is that she had (most likely) a vitamin a deficiency when she was 21 that led to her blindness. Had it been got to and correctly treated she would not be living in darkness.

Navy with her treasure

We're not sure of what the future will hold for these little ladies once Alisa gains all her weight. Navy wants to move in with her boyfriend. He sounds to be a nice fella with two young sons who really love him. He is blind - and paralysed. The mind boggles ... but Jesus has a good plan.