A few brief updates

Francois is a boy that attends the Sheltering Wings School here in Yako. Last Thursday he fell from a tree and fractured his femur. His mother brought him to the hospital in Yako where they determined it was broken and prescribed painkillers and antibiotics, and told him he would need to go to Ouahigouya for an X-ray as Yako does not have an X-ray machine. His mother couldn’t afford to bring him to Ouahigouya and so she sent him to a nearby village for traditional treatment.

I tagged along with Ruth and Innocent (the director of the school) for a visit to his house on Sunday. We had thought we would still be at the village but sometime Saturday or Sunday they brought him back from the village and to his home in Yako. He was laying inside on a mattress on the ground, and when we arrived his mother helped him sit up. His leg was braced with a stick and wrapped in heavy fabric. I could see that his in injured leg was very, very swollen. His arm was also swollen and his mother said the healer had been doing something to that as well, although it wasn’t wrapped or braced. Beside his leg on the mattress were cement blocks, they told us the blocks were to keep his leg from moving.Since the traditional healers can only do their best to put the bones in place and keep them there the children receiving treatment run the risk of their bones healing misaligned. Ruth has seen children crippled because of this. As of now Innocent believes things are going well for Francois’s healing but Ruth has asked Innocent to check on Francois again after his next treatment from the traditional healer, to ensure he is still comfortable with the level of care he is receiving. Should he not be SW would help Francois by taking him to the hospital for the Xrays (while still respecting the family culturally of course as they chose the means of traditional healing.)

A couple short stories:
The other night Liz and I went out to bring coffee to the night guard and do our tour of the courtyard before going to bed. We checked particularily on the primary school boys room because one of our boys has taken to sleeping outside in funny places. I understand his desire- it is HOT inside and so much nicer outside, however family rules are everyone sleeps in their own rooms (with so many children and girls and boys in the same courtyard the rule is a no brainer really). We observed he was not in his room and so set out to look for him. We started with where he’s been before: under the hangar, on benches around the courtyard, near the clinic and he was nowhere to be found! Then we were walking back towards the kitchen and I saw something. I motioned to Liz and she went “No!” I nodded. Once I got closer I couldn’t contain my laughter. He had pulled a mat up on top of the monkey bars and was sleeping up there! I had to reach up to poke him awake. He seemed surprised to be awakened but agreed to go sleep inside. What a kid! Sleeping on the monkey bars...

Thursday we had our first rain storm. By rain storm I don’t mean drizzle I mean downpour! At the time the rain started I was at the house with Therese, Ferdinand and Osseus. They stayed at the house until the rain ended, mostly I think because people just don’t want to go out in the rain! Therese and I went out for a couple minutes, because I was so excited for the relief from the heat but quickly we were wet and cold and wanted to run back inside. They helped me run around and shut windows. But we had no power so I tracked down a lantern and the three kids snuggled on the couch in blankets (I wasn’t that cold!). We did shadow puppets on the wall for a little while and then I pulled out cars and barbies for them to play with in the dark. Because of the noise of the rain on the roof we couldn’t talk to each other, but hey it was a fun rain shower! Friday the termites came out!(apparently they come out the night after the rain) These are not wood termites but another variety. There were hundreds of them clustered around each light and filling the pathways! They got through the front door and every few minutes we’d kill 5 or 10 until we managed to get it closed enough that weren’t coming in... And then as suddenly as they appeared they died.

Here’s a picture of Joseph and I taken fairly recently. He’s taken to shushing me if I ask him questions or to talk- not because he doesn’t want to talk but because he thinks going “SHH!” with his finger to his lips is hilarious.