Monday came and we all got up early for our first day back teaching. We enjoyed our walk as we always do. The weather has been beautiful! I went to the school with the teachers and got them settled, then walked with Greg to Adziwa to get him working with the building crew. He was excited to be with them and couldn’t wait to start digging holes for the posts that will hold our learning center up 🙂
After that I went to find Tovia and Tamweka. We needed to take her back to the government hospital to get the results of the TB test. We gathered everything we needed and walked to the minibus. Tamweka was on my lap and during the ride somehow managed to stick her hand into my backpack and pull out a bag of chips. That child has figured out I always have food! We got dropped close to the hospital and walked in to the TB office. We were told there would be no results until 11am. With several hours to wait and no car we decided to walk (about 2 miles) to the shopping center in town. Tamweka needed a sweatshirt and a few other things and I knew we needed to feed her a “real meal”. She has been living on chips and potatoes and I knew some healthy food couldn’t hurt her situation. About 1/2 way through the walk she started to cry…she was tired and couldn’t walk anymore. I carried her in and off as far as I could. She’s 7 and although small for her age she is still heavy. We made it to the shop and she enjoyed picking things out to wear. We got one dress, one sweatshirt (it’s winter here), a tshirt, some socks and a few pairs of underwear. After shopping we went to eat. I ordered her some chicken and beans and Tovia had Chicken and rice. Tamweka just lit up sitting in the restaurant and eating with Tovia and I. She cleaned her plate. I knew walking back to the hospital wasn’t an option so I again called Isaac and asked if he could come collect us. He said no problem and in about 20 min arrived with the car. On the way back to the hospital Tamweka got sick again…I knew it would happen, but also knew I needed to feed her. Tovia is such an amazing woman, she has handled every time Tamweka has gotten sick. We had a plastic bag and Tovia again was my hero holding the bag and cleaning her up. We arrived with our “package” which Tovia insisted we keep to show the doctor. We went back to the TB office where we were told the result was negative. The man told us to take the results to the doctor and see what he wanted us to do next. After a lot of questions and a review of the “package” we brought with us he told us 2 things. First was that she needed to be driven to Blantyre where there is a hospital that has a scope, and second he wanted to admit her because it sounded as if she had pneumonia. Because this is a government hospital I would need to go to town and get her medicine at the pharmacy, find someone to sleep at the hospital with her and train that person on how and when to give her medication. I would also need to find someone who could stay outside the hospital and cook meals for her. It was at this point that I realized I didn’t want Tamweka admitted. The paperwork had already started and they were ready to take her to a bed. I went to the car and got Isaac. I knew he could help me manage all of this. My goal was for them to let us take her somewhere else. Isaac was able to work the system and they allowed me to take her. We went to a local privet hospital where her care would be better but we would need to pay. At this point I was fine paying. It didn’t matter. We were at that hospital for hours…they decided she needed to be admitted so we needed to get her caregiver to come and sleep at the hospital with her. Tovia went to figure all of that out and I stayed with Tamweka for tests and while they put in an IV…this was no fun for her and no fun for me. Tamweka at this point I’m sure doesn’t like me much. She screamed while I held her and kept saying she wanted to go home. Broke my heart. We went for another chest X-ray, which was much easier. No pain just a lot of convincing her that it wasn’t going to hurt. The nurses and doctors were great with her. They all told me that she was clearly very sick and they would do everything they could to figure out what was wrong. They also commented on how incredibly strong this little girl must be because she was able to walk, talk and sometimes even smile. We explained to Tamweka that she would need to stay in the hospital for at least the night. This made her upset all over again. Several times during our time there she would just walk to the front door and walk out. She just wanted to leave and go home. Isaac went and picked up her caregiver and when she arrived it was time for me to go. I felt awful leaving her, but better knowing that she was going to get the care she deserves. Tovia explained to her we were leaving and Tamweka began to scream and ask us to stay. Tovia spoke to her in Chichewa and then she calmed down. After we left I asked what she had told her and she said “Erin, I had to trick her”. I asked how and she explained that she had told her I would go buy her chips and a fanta and be right back 🙁 I understood she was trying to comfort her and make it easier for us to leave, but again felt awful.
She is now in a good hospital and hopefully soon we will find out what’s wrong and we can do what is needed to get her well. If any of you would like to contribute to the cost of Tamwekas medical care please feel free to use the donate button here on the site. We think the cost will be less than $1,000 but at this point just don’t know. Keep her in your prayers and thoughts.