Amisadai and Louisa's Adventures in Africa: July 2014

Thursday, 31 July 2014

A Near Miss, a Real Miss and an Amazing Discovery

What if I fell in? What would happen if I fell over and everyone stepped on me? What if I slipped on a wobbly rock? What if there are really crocs here, waiting to bite off my toes? All these things I was thinking as we crossed (with loads of other people going both ways) the muddy, slippery, disgusting and crowded causeway, in the dark, from the land on Kome Island to the ferry that would take us to Mwanza. We got across, somehow, and found some seats on the top part of the ferry. It was about 11:00pm and I was tired. I fell asleep for 50 minutes, and then dozed till 4:30am. We finally got off the ferry at 6:00am!

We had been on Kome for 5 days with our team from Tadley before this. We took the long day ferry there, and I watched a video about how crocodiles devour little monkeys! It was cool at times but I felt very sorry for the poor monkeys! When we got off the ferry, Dr Isaac was there to meet us. We dropped our bags at the guest house, (Louisa and I had our own room again) and then he took us to the hospital for milk and fruit. On the second and third days we were helping out at the clinic. Lottie and I were helping the nurses. We watched injections (ugh!) and tested heart beats and blood pressure. Alex was in the lab looking at all the urine and blood, and Samweli and Louisa were with Dr Makori. Mum was in the register office and chatting to patients in the waiting area. In the afternoons, we went to visit people, the sick and wazee (elderly) and give them some sugar.

Louisa and Lottie in the Lab

But we missed something! By half an hour! Too Late! The birth of an adorable little girl had taken place while we were at the guesthouse one day. We ran to the clinic as soon as we heard the mama had arrived (she had to walk a long way), but she had already had the baby by the time we got there. But we were able to see them and pray for them! When we arrived, the baby wasn’t named!

With the very newborn baby in Dr Makori's clinic.

I made an amazing discovery on Kome Island! You will never guess! I found another Amisadai! I thought that there was only one other Amisadai in the world and she comes from Mexico and now lives in America. (I haven't met her, only Mum and Dad have; but I really would like to meet her and also go to Mexico one day). My name comes from the Hebrew name, "Ammishaddai" which is in the book of Numbers in the Bible and means "people (Am) of God (el Shaddai)". But we thought the name was only found in Mexico! But here on this island in Lake Victoria in Africa, we found a girl around my age named Amisadai and she was named after her Bibi (grandma)! Isn't that amazing? Now I want to find out if there are any more Amisadai's around (except for the babies born in Magozi!)

Amisadai and Amisadai

We had lots of fun with the Tadley team. We played a lot of football! As well as going to Kome Island, we worked with the children with albinism for 4 days and they loved the crafts we did.