Medical Issues and Vacation Bible School

Health Issues and Medical Needs

Throughout the last few weeks, the women and their families have had quite a number of health related issues. We help as best we can with medical expenses, when needed. They are not quick to ask, but if they run out of money and have no where else to turn, they know that we can help. Most of the expenses are “small” amounts of money for us, as far as health care goes; $20 to see a doctor or $5 for medicine. Even though these seem like minute amounts to us, when you’re only making a few dollars a day, there isn’t any saving for an emergency or unplanned expenses. In addition, there have been a couple more serious issues also (below).

If you remember, please pray for full healing for these individuals:

• Mai Innocent’s adult daughter - knee injury, after tweaking something when kneeling down (severe swelling and incapable of putting any weight on it)
• Goodnews’ (our electrician) 83 year old father-in-law - a knee injury from a fall (we loaned him crutches, because the hospital only had a broomstick for him to use)
• Florence’s chronic back and neck pain - we have helped with various treatments throughout the years, but nothing seems to help. Part of this is due to lack of adequate diagnosis - generally just pain killers are prescribed.
• Nyasha’s mother-in-law (93 years old) who lives with her - bedridden, due to age; She fell and broke her ankle after falling out of bed one night. If she were younger, they would do surgery to put pins in her ankle, but they don't believe she would survive surgery. She needs constant care and is in a great deal of pain.
• Mai Whisper’s 5 year old daughter - broken arm (told about in our last blog), but when the doctor was taking the cast off, he cut the cast above the elbow. Then, to pull it apart, he held her forearm for leverage to pull the cast apart. This injured her forearm further, causing a crack in one of the bones, after it should have already been healed. So we have helped with further treatments and a new forearm cast.
• Gladys’ husband - a bulge coming out of his stomach, possibly stomach cancer. He was on morphine, but in pain 24 hours a day. We’ve covered over $100 so far for tests and pain killers, but additional tests and treatments will be needed. Please pray for peace in the uncertainty and comfort in the pain.
• Mai Taumoline’s husband - on Saturday, while he was walking, he was hit by a car from behind. He fell forward, hitting his head on the pavement. Supposedly he has no broken bones, but was bleeding from his ears, eyes, nose, and mouth for much of the day. They took him to the hospital in Chinhoyi and he was sedated much of the day. He had to go by ambulance to Harare for a CT scan (arrived in Harare only after 10:00pm) and stayed overnight in the hospital. The family did as much as they could financially, but called us on Saturday afternoon after their money had run out. We helped with $500 of expenses, which covered his transportation to Harare, the overnight stay in the hospital, and CT scan. It turns out that he has a possible cracked skull (information is a little hazy concerning this) and a blood clot in his brain. He is on some type of medication for now, but a decision about a possible surgery is upcoming. We are unsure of those possible expenses or the likelihood of a successful surgery. He is still unable to speak and requires people to speak loudly for him to hear them. Please keep him and his family in your prayers!
• Several have continual issues with their blood pressure and also foot, leg, and hip pain - supposedly caused by the high BP issue
• Western's sister - in the hospital in Harare. She had high blood pressure and is pregnant, so they kept her overnight as a precaution, but is home now.
• Several have also gone through colds/flus at different times. The weather is starting to cool down now, so nighttime and mornings are chilly, especially if you don’t have any hot water for bathing or weather-proofed homes to keep the wind out.

Please pray for those dealing with injuries, sicknesses, and pain. Please also pray that we would know how to help in the best way we can. We never just hand out money willy-nilly. We always make sure we know what is needed beforehand and of course get all receipts of everything covered from doctors, hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, etc. We are the last resort and often the only option for covering the financial needs for medical assistance for these ladies. Please also pray for our discernment. We know we can’t pay for every single expense that comes up. However, we also know these women don’t ask unless they truly need help and often times they don't ask and yet we find out their dire situation through the grapevine and finally ask them if they need help, e.g. why haven't you seen a doctor for your obvious broken bone? And if we don’t step up to help, likely no one else will, and issues will go untreated or in the case of Mai Tamoline's husband - death with surely ensue if untreated. There isn’t any other option for these ladies. Plus, all medical care must be paid for up front. It’s not like the US, where the doctor focuses on saving a life first and worries about payment later. Even if someone is bleeding out, if no payment is made, then no treatment is given. Yolanda had to have surgery in Harare 5 years ago and we had to pay several thousand dollars up front before we even got past the front desk.

Many of the doctors/nurses in the public sector in Zimbabwe, give really subpar treatment or misdiagnoses, as can be seen from a couple of the above stories. So of course better private doctors, come with higher fees. Due to low pay and minimal resources, many of the country’s top doctors and nurses have immigrated to other countries.

Overall, we know that in general, the majority of sicknesses, injuries, diseases, etc. go undiagnosed and untreated, so we want to do what’s in our power to help these families be as healthy as possible. The women are always overwhelmed with gratitude when we assist because they know they do not have options. They often praise God for His provision in the times that JM2Z is able to come alongside them in their time of crisis. In the last month, there have been so many times when we've received a frantic and emotional message requesting help as one of the ladies is at a clinic or hospital requiring medical assistance. In all these situations, the women meet us with tears of joy upon our arrival, grateful that their answer to prayer for provision has been granted. We always take time to pray for the ill or injured person and family. We always point to the Great Physician and His ability to heal all ailments if He so wills - we also realize though that God has provided doctors, nurses, medical professionals, and medicines to meet many of these fleshly needs. JM2Z is a very tangible answer to prayer for the medical needs of many of these women and their family members - to God be the glory!

Everyone's "medical file" is a notebook (upper left) they carry with them from doctor to doctor. This is where details from an appointment will be written, along with all needed prescriptions. As you can see, doctors' handwriting in Zimbabwe is of the same quality as doctors' handwriting in the US :-)

Nyasha's mother-in-law, in both of the above pictures

Vacation Bible School

Our first VBS of the year is just around the corner! We will be hosting it April 25th-29th. The theme for the five days will be, “Moses trusted God and so can we!” Since the word "holiday" is used in Zimbabwe instead of "vacation" and school doesn't sound very fun, we call our program "Holiday Bible Fun."

There will be 120 children, ages 6-13, broken up into 4 age groups. We will only do registration the week before it starts, because we usually fill up within 48 hours. We will give the ok for the women in our groups to spread the word in their neighborhoods and the local orphanage, and that’s all the advertising we will need!

Along with daily Bible lessons, we will have praise and worship time, memory verses, arts and crafts, games and activities, and lunch and snacks for everyone. This will be an action-packed week for sure! Thankfully, most of the ladies in our groups have volunteered to help in a variety of ways in the week before and also throughout each day. They really take pride in being able to give of themselves!

Please pray for the children who will attend and for the volunteers. Please pray that God’s Word would sink in their little hearts and that they would truly see Jesus’ love in their lives. Please also pray for the organization and sanity of the adults! We know some of you have volunteered at VBS at your own church, so you know what we’re talking about :-) Everything we do, the lessons, crafts, etc. we make it all from scratch, so between the planning and the actual week, we will be exhausted by the end of it, but we know that it will be so worth it to pour into these children during this time! We attempt to host this children's event every school holiday, which means the first one is now and we will plan to have the next one in August. We plan for each event for almost 3 months at a time, with the weeks leading up to it being the most hectic and time consuming - pray for us because we're living in the midst of that now!

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Ways you can be Praying for our Children's Program:

- for all the volunteers who are feverishly cutting, folding, counting, stapling, sticking, tracing, and translating different supplies and materials for the event
- for the volunteers who give up of their time to serve us (we CAN'T do this alone), serve the children, and ultimately serve Jesus 
- for provision, thanksgiving for all we purchased in South Africa 2 years ago, as well as the stock we have on hand, AND to ensure we are able to purchase and locally source all other items still needed ie food, etc.
- for the event space, thanksgiving for the church building that we have used every time for our children's program throughout the years (we always provide a donation or cover a tangible need for the church, i.e. electrical bill, building maintenance, etc.)
- for rest and energy, although the 2 weeks before and week of the event means little sleep - late nights and early mornings - it's only a brief season, a few times a year
- for all the final details to fall into place, i.e. acquiring firewood for lunchtime cooking, purchasing all the food needs, getting gifts together for all the volunteers, printing off parents letters, etc., etc., etc.
​- for each and every child who will be attending (not everyone who wants to come will get to come), that God will send those who need to hear the Gospel message and be loved in tangible, creative, and fun ways 

Cooking

Below are pictures of the women teaching Yolanda how to cook different things. It's important that they understand that they are able to teach Yolanda some things, just like she teaches them other things.

They are making chimhodo, which is African bread. Then they also made some cupcakes for a treat.