Today (Tuesday 4th March 2014) - look what the stork brought into the orphanage:
Cinderella was the unlikely and overlooked
princess. Meet Ella our newest and tiniest princess. She weights 2lbs. (1.3kg) at 5 weeks old
and likely has Trisomy 18 a rare genetic disorder - Edwards Syndrome (Trisomy 18). Cold to the touch and weak. We will need
an incubator. Nurse is kangaroo-carrying her. Please pray life and light
over Ella!Everyday of her life
will be a fight for her and, no matter how short or long, a blessing for
us here at SCH. God has a purpose and a plan for her and she has never
been overlooked by Him.
When Ruby arrived in one of my earlier blogs - her forearm was about the same width as my forefinger - this little poppet's forearm in nowhere near that wide.
PLEASE take a look at
https://www.facebook.com/schindia?fref=ts
and see some of the desperate needs.
In my last blog I Set you a task to guess what happened next here in India - no takers so to relieve the suspense here is what happened next to take a chunk out of my week.
We lost our power supply!
It had been a bit temperamental over the preceding few days - but eventually it was no more!
(I did get everyone to raise their arms into the air in an attempt to fix things - but obviously that old Chinese proverb 'Many Hands Make Light Work' is untrue).
Every morning the watchman turns on the electric pump in the basement to pump the water from below ground to the water tanks on top of the roof. No power - no water! No water = no toilets flushed. No water = no babies washed for 3 days!!
BUT
This is like nowhere in the west. I'd call up the electricity company and demand that they fix the problem - especially as this here is a special needs orphanage.
That isn't the India way.
Two men from the company turned up and announced that there was a fault in the cable that ran from a pylon across the street, under the road, under the driveway and up to the electricity supply meters on the side of the building.
They said that we had to fix it!!!!
Well, fixing it yourself Indian style means that you buy the whole 60 metres of supply cable and metal poles to feed it through, you dig up the road (and restore it) yourself. You lay the cable and THEY connect up both ends.
Imagine digging the road up outside your house!
What a nightmare it all was - however, there were 5 fantastic, humble young guys from the connected ICM School of Worship (4 shown in photos). They insisted on doing all of the work themselves and every time I tried to help - they tried to politely steer me away. We were there well into the night for a couple of nights. For those of a Health and Safety Regulations interest - don't look at these following photos:
After all of this time here - apart from my earlier dodgy tummy day that I'd blogged about (which was probably caused by a couple of bananas), I have avoided any problems - BUT - last night I woke needing to be sick - wasn't - and today I've had quite bad stomach cramps - all for no apparent reason. I lay on my bed until about mid-afternoon and decided to stick some washing in the washing machine (I couldn't be bothered to go down to the river to wash it on a rock along with everyone else) - then I did a bit of light work and this seemed to shift it. Had some toast for something to eat and am holding on OK now - another 5 minute wonder.
And that is the end of the spews (SORRY !!!! Couldn't help that one) - now for the weather report:
After nearly 7 weeks of uninterrupted sunshine averaging around 29 C. most of each day - for the past couple of days we've had heavy, prolonged thunderstorms - it's been more like a British summer's day rather than an Indian mid-winter's. I'm being prepared for my return home in 11 days time.
When Ruby arrived in one of my earlier blogs - her forearm was about the same width as my forefinger - this little poppet's forearm in nowhere near that wide.
PLEASE take a look at
https://www.facebook.com/schindia?fref=ts
and see some of the desperate needs.
In my last blog I Set you a task to guess what happened next here in India - no takers so to relieve the suspense here is what happened next to take a chunk out of my week.
We lost our power supply!
It had been a bit temperamental over the preceding few days - but eventually it was no more!
(I did get everyone to raise their arms into the air in an attempt to fix things - but obviously that old Chinese proverb 'Many Hands Make Light Work' is untrue).
Every morning the watchman turns on the electric pump in the basement to pump the water from below ground to the water tanks on top of the roof. No power - no water! No water = no toilets flushed. No water = no babies washed for 3 days!!
BUT
This is like nowhere in the west. I'd call up the electricity company and demand that they fix the problem - especially as this here is a special needs orphanage.
That isn't the India way.
Two men from the company turned up and announced that there was a fault in the cable that ran from a pylon across the street, under the road, under the driveway and up to the electricity supply meters on the side of the building.
They said that we had to fix it!!!!
Well, fixing it yourself Indian style means that you buy the whole 60 metres of supply cable and metal poles to feed it through, you dig up the road (and restore it) yourself. You lay the cable and THEY connect up both ends.
Imagine digging the road up outside your house!
What a nightmare it all was - however, there were 5 fantastic, humble young guys from the connected ICM School of Worship (4 shown in photos). They insisted on doing all of the work themselves and every time I tried to help - they tried to politely steer me away. We were there well into the night for a couple of nights. For those of a Health and Safety Regulations interest - don't look at these following photos:
After all of this time here - apart from my earlier dodgy tummy day that I'd blogged about (which was probably caused by a couple of bananas), I have avoided any problems - BUT - last night I woke needing to be sick - wasn't - and today I've had quite bad stomach cramps - all for no apparent reason. I lay on my bed until about mid-afternoon and decided to stick some washing in the washing machine (I couldn't be bothered to go down to the river to wash it on a rock along with everyone else) - then I did a bit of light work and this seemed to shift it. Had some toast for something to eat and am holding on OK now - another 5 minute wonder.
And that is the end of the spews (SORRY !!!! Couldn't help that one) - now for the weather report:
After nearly 7 weeks of uninterrupted sunshine averaging around 29 C. most of each day - for the past couple of days we've had heavy, prolonged thunderstorms - it's been more like a British summer's day rather than an Indian mid-winter's. I'm being prepared for my return home in 11 days time.
No comments:
Post a Comment