From a nurses perspective

Lerato is our mystery girl found next to her dead mama. She is in the hospital at the moment. At this time, the hospital continues to withhold her test results for TB, HIV status,  ABG results, kidney function, etc. This picture was taken on a good day and as you can see, her skin literally is glowing. 

My place of residence. The square on the wall is my heat source at night. 

Me and Lerato. We think she is around 9-12 months.

We love BUMBO chairs! Baby T on the left and Baby J on the right. Baby T is actuually 1 month older than Baby J if you can believe it. 

Baby R has to be the smartest 14 month old I have ever met. Not to mention her beautiful smile that is so contagious! 

Baby J loves music so we sing baby beluga quite frequently. He has a family! yay! But we are waiting an extra long time for paperwork to go through. Everything's slower in SA

Baby races! Baby R on the left drags that walker all over the place. She looks like a determined mama with a shopping cart. She has started walking within the past 3 weeks and is the one who has been healed of AIDS. 

Here is Baby M working on her standing. One doctor would like to write a report for a special needs adoption because she is so behind on her development so we are using every waking moment to work with her and see if we can avoid the report. A report like this would drastically minimize her odds of adoption. 

And a picture I couldn't pass up from yesterday. One thing you will notice is that everyplace you go has a gate or wire of some sort. Everything here in SA is locked up. I find this picture ironic and very characteristic of my week. In the background you see the beauitful bird of paradise flower yet it is hidden behind a tall wall and barbed wire fencing. 

Much like this picture, my week has been quite lengthy. I just finished a 40 hour and very eventful shift. On Tuesday, Lerato began refusing to eat her food and spent the entire day vomiting everything including the Rehydrate we were trying without success. We knew she was sick when she came, but then again, so are most of the babies when they come. We just didn't know how sick. The only difference is: 8 days later she seems to be getting worse. Joanna (the house mom) was out most of the day but when she came home I told her the status. We contemplated going to the hospital for the next hour. You see, going to the hospital is never a pleasant experience, especially when you are dealing with the government system. Sure enough, I made the call because it was better to take her at a mildly dehydrated status than to wait and have her make a turn for the worse in the middle of the night. The drive to the hospital is not one you would want to make in the middle of the night. So at 7:00pm, Joanna and I loaded up the car and made the drive. Usually at a mildly dehydrated  status, the hospital would turn you away and send you home but because we knew nothing of her HIV and TB status, they actually admitted her to the ward. I was completely horrified at the lack of concern by the hospital staff. First of all, they don't know if she has HIV, let alone AIDS, and yet as they draw blood from her, it gets all over the doctor's hands and she proceeds to grab a kleenex to wipe it off and move to the next patient. I would like to know how the doctor's have not contracted HIV from their messy habits. Not only are they putting themselves at risk but they risk the integrity of the entire population in the room with their carelessness. I watched as they placed a young boy patient on a bloody sheet that nobody bothered to change between patients. Joanna claims she always thinks twice about taking them to the hospital because they are often more sick leaving than arriving. Anyways, Lerato was admitted overnight. The next morning, they called Joanna to tell her the Lerato was ready to be discharged. Joanna inquired about Lerato's HIV and TB status. They claimed that they wouldn't discuss the results over the phone so Joanna went to the hospital. When she arrived, the staff proceeded to claim they had "lost" her file but that she was still ready for discharge. Joanna says ok, so she's tolerating her bottles fine with no diarrhea? They say, oh no, we've tried everything and she just won't drink. Joanna says, so what do you expect us to do? We brought her here because we've done all we can and for 8 days things have been just getting worse. In the states, the staff would most likely proceed to find resources for the concerned parent but here, the doctor thought Joanna was challenging her authority. O, and that lost file, was found once they decided she wasn't ready to be discharged. At this point, Lerato continue to remain under the care of the hospital staff and the social workers are battling it out. I find it absolutely heart wrenching how the hospital is concerned over their reputation and status instead of the health of a baby. Patient advocacy? Please. Those are foreign words to the government hospital. What about patient rights you ask? What about the sign with the red letters with sentences that begin with "The patient has the right to...." -- completely disregarded. In this hospital, all the mediocre care you receive, you must battle for. It may come across rude but as Lerato's legal guardian we are simply looking out for the best interest of the child.

Anyways, I just wanted to give some insight to this system. The next morning, Samuel (Joanna's 3 year old son) swallowed a rand coin so she was back in the hospital so they could operate and remove it. That left me with 4 babies on my own, which I managed. They still are the joy of my life and I thank God everyday for the blessing He has given me to work with these children.

More to come as I have just bought a wireless internet device. Love and blessings to everyone!