Start of the Second building and Generator building

We have started pouring footers and columns on the second building and also the generator building. We have teams coming out starting in October to help with the construction of these buildings. We will have teams for the next six month to work with the projects. Angela will be taking pictures of the different people from the work teams and interviewing them for the Hospital's web site. I will be making a lot of trips to Bamako to pick up and drop off the teams as they come in. Pray for safety as I travel as there can be so many "road hazards" on the six hour journey.

The Sunday soccer playing has started back up again. We all look forward to getting together and having a friendly game. We expect no less than 110% for all that participate at least that is what we say when someone kicks a ball to hard and someone else gets hurt. Sense any note of sarcasm?

The boys have started school and have been enjoying it. They really look forward to Tuesday which is phys. ed. day. We are now getting out of rainy season and the boys will miss their motorcycle rides in the mud and creeks full of water. Its impossible to keep the boys clean especially during rainy season. Back to the hot weather here really soon.

Please pray for all the people who have lost loved ones to malaria this season. We feel at the hospital that it has been a really long rainy season with all the malaria that we have seen and treated. We loose multiple kids a week to malaria and that really wares on the staff. Keep them lifted up to the Father.

Hope you all have a great week.

Malaria

We continue to get kids into the hospital with malaria and dying. It is so sad that SO many kids die here from malaria. I wish we could get DDT fogged over the entire city to kill all the mosquitoes during this season. Keep praying for the staff as they are working overtime combating all the malaria cases.
We have a lady at the church that was taken to the police this week because her neighbor said that he feels restless and can't sleep when she prays in her house next to his. Can you say a spiritual war is going on here? Fortunately, the police said that they can't keep her from praying because the muslims pray over the loud speaker every hour during the day starting at 4:00 am and that is permitted. Now the neighbor said he will take the situation into his own hands. Please pray for her and her safety. Also pray for her neighbor that he would come to know the real God.
Have a good week and thanks for all your support.

Sad Day

I had the unfortunate opportunity to attend a 6 month old's funeral today. One of our construction workers at the hospital had a baby pass away with malaria this morning and Bob and I went to the funeral. It was nothing like anything I had experienced before. There was no show of emotion of any kind by anyone, even by the father, Agibe. The baby was wrapped in a little white cloth and then wrapped in a white goat's skin. This is a muslim family, so after the washing of the body and the placement in the wraps, the body was faced to the east with her head propped up with a rock and the chants offered to Ala. We just pray that these people will see who the true God is and that he loves them enough to die for them. I just want them to see the true God. The baby was then taken to the burial site and buried. It was very sobering going through this. I just thank God for my healthy family. Malarial is killing tons of kids right now with this being malaria season. We are getting 3 plus kids a day that would die without the hospital's intervention. Pray for wisdom and strength for the doctor's during this busy season. Our house help's wife was hospitalized last week with malaria and we are thankful she went home after a couple of day on treatment.
The first picture is of our two guards and the boys, Jeffrey and Daniel. The next picture is of Renee and myself working on an oxygen concentrator. Bob, Renee and myself were making a unit that could work without power for five minutes for the patients that need uninterrupted oxygen. The electric power here is not consistent and we need generators. It takes about 2-3 minutes for the generators to get powered up and we don't want to loose anyone because of lack of oxygen. This was the proto-type. A little R and D goes a long way here.
Have a good rest of the week.