Ice cream anyone?

Today was one of our more sober days. We headed out to watch some of the burn prevention classes that SOZO is teaching in clinics and hospitals. Burns are something that plague this country. While attempting to make do with what little they have, safety is often an after thought. However, the thought is that if they can teach the mothers while they are in the hospital having their children, they can begin to try and stop the cycle. They also work on things such as breast-feeding and nutrition. All of the clinics we saw were for women so the guys spent a lot of time in the car. Felt sorry for them in the heat. The final place we went to was a children’s hospital. There were children there as young as a few months old that had rolled into heaters and fires. One boy had his entire body burned and lost both of his legs due to a propane gas explosion. It was so sad to see him under a tent because he could have nothing touching him due to the pain. So sad… The most difficult part of the visit to the children’s hospital was seeing two children beside each other shaking in pain from burns that covered their entire body. They were neighbors who were playing outside and got into a landmine. I couldn’t tell if they were boys or girls because their burns were so severe. Many children were there for skin graphs. After one year the children become eligible for their graph. One child was about the age of Ben’s son, Will. He had the graph put on and the skin was still so thin and the burn so deep that you could see the muscles below it. The graph caused his arm to be webbed at the elbow with more surgery to come to cut that area of skin.

Upon returning to the house we had lunch and just stayed at home most of the day due to some potential security problems. We are so grateful for our host and his protection of us. It was nice to hang out as a team with the staff of the guesthouse. I decided that we needed to start a count of how many times the ice cream guy went by the house. This man pushes a small cart with a barrel on it with ice cream. His token song is “Fur Elise” and makes me laugh every time I hear it. The girls were able to buy some items from the shop here in the compound today as well. The family of the man who had his brother –in-law abducted heard from him yesterday. He was given a one minute call to let them know he was alive. They do not know where he is so please continue to keep him and his family in your prayers.

The day ended with some of the guys building a tower out of water bottles and spending some time together. I can’t believe this trip is almost over. It makes me so sad to think that I have to leave my friends again. I wish I were able to stay longer to help with the amazing work that is being done here.

Please continue to pray for your health as we begin our travel home tomorrow.

Nichole Marie Hutchins