Mapaseka's Prayer

Oh Lord my Shepherd, why are so far from me? When shall you hear my prayer? But i know that You are near by me. I know that You shall not bring me in this world and leave me with hard thing. I know that You love me, i know that You care about me, i know that You do everything i ask in Jesus' name. A i want to put my trust and my hope to You. Please make me to trust in You and please give me to love other people, and give me truth and power top fight satan. Please help me to be strong. I know You are the Lord of lords, the King of the kings. No one knows You unless Your Son Jesus Christ draws them. I want to give thanks to You Lord, and praise You and Your Son. Thank You Jesus for washing all my sins with Your blood. Thank You Jesus, thank You Father, Thank You my Lord. I love You my Lord. I love You Jesus. Thank You, In Jesus name i pray. Amen.

Rx Charcoal

This is an infiltration of an intravenous medication in the hand of a premature baby who was having difficulty breathing. and had low blood sugar. The high concentration of glucose had damaged the vein and added damage was done by the antibiotics given intravenously, but which now leaked out into the tissues. The hand needed debriding, but the baby was not fit for anaesthetic. A dressing made up of a mixture of activated charcoal and honey was applied between two layers of gauze, and changed every second or third day.




This is the same wound three weeks later. The desloughing was achieved by action of the honey, while the charcoal infused oxygen into the wound from the molecules of oxygen trapped in the microcrevices on the surfaces of the charcoal particles. Honey also has a disinfecting effect, thus keeping the wound clean.







Ten days later, the wound was almost totally closed - no skin graft needed. . .

Mapaseka's Story

MAPASEKA’S STORY

My name is Mapaseka Ntsane. I am almost 15 years old. My country is Lesotho, and I live in the village of Makhoroana near to the town of Mapoteng. I was attending Malithuso high school in form 1. I like my school because of education which is important.

It was on 17 th July 2009 when I was in car accident. The car rolled down the hill and I sustained spinal injury. I was taken to Maluti hospital, then to Queen II and Bloemfontein. At Bloemfontein they operated on my spine to stabilize the fracture then I went back to Queen II. I was there for the whole week and developed terrible bed sores over my sacrum and right hip right down to the bone.

Here it is half way healed. It was the size and as deep as a cup.

I went back to Maluti to treat the bed sores and to continue with physiotherapy. I’m also doing typing lessons and computer literacy.

Now I am doing Bible study with Mrs Bleeker and Miss Liile, using Discovery Guides. I am busy with no.3. I have learned that God made everything in six days, and cares for me and has plans for my life.

On 9th April was my 15th birthday. It was so nice! Mrs Hurlow baked cake and bought some shoes and clothes, and Mrs Bleeker bought some juice and a cap. We shared cake with all nurses and students. I wore some shoes and clothes and i looked so smart. We enjoyed the cake; there was even enough left 4 me:-)

Now i've learned to knit; I made a doll's jersey and now i'm still busy with trousers for the doll.

I had treatments for my spinal cord last week. It was hot and cold water. After that i felt better. I'm also doing exercise with 'M'e Mahurlow- she makes me work very hard. Afterwards i go outside or back to the room.

Xavier from Hope Channel has been filming and interviewing me for a future program on Hope Channel around October, called 'Dawn of Hope':-). He and my friend Thato took me to Xavier's house to watch movies and we ate snacks. Here is Xavier filming me while i'm doing Computer lessons. I'm learning to do internet.

Last night i had a dream after praying and reading my Bible. I dreamed like i'm praying, and my prayer was this: "oh my God, when shall you heal me? But i know You loved us so much You gave us Your Son to redeem us. I'm waiting for one day of Your return. You told us that You are going to prepare a place for us and You'll be back. That's your promise to us". That's my dream and so i know that i'm going to be healed one day soon, because He is coming very soon.

Erosion is phenomenal here in Lesotho, producing some awesome scenery. Top left, a Mosotho herdsman and his dog stand atop of an erosion ridge... i'm not so sure i'd risk walking across that erosion 'bridge'... One can get quite lost in this maize of erosion 'fjords'...

Donkeys are a major source of transport as well as being excellent assistant herders. They protect the sheep and cattle by warding of attacking jackals. So effective are they that even some South African commercial farmers are puting these intrepid 'herdsmen' in use.

Face Lift

The post natal ward / unit got a bit of a face lift the past two days. The ceiling was in dire need of replacement and the walls just cried for a new coat of paint... At long last we have it! And now for the floors in the rest of the hospital...

Mountain top experience

Christmas weekend had us busy up in the mountains around Piseng, Tsuinyane, sharing gift packages with the children of the valley residents...all +/- 80 of them... in the rain... Top left is the little mountain cottage built by our doctor friends Rick and Laura. They have a little clinic just under the house. A sweet little church was also built on the property. It can be quite a mission getting to the place - especially in rain and snow - as you can see from the type of roads in the area. We spent about two hours putting the little gift packs together while the children were enjoying a program up at the church. Then we had them organise the massive group into two lines - one for boys and another for the girls. They were each given a wash cloth and a little bag with some pop corn, peanuts, candy, and a bible picture and verse and book mark.

Top middle is the valley view from the back yard. Awesome atmosphere and breath -taking sights...! What a privilege to stay there...

Exams

Some of our hospital drivers at last completed their exam on accident scene management... A bright bunch of fellows, and enormous fun to work with ...

Sabbath Stroll

This past Sabbath was my husband's birthday, and as a treat, we took an afternoon hike down across the valley and up to mole Hill on the other side with a real mottly crew... There were 3 youngsters from the US working as student missionaries for Hope Channel TV, a young doctor from Australia, another from Sweden, and more from the UK, together with some of the local youth who acted as guides. They introduced us to some simple games played here by children here in Lesotho

This is the department of health in Lesotho, and looking down on some of the other goverment buildings in Maseru, the capital of Lesotho. it was here that the Lesotho Nursing Council launched it's manual on nursing procedures for all hospitals in lesotho, to standardise the level of nursing care in the country. This is possibly a first in Africa if not in the world - well done Lesotho! There is actully a drive to improve on quality assurance in medical care in the country. This is being driven by the Lesotho-Boston Health Alliance, where Boston University is liasing with and guiding local health workers in quality assurance programmes, problem solving, and leadership development. Medical students from Boston University get to do their electives here at various hospitals in Lesotho, including Maluti. There is also a continuous nursing education programme, and monitoring of nursing records. Every Monday here at Maluti we have a 'nursing round' where nurses on duty gather in a selected unit in the hospital to study and discuss a particular case of interest. Then on Tuesdays, we have a class covering a particular nursing procedure from the nursing manual. The same topic is covered for a month, to enable as many nurses possible to attend. Some may be of duty on that day or on night shift, so the following week they may have the opportunity to attend. We have a little incentive for attendance... each nurse that arrives in class gets a treat; this month we're doing CPR, and the nurses get a chocolate at the end of the lecture/practical... after they've written their post test:-)

Spring at last

We've been blessed with refreshing rains here in lesotho - actually a bit on the early side - but it's got all the poppies and roses out. We've begun planting veges at a feverish pace, the orphan kids too - they all received a set of gardening tools and their gardens are sprouting all sorts of luscious veges (Pics to follow). There are a number of saints in the surrounding villages who have taken these kids under their wing, supported by a group here at the hospital which provides clothing, seeds, they organised the tools, and they just keep an eye on the little ones together with the 'village mothers' who are cooking meals for them. We also employ them after school in our own gardens so they can get a little cash and extra food for their labour, as well some 'parental guidance' - my hubby loves to share life skills with them...

en route to camp meeting

On our way to drakensville Camp meeting last weekend, our hopes of being on time for the morning meetings were dashed when we met with an 18 wheeler lying on its back across the road. It had been hit really hard by a run away truck from behind. The runaway's cab wasn't recognisable... two people were dead, and the police were every where. photo's were forbidden until he forensic dept had done their thing..(hours later...) the runway truck landed half way down the mountain side.

Well at least we made it for the afternoon meetings and lunch with some friends. may be this was a divine appointment, as we had a nice visit with some other folks also on their way to camp meeting while waiting at the accident site. on our way back that evening, we road past the two tow trucks which had finally managed to disentangle the wreckages and get them off to the police depots.

Squatter bug...

Well the bug that moved in during the graduation ceremony some weeks back is still around. It went away for a day or so, then came back with a vengeance two weeks back- runny nose, body aching, extreme tiredness, the racking cough at night... no sleep, painful chest/abdominal muscles from all the coughing during the night. By this past Sunday i'd built up a sizeable sleep deficit, and couldn't go on any more. The good doctor booked me off this whole week - for which i'm so grateful. Penicillin didn't do much for the superimposed bacterial infection. I'd been through Red clover tea- which helped some- but soon lost it's effectiveness - wish we'd had some echinacea - i'm sure that would have done something. Any how, i moved over to elder berry flower tea, grapefruits - great expectorants, but the thing kept up a tyrannical nightly invasion. the kind doctor living next door to us loaned me her Vicks cough mixture - a potent aniseed extraction in 10% alcohol...! It took the breath away never mind the cough- worked for about an hour then the coughing was back, hacking as ever. I took to supplementing the cough mixture with chewing some actual aniseed seeds - they worked longer... Then yesterday i finall resorted to doing my own artificial fever therapy (don't try this alone at home... there must always be some one around). My old Mum and the maid were around, so i climbed into the hot bath and raised my temperature to 39.5*C for half an hour. Sweated real good, then showered down with invigorating cold water - like you can only get in Lesotho... I lay around in some towels for another couple of hours, watching 3abn, dosed now and then, and surfaced just before lunch. Took a warm shower and washed all the sweat out of my hair, and got lunch on the go. never felt better! and for the first time in weeks i slept through last night!

Graduation

The Maluti Hospital School of Nursing recently held their graduation ceremony for student nurses and midwives. They had the little first years march in first, all neatly togged out in their whites with identical pen sets in their pockets. The graduants then follwed in their black gowns, followed by the tutors. The main speaker for the day was the man in charge of education for the local church conference - a most inspiring delivery! Other speakers included the Lesotho representative for the Lesotho Nursing Association.

I had to leave half way through to relieve the girls in the wards - but i was also beginning to feel very 'fluey'...

Drivers in training

one, two, Three n up...! Our Maluti Hospital drivers get to do call out on the hospital's ambulance from time to time when there's an accident near by, and they usually end up having to help extricate and load patients. So some basic accident scene management training was hugely appreciated - and enjoyed by the men - and a pretty sharp bunch they were - caught on real quick!

Some of the boys remebered their Path finder knot training... but

we did some reviewing. We had huge fun packaging and loading one chap and rushing him off to casualty :-D

Stirring the Nest

I've just had my Mom admitted to our private block. She'd fallen and broken her hip, and it was repaired at a state hospital in S.A. But now she has nowhere to stay as her previous residence will be inaccessible to her disability. So here she is. The Lesotho folk very graciously welcomed her, and our little 1st year nursing students bounced into her room all bright eyed and bushy tailed, giving her an eager and cheerful welcome. This brightened her up quite considerably, as she was somewhat disgruntled at being back in hospital, after a long day of travelling, with a blinding headache. Well, i took her some coffee, rubbed her feet and back, tucked in some extra pillows, gave her some pain pills, two young youth pastors came to pray for her, and she looked and felt so much better.

Awesome views

Sabbath afternoon walks are the highlight of the week - the emphasis being on 'high'... We have some stunning views just a few steps from our back yard. Maluti Hospital campus is perched up on a mountain/escarpment - so we have this awesome view all round - and yes, we're a beacon of hope up here on this mountain village of Mapoteng. We're well known throughout Lesotho - even the border guards and customs officials open their gates with a broad smile when they hear you're working at Maluti. The top picture shows a water fall at half-way mark, the next pic is a zoom backwards view of this spot. Next is the waterfall's source, while the bottom two photos are just other side of our back yard fence.

Ist Aid classes

The first year nursing students have just completed their basic life support module - all 32 of them. Quite a mission to put them all through CPR practical in a couple of hours, but with a bit of planning and technique, we did it:-D. They're a pretty smart bunch, so they caught on real quick, and retained it well - they remembered everything at the end of the 4 week block. For their exam, I divided them up into two teams, and relay style, we did CPR two-man rescue, switching roles after one cycle each. It gave me a chance to evaluate each ones skill in compressions and handling the bag and mask, and they had great fun- after all, resuscitation is team work. And the bandaging? well that went off well too - with some innovations... Just today i had great fun teaching the midwives neonatal resuscitation and intubation (pics to follow). Well, if they didn't have ears, their broad grins at sighting the vocal cords would have gone right round their heads...

hey Mr. Doctor!

This little lass came for a follow up visit after a bout of illness - the broad smile on her little face and challenge to 'tug-o-war' with Dr. Simon said it all... we'd won- for now at least...