An update on one of our patients!!

2 years ago when this little girl came to us we thought that she wouldn’t live – she was 5 years old and weighed about 9 kg when she came to us because the hospital had sent her home to die. We treated the HIV related illnesses and, once she was strong enough, we started her on her ARV drugs and monitored her closely. She did so well on her drugs that, 8 months later, she was well enough to go back home to her grandmother, weighing 20 kg.

A picture of her in her school uniform

With her grandmother

It’s been almost a year since she went back home and she is doing extremely well so we thought we’d give you an update. She now weighs 25.9 kg and started Primary school this year. She loves being home with her grandmother and her brother!

Sad news!!!

We had to say goodbye to this precious little boy in the early hours of Monday, 19 May. He was only 2 years old and had been oxygen dependent since birth because his lungs were badly diseased. We had tried to have an operation to remove the diseased part of the lungs but discovered that the damage had progressed to such an extent that surgery was no longer an option. We tried to send him back home so he could be with his mother, but found that in Vryheid, Kwa Zulu Natal where his family lives, there are no facilities for oxygen concentrators (the portable machines that produce the oxygen) so he had to remain with us.

He was such a sweet little boy - when you gave him something to eat he would clap his hands to say thank you and when you said goodbye he would blow kisses. Since he never knew another way of life, he didn’t know he was ill and was such a happy little boy, laughing and chatting away in baby talk. It’s hard to let him go, but we know with certainty that right now he is safe in the arms of Jesus.

We have a new little girl. She is 3 years old. She can’t walk yet and is oxygen dependent because she has chronic lung disease. She has to have physio 3 times a day to keep her lungs clear. Her parents did not give her TB and HIV drugs properly which has made them ineffective – this has happened twice. This means they have had to change her medication twice. The danger of this is that there are only a few HIV and TB drugs for children so, every time they have to change the drugs, there is one less chance at life because one day there will be no more drugs for her to take.

Our 4 homes are full we can’t take anymore children. Almost every day we get phone calls from the social workers asking if we could take in more children. The need is so big and sometimes overwhelming. That’s why we are praying that, by the end of this year, our Hospice will be up and running so that we can take in more sick children. Please pray with us that we are able to source the necessary funds.

This little boy is HIV negative so he could be put up for adoption. Here is picture of him with his new family!!!

Another boy!

We have another little boy from our ‘‘lovely hospital”, he is 11 months when he came he had sores and thrush in his mouth and like the other children he was not tested for HIV. We will run some blood tests and see how sick he is and also do HIV tests. He had a foster mother and she could not cope with his illness.


Some more good news….

One of our little children is negative and is going out for adoption!

Yippee! The quarantine is over....

An outing to Gilloly's farm!

The children are no longer under quarantine. They can visit each other and they can go out again. We told the children that they can go to church on Sunday they were all singing and jumping. We are praying that we won’t get any surprises in the days to come….

Every 3 months our children get to go to Hospital for their drugs to be reviewed. The drugs are given according to their weights, as they grow they need more drugs. And every 6 months they take their blood for their viral load, CD4 counts and for the liver function. It really amazes us that our children gets excited to go to Hospital.

We apologize for writing this blog late. Last week Friday was a public holiday in South Africa and I’m on leave for this Friday, we will publish another blog next week Friday