ConnectMed surgeries day 2 (part 1)

Here is Owen.  He had bilateral cleft lip that was repaired by Dr. Ro!  His dad is holding him.

Here is Gracie!  Hers is a unilateral cleft lip with nose repair.  She's being held by Daddy.

And the first surgeries begin!  

Jeremy and Becky with Grace and her dad

Becky and Jill with Grace and Dad

Anesthesia getting the patients prepped

Nurses doing what they do best

Dr. Gosman and Evelyn start on Gracie

Dr. Ro working on Owen

What a blessing to be able to literally watch her lip being joined together for the first time

Gracie's done!

The next blog post is the best!

ConnectMed day 1-registration/consultation

The beginning!  Registration with ConnectMed!

The ABC team!  Fearsome group!

Gracie was one of the first patients seen!  She is scheduled for surgery TOMORROW!  FIRST THING!  

These are the two surgeons seeing and evaluating the patients.

Rainbow's own, Fallos!!!!  He helped with the translating in the clinic!

Seeing nurses and waiting for evaluations!

Jeremy and Jill with Gracie just after we found out she was healthy for surgery!!!

Dr. Gosman!  She's so amazing!

Dr. Ro!  The other surgeon!

Photos and info of each patient are taken whether they receive surgery or not.  That way other ministries can possibly help at a time when the patient is in better health. 

Gracie with Carson and Becky!

The busses literally went all over Malawi picking patients up!

The registration table was busy all day!

Mighty workers!  So proud of them!

Julita (another Rainbow kid) helped with registration and weigh in.

Estelle (our own from Rainbow) helping translate

Tents are up all over the clinic grounds

Waiting to see the Dr.

Rainbow's Monica helping with registration

The OR is ready  (or the "theater" as they call it here in Malawi)!

Tomorrow the surgeries start!!!

Cleft Palate/ Cleft Lip Repair in Malawi!

And today it begins...

For over a year now ABC Clinic has been in contact with, been planning, been praying, and been organizing this major medical mission here in Lilongwe.  The ConnectMed team, headed by Dr. Amanda Gosman, had a desire to reach out to the people of Malawi and perform free cleft lip/cleft palate repair surgeries.  This is life changing!  This is amazing!  This is what it's all about!  Here is where ministry, mission, love, compassion, and Christ really shine through.

Today, and for the rest of this week, we have the opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of dozens and dozens of children and adults.  There are over 150 people on the initial sign up list.  They will be screened and selected today.  The surgeries will begin tomorrow.  As a parent of a child who was born with cleft palate I know the heart ache, the trauma, the difficulties associated with these types of deformities.  But my child was born into a family with access to amazing health care and "majority world" help.  We had a friend bring us cleft palate bottles so that baby J could eat without an NG tube.  We had access to email and internet where we could skype with Dr. Gosman and her team and they could follow his progress.  We had access to a breast pump and to formula so that I could feed my son even though he couldn't nurse.  But these patients that we will see today had none of this.  Many children who are born with cleft palate here do not make it.  If they can't nurse, then they don't survive. It's the hard bitter truth.  And children born with cleft lip are sometimes seen as a curse.  They are then treated as such.  Another hard bitter truth.

So as this week progresses it's first of all a miracle that these children (and even adults) are still here and healthy and alive.  It's also a miracle that a team of medical professionals have given their time, their money, their talents, and taken a couple of weeks off from their own medical practices to come and help people who have no way of repaying them.  For the believers, their reward will be in heaven alone.  It's a miracle that a venture of this size was able to get through all of the red tape, the forms, the permissions, the security, the lawyers, the airports, etc.  Much much prayer and work has gone into this week.  And it's only just about to begin.

Now the tents are up. The signs are hung. The equipments is ready.  The cribs and beds are in place. The team is here.  The patients and their guardians have started to arrive.  The registration and consultations begin today.  Tomorrow lives start to be changed forever.

To God be the GLORY!  Great things HE HAS DONE!

Rainbow Christian School

In order to show you a little more about the wonderful school that we are now part of I thought I'd take my camera and snap pics as we went through the morning routine. The morning at Rainbow Christian School starts with morning devotions and prayer time.  Lucas leads the Bible devotion and Nasson translates into Chichewa for the younger ones.  After devotion prayer requests are received.  The prayer requests are so sweet and from the heart.  Usually prayers are lifted up for someone sick, a former missionary, a traveling friend, or any other worry on the children's minds.  Then collectively the prayers are lifted towards heaven aloud.  

After prayer and devotion we have the Pledge to the Bible and the Pledge to the Christian flag followed by the singing of the Malawian national anthem. 

Then its off to class.  Below is a picture of my class.  I have 14 children between the ages of 4-8.  We are learning preschool/kindergarten material like colors, letters, numbers, shapes, etc.  

These children are in the next level up and are around 9 years old.  Karen teaches them while I'm teaching the younger ones.  This is one of 3 different classes and age groups that Karen teaches on a daily basis.  There are also older kids that do a type of individual pace work but they currently have no teacher of their own. 

Besides the obvious need for more teachers another big need is for desks/tables in the classroom. It's hard to maintain correct penmanship while writing on the floor. 

Electricity is also a big need.  There is no electricity in the school except for one small room.  None of the other rooms (including the big room that is used for morning meeting) have electricity.  

Working on letters and numbers with a small white board that I happened to have at home.  All of the materials that I use to teach with come from my homeschooling supplies that were brought with us.  

AJ is such a great helper!  She loves teaching and taking care of the kids. Who knew when I picked up these simple place mats one day at Wal-Mart years ago that they would be used to teach these precious children their letters and numbers.   

The school is small and there is much need.  But we've been so blessed with the Lord's abundance and we're grateful for everything that we do have.  There are over 50 kids who are learning about Christ and His love on a daily basis and that is ultimately the most important lesson of all!

More photos of the older kids and their classes to come...

Jill

Life at Rainbow

Toella sporting a State hat!  Yep, starting 'em out early!

Love abounds!