Food Situation at Good Samaritan

Every year in June Brother Gentry purchases a one-year supply of corn and dry food staples. Buying in bulk is much more cost efficient. The prices continue to go up throughout the year and depending on the weather and availability of corn (supply and demand). When we buy the whole year supply at the beginning of the season we are able to get the best price and don't have to worry about the cost rising throughout the year because our supply will last a whole year. Unfortunately due to reduced financial support, bad weather, poor crops, reduced value of the dollar, high fuel cost and dramatically increased prices in food, we were unable to make the year supply of food purchase. We are buying "little by little". The children are now eating what we can afford, which is just not the same as what they need.

Corn: We use fifteen 50KG bags of corn a week at Good Samaritan. Each bag is approximately $25. Currently we have 35 bags in storage. This is only a two week supply.

Rice: We are now using one bag of rice a week instead of two. One 50kg bag of rice is approximately $35. (After July there will be no rice in storage)

Milk: Our milk is now heavily diluted with water. The children were getting one cup of a milk every Sunday. Now they are getting milk three Sundays out of the month.

Vegetables and Beans: are being served only on Wednesdays now.

Eggs: We used to be able to purchase 30 trays (400 eggs) for 485K ($4) , now the price is 770K ($6).

Bread and Beef: We are no longer able to serve bread and beef to the children. We have to use all of our financial resources designated for food, on the above mentioned basic staples.

Please pray!

Update

I spoke to Thandie this morning! She was so excited to hear that Savannah-Hope has two teeth and took three independent steps. And got a laugh that she did that the day after I posted that she had no teeth and couldn’t walk independently.

Ida is still in the hospital however her vision has been restored! Praise the Lord! Thandie expects that she will come home tomorrow.

Americans Serving at Good Samaritan

I have had some questions about which Americans are currently in Malawi serving with Good Samaritan Ministries:

Missionary Brother Gentry is curently in Malawi and staying at his home on BCA Hill. He has been their since April, not sure yet when he will return to the States.

Chuck and Sheila Miller from Florida are currently serving a 3month term with Brother Gentry and are staying with him at his home at BCA Hill.

The Fullford Family has just begun their first term in Malawi as full-time missionaries with Good Samaritan. They are currently staying in a home not too far from Brother Gentry while their house is being built on the new property.

Vickie from Fresno, CA is serving for two months in Malawi (returning to US on 7/24) and staying at the Round House on the Good Samaritan Campus.

The Day family from North Carolina is scheduled to arrive tomorrow and will be serving in different capacities for two weeks.

I hope to update you on the current food situation at Good Samaritan tomorrow.

Savannah-Hope Update

Savannah-Hope in her American girl dress. She is standing holding on to daddy's hands.

First trip to the beach. In the arms of big sister Bella

Savannah-Hope's baby shower. Sisters Amelia and Izabella are pictured above their mama and Savannah-hope.

Savannah-Hope loves to swim. She is a little fish!

Such a sweet and happy baby girl!

By popular demand, I will be posting an update of Savannah-Hope on the 5th of each month. Today Savannah-Hope is 14 months old. She has been home for two months and is doing great. She sleeps from 7pm to 7am. Eats everything put in front of her and is just full of giggles and smiles. Savannah-Hope has mastered drinking from a straw, cruises around holding onto furniture or a toy walker. Savannah-Hope can stand alone in a center of a room, but has not yet taken any independent steps. She still is toothless, but there are some signs of bottom teeth coming soon. She says "mama", "dada", "uh-ho", "Zach" and "no no no". Savannah-Hope is adored by her family, extended family, church family and friends. Thanks for your many prayers!

Update on Ida

Thandie arrived at the hospital this morning at 7am. She was thrilled to find that Ida's vision had improved. Ida is able to some basic objects such a people and furniture. Praise the Lord! God allowed Thandie to be able to speak with Ida's doctor at 9am this morning. The doctor told Thandie that Ida has an abbess on her cornea in both eyes. She is being treated with antibiotics, 3 different types of eye drops and injections directly into the eye. The doctor told Thandie that the blood flow in Ida's eyes is improving, thus her vision is improving. Praise the Lord! It is likely that she will be released from the hospital Friday or Saturday. Thank you for your prayers!

Blog Updates

I have added the Good Samaritan related blogs to my "sidebar". You will find them listed right below the clock. Under each blog it will tell you the last time it was updated. If you click on the title of the blog, it will take you to the most recent post. We are so blessed to have two families in Malawi posting regular updates on the ministry! It is much more difficult to update from the States. Thanks for your faithfulness in keeping up to date with the ministries of Good Samaritan.

Update on Ida

Brother Chuck Miller gave the money that was needed for Ida’s eye exam. Thandie first took Ida to Dr. Innocent who is the pediatrician who sees the Good Samaritan children. Dr. Innocent examined Ida and found her to be blind. He had his colleague write a recommendation for her to be seen at Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Thandie then transported Ida to Queen’s where she was examined again. They ended up not charging us for the exam which was a huge blessing. The doctor drew a diagram of little circles in Ida’s eyes. I am assuming that these are blood clots. The doctor told Thandie that they would have performed surgery today, but because it seems that the nerves are affected, they want a specialist to review her case tomorrow. Ida was then admitted to Queen Elizabeth Hospital and placed on the surgery consult list for tomorrow (Wed 7/2/08).

I’ve done a bit of research on AIDS related eye problems and have found that blood clots in the eyes effect 75% of those with AIDS. If the blood clots are not treated promptly it will lead to nerve damage. When the nerve damage is severe, the eye sight may not be restored.

Thandie told me that the hospital is so crowded that they gave Ida a mattress to sleep on that was under another patient’s bed. She was going to have to spend the night underneath another sick patient. Thandie was persistent and God opened the door for Ida to have a bed. The bed is near the bathroom and has an extremely foul odor, but she is not on the floor. I talked to Miss Vickie today and she said that the scene at the hospital was worse than horrible.

We also received the results of Ida’s June CD4 count. This count measures the HIV viral load in Ida’s body. The count is very good. It is not dangerously low, which we were expecting to see. Please pray for God’s healing for Ida. Please pray that the doctors will have mercy on her and not push her to the side thinking that her condition is too hopeless to treat. Please also be in prayer for our staffing situation as we are required to provide a staff at the hospital for Ida as long as she is admitted. We had to layoff most of our caregivers, we don’t have an extra caregiver to spare. Thank you for your prayers!