104.8

Emma had a high fever last week. When it got up to 104.8, some of the staff here urged us to rush her to the hospital. We are so thankful that it was just a fever virus going around, and nothing more serious. She is doing great again now. The visit was quite eventful though.
Here’s an excerpt from Jeff’s journal:

It was crazy at the hospital. We arrived and were given a “soiled” bed in a room with about 10 other beds. Everyone stared at us. Soon the doctor came to take a blood sample from Emma. He spilled her blood on the bed and then he never even cleaned her hand off. It made a big mess and he asked Ade to clean it.

Next they needed a urine sample, so they gave us a tiny flask for Emma to pee in. The opening was the size of a dime so we asked for a cup. They didn’t have one, so they cut off the bottom of an antibiotic bottle they had sitting around. Since it was night time and they don’t have lights in the bathroom, Emma just had to squat outside by a street light. When I paid for her medication, they didn’t have change for 500 rupees ($10 US) and then they needed to borrow my pen because theirs was out of ink.

Meanwhile, we were surrounded by all kinds of people who were bleeding, struggling to breathe, and possibly dying. It was a dirty place, but this is the place where we live. It is a place with huge needs. The sick need a doctor, the poor need a Giver, the broken hearted need a Healer.