The Bullock's In Zimbabwe: Monday, April 20, 2009

Monday, April 20, 2009

Happy Birthday Andrew! Hope it is a good one!

We had an eventful day. We met up with Tabeth, who is a widow and works with other widows to help children in need. She went with us to Cold Comfort Primary school where people were waiting for us. We gave out 1 ½ bars of soap to each family – probably about 50 families. We took a quick tour of the school. People were needy but not as bad as some we have seen.

Sister Bullock with Tabeth

Gave out soap at Cold Comfort Primary School

A girl with her sister holding soap that we gave out.

Last Friday a lady and her husband came to our office asking for help. They have a newborn baby that is sick (2 weeks old). We gave them some blankets, clothes for the baby, soap, and some powdered milk. We wanted to see where they live so Tabeth (who happened to be here Friday when they came) got their address and arranged that we would go there today to visit them. When we arrived there was quite a few people waiting for us – we hadn’t expected that. Luckily we had some soap left and we cut the bars in half and were able to give each family half a bar. I wish that we had given the first group less as this group was VERY needy. We must have had some divine help though because there was EXACTLY enough soap for the people that were there.

We had to cut the soap to have enough to go around

saying thank you for the soap

We saw the baby again and he isn’t looking too good. They had been to the hospital and they had given them some antibiotics for him. He wasn’t eating much – I’m not sure how much milk the mother had for him either. She was concerned about that. I really hope he doesn’t die. We had a package of special food (a rice/lentil dry mix fortified with a lot of vitamins) in the truck so I put it in my bag and took her to her house (so others wouldn’t see it) and gave it to her and explained how to mix it up and cook it. I told her that she needed to eat some so that she could have milk for the baby. She has 3 other children that look healthy – so she knows how to take care of a baby. I have attached a picture of her with her baby on the only bed in their 1 room place (about 10’ x 10’). I was glad we had given them blankets on Friday – they needed them. The kids sleep on the floor. They cook outside.

newborn baby - not doing so well

It is a sad area and I hope that we can go back there and do some more for those people. On our way driving out of the area we gave out 5 or 6 hygiene kits to other people we passed by. I love being able to do that – I just wish I’d had a lot more to give today.

After leaving there we saw the huge rocks that seem to balance on top of each other somehow. It is amazing. Tabeth said that there was a huge boulder in Mutare that fell off once when there was a bit of an earth tremor and it rolled down and destroyed several homes. I’m surprised more don’t fall. It makes one wonder how they ended up like that in the first place.