Estere

Estere (the mom of the boy with cancer in his eyes) came in this morning to see us. As I told you he passed away before we could get him to see the surgeon. She told us that when she got to her
mother's, where he was, that he hadn't been eating and that he was bleeding from his nose and mouth and was in a lot of pain. He told her he was dying and had to leave her. We hugged and cried together and then talked about the plan of salvation and how he is just a 6 yr. old child and is back with Heavenly Father with a perfect body and no more pain. She previously lost her husband in a car accident and is left with 4 other children. They are presently with her mother while Estere tries to find work. The two younger ones are in primary school but she doesn't have money for the school fees for the older two. School fees are such a hardship for the people here - but they know how important education is for them.

Lots to do today - our monthly financial report has to be done up and sent to South Africa and we have a few things to do to get ready to go to Masvingo to the hospital tomorrow. Elizabeth, a member from the Masvingo branch, will meet us and go to the hospital with us. She is the public affairs person for the district. We also want her to go with us because she speaks Shona and can understand what the people are saying (when they don't speak English to us). We want to
hopefully find out that what we have already taken down has gone to the patients and not taken home by the staff for personal/family use. If it has then there isn't much point in us to continue giving to them - it is an unfortunate thing that happens too much here.

Love you, Nancy/mom