(Esther and John at at a special Hope Club party)

(The excitement of tasting ice cream for the first time for most of the children, thanks to our visitors Kayla and Sarah who treated us to the cold confection at Hope Club)

(On June 16th we were viewing a lunar eclipse with the children.)

Of Witches, Mumps and Pox, Oh my!

...From Kamau

Greetings friends! I trust this finds you all doing well! From what we’ve heard, you have been experiencing a sizzling hot summer season especially in the East Coast! Here in Zambia, the months of June and July are usually our winter season and yes it has been getting cold late in the evening and especially early mornings’ but it has none the less been a rather warm winter which is unusual.

You in the Northern Hemisphere may find it hard to believe, but it really does get cold in Zambia to a point where I have been forced to wear several layers of clothes to stay warm. The house we live in has a tin roof and no ceiling such that when its get cold, the only solution is to dress up and go to bed early. Now during the hot months, the opposite is true! The same tin roof gets so hot you feel like you are broiling slowly.

Now about those pesky witches! This is one of those things which as an African I really find aggravating! Especially when I witness the strong spiritual, emotional and mental bondage many are subjected to including some believers! It especially get me riled up when I see the adamant rejection of the care of a medical doctor because the person or the family of the patient believes that the illness has nothing to do with normal sickness which any person born of flesh may suffer, but a belief that someone has cast a spell or that out of jealously, the patient has been bewitched and therefore medical science has nothing to offer.

This was our experience recently when one of our workers became seriously ill and we decided to take him to hospital. He was admitted into the local district hospital but a few days later, his wife and his brother came to see me and told me that the patient was being transferred to the national hospital for more specialized care and they therefore need money to help facilitate this transfer. They were given the funds but several days later, they came back and said they needed yet more money! I was confused and thought perhaps we were having a communication barrier, because as far as I knew the transfer to the national hospital and already been effected! I don’t speak their particular language and so I asked one of the staff to translate. It finally came out that they needed the funds to pay a witch doctor who I was told was treating the patient! I got so angry and told and them there was no way we were going to take money God’s people have provided to pay for the services of a witchdoctor!

The whole story eventually surfaced and I found out that lies had been told; the district hospital had not really transferred the patient but the family had decided to remove the patient from the district hospital and taken him to a witchdoctor in the village because they had decided that what he was suffering from was not a “normal illness” but that he had been bewitched and therefore the only way he could be cured was through “traditional means.” They were heard to say that they had seen a witchdoctor and that the witch had actually shown them on a “screen” the persons who had bewitched their loved one. According to the family the people responsible for the “bewitchment” were the patient’s two co-workers who out of jealousy had done this terrible deed.

Now, being accused of practicing witchcraft is a very serious charge in Zambia! People accused of bewitching others have been killed and sometimes burned alive in their grass huts! Killings of people suspected of witchcraft occurred recently in a place called Mansa. You can therefore appreciate the deep hurt and pain our two workers were experiencing not to mention the danger inherent at such an accusation. The two threatened to report this matter to the police in order to be accorded protection and help guard their reputation. When we as management found out that the family had removed the patient from the hospital, we decided to step in and do whatever was necessary to help him access medical care. We paid a visit to the home of the worker’s parents in the village to plead with them to allow us to take him to a good hospital. We found the worker lying on a mattress on the ground very weak and emaciated; he could barely see or talk. We were informed he had not eaten for days nor used the bathroom. After some discussion, the family agreed to let us take him to the hospital, we took him to a private hospital where we were sure he would get proper care and attention. The doctors at the well equipped Egyptian Orthodox Hospital very quickly diagnosed him with TB which is a treatable disease. He was there for almost a week and was beginning to eat and get stronger when he suddenly took a turn for the worse and died. He was only 27 yrs. He left behind his wife and two children, one a very young baby. The cause of death was listed as respiratory failure and TB. NOT witchcraft! But a treatable illness! I can’t help but wonder if he would be alive today had he been able to access thorough medical attention much earlier instead of a dalliance with primitive and hollow remedies.

Here at the children’s home, we have faced our own challenges with chicken pox among some of the children and an outbreak of mumps. Four of our children in the same house tested positive for mumps and just last week, two other children from a different house also tested positive! We hope it doesn’t get out of control; we are trying not to panic! (Did I hear witchcraft!!!) Just joking! I am reliably informed that this illness is particularly bad for boys and especially older men! Boy, am I glad I have 44 children!

May God's peace and grace rest upon you!

The Kamaus