| FROM “BUSH BUNNY BRENDA“ DATE: August 26, 2023 HIDDEN MALARIA DETECTED IN 2 OF OUR INFANTS  Baby Madelina with Foster Mother Felicina  Almeida and Foster Mother Angelica Babies Madelina, 5 months, and Almeida, 9 months, were both taken to the hospital for testing after their foster mothers reported weakness in both infants. Hidden malaria is when a person is found to have a low count of malaria larvae from a simple finger stick blood smear that is viewed under a microscope. No outward malaria signs such as fever, lack of appetite, or irritability are evident. Hemoglobin levels were normal in both babies, PTL, so no hospitalization was needed. Only the normal malaria treatment over 3 days, vitamins, and a high protein diet were needed. Both are recovering well, but this situation clearly shows us how vigilant we must be with these infants. This is the 3rd such case we have dealt with in the last 4 months, so it does keep all of us “on our toes”. Catching it quickly is vital before the malaria larvae increase in number and begin destroying the infants blood supply, thus causing life threatening anemia. Your prayers for our continued discernment of this deadly disease are much appreciated. AND THE ROOF GOES ON! Thursday found our 6 carpenters and 13 brick layer teams working together to load the 8 heavy wooden trusses onto our 6‑ton truck, 4 trusses at a time. We had to work quickly in the early hours of the morning (4:30 to 6 a.m.) to get the trusses onto the brick walls before normal traffic begins at 6 a.m. This home is on a very busy dirt road, but PTL that it is school holidays which means the traffic is greatly reduced. School classes begin at 6:30 a.m. for many, so this road is full of children walking to school by 6 a.m. on a normal school day. Our timing was great as the last truss went up as the first car drove by our truck. The videos show both the outside and inside views of what it takes to get a truss onto the roof. Being able to drive the truck very close to the back of the house allowed the men to lift from the back of the flatbed truck. This made the job much easier than when we must lift from ground level. Roofing will take 7 to 10 days, and I will show you the finished product in next week’s blog.  Roofing trusses going up at dawn on new three-bedroom house for toddlers https://youtube.com/shorts/am_2Pp90i68  View inside the room putting up the trusses https://youtube.com/shorts/dcp1k4w8L8A OUR OLDEST HOME BITES THE DUST Taking down a large mud home may look simple, but not when it was built in 2005! Mud homes don’t usually last more than 10 years due to cracking and rain damage, but this old home had 10-inch-thick mud brick walls making it very sturdy.  Eighteen-year-old dorm as it looked Thursday morning Our brick layer team struggled for 5 hours on Thursday to break it down to ground level as the roof was attached to the walls, making it more difficult. When our team built this home 18 years ago, we gave no thought to how difficult our very well constructed home would be to destroy!  Taking down the old dorm with 10-inch-thick mud brick walls https://youtube.com/shorts/oOKqZZbprS0 The video clearly shows what it’s like when those mud walls come tumbling down. WHY DID IT NEED TO COME DOWN? First, the roof beams had rotted, making it very dangerous for anyone to stay in the house. The widow living there was moved to another home. Second, it was next to our Victory House of children, making it dangerous if high winds ripped off the roof. The only solution was to destroy it.  After 5 hours of hard work, the job is almost complete WE THANK ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR LOVING KINDNESS TOWARDS OUR CHILDREN EACH MONTH. YOUR PRAYERS AND LOVE GIFTS KEEP US MOVING FORWARD TO MAKE A BETTER LIFE FOR THOSE CHILDREN GOD PLACES INTO OUR CARE. BLESSINGS, BUSH BUNNY BRENDA LANGE AND THE BALAMA STAFF |
