Greatest and Least--Poverty and Riches

Since we've been here for a few months, I have been mulling over the greatest and the least of a variety of things that we have encountered.  I have certainly seen lab values here that I never saw in the States!  Of course, there are a lot of things that I have never seen before - some don't fit into neat little categories.  I will share a few things that may be interesting....


Highest Sodium Level - 206  (the first sample was "too high to read")

Lowest Sodium Level - 113  (Normal is 135-145)

Most Baboons behind our house at one time - 32 

Highest Potassium - 8.6, really!!  (the first sample was "too high to read")

Lowest Potassium - 1.9   (Normal is 3.5 - 5.5)

Smallest Baby to live at least one day - 590 grams (1.3 pounds)

Youngest Gestational Age to Come to Nursery - 24 week twins

Largest Baby at birth - 4.4kg  (9.7 pounds)

Largest Margin of Defeat for Duke Men's Basketball This Season (so far) - 27  (couldn't resist) 

Most Number of Babies in One Incubator - 4  (they are too big now - only 2 per incubator)  :)

Under blue lights for neonatal jaundice

Longest time bagging/breathing for a baby (for me personally) - 4 hours

Highest Bilirubin - 45 (yes, forty-five!)  (Normal is less than 1.2, in this 12 year old)

Longest hospital stay - 90 days

I love this picture!!  This baby stayed for 90 days and just went home Friday.  The mom (on the right) grabbed me in the hall and urged me to come see the baby and meet her mother - she was SOOOOOOO excited!!!

 Most Number of WBC in spinal fluid - TNTC (too numerous to count), but it wouldn't drip from
       the hub of the needle because the pus was so thick.

Longest Totally Nasty, Disgusting Slug - 5 inches!

Speed same Totally Nasty, Disgusting Slug can travel 1/2 foot - 1 minute, 20 seconds! 

Lowest Platelet Count - 2 (Normal is 150-350)

Lowest Hemoglobin - 2  (Same patient as above - diagnosed with leukemia) (Normal is 11.5 - 14.5)

Latest Dinnertime at Homestay - 10:20pm

Lowest Blood Sugar - 1.2 (According to our US scale, that is 22.  Normal is 70-110.)

Most Milk Purchased at once - 12 liters (I still call the 3L jugs "gallons.")

Most Paid for a Box of Cereal - 750 Ksh = $9.38.  There are some that are more, but I just can't
        stomach any higher cost!  (For anyone who appreciates a pun, take note.....;)   )

Longest Church Service - 4.5 hours (In Machakos - in the Kamba language)

Situation where I have felt the dumbest (this one was hard to choose) - Getting ripped off last week at
        a service station in Nairobi....the guy wiped off the oil dipstick so it looked like I was low,
        charged me double what the oil was worth, and almost sold me enough oil to ruin my
        engine!  Who knew too MUCH oil was as bad for an engine as too LITTLE?!)

Number of Flowers in the Yard - TNTC  (too numerous to count)

Most Number of Powdered Donut Dots Bought - 10 dozen!!!  (Senior Store happens about once a
       month and is the only time to buy American-style donuts)

Largest percentage of body-weight lost in newborn period - 33% in 5 days!  (3.5kg down to 2.35kg)

Most Malnourished Infant - 10 month old weighing 3.6kg (7.92 pounds)

Number of Gessner-Days on Malaria Prophylaxis - 247

Prettiest Sunset...

I couldn't decide which was the best.....

This morning in church, one of our readings was from Proverbs 30:7-9.

Two things I asked of You,
Do not refuse me before I die: 
Keep deception and lies far from me,
Give me neither poverty nor riches; 
Feed me with the food that is my portion,
That I not be full and deny You and say, “Who is the Lord?”
Or that I not be in want and steal,
And profane the name of my God.

In this, Agur is recounting that he asked God for 2 things:  that he would remain honest, and that he would neither have too much nor too little in his lifetime.  I thought about how I was compiling a list of the mosts and the leasts.  It is easy to ask to not have "too little,"  but it is so much harder to ask not to have "too much."  We often feel like we have "too much"....compared to most Kenyans.  Too many things, too much food, too much house, too much money, too many clothes....  Where is the balance?  Having things and spending money in and of itself is not wrong. 

There is a sweet Kenyan woman who helps us in our house 3 days a week.  She told us a few weeks ago that the water company would hook up water to her home, but that it would cost 20,000 Kenyan  shillings (or about $235) up front.  She asked to borrow the money and, of course, we were delighted to give it to her.  What a privilege, actually, to help someone have running water in their home!  I wouldn't have cared, if she didn't pay it back; but this month when we paid her, she asked if we would deduct more than we expected so that she could pay off the debt faster.   I have to say that I really respect that!  What she asked us to deduct is about one week's pay!  I have started asking if I can get her anything when I go to the market - she asks for flour or rice or sugar.  Not fancy - just the essentials.  I think allowing her to pay her debt, but then picking up things for her each week "since I am going" preserves her dignity and her own sense of stewardship of what God has provided.

I think this is one of those things that brings you back to your knees to ask of God,

"Should I buy that?  Do I need that?  Is that too much?"

"Is that wasteful or poor stewardship?"

"Could someone else use that money more? How do I help?"

Lord, give me neither poverty nor riches.  Amen.


Love,
Sarah