We do a bed count each evening at the cholera house.  This week we had the highest 87 patients sleeping at the house.  59 of those were on IV’s and 28 were drinking ORS.  Each of these patients has a caregiver that is sleeping in a chair by them.  Now there are a few families that might have 2 or 3 kids there and they just have one care giver.  We has to send 10 people home that did not live far away. They were drinking ORS and were not that bad.  We told them to come back in the night if they got worse.  We did not have an empty chair or even a cement block for people to sit on.

Today seemed to be a little better.  Not as many first time patients.  We do not let a lot of visitors go to the cholera house.  Not a fun place to tour.  It is amusing to the staff when someone comes in and says-are you sure all these people have cholera?  I think it is an insult to them myself.  Most of them have been working 12 hour shift, 5 days a week for 8 months now.   They know.  I do my best to make a joke about it so we can laugh and then let them know how much we appreciate them and how many lives they are literally saving. We decided next time somebody asks us that, we will ask them if they would like to carry the 60-5 gallon buckets of poo to the pit. Yesterday it was 64-5 gallon buckets in 24 hours.   Maybe that will help them understand.  God knows. He sees them caring and loving on so many.  Their reward will be great.   We do have test to do for cholera, but most of the time you just know.  After over 2300 patients I have FULL confidence in the staff that they know what they are doing. 

Most of the really bad ones come first thing in the morning.  They cannot make it up and down the mountains paths in the dark very well so they leave as soon as it is day light.

Many times we have to start 2 IV lines (sometimes three) when they first arrive. 

Everyone knows there is a cholera house in Cazale so many come as soon as they start getting sick.  So a lot of them can be treated right away with meds and ORS.  We are happy when they come early.

Two of our day nurses working together to put an IV in

This room mostly has kids in it. 

We do not have anymore room to set up more cots.  So they are sleeping 2 people to 1 cot. 

This is the tent set up in the back yard.  This is where the ORS patients sleep.

The other night when I went up to help out for a few hours, it was late and I was getting ready to leave.  A lady stopped and ask it she could tell me something.  She said -I want to tell God thank you today, I want to thank him for these white people he sent to Cazale.  He saw we were all going to die and he sent them here a long time ago to help us.  God we will never forget you for this, we will never forget to tell you thank you.  We know these white people are tired, we know they get discouraged but help them to feel You.    I hugged her and told her that I will thank God tonight for choosing us to come here.  You will never know what these words mean to us.  How they give us strength to keep going.  How they encourage us.  To God be all the Glory for all that he has and is doing and will do!