My Last Sunday Here

Last night, I had just drifted off to sleep at 9:30, and I woke up about 30 minutes later hearing some thunder. My bedroom is on the second floor of Shyira Chalet, and since the chalet is situated at the edge of a hill, it feels as though my bedroom is up in the trees. Outside, the air was ominously still as a storm approached from across the valley in the east, with faint rumblings of thunder and lightening. I could hear the eucalyptus trees swaying in the wind and gathering speed. Finally, the storm struck, with a torrential downpour that hit hard upon the corrugated steel roof. I lay there for an hour listening to the loud roar of rain echoing throughout the chalet. It slacked off for a minute, then disappeared.

Today, at church, we gave thanks that everyone had survived the storm. And we also took up a special collection for the woman who's son died of metastatic osteosarcoma. I'm not sure if I've told her story adequately enough in past posts, and so I'm going to try again.

This little boy, Etienne, was diagnosed about a year ago with osteosarcoma. He had a large bony mass in his left femur. His parents, his younger siblings and he went to Kigali where the boy had an amputation and received some chemotherapy. His father returned to the area around Shyira "to get some money," he told his family. Instead, he sold all the fields, the roof of his house, the glass windows, and the doors, and then disappeared. The mother returned with her children some time after, only to find that she no longer had a home. Thankfully, when she arrived, none of the people had a heart to actually take the roof, doors, or glass out of her home, so she has been living in limbo ever since.

Since she had lost all means of making income, she was unable to afford to go back to Kigali for her son's follow-up chemotherapy, and the cancer then spread to his lungs, and he died last Wednesday night.

Etienne at Bible Study

Today, we took up a special collection at church for this woman--Mama Etienne as most women in Rwanda are known in the community by their children--and we managed to get 61,320 Rwandan franks, which is about $120 for her.

I don't go to the hospital today, so there are no other medical stories for today. It's going to be a lazy afternoon!