Vaccinations
Andrew (17) and Harry (10) are both off school today after
pretty horrid reactions to the vaccinations they had last night. Andrew started
shaking at 4am but by 6 still didn’t have any other symptoms eg. temperature.
By 8.30 his temperature had rocketed and he was saying he ached all over, but
half an hour after taking 2 paracetamol and 2 ibuprofen he was feeling a bit
better. Harry is a bit hot, very tired with achey arms, and looking quite grey
(the remains of eye make-up and moustache from yesterday’s school play
rehearsal don’t help!).
The boys started their vaccination programme last Tuesday,
in preparation for our planned trip in February. Harry went first last week and
seemed fine, although would rather not have had to have them. However last
night he went into total Harry meltdown, sobbing that he couldn’t do it, and
holding his shirt sleeves down, it was awful. The nurse was brilliant and
talked him round, and immediately afterwards he was completely back to his
normal self, if a little subdued.
- · Please pray for the next round of vaccinations on the 30th December; for Harry’s emotional well-being, both boys physical health, and for money to pay for them.
I thought you may be interested to see what vaccinations the
children are having:
Yellow fever - 1 injection
– some African countries won’t allow entry without this certificate
Hepatitis A - 1 injection
FREE ON THE NHS!!
Typhoid Fever - 1
injection, again FREE ON THE NHS!!
Hepatitis B – 3 injections
at day 0, 1 month and 6 months
Rabies – 3 injections at
day 0, 7 and 21 or 28; or paediatric dose day 0, 1 month, 2 months
Meningococcal Meningitis –
1 injection
Tuberculosis (BCG Vaccine)
– 1 injection, although I’ve yet to find somewhere outside London that will
give this to children. Cost for London clinic approx. £100 per child...
NB. These are not all necessary for travellers, but highly
recommended for people planning to live there. There were even more vaccines on
offer which we didn’t feel were necessary eg. Cholera
Approx. cost of vaccines £350
per child
Although all these vaccines may seem extreme, we feel it is
wise to be protected, especially when healthcare in Burundi is often basic, and
vaccinations there may not have been stored properly (with electricity supply
so unpredictable, refrigerators are unreliable) or be out of date.
As a Mum it’s hard watching the children go through this (I
feel guilty), but I keep reminding myself that hundreds of Mums today will
watch their child die from one of the illnesses which we are vaccinating our
children against. Most of us have no idea how that feels, and I’m aware that
what mine are going through doesn’t even compare.
How are the children feeling?
The younger children continue to be excited about their
adventure next year. Caspar and Felicity regularly play aeroplanes and fly to
Burundi to see their friends there (a boy and girl the same age as them whom
they will go to school with, who Jez and I met in September – it’s wonderful
being able to offer them some ‘real’ friends to look forward to playing with).
They also tell everyone they meet that they are going to Kings School in
Burundi next year :0)
Harry thinks it’s ‘cool’, when asked, but his constant
questions reveal his very harry-ish tendency to worry. “Will I be able to take
ALL my teddies?” “Can I take my skateboard?” “Is there a skate park?” He very
much has all the essentials covered!
It will be a real blessing to be able to take him there in
February, to see the wonderful school he’ll go to (hopefully the new secondary
school building will be nearly built by then) and meet some of the children in
his class. I’m also really looking forward to seeing our Burundi friends again.
Andrew is still making plans for his gap year and looking
forward to experiencing a different culture in February.
- · Thank God for Caspar and Fliss’s enthusiasm.
- · Please pray for Harry to put his trust more and more in God, leaning on him and relying on him when he’s anxious, and ‘casting his cares on Him’.
- · Pray for us to have wisdom to know how best to love Harry.
- · Thank God that Andrew is seeking his will for his future. Please pray for doors to be opened or closed according to God’s will.
We have received support from unexpected places and in unexpected ways...but are also having to step out in faith and pay for things without the funding to cover them.
Jeremy found this passage helpful yesterday: 'Just Enough'
- Please pray for funding...
- ....but, and perhaps more importantly, please pray for us to trust God.
Our House
We continue to make plans for the house when we leave, and
kind friends have agreed to help us with some kind of house clearance sale in
August, to sell everything we can’t take or store. We’re over the worst of
realising we’ll have to sell most of our belongings, but the reality will still
be hard (isn’t it amazing how attached we get to ‘stuff’?).
In the mean time, Christmas has come early to the Wisdom
house. I, who used to be snobby about coloured lights, and insist on ‘tasteful’
decorations (haha!), only decorating the house the weekend before Christmas
etc. , am now making the house look as close to a winter wonderland as is
possible. If it stays still long enough it will be decorated – beware sleeping
dogs (whom I have actually decorated before!). For who knows when we will next
have Christmas at home, and I want to make the celebrations last as long as
possible (visitors to the Wisdom house may wish to wear sunglasses due to glare
from excessive tinsel)!
To-do List
In the next month or so I need to:
- Apply for All Nations College online course (13 weeks cross-cultural mission study – cost £400, still need £170)
- Send off our application for ‘Preparing Families for Life Overseas’ 1 day course at Redcliffe college (cost £140 for all of us)
- Buy 12 months supply of all toiletries to take out with me in February for a friend to store for us (cost – trying not to think about it...)
- Plan our trip in February to make best use of our time there.
- Please pray for God’s provision, for time and finances
