a little more of Joseph's story

The story we sent in our e-letter this week was about Joseph and the home-health care workers in his home. His open sores needed much treatment, and because of their location, he was very ashamed of them and would not let the Oasis nurse examine them closely. The muscles in his bum are completely knotty from the extreme amount of medication he had been receiving through injunctions, he is pretty miserable. I later learned the Joseph finally took the advice of the home-health care workers and went to the hospital where he has been for an entire week by the last I heard. I don't know if he has gotten to go home again yet... but I do know, that when he does return home, his family can not afford electricity in their RDP house, and without electricity they can not cook even the most inexpensive and basic of meals like pap, cornmeal that is added to water and boiled in to a thick pliable paste. Pap makes up the main starch (and main nutrition) of many black South Africans. Without an income in the household, there really isn't much to eat at all. The house was cleaned by the home-health care workers and the obvious hope is that it stays fresh, but time will probably reveal a different reality, and it is winter here in South Africa where the evenings dip into the low 30s with nothing to warm him but a ragged pile of thin blankets. If Joseph does recover from TB (along with whatever else he has), it will be slow and not without complications.

If you aren't receiving our story letters and would like to... just let me know. We'd love to include you a couple times a month with stories of our time in South Africa, our family, and specific ways you can be praying for us and the people we meet.