Poverty Shows Itself

Sunday

After sleeping in a little bit this morning we decided we would have a relaxing day as Misty still was not feeling so well. We walked to the used book store for a browse, and then to Emporium (Shopping mall). Misty was craving Swensen’s so ice cream for breakfast it was. We spent the afternoon relaxing in the sun at the park, reading books and listening to music. We were approached twice by Thai students who were doing projects for school that required them to interview Farangs. We filled out a questionnaire on the Songkran festival, and also answered questions about our favorite movie. Both times our pictures were taken, so if you see any terrible pictures of me floating around on the internet, you now have an explanation.

We both got a little bit of sunburn, but nothing too serious. I only look like I got sun on my back as I spent the whole afternoon reading or sleeping.

We went to visit P. Ning in the evening. She is out of the hospital now and was staying at the local kindergarten with her best friend who is a teacher there. It was getting too expensive for her to stay at the hospital. Aside from the treatment she was paying TBH 1500 for a room, which is quite a bit for someone who does not have that kind of money. On top of that she was also paying for her treatment and medication. The doctor was not happy that she wanted to go home as he thought it was too early and that she was not well enough yet. (We agree). In order to prove she could do it, he said she had to run from one side of the room to the other. Considering she could hardly lift her arm, it took all her strength and energy to run across the room with her IV poles.

When we went to see her she was laying on the floor of the kindergarten. She could move a little more now but could not use much force to grip something in her hand. We had to help her to sit up. The doctor told her friends to keep talking to her as we need to keep her brain active. She still complains of a headache. Her friend told us that they found blood on her brain and that is how this all started. Oddly, this also happened to another Mercy staff a few days ago and he did not catch it in time and now he is in a coma. The doctor said that if P. Ning did not go to see him when she did she could have been paralyzed. This sounds a lot more serious than a headache to me.

I felt so bad for her because she could not afford to stay longer in the hospital, even though she knew it was what was best for her. She is the sole supporter of her family, so whenever she is not working she is losing wages. Her best friend also took 2 days off of work to stay with her round the clock, and she felt bad that her friend also lost some of her salary. In the slums, even taking 1 day can be the difference between feeding yourself or not. Once again the poverty shows itself. Here is P.Ning, clearly sick with something way more serious than a headache, and instead of being in the hospital hooked up to medication and resting like she should be, she is lying on the floor of the school passing the time. She insisted that she was going to go to work on Monday as she was scared the boss would get mad at her for taking so much time off. I could not believe it. Please pray for her!

Tonight we went to Father Joe’s house. His sister, brother-in-law and 85-year old Aunt are visiting from America. His sister and aunt cooked spaghetti for us and some of the mercy staff. It was delicious and a perfect ending to my day after craving pasta for lunch. I had sauce with red meat which I am a little curious to see how my body handles it as I have not had it since I’ve arrived. We were the last guests to leave as we stayed quite late talking to his sister, brother-in-law and aunt. They were such great people to talk to.

Tomorrow SiJie, Misty and I are taking Aunt Betty out on the town to see Indiana Jones and go for some cake and tea! I’m so looking forward to it. I think she is going to be like one of the girls.