The Vaccines Were Too Late

This is the email I just got from my co-worker, Susan Kopf...

"Things are crazy here.  I mean super crazy.  I never imagined this would happen.  Nearly all the child population of our village and surrounding villages have measles.  In that last 2 days, it has exploded!  We have some adults too, but it is mostly the kids.  The thing that kills the kids when they get measles is the dehydration.  Keeping the parents motivated to constantly push water and food is a challenge, but they are doing it! Praise the Lord.  There is no medicine for the measles virus so the parents have to be diligent.  I give tylenol for the high fevers (often 105) and maybe occasionally I give something to open up the bronchioles but that is all I can do, the rest is up to the parents. Thankfully, we have not had any deaths yet in our village.  We nearly did but Mikayla gave the lady (Fapiya)  an IV so she got enough fluids and is now walking around her house some.  Her husband, Konef, was at her side when she was at her worst and unfortunately, he is super sick now too.  Now two of their little ones are sick.  Fapiya lost her milk during her long sickness so that doesn't help the little boy any.  I force feed liquids to him daily.  For that age, force feed is the correct word- poor little guy.
 

 It is hard to name all the sick kids but for sure every single household is battling the measles right now, but families are working together to make sure everyone has good food to eat.
All the vaccinations have come and have been administered this last week, but it didn't help any for our village kids because they were infected before their shots, so each day I have another 5-8 kids that are sick.  It is such a  joy when they actually begin to pull through and I see them walk again and I no longer have to worry. 
So far there are 2 deaths in our old village and many deaths in the Paiyela villages. Those villages are blaming the sickness on Hewa ladies accusing them of being witches.  So sad."  


Please pray for the Hewa children. They are our little buddies, our children's playmates, our friends' precious babies...
 

Please also pray for the adults...even entire families who are sick...

This young mother, Kisam and her baby Korban are both very ill.

Konef, Fapiya, Layam, and Pita (the two youngest) are also very sick.

All of these children are sick- Djus, Sipela, and Fongol

And baby Ablaham

Our hearts are heavy right now for all of our loved ones who are sick and suffering, and for the innocent women and children who may be blamed for this sickness and killed as witches.

Please pray for them all! Please also pray for Susan, who has malaria right now as and she is currently treating all those her are ill by herself. Her daughter, Mikayla, was helping her but recently had to return to the US.