Steve and Casey Cretsinger Experiencing Tribal Missions in Guinea, W. Africa 
Maimouna and Ronnie at the hospital
My dear friend, Maimouna, has a very sick little boy. Baby Ronnie is the little guy who was born in our car a few weeks after we arrived in country. You can guess that this big event speeded up the bonding process! We’ve treasured being a part of all his milestones since then. So, we were pretty concerned when we found out he’d been steadily growing sicker and sicker over the past week. He’d become completely lifeless, stopped eating, walking and talking. We and our co-workers paid to have him admitted to the hospital and began his treatment. After a week long stay filled with blood transfusions, IV’s and medicine – I’m still not sure we’ve figured out what’s wrong with him. He is still having trouble eating, he’s still lifeless and just not himself. Since his mom thinks he’s slowly on the mend, I told herthat we could wait a couple more days to go back to the hospital. But, if he continues to remain so tired and sick, I want to take him back in for more tests. Please pray for wisdom in this situation – it’s so often that parents wait until it’s too late to see doctors and I want to do whatever it takes to get Ronnie healthy. At the same time, I don’t want to overstep my bounds in our friendship.
On a side note: During a visit to see Ronnie and Maimouna at the hospital, I saw that every patient was outside. Some were lying in beds, some laying on the ground, some hooked to IV’s with flies everywhere. It was quite a sight – seriously, some people looking very close to death, wounds from fresh injuries and surgeries. ALL people who should have been in rooms and not outside during the hottest part of the day. I asked Maimouna why everyone was outside. She told me that the hospital told her that there were too many mosquitos in the rooms and everyone needed to stay outside while they sprayed with poisons. I know that I will never complain about medical care again!
Tags: friends, host family, relationships
