Iron wills and other things

So it turns out the kids aren't just savages, I beleive we have discovered the cause of the kids flaking fingernails, eating dirt, licking the chicken wire, and chewing on any metal object within reach, including but not limited to bottle caps, nails and springs - they're iron deficient! I feel like an idiot for not putting this together sooner, it makes perfect sense, and they're all starting on Flintstones Complete multivitamins with iron this week, so hopefully that'll help. If nothing else, I'd like to be able to wear my bag without the metal clip always ending up covered in slobber.

In other medical news, today I witnessed the drainage of a large, pus filled abscess on the back of Pray's head - I know he's feeling better because it took four full grown adults to hold him down sufficiently and they could hear him across the hospital. He's fine, recovered rapidly when informed that he would get all the candy he wanted as compensation. I do hate being the bad guy, though - because I've been working closely with the docs on the well project, and I'm reasonably medically knowledgable, and also because I frequently insist that kids need to be seen before the mamas think they do (and, PS, I'm always right), I've kind of become the designated hospital-goer. And poor Pray handled it pretty well (for him, which is to say the hospital was still standing), and he still loved me afterwards, but Zawadi now goes into alert-silent-terrified-prey-animal mode whenever I take her near the hospital, and I just hate seeing them hurting. Ebenezer, the other tiny preemie who came in with Rezeki, has malaria, and I'm really worried about him, too.

Friday I'm taking Zawadi and Simoni to a local rehabilitation center to get their hips looked at - some tourists stopped by today, one of whom was a doctor, and confirmed Dad's suspicion of hip dysplasia. It's likely too late for Simoni, but since Zawadi is just learning to walk, maybe we can get that hip back where it's supposed to be before the window has closed. Keep your fingers crossed!

In other news, the well part of the well is complete - thrillingly - meaning we just need to have the guy come install the pump and piping to the tanks to be water self sufficient! Unfortunately, my financial partner had to back out of this half of the project, leaving me between $500 and $1000 dollars short, which is slightly problematic. All of this is still basically for nothing if we can't get that last bit of funding. Soooo I'm working on seeing if we can bring the price down at all, and harassing everyone I know to see if they have any pocket change this month that they want to throw in our direction. Sanitation? Saving lives? Anyone?

In addition, I'd like to reiterate that we have an incredibly generous $500 per year pledged by my wonderful aunt Rita towards the education of one of our kids for next year - three of them are still unsponsored. That means, however, that we still have $400 per year to go. Before the well snafu occurred, I was hoping to use some money from the donations to get a head start on that and simply make up the difference myself - however, that's not looking like a possibility anymore, and it's likely that I will instead be dipping pretty deep into my own savings to make the well happen, making it even less likely that I'll be able to commit to the other half. Is there anyone out there who could commit to even $100 or $200 per year to send one of our kids to school? It's through a US based nonprofit, The Foundation for Tomorrow (blog), meaning that it's entirely tax deductible, good for your taxes AND your soul!

Dianess (with the incredible smile)  is one of our unsponsored kids for next year. Just look at that face!

Sorry if this post is naggy, but these are really exciting and important projects, and it would be awful to get bogged down in the final stages and not be able to make the huge difference that is possible for these kids. Think about it!

</end Jewish guilt>