Becky and Petra (Peter)

This is Becky, one of the volunteers, and her little baby, Petra, who was premature and has recently come out of isolation.  He is thriving under her care!

My roommate, Bonny, and I have sure had our share of sick time here in Tutova! Headache, sore throat, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, intestinal cramping...nasty stuff! We are both quite a bit better this evening - and plan to keep it that way! Less fried food for me; less dairy for her...I think we'll make it.

So, I haven't spent as much time with the babies as I would have liked, but we'll make up for it this weekend. Hopefully, it will be an even greater benefit, as they have a very short staff on weekends, and the babies get very little time out of the cribs. We'll try to give them as much attention as the six of us can in two days, while the rest of the volunteers are off to other parts of the country.

The clinic itself looks quite nice inside. The rooms are decorated with story book murals, and colorful rugs keep it cheerful. The babies' cribs are six to a room, but when they are up they are in either the mobile (walkers) room, or the non-mobile room (babies). There is also a pre-school room, but the teacher is away just now, so we have been using it as a quiet room for the anxious ones. The hallway is useful as a walker space, and they have several strollers to walk outdoors, weather permitting. There is a playground with some toys, and some baby swings out front.

This week one of the volunteers bought them a new vacuum cleaner. I wish I could afford a rug shampoo appliance...the thought of sitting on that drool-damp rug is creepy, much less their little faces on it. Apparently they take them out and hose them down now and then, but a shampoo would be so lovely.

I'll have to check with Dan or Mihaela about post-contributions, etc. I'm sure that something can be arranged, and I would do that rather than make this long trip again.

So, as night falls on this little village, I am grateful for my restored health and energy, and look forward to tomorrow!