FRUSTRATING morning

So...one of the little girls fell on the stairs and hurt her mouth on Friday. Rachel took her to a hospital, but was told the girl needed to come back later when the dentist was there. She was still bleeding later that night, so we decided to take her back to the hospital. This time, Rachel and Lucy (director of orphanage) went. I was going to go as well, but then Grace (our host mom) decided to go since she works at a hospital. The hospital packed her wounds said she still needed to come back to see the dentist.

Just to be safe, they also took the little girl (Ridia) to the hospital where Grace works. She's friends w/ a surgeon who agreed to look at Ridia. The surgeon said Ridia also needed to have an x-ray b/c she could have a cracked jaw. He suggested taking her to Kenyatta hospital the next day. (Unlike at home, you can't get many services here after working hours). Lucy, who did not even know the girl's name (which is crazy b/c the little girl LIVES with her), agreed to take her the next day.

Yesterday, we found out that Lucy instead took her to Saint Mary's in Kibera, b/c apparently there is a doctor there who gives a cheaper rate for orphans. I guess the x-ray tech was not there, and Lucy was told to take her back today (Monday). Lucy said she would do so. Well, we arrived at the orphanage today, and Ridia was there but not Lucy. One of Lucy's sons (who doesn't really work at the orphanage), told us that Lucy went to a meeting. Ugh.

We all tried to figure out what to do and finally got ahold of Lucy. Lucy told us that she does not have the money to take Ridia to see the doctor. This makes no sense b/c, first of all, her son gave her money to take Ridia to the hospital on Saturday. Since the doctor was not there, Lucy did not have to spend the money and should still have it. Also, Jane (a past volunteer that does a lot of work w/ the orphanage) told us there is a special fund set aside for the kids' medical expenses. Lucy basically wants us to give her money to take Ridia to the hospital. I would absolutely give the $ for Ridia to see a doctor, however, our concern is that Lucy already has the money (from her son and from the fund), so what will our money really be used for? Meanwhile, Ridia is walking around with a swollen face and in a lot of pain. Lucy has not been on contact with us for several hours now. I wish we could just take her to the hospital, but we do not know where Saint Mary's is and do not have any documentation that Ridia is an orphan.

Total mess. The other teacher and Lucy's son realize that we understand what Lucy is up to and are really mad. Hopefully, they pass the word along to her. If it doesn't get solved at some point today, I assume that Rachel and I will just take Ridia to some hospital tomorrow morning and hope for the best.

ALSO, the teacher's strike is over, so a number of the kids should be back in school. We were surprised when several of the kids in public school were at the orphanage this morning and asked the other teacher what was going on. Lucy was supposed to enroll the kids in school, but she has not done so. Hopefully, there are still spots in public school, b/c there obviously is not any money to send them to private school.

We sent Lucy a text telling her we wanted to talk tonight. This should be interesting.

Anyway, sorry about the rant. Hope everyone is doing well!!