Barbancourt Prenatal Class

By Guest Blogger: BJ Nicholson
This class was scheduled due to the overwhelming interest expressed prior to class 2 at La Digue. Since our class at the mission was full, we decided to hold a class specifically for the women in Barboncout. Amber advised the person organizing the group to accept 25-30 ladies and arranged for the class to be held at a church there. We prepared our vitamins, powdered milk, and prizes for 30 ladies only to be greeted with about 35 before the class was over. Amber, Kari, and I gave as much information as we could in the 2-1/2 hours we had to spend with them. All topics were covered in a condensed version, and the ladies seemed to enjoy the information.
The ladies of the congregation were fasting today. Here that means they gather at the church to sing, praise God, and pray. They seemed to be enjoying their time with God so in order to not disrupt them, our class was held outside under an awning connected to the church
One of the ladies brought her 10 year old daughter to the class with her hoping to get some medical help. The child was retaining fluid all over her body, and as we watched her during the class it seemed her swelling became worse. We brought her and her mother back to the clinic at La Digue to see Dr. Yves. Dr. Yves gave her some medication to help relieve the edema with instructions to return to the clinic for follow-up and to possibly be sent for blood work. He told us her kidneys were not functioning properly and that this was a chronic problem for her. They had been going to a hospital frequently but recently her mother made the decision to not continue the treatment due to lack of time and money.