Today

Those of you that have read my blog from last year may remember me telling you about Leonard. He has again within seconds of meeting him astonished me with his unfailing love for these children. Chris saw it too on the first day we arrived. Today when we arrived he was dressed in his I love London T-shirt and cap that I'd bought him. 

He told me how his brother has just died and he was having to travel the long distance home to be with his family. He came dressed today in his tshirt and cap because he thought he wouldn't see us again and wanted to have photos with us all. I asked him how long he was going for and he said maybe 2 weeks but probably only 8 days as he will worry about the children in the hospital too much.

He has 5 children of his own-2 sets of twins and 2 of those with sickle cell. I don't know what he gets paid-but you can be damned sure it's not even 1% of Messi's salary!

He just doesn't stop-he's there before everyone in the morning and leaves after everyone at night, he knows every family and adores every child as if they are his own - a true angel of a man who I know has found his vocation in life and is fulfilling it to the max! 

Maimi is pictured below with a little girl she has fallen in love with called Sophie. She doesn't speak English or Swahili, but that totally doesn't matter-they adore each other. Herbie is pictured with a boy called Dismass. What a poppet he is, so funny. He's constantly playing footy with Karim or any other boy around. I'm very proud of them both- they're getting stuck in and taking everything on board. We gave the parents the hand fans we brought out and stuck glow in the dark stars on the ward walls.

Today when Herbie and I were in the toilet I heard a sound that can only mean one thing- it was a mother wailing and it began very suddenly, but got louder and louder. I knew it meant a child had died and the only way out was through it all-so do I wait in the loo with Herbie firing questions at me as to what going on or do we go out and confront the situation. We left the toilet and witnessed a very harrowing scene. Herbie took it all in and I'm sure will come out with many questions over the next few weeks about it. But I'm not worried that he saw it. Surely it can only emphasize why we're here.

The last photo is a typical picture of when we leave. The kids run after Herbie and Maimi shouting 'bye, bye, bye' it's very funny and they dance us out of the ward.

A good day!