A Surprise Visit

At lunchtime one day last week, a lady came to our door carrying a little boy.  She hadn't been sure how to find our house, but came looking.  She knew what Judy looked like, but hadn't seen her for a few years, so when she saw Becky Morsch who is of similar height, hair color and length and skin color, she asked her if she were my wife.  Becky explained that she wasn't but agreed to show her the way to our house.

When we came out, she introduced herself, and explained that her little boy had been one of my talipes patients a couple of years ago.  Those of you who read this blog regularly know that I've been treating talipes (also called "clubfoot") for several years now, and have seen several blogs about it, like this, and this and this.

She explained that the Lord had directed her to come to Kudjip and say thank you to me for what I had done for her son.  So she had gotten up at 4 AM in order to make the trip from her home in the Jimi Valley (the next major valley to our north) to come to Kudjip.  As far as we know, after visiting with us, she turned around and traveled the 6 or 8 hours back home that same day.  She brought a bilum (string bag) that she had made as a gift, as well as a bag of freshly-picked oranges.

Her son is Raymond.  He'd had clubfoot on his right only.  I got him to take his shoe off, and had a little ad hoc clinic there on my front porch.  He has experienced a mild recurrence of the talipes, with the mid-foot turned in slightly, but not enough to ask her to come back to the Kudjip area for the several weeks that it would take to correct it at this point.  He can walk normally, can run, will be able to play rugby when he's older and will have a normal life.  My heart was touched as this mom's gratitude, and thankful that little Raymond is doing well.

AB