Where do I begin about Alfred. One of my favorite patients....although Auntie Ali was the one he was acually in love with;) Ali and I (auntie Liz) had a great time with him. He is a 14 year old boy who was here for quite awhile after he had surgery on his leg. He was very mature for his age for the most part. Ali and I would visit him pretty much every day even when we were not working..although sometimes he would not talk to us. We decided this happened when his dad would take off and leave him for the weekend and that really hurt him. I think there is some pretty deep emotional hurt in that boy. He has no mother, only his dad. We would hang out with him in the hallway during the day and at night when he wasn't sleeping. He is the one that told both Ali and I serperately that we would not get married because we are too crazy...lol. He told me I needed to be more serious. I said, "well, what if I find a crazy husband" to which he replied.."he stupid"...lol. He told me about growing up and explained the games to me that they would play in the river. He had the biggest smile and always made us laugh...unless he was in one of his non-speaking moods. He was an expert at the whole eye brow raising thing. I think I wrote about that in a previous blog...often Africans when they say "yes" to something just raise their eyebrows...and often very subtly so it takes a while to pick up on. But Alfred would always do that when I would ask him something.
One day I was visiting Alfred and he asked me why we allow muslims on the ship. That was a cool opportunity to talk with him. After explaining that to him I realized his bed neighbor was muslim and that is why he asked. I was probably talking really loud when I answered him too..but maybe that was a good thing. Ali said that one of the days she was working that muslim patient was doing their prayer and Alfred starting singing "we worship you papa"...(one of the worship songs sung here) at the top of his lungs until she stopped praying. That was a little immature of him but slightly amusing too. He is a boy trying to figure things out...at least he recognized the difference there. It was a sad day when he went home.
One day I was visiting Alfred and he asked me why we allow muslims on the ship. That was a cool opportunity to talk with him. After explaining that to him I realized his bed neighbor was muslim and that is why he asked. I was probably talking really loud when I answered him too..but maybe that was a good thing. Ali said that one of the days she was working that muslim patient was doing their prayer and Alfred starting singing "we worship you papa"...(one of the worship songs sung here) at the top of his lungs until she stopped praying. That was a little immature of him but slightly amusing too. He is a boy trying to figure things out...at least he recognized the difference there. It was a sad day when he went home.
No comments:
Post a Comment