Gesilia is a 36 year old woman that has been working in the cholera center since May 2011.  She works days from 6 am to 6 pm and does a variety of jobs like cleaning, sweeping, mopping, getting patients things they need, bathing patients, and helping the nurses.  She works 1 to 5 days a week depending on the amount of patients that we have.  She tries very hard to encourage patients to drink the oral rehydration solution because she sees that patients who drink lots of this get better faster.  She bathes and changes clothes and sheets for people that can’t.  When a new patient and their family comes into the center, she helps them with what they need and shows them where everything is at.  She would like to have a good supply of mops and brooms so that she can continue to keep things clean.  Since August, there have been many people coming to the center for treatment.  In February, the numbers increased.  There has been around 30 inpatients at any one time.  Last month, there were 262 people treated and four people died on motorcycles trying to get to the center.  We are all nervous that the cases will jump even higher when the rainy season starts in April/May.

She remembers this one man that was very ill and came in unconscious.  After a few days of IV fluid and medication, he started feeling better and said that he was so happy that he could kiss someone.  It made everyone laugh and she likes it when people can have joy in the middle of a difficult time.  She likes to tell jokes and tries to be happy.

She is originally from a village called Dessable (about a 3 hour walk from Cazale).  Her mother still lives in Dessable and her father is in Chile.  She has 6 brother and 3 sisters.  She moved to the Cazale area to live with her family.  She has five children – ages 19, 17, 14, 12, and 8 years old.  She had a stillborn in March 2014.  With her pay from working in the cholera center, she has put all her kids in school and paid for books and uniforms.  She is able to feed her children and care for them.  This means so much to her and makes her very happy.  They all lived in the house of the father of these children for many years, but recently he has been having lots of problems and started hitting Gesilia and being mean to the children.  She sent the kids to live with her mom back in Dessable and they are missing school.  She moved out and is living with neighbors and friends until she can figure out what she can do.  She agreed that I could share her story so that you can pray for her during this difficult time.  She is staying in the area to keep her job at the cholera center.  This is the only way that she can provide for her kids and she wants to continue working.  She is hoping to save up some money and rent a house for them.  She would like the kids to be with her and remain in school in the area to finish out the year.

She and five of her kids attend the Christian Church here in Cazale.  Her other child goes to the Baptist Church.  She believes in God and His power.  She asks that you pray for her husband and others in her family that are sick.  She is asking God to heal them.  She wants you to pray that God’s Will be done in her life and her family’s lives.  She prays that God will help her with her problems and work things out for her family.