I was quite hungry and into perhaps my fifth bite of mince pork claypot noodles. Honestly it wasn’t that good. Cassandra was enjoying the same meal except her noodles were made from rice flour. Sierra was wandering around the restaurant. Then a sudden thud followed by a high pitched wailing!

There was a slap as my stool fell and slammed against the floor. I was halfway across the room. Sierra has apparently been playing on a sofa. I turned at the thud just in time to see what looked like her head hitting the bottom metal edge of a cast iron stove!

That was Thursday night. Thank God that it turned out she just missed the stove with her head! However she cried all that night, waking frequently. Friday morning after proper taking the time to do proper examination I discovered two things (with expert assistance over-the-phone from Dr Tracie! Thanks, we owe you!): One, her elbow had been knocked out of socket. And two, Sierra had broken her clavicle (colloar bone). Oops!

The medical care here in Shangri-la is abysmal. I received instruction and popped her elbow back in myself rather than take her to the local hospital. Sure I would have happily paid whatever fee was required – but I honestly believe it’s a 50%-50% chance whether she’d get better or worse as a result of their ‘care’.

Please do keep our family and especially Sierra in prayer over the next few weeks!