Better Late Than Never

Well, I have now been home from Impfondo for a little over 10 months and finally finished putting together a slideshow. Me and technology are not the best of friends, so this project took me way too long to complete. However, I still think about Congo daily and was determined to put together a montage to share! While this is just a small glimpse of my life there, many of my favorite patients, places, coworkers, and culinary successes mentioned in previous blog posts make an appearance! The song playing in the background is called Napesi and it is definitely a crowd favorite in Congo. Every time I hear it, I automatically flashback to late nights or early mornings in the OR, prepping a patient for surgery or scrubbing down the operating table afterwards. If the OR had a theme song, this would be it. Enjoy!

Home Stretch!

I bet if I looked back over all of the blogs I have written, the majority have started with an apology for not writing for frequently. So, I cant decide whether or not keep the tradition and go ahead and write the apology, or just assume that everyone knows already and skip it.
Anyway, it is December!! Can you all believe it? I can’t. As the weather is getting cooler in America and the snow is starting to fall, rainy season here in Impfondo is coming to an end and the days are getting hotter once again. Majorly hot and that just makes me really sleepy. Or maybe it’s the African Sleeping Sickness kicking in because some tsi-tsi flies bit me the other day and they are the ones responsible for spreading the disease. I am just kidding. I don’t have that.
The past few weeks have been busy despite not working a regular schedule at the hospital. I have continued to spend some time with Sarah in the community, while also working on some projects at the hospital. I spent a lot of time organizing a cart in the emergency room to receive urgent cases more efficiently. A recurring problem here has been maintaining progress we have made. We seem to be good at making changes initially, but our follow through leaves something to be desired. So, I am trying to set the nursing staff up for success (old Starbucks term) before I go, and then if everything I put in place isn’t maintained, I won’t have to watch it fail. How is that for a positive outlook? Ha. Change is hard.
The highlight of the week was this morning because Joan and I lead the morning devotional. It was our last day in Impfondo together because Joan was leaving this afternoon to go on a 12 day trip down the river and will be going home to Georgia soon after and it was our last chance to do something for the staff together. We both wanted to do something to let the staff know how great we think they are (even if they don’t maintain processes and procedures we put in place sometimes) so we decided to lead the morning devotional and bring snacks and make a slideshow for them. Not to make a wide cultural generalization, but they typically love having their pictures taken. For the past 2 weeks we have been taking pictures like crazy trying to make sure we had everyone accounted for so the slideshow would be complete. Then yesterday we spent the day baking cinnamon rolls and banana muffins and filtering water and shopping for bananas and peanuts. Anyway, we had been advertising that we were gonna do something special on Friday, and everyone was really excited. They were like, “Are we gonna play soccer?” “Are we gonna dance?” And then we were kinda worried that we had talked it up too much. I mean, I guess we could have had a 30 minute dance party at 7:00 in the morning, but we decided to stick with our original idea. It was really great though because it gave Joan and I the opportunity to say a BIG ‘thank you’ for all of their patience and their commitment to the work here and they seemed to appreciate it. It would not be possible to do this work without the staff we have and I feel so incredibly thankful for them. I will try to post the slideshow we made when I get home because there are some great pictures of the staff and I think it gives a good overview of the personnel required to keep the hospital running.
I currently have 3 full days left in Impfondo before flying out on Tuesday to go to the capital. Thus, I have a lot of packing and last minute things to do as I prepare to leave. After Joan left for the river trip this after noon (side note: that was a sad parting because we have definitely been through a lot together these past few months), I got started on some packing. I began by taking down the bulletin board I had made to hold all of the letters I have received since coming. I reread them all as I got ready to pack them away. It was really cool to be reminded of scriptures and encouragement that people have sent me. I want to say a big thankyou for that too, because I counted 55 letters. Those combined with various messages and emails have been a continual encouragement to me. I know that you all have held me up in prayer faithfully since I left home in February, and I believe without a doubt that the Lord has used you all to give me strength during my commitment here. I am so thankful for the body of Christ and the way that the Lord binds us together. I would also like to give a quick shout out to Megan Miano, who won the prize for most hand written notes given!! Gosh, I am just thankful for so many things I feel like I could go on and on. I look forward to being home soon and having some time to process these past few months. The Lord has taught me so much during this experience and I think he will continue to do so once I am home and looking retrospectively at the time that has passed.
Looking forward to being home soon and eating some White Chocolate Peppermint yogurt at Orange Leaf!!

Finishing Strong

Well, only 2 weeks and 4 days are left until I complete my time in Impfondo. After that, I will be going to Brazzaville for a week with another missionary family and then catching my plane home. I cannot believe home is only a few weeks away! I am very excited about reconnecting with family and friends. However, until then, I am trying to make the most of my remaining time here and finish strong. You can pray for me about that!! I do not want my excitement about going home to taint my short amount of time left, because I know when I get home I will be missing it here like crazy.

Anyway, last week at work was BUSY. We had one staffing problem after another for multiple days in a row which resulted in me working what felt like a marathon of shifts at the hospital. Needless to say, I overdosed on vital signs and needed a day of prayer and meditation to recover. This week however, I am working in the community with Sarah Speer so it is great to have a change of scenery and do some new things. Right now I am at my house waiting for her to pick me up to go visit the property of the future leprosy center. Construction started a few weeks ago and I have not seen it since then, so we are going to check on the progress. It is a really exciting project, because this center will be a home for those leprosy patients who do not have homes and it will also be a site for dressing changes and wound treatments. Sarah has dreamed about this project for years and it is neat to see it take shape.

On Tuesday, Joan (roommate) and I were invited to our friend Michelle’s house for lunch. Michelle is a nurse at the hospital and she is a beautiful person inside and out. She is a really good worker and is so kind and friendly to staff and patients alike and she also looks like an African princess. Anyway, it was so fun to be with her at her house. It is one thing to interact with people at work, but being with them in their homes adds a sense of authenticity to relationship. That is one thing that is so great about working with Sarah because you get to be in peoples’ homes with them and interact with them in their element. That does bring challenges as well, because some people are really suffering, and they are alone and have pretty rough living conditions, and that is overwhelming. What do you do about that? I mean, I can breeze through for 30 minutes, maybe do a health assessment, say a prayer in English, and leave. Even though I have been here for 7 months, working at the hospital is still somewhat sheltering from the realities of life outside the hospital walls. It is a reality that Sarah has devoted herself to through giving time, energy, healthcare, and a listening ear. She one of the most selfless people I have ever met. That was confirmed yesterday as I assisted her as she carefully and thoroughly scrubbed and bandaged the feet of one her friends with leprosy. This friend had only stubs for hands and feet and had new sores on her feet because rats had gnawed on them during the night. That is Jesus personified I believe. Hopefully she will rub off on me as we spend these last few weeks together! Anyway, lots of questions and thoughts. But, God is good and I want him to continue to soften my heart to love people as Jesus did. He has done a lot of softening, but there is plenty more to be done.

Praise Jesus!

Another rainy day in Congo! Yesterday was very hot so I am thankful for the rain to cool things off again. I have been very busy lately working at the hospital and have not taken the time to sit down and blog. I just realized though that 6 weeks from today, I will be boarding a plane in Brazzaville to come home. I really cannot believe that my time here is almost up. Whenever I think about it I just praise God because he has guided me through this whole experience, which is such a great testimony to his faithfulness. I am tentatively planning on leaving Impfondo on December 7th , which means I have 5 weeks left here. I am praying that I can finish my work here with joy and grace. The last two weeks of November, I am hoping to spend the majority of my time with Sarah Speer working in the community. I met this nun at the hospital the other day and she seemed really incredible, so I hope to spend some time with her as well. I have wanted to work more in the community since I arrived, but the hospital has been so busy that I have been unable to do so. I will keep you posted on that.

Two year old boy with lung injury with his Mom and Stephen in September.

Lets see…Freckle has been discharged and is awaiting a ride to somewhere. He now is adjusting to a new bike-wheelchair that we found for him. I will post pictures when possible! It will probably be when I get home. I am gonna miss that little guy so much. Oh! I just thought of another positive story to share. So, back in September, right before Candace left, Doctors Without Borders brought us a 2 year little boy who had supposedly fallen off a wall and subsequently developed a pleural effusion. His left lung filled up with serosanguinous fluid time and time again, even after draining it a few times. Day in and day out he would sit on his bed with his head tilted to the right breathing quickly and noisily. We were pretty worried about him because we were not seeing much improvement despite our efforts. This went on for about 5 weeks. Then one day during morning chapel service, I saw his mom running up to the ER part of the hospital with his little body limp in her arms. I went out to meet her and she was sobbing hysterically and I was afraid he was dead. We hurried back to his room to get him back on his oxygen and by this point a lot of other nurses and Stephen (missionary doctor) had arrived. He was breathing irregularly and his heart rate was down in the 30s, so we started some bagging and pushing some meds and (praise Jesus) he stabilized. It was so scary though, because when I saw his mom running up with him, I thought that the thing I had been dreading for weeks was finally happening. He had had some spells similar to this, but never that drastic. It was so crazy though, because after that morning, he did not have not  any more problems like that. Last Monday when we rounded, he started smiling for the first time since he had arrived, and on Friday he got to go home! I have been so excited about that because we had all been praying for him SO MUCH and the Lord really gave him some healing. And it happened at a time when we had lost a few kids and that was just so sad and discouraging so it was nice to see a happy ending. Anyway, when I get home, I will post this super cute picture I took of him the day before he left. I am going to count him as a miracle.

That is all I have for the moment!! Thanks for reading!

Eggs and ABCs

So, the grossest thing happened yesterday. I mean, I guess gross things
happen everyday since I work in a 3rd world country mission hospital and
bike through a meat market to get to work, but this really got to me. It
all started when I decided to make some cookies yesterday afternoon
using a recipe that called for eggs. Recipes calling for eggs here are
tricky, because we have eggs very inconsistently and when eggs are
scarce, you have to decide whether or not to use the ‘fake egg’ recipe
which can turn your brownies to rubber or leave an extra baking powder
taste. However, yesterday was special, because there was a bag of eggs
in the fridge, just waiting to be added to my cookie batter and I only
needed one. So, I got out the bag from the fridge and chose two eggs
that looked like good options and placed them in water to make sure that
they didn’t float. That is supposed to be a fool proof test in
determining whether or not an egg is good or bad. They both remained at
the bottom of the basin, so I grabbed one and cracked it into a bowl
(not the batter bowl- that is too risky). Well, when I cracked it, out
came not only a yolk, but a fetal embryionic chicken. Gross. Disgusting.
So I tossed that one and went on to egg option number two. But, same
story. Then I grabbed two more eggs from the bag and proceeded to do the
float test again. One seemed tempted to float, so I placed it to the
side and went on with egg number four. At this point, I was doubting the
validity of the float test and decided to also do the spin test just to
be sure. I placed the egg on the counter and gave it a spin. The only
problem was that I couldn’t remember if it was supposed to spin or
wobble, and what meant what, but the egg spun great. Anyway, moment of
truth, I cracked it on the side of the bowl, opened it up, and out came
another huge disgusting little chicken embryo thing again!!! It was so
gross and I had to flee the kitchen. I mean, how gross to open an egg
and get a little animal. I mean, its one thing if its Easter and you
open an egg and get a baby chocolate bunny, but wow, this takes it to a
whole new level. So all you people getting ready to make cookies, be
thankful for your embryo free eggs.

Anyway, I am off today. I cleaned all kinds of stuff and just made
bread. You all probably think that I make bread everyday. I really
don’t, I just make bread when I am off and that is usually also the best
time to blog. Sadly, my time in the OR is over and I am back working in
the wards. I worked on Saturday and since we are more understaffed than
usual, I had six wards, which equaled 34 patients and left me wondering
if you ever reach a point as a nurse where after you take so many vital
signs, you never have to do them again. If that is the case, I think I
might be about to reach that point. There should be some kind of rule
about that. I remember in nursing school when we would do any kind of
clinical or community activity, it just ended up being us doing vital
signs for whoever was overseeing us. I guess I just need to accept it:
taking vital signs is my present and future. But anyway, Saturday was a
good day and there were no catastrophes which was awesome since it was
pretty busy trying to keep 34 people and all their family members happy
and medicated.

One cool thing about today is that I am starting to teach English to one
of our old patients…I referenced him in a previous post as the friend of
Freckle. Since he has recovered from his extremely contagious pulmonary
TB that was thankfully not passed on to Freckle, he is now back out in
the community and ready to learn! He is a friend of the other Sarah
(missionary who has been here since the 80’s) and is in her leprosy
program and she wants him to learn English to help with translation.
Today is our first lesson so I am planning on assessing what he knows
already and trying to go from there. That should be fun because he is
great and I enjoy attempting to teach English.

I just finished reading a book called God’s Missionary by Amy Carmichael
which she wrote for young missionaries who are new to the field or who
are considering going. I then started her book “Things as they are:
mission work in southern India,” where she details her experiences
evangelizing in the early 1900s and the difficulties and disappointments
she continually encountered. The people that she worked with were so
enmeshed in their caste system that they would rarely accept Jesus
because they would have to break their caste to do so which would result
in expulsion from their homes and social isolation. As a result, Amy and
her coworkers rarely saw any fruit from their efforts, but they
continued so faithfully. I long to imitate her maturity, faithfulness
and commitment to preaching the gospel.

While I was writing this, my English student showed up so we just had
our English lesson at the guard hut. It was almost two hours long. After
an hour, I figured he would be ready to quit but he was like, “No, I can
go until this evening!” Wow. That was not how I felt my first day of
language school in Paris (I think I blogged about that…). Every time I
start to teach English, I realize that I don’t understand it very well…
But, hopefully he can effectively learn the basics. The highlight of the
lesson was singing the ABCs. I was impressed because it seemed like he
knew the song at first. After he sang it a few times, one of the guards
who had been listening in on the lesson scooted a little closer and
joined in on the song. They sang it together over and over and over
again until it morphed into a completely new rendition of the ABC song
that I couldn’t quite sing along with any more. The letter “H” was a
doozy. We will keep working on it.
That is all for today!

Recap!

I know I know, it has been way too long since my last post. Probably like 3 weeks or something? I don’t know. I think last time I posted a bunch of pictures. Sus is supposed to put up a bunch of pictures from her and dad’s trip to visit me, so hopefully you will enjoy those! Wow, I might just tell some random stories to catch you all up on the past few weeks. I know you all have just been dying to know what I have been up to, so I will put you out of your misery and tell you.

SPOILER ALERT: Sus Came.

So, in short, a few weeks ago, I left Impfondo to take a respite in Point Noire, which was absolutely wonderful. I probably should not admit this, but I did accidentally cry some tears of joy as I sat on the plane leaving Impfondo. I think that was a symptom of burnout. But, I guess it wasn’t severe burnout because I don’t think actual tears ended up falling. I think they more just filled to the brim…I got distracted because I had to help the man next to me fasten his seat belt for takeoff. And then unfasten it when he went to the bathroom, and refasten it when he came back, and unfasten it when we landed. Anyway, the time in Pointe Noire was wonderful and encouraging, and then Candace and I went to Brazzaville, which was also awesome. Being in Brazzaville brought back all these memories of when I first arrived in Congo 6 months prior. It was pretty cool to reflect on that and think about different impressions, fears, ideas and everything that I had at that time compared to the present. I think it was like a small gift from the Lord reminding me how far he has brought me and how much he has changed me! I loved my time there as well.

Part of the reason that I was in Brazzaville was to be with Candace until she left and to pick up Sus and Dad at the airport for their visit. Finally, it was time for them to arrive! I was so excited about them coming I could hardly believe it!! I actually didn’t believe it until I physically saw them. Walking into the crazy baggage claim area in Brazzaville and seeing them there was the best feeling ever! There might have been some more tears shed at that point too. It was perfect. Then, the next morning, Candace and I said our goodbyes as I boarded the plane to Impfondo with the family. We had spent an incredibly large amount of time together over the past three months, so saying goodbye was sad for sure. I guess that is how Siamese twins feel that are joined at the hip and then they have surgery to be separated.

Candace's last stand.

Once back in Impfondo, I hit the ground running and was mostly recovered from my previous burnout status. Sus and Dad had some recovering to do from traveling and time change while simultaneously adjusting to the heat, but I think the Lord really tweaked the weather perfectly because it cooled down during their stay. I worked in the OR doing anesthesia and was otherwise with them every second.

Working hard in the OR.

We took a million bike rides and did all kinds of fun things. One of the highlights was going fishing on the river with my friend Serge in his dugout canoe. He is Congolese and him and his family are wonderful. Anyway, he caught three fish and the Sizemores caught zero. But, we almost flipped the boat like three times, and he didn’t even come close once. I’ll let you be the judge of who is cooler.

Dad and Sus post bike "wreck".

I was so happy to have my family here to witness first hand what life is like here. They got to spend time with all of the missionaries and meet most of the hospital staff and some important patients, like Freckle. Their excitement and enjoyment of Impfondo was so encouraging to me and really helped strengthen me as I continue on here. I feel so blessed to have those memories of us being together here. Though it was sad to say goodbye, it was so wonderful being with them that I just ultimately feel thankful.

So, that is that in a nut shell. Work in the OR has been really good. The two other girls that do anesthesia are on vacation, so I have been doing it everyday and taking call as well. And, since Eve ate the fruit in the Garden of Eden and doomed women to difficult labor for all eternity, I have been called in multiple nights/early mornings for maternity cases. It’s kinda funny because all of us who work in the OR now cringe when we see a maternity nurse coming because they rarely carry good news. They aren’t like “Hey look, we brought you snacks.” They’re more like “We have this crazy screaming pregnant lady with bodily fluids going everywhere. Enjoy!” But, I have tons of respect of the maternity nurses because I could not do what they do.

It just stopped raining and now it is cold outside and there is a breeze! It is the best. The past few nights have been so hot that Joan told me to do a rain dance last night, and voila, it has rained all day today. Ok, that is all for today. This was a super long post…surely you all aren’t still reading it. You’re crazy. You can get back to your life now and I will head to bed. It turned out to be a long day in OR due to a late afternoon visit from a maternity nurse. Thanks for reading!!

Pictures Finally!!

Hello everyone! I am currently on a short vacation at the coast and enjoying a change of scenery and a change of climate!  I also have a better internet connection so I am trying to provide you all with some pictures since they have been seriously lacking from my recent blog posts! I am also super excited because my family will begin their travels to come visit me on Sunday. Please keep them in your prayers as they start their journey! Ok, now for the pictures…

This is one of my favorite little patients who I have blogged about a few times. He is the one that says “FRECKLE!!!”

This is him again trying to make funny faces, though I think he actually looks more like he is in pain. He was pleased with the result when I showed it to him though.

Pictures from the Claw Machine post. That pit looks pretty deep huh?!

This was probably one of the proudest moments of my life.

Dead monkey for sale on the side of the road. The driver was very tempted…

Me, Saio, Mama Pauline. Saio was trying to think of a creative pose and hand holding was the best he could come up with. And yes, it is humid in Congo.

The Claw Machine

Hey! Candace and I finished our weekend day shifts. It was a slow weekend which was somewhat of a relief because everyone has been working very hard lately. There were no emergency surgeries or difficult labors (except for one placenta that refused to come out until we took her back to the OR and threw some anesthesia into the mix. Jer, I bet you hated that extra detail didn’t you?). Then right as our shift came to a close, we received a pregnant lady who was seizing like crazy and foaming at the mouth, but we got her under control pretty quickly and she seemed to be doing well when we left.

Since I was off today, I went to the town of Epena with Joan (roommate, physicians assistant, and head of our HIV/TB program at the hospital). She goes to Epena once a month with some members of the government HIV program to see her patients and others as needed. It is an 85 kilometer trip and a beautiful drive. We crossed rivers and prairies and drove through forests and it was so great to explore south of Impfondo! Out of the seven patients we saw today, one was a little girl who had been hospitalized back in June for meningitis. She had a very slow recovery and when I last saw her before her discharge, we were helping her learn how to walk with a walker and she was still not interacting correctly. When she originally came out of her coma, she cried incessantly. After a few weeks, she would smile, laugh and cry, but her emotions were not appropriate. So, I was not sure what her long term prognosis would be. However, when she came today, I did not even recognize her! She walked right in the room and obeyed commands and talked and answered questions appropriately… It was so cool to see that!! We have three other patients like that right now who have similar stories to this girl, so it gives me a little more hope for their recovery. I do not know if this girl had any residual cognitive deficits or not. It is really hard to assess that with the language barrier, but she seemed to be doing so good. That was encouraging big time.

On the drive back, we stopped at a house at the edge of the forest because the family there has all these grapefruit trees and they sell them for SO cheap and they are SO good. How cheap and how good? Two dollars for twenty-seven HUGE grapefruits and they are so good. When we got there and told them we wanted to buy some grapefruits (‘pamplemousse’ in French) this kid who was probably ten years old shimmied up the grapefruit tree and climbed all around on the top branches and tossed them down. It was so crazy and dangerous because the trees were so tall and at one point, he even crossed from one tree to another while up on the branches. I was so afraid he would fall as a result of us wanting grapefruits. He didn’t seem worried though, and neither did his family and fellow villagers who were watching down below. Twenty seven grapefruits later, he climbed down the tree nonchalantly like it was no big deal. And that was when I decided that African kids have skills that us Americans just can’t compete with. Nothing else eventful happened on the way back, except we passed a group of people walking down the road holding this massive dead monkey that they had killed in the forest. One of the guys we were with wanted to buy it so we stopped to check it out. It was too expensive though, so we continued our journey without a dead monkey in tow.

I guess I should rewind to how the day started. As I sat at the table eating breakfast, Candace went outside to the trash pit to burn our trash. However, she had not been gone long when she came back into the kitchen and exclaimed, “I just did something really bad.” In my head I was thinking she must have accidentally burnt something of mine that I wanted. But, it turned out while she was emptying the trash, she saw a spider on the bottom of the trash can and she panicked threw it on the ground. The trash can then proceeded to bounce into the 20 foot deep trash pit. Though part of us wanted to count our losses and purchase a new trash can, we decided we should try to get it out because it was a perfectly good trash can. So, we found this role of metal rope/wire stuff and a massive iron hook and we duck taped them together and marched out to the pit. We then took turns dropping the hook down in the pit, trying to catch the lip of the trash can with the hook. It was really tricky though, because we obviously didn’t want to lose our fitting and fall into the pit and it was hard to guide with wire rope stuff accurately. BUT, after a few minutes of fishing in the pit, we successfully pulled out the trashcan! Talk about rewarding! And not to be cocky or anything, but claw machines have nothing on us. I mean, I dare a claw machine to not give me the stuffed animal.

That’s all for now. Thanks for your prayers and encouragement! Three weeks till my dad and sister get here!

A Little Bit of Everything

Hey everybody!! I am sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee
and waking up from my post-nightshift sleep. I am pretty tired
because when I work nights, I do not sleep very much because I
love being awake during the day! The obstacle course of passing
meds and taking vitals went way better this time, though I
definitely need to work on my speed. We had electricity most of
the time so that made a world of difference.

Freckles: The latest craze in Congo

Ok, so I think I have told you about our pediatric patient who was shot in the back about 8 months ago, and he is paralyzed? Well, he has been with us
probably 2 and a half months now and it has been so cool to watch
him change! When he first got here, I thought he had some kind of
cognitive deficits because he would just lie in his bed and cry
and grind his teeth and wring his hands. He had some major skin
breakdown too, so that is the primary thing we have worked on
since he came to us. With time, the crying and teeth grinding has
diminished and he eventually quit being afraid when we would give
him meds and take his vitals. The biggest change occurred when we
brought him a wheelchair we had in storage about a month ago. Now
he wheels all over the place and we can rarely find him in his
room! And he just talks and laughs and plays and it is the cutest
thing I have ever seen. His front teeth are missing so he has this
big toothless grin, it’s awesome.

When we have internet again, I will put up pictures. The other day he was out wheeling around on the side walk and he grabbed my hand and asked me what the brown spot on my hand was. I told him it was a freckle and that has
become his new favorite word. He tried to wipe it off my hand and
he was so confused. And he said it perfectly and it was hilarious because all day he talked about freckles, and I hardly ever new what he was saying but then I would hear the word “freckle” laced throughout his conversations. He has become best friends with this other patient who is probably 40, and he watches him when his mom leaves, so we were all sitting together and he started talking about freckles again and the three of us just laughed and laughed because he thought they were so funny. And the man hadnt previously known what freckles were, so it was all new to him too. I don’t really know why, but they think freckles are hilarious, so now we think they are funny too. Now he will just randomly yell “FRECKLE!” when Candace, Joan or I walk by, probably because it makes us laugh. I just love that kid and I wish you all could hang out with him, because you would love him too!

My education continues in the kitchen

Since we work 12 hour shifts now, we have 3 days off a week. This
week I got really restless with having so much time off, so I
started going over to the neighbor’s house in the mornings to have
a Lingala lesson with the guy who cooks for them. He has worked
for missionaries here for over 20 years and is such a good person.
Oftentimes, our ‘lessons’ turn into more historical and cultural
lessons in French, but that is great too because it is helpful in
understanding the people here better. He is so committed to the
Lord, so I like hearing his thoughts on the Bible and church etc,
coming from such a different background than me. I hope to keep
going over there whenever I have time.

Domestically speaking, this week I attempted to roast my own
coffee beans. They only have instant coffee here but they sell
dried coffee beans in the market. So, after one of the other
missionaries started experimenting with them, I wanted to give it
a try too. I don’t really know how to do it, but I put them in a
skillet and roasted them FOREVER until they turned black and
looked shiny. They looked great, but did not taste very flavorful.
The beans probably are not very good quality. But, if any knows
anything about roasting coffee beans, let me know because I would
be willing to try again! I would love to be able to make some good
coffee here.

On the frontlines of the war against rodents

Mouse wise, they are still going strong, minus the rat I think.
They offended us deeply by eating the peanuts off of our last two
peanut butter cookies yesterday. I mean, we were not happy when
the danced around in our flour bin, but eating our cookies was
just too much. We are still planning their demise. I will let you
know what happens. I did put some poison out on the counter a week
or two ago for the rat. That plan almost backfired though because
Candace, who loves snacks, thought it was oats sitting on the
counter and jokingly accused me of trying to poison her when she
found out what it was. I don’t think she really would have eaten
it though… Anyway, we think the rat died, though we never found
his body to prove it.

Still counting down for the arrival of my dad and sister! I cannot
wait for them to see and experience life here! Candace and I are
planning on going to the coast for a few days with one of the
missionary families right before my family gets here and right
before she goes back to the US, so I am excited about that. Even
though I love my patients, I think I am about ready to have a
little break. I have basically stayed within the same 10 mile
radius since April so it is time to expand my horizon. I am hoping
that I will come back refreshed for my remaining time here!

We walk through the shadow of the valley; He is with us

Please continue to pray for me! The Lord has been so faithful and
he is patiently teaching me so many things. Please pray for the
hospital and all of the staff who work here, both missionaries and
locals. It is not easy to keep everything functioning smoothly
with adequate staff and supplies and we have been at or over
capacity the past few weeks. Please pray for our patients, that
during their time with us they will experience the love of Jesus
through our efforts. I watched three people die over the past two
shifts…one a 22 week old baby, one an older man who had consumed
more alcohol than his body could handle, and one a guard malade of
a patient who just randomly dropped dead yesterday morning. I
started writing this blog yesterday after work, but have lost two
more patients since then. One yesterday afternoon and the other
one early this morning. The one that died this morning was one of
our HIV patients who was born with the disease and battled it for
16 years. He was been in and out of the hospital since I have been
here so we all felt a special connection to him. I got to sit with
him for a few hours yesterday evening and told him I would see him
today. I am so glad he is no longer suffering though and that he
has been restored. So anyway, even though those who died were all
very sick and we could no longer do anything to sustain them, it
still feels overwhelming sometimes.

Ok, that is all for now. Sorry to end on a depressing note! There are plenty of other patients in the hospital that are responding well to treatment and plenty of kids who are being treated for malaria and meningitis and burns
and all kinds of things, and that is good. Good things are still
happening everyday! So there. Now I ended on a positive note.
Philippians 3 and 4 are so great. I have been keeping some of
those verses in mind the past few days. Thanks for reading!

Obstacle Course

This morning, Candace and I finished our first two nights of night shift. Somehow, we had made it this long without being scheduled. Let me tell you, taking vital signs for 40+ people in the dark two times and giving them two diffferent sets of medications is no easy task. Before I continue describing the night shift experience, it is important that you know the term “guarde malade.” Each patient that is hospitalized brings their own “guarde malade” who basically helps them with activities of daily life, gets them food and medications, etc. There can be up to 2 guard malades per patient which automatically triples the number of people in each ward at any given time. So take 40 patients, triple that, add 6-10 kids, divide them among 8 small rooms, subtract light, add mosquitos, remove floor space to walk due to the number of mats and sleeping bodies, subtract air movement due to closed doors and windows to protect from the mosquitos, add mosquito nets for half of the guarde malades, maybe throw in the smell of kerosene and a little humidity, and that paints a pretty good picture of what the 10 pm and 6 am med pass looks like. It is kinda like an obstacle course with no prize at the end. If it was a real obstacle course though, I probably would have gotten some points deducted last night for kicking some guy in the head really hard. He was sleeping on the floor and I just couldn’t really see. It was bound to happen at some point and kinda impressive that I only kicked one person in the head. But he didn’t wake up, so that was good. Or maybe I knocked him out.

Anyway, yesterday morning Candace, Guy (Congolese nurse who is great!) and I went to pediatrics to give morning meds and it was exactly like the scene described above. However, I think every kid in the room started bawling at the same time and their siblings as well. When people here are stressed or sad or in pain, they say “Mama ay!” or “Papa ay” or “Tika na ngai” (leave me alone). So basically it sounded like a torture chamber with 8 little voices (plus some siblings) screaming for their parents and begging to be left alone. It was crazy. This morning we decided to do pediatrics last, which I think was good because it was a little lighter outside so it wasn’t like we ambushed them in the dark. Aside from the chaos of night and morning med pass, it was a pretty low key night. The hospital just changed to 12 hour shifts and some wards were moved around, so there is definitely some mass confusion going on, but we are hoping to find our stride soon. So all you nurses out there, just revel in the joy of automatic blood pressure cuffs and lights.

Candace and I are off tomorrow so we are planning on going to the market. We need to get some Coke because we made a deal with one of the other missionaries that if she makes us brownies from time to time, we will bring her Coke. She is amazing at baking. I am still trying to read alot and some of the missionaries next door have tons of books so I want to get through as many as possible. I have been busy at the hospital the last week and a half, so I have not had alot of time. That being said, I think I am going to go read. I just saw the mouse a little while ago in the kitchen, so he is still living the dream. Also, it looks like my dad and sister are finalizing their plans to come visit in a few weeks, and I CANNOT WAIT!! It will be incredible to see some family and to have them meet the people here and see what life is like. So you can begin praying for their plans as they work out the details!