Busy is an understatement in describing the past few weeks. Praise God we now have a third lab tech who is taking some of the pressure off. We came here to work and it is great to see so many people helped- but I was wondering how sustainable the pace was going to be so was relieved when a third lab person arrived.
As usual TIA as we say or ‘This is Africa” so there is never a dull moment and many happenings over the past 5wks. I’ll fill you in on a couple to bring you up to date- and I’ll work on blogging more regularly so I know what to write…
Not long after I last wrote a little baby we helped in Benin last year and who I had the pleasure of spending many hours playing with when she was on the infant feeding program came back to us- sadly she died which was a huge blow to many. But she is in a better place and better care than we could ever give her.
The OR staff always have fun- you can see their picture from a crazy dress sense day- it really lightens everyones spirit in the busyness.
We have had a never ending flow of dignitories. First Senetor Gomer from the USA and his wife- a lovely friendly couple who spent Easter with us. The President of Togo and his officials came on board and addressed us- he was greatly moved by the experience and said with respect to Mercy ships “that there are some things that are beyond politics”. A humble politician admitting some things are beyond him- oh my I was surprised!The past vice president of the Republic of Congo was also on board for Easter- an interesting man with incredible stories of survival during the war and of exile in various countries. He wants the ship to come to Congo- not sure how cause if my geography serves me well (which it rarely does) Congo is inland.
Above: The hospitality centre- pre op and post op care facility run on land by Mercy Ships. The shell of this building was present and Mercy Ships finished it beautifully- inside is a hospital with many wards and offices etc. When we leave it will become a maternity hospital.Yesterday I went with a team to the hospitality centre to entertain the kids. We sang, read a bible story- tranlated 3 times over, colored, played with bubbles and played ball. Now playing ball is paramount and most of these kids had a least one leg and often two legs in full plaster casts post surgery- the older kids have crutches and play ball well. The younger kids have old peices of tyres tied to the bottom of their casts to make them into little shows so they can walk around- they are amazing one their feet- and super cute. No more bowed leggies once the casts are off.
Easter was a spectacular feast- the kitchen cooked up a storm with various goodies from different countries. It was so weird been away from the material world- I forgot we even had Hot Cross buns until they came out at lunch- can you imagine forgetting hot cross buns or Easter eggs with all the advertising back home. Church was a very challenging message- not the typical Easter message rather a challenge- “Yes Jesus is risen- so what are you going to do in light of that?”.
I have a lovely little lung which has been causing me no end of pain for the past month- not entirely sure what is wrong but they suspect I have inflammation of the lining of the lung- very painful and somewhat tiresome. Prayer that it would heal quickly or that we’d find out what is really wrong would be great. In typical community lifestyle I have been picking up every bug going around the ship- perhaps cause I am not getting much sleep in between work. We practically had a ward set up just for crew a few weeks back cause so many we very ill with malaria, gasto…. you name it.
Togo isn’t proving as safe as we’d like with about 7-10 muggings in the past months happening right outside the port gate. The aim is robbery it seems- armed with machetes who can argue- it seems that word is getting around that the ships crew yield goods. They aren’t picky- on occassion it has been large groups of our men who have been robbed. Prayer for safety would be great.
I have included some non hospital pictures for you this time. It has bee frequent that one might assume peeping tom is absailing past you window these last weeks- but fear not it is all above board as our painters paint the sides of the ship. The divers clean the water intakes regularly.
How cute is this baby boy!! He is 4 mths old and has a cleft lip and palate. He initially came when we first arrived and needed some fattening- and fat he came back after some help from the infant feeding team. He had a deviated trachea on top of his other complications and arrested on the OR table. Praise God he was revived though still struggling it looked as though he would need ventilation and a trachea to help him breath. He deteriorated rapidly and so they prepared to intubate his tiny body. The surgeon and anaesthetist stopped to pray before trying this difficult task made worse by his deviated trachea. At this stage his stats were at 60%- risky business for his little brain. You may not believe in a God who does miracles but our ICU staff do as 5 minutes later this little one was breathing properly and had stats at 100%- the following day he was off his C-PAP machine and now he is back in the general ward. Praise God for his remarkable recovery- there are some things mans medicine can’t explain.
Well I shall leave you with that thought….and shall endeavour to blog sooner this time.
Au revior
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