Benin Roadtrip - Visiting a Precious Friend

There was a special day volunteer last year who held a special place in my heart. I think I wrote about her a bit Benin. She ended up having an ectopic pregnancy while we were in Benin and I spent much time with her in the local hosptial while she recieved surgery. When I left Benin she found out she was pregnant. She was supposed to wait 6 months after the surgery but it had only been 3. She was quite scared...as was I. My heart broke as I said good-bye as I know how much she has been through and now might suffer more.

Well...a few weeks ago a friend and I went with a day worker from last year on a 4 hr journey to Benin to see her, her family, and her brand new baby boy! Praise the Lord! The pregnancy went well with no complications from her surgery and she has a healthy baby boy...Isreal. He was a little premature, but otherwise fine. She told me how she took a zemidjan to the hospital when her contractions were getting very close. I still cannot imagine riding on a motorbike while in labor!

It was SO fun to go back to her house and be reunited with her and her family. She was SOO excited that we made the trip t see her. Of course it was quite the adventure trying to find her home in another country after only being there once. However...after a long taxi ride, back road zemidjan rides, and a few tricky phone calls...we made it.

We enjoyed a delicious lunch of fufu and tomato fish sauce, held the baby and played with her daughter Mary. We also finally got to see her husband's field this time around.

We walked a good mile at least from the house to see where his "field" is. On the way we of course visited many neighbors and saw their village church-which was built beauutifully and then a heavy rain came and it collapsed. My heart broke for that...all the time and hard work they all put into it...only for this to happen. How frustrating! They are continuing to work together to build it back up and still praising God in the meantime. How humbling.

Her husband plants corn, basil, peppers, casava, and other things. The crop used be so big that he had 8 men working for him. Now the crop is not doing well and just he and Edith work the field. They are praying this changes again so they can provide well for their family and put their kids through school. I just can't get over how much these people go through here. How hard they have to work for such simple small things. Yet, no matter how hard it gets I know Edith always has a smile on her face and is usually found singing while going about her duties.

As we came back home from seeing the field and village, Mary came out with Isreal strapped to her back...as he was crying and getting hungry. How precious!

Encounter with poo- as told by Olly Peet

I can't say it any better than Olly, one of my favorite Brits whose family is onboard. Here is his blog entry from today.

Sunday, 4 July 2010
Encounter with poo

To you and me, the Gulf of Guinea is somewhere to cool down on a hot day, and where fish come from. But to millions of West Africans, it's their toilet. Today, whilst frolicking in the waves, Libby shouted that she had poo on her arm...and sure enough she'd squashed a turd (not hers!) between herself and our friend Liz, smearing both with someone else's waste. Delightful. Olly http://peetfamilyinliberia.blogspot.com/


Needless to say, it was a bit disgusting to see little Libby with poo all down her side and poo all down my arm. I believe it went something like this:
Libby(in her cute British accent): Liz, I have poo all down my side.
Liz: No, Libby, it is only wet sand.
Libby: No, it's poo...and it's on your arm too.
Liz (after a closer look and a smell): Um, you're right...EWWWW! (Then yelling up to her parents on the sand)...Uh, we have a poo situation here!!!!

I think I used used so much hand sanitizer and microbacterial wipes on myself my skin is about to come off! :) TIA baby!

Youth Retreat!!

Last weekend us youth leaders took the some of the youth group up north to Kpalime for a little retreat away. This is something they do not get to do much and it was so fun! Here are a few pictures.

First we walked to the market. It started to rain. A nice old man sold Ali an Obama umbrella.

We got hungry..and thought pineapple sounded nice.

We walked by a FanMilk store...so can't pass that by without stopping for a treat.


Ali found a cute baby along the way and had to hold it. Her name was Shakira..not joking:)

We stopped to look at some clothes on the side of the road. Kim Anna wanted a pair of pants and much to our amazement found out the manikin was wearin underwear underneath...backwards. We found this odd. I guess that shows how hygenic they are around here. Ali showed the owner the problem and turned the underwear around the right way.

We hiked to a waterfall.

Many Obama articles around here say "Yes We Can". However, we found out that clearly that is false...as seen by the way the umbrella held up (or didn't) under the waterfall...haha.

We played in the waterfall and followed the river quite a ways. Still wondering how many parasites we aqcuired from that fun excursion down the riverbed.

Gregory, our guide, cut us fresh pineapple...and squeezed lime on top..mmmmmmmmmm!

He also gave us tattoos like the one on his arm. John wanted his on his chest and took it like a man.

It was a wonderful weekend with some awesome kiddos!!

Riots and Popcorn

The governement here hiked up gas prices. People aren't so happy and there are riots all over town...worse than the elections which is odd. No one is allowed off ship and all those who live off ship are staying on board tonight. We are hoping for rain to break things up, but the riots are supposed to go on til the end of the week at least.
Many of the translators are staying on the ship tonight if they live far away or feel unsafe traveling. It feels kind of like we are snowed in. We set up a movie for the translators spening the night in one of the wards and some of us got them sodas and popcorn. While Jenn and I were trying to figure out the tv volume, someone else came and gave the translators microwave popcorn and said they can use the microwave upstairs. It got quiet shortly after and I look around me and some of the guys are making a funny face. I then see an open bag of microwavable popcorn. I started to laugh and we told them what they had done. They all died laughing...and laughing. It was quite hilarious. Im not happy for riots, but the situation has created some entertaining moments.
Everyone is ok from the ship...rumors of burning cars, trees cut down for road blocks, rocks thrown at cars, people pulled out of cars and harrassed, and even gun shots heard. Hopefully it will be over soon.
We are taking the youth on a retreat up north Sat-Sun...we are all SOOO excited...especially since the youth do not get this opportunity very often. It is not lookin good for us going though. So rioters....if you are out there and listening....you best start behaving so we can leave Saturday, ya hear?

Knee Deep in Water

It is now rainy season here in Togo. It does not seem to be quite as bad as Liberia was, but we are getting pretty frequent rain storms these days. Sunday I did not work until 2pm, so wanted to go to church at Action Faith. Some of our translators go there and the pastor is Ghanaian so the message is spoken in English first, then translated. I have really enjoyed this church, the pastor, dancing, worship, and people - many of which at least speak small amounts of english.

(My favorite part of this picture is the guy who just came on his motorcycle...helmet and all...and just got right into that drain to figure out where it was clogged. Guess the helmet is good to have if all the sudden it started working and he got sucked in...lol:))

The rain was comin down quite hard as we lfet the ship, but decided to brave the weather anyway. The translators assured us that most people will be late anyway because of the rain. When we arrived, this is what we saw. The area outside was knee deep in parts and water was spilling into the church because the drain could not handle the amount of water the sky was dumping down.

Once more buckets arrived, I hopped out and got to work...skirt and all. We all spent the first 1.5 hrs bailing water, mopping up with rags, and cleaning the church. Once we finished and the rain slowed, we put the chairs up and had church.

It was a lovely morning all in all. It was so neat to be a part of the church and everyone workin hard together as a team to protect the church from more water damage. One of our translators Thierry-(in the black with blue bucket) was even out in his really nice Sunday clothes...just took his shoes off, rolled up his pants, and got to work.

There are many things I love about the people and churches here. I rediscovered some of that today. They have an amazing love for God and each other...they take worship and church seriously. It is so easy for us, me included, to get caught up in my own time....thinking church should be from 8-10 and if it is not done in that time I get annoyed. Here, time doesn't mean much....the purpose of going to church is of greater importance and doesn't necessarily have a time restraint. If it means cleaning for a couple hours first, that fine...church will still happen adn they want to take time to worship no matter what. Of course after a long 4 hour service I would be lying if I told you I didnt get a bit antsy and sometimes I do wish time mattered to them more:)

Anyway...of course some people stayed home in bed, but many braved the weather and got wet trying to save their church...it was in no way an inconvenience for them. And once they spent a few hours cleaning they did not go home...but instead spent the next few hours worshiping God and even thanking him for the rain:) Thierry plays drums and didn't even think twice before going up soaking wet, sitting at the drums, and playing for worship. It was a wonderful morning.

The French are Coming, The French are Coming!

Tour of the French Naval Ship that was docked next to us- commissioned in 2006.

All of the sudden our ship seems TINY!














Complete with a helicopter hanger and elevator to take them up to the top deck.













Elevator behind the yellow/black stripes and 6 landing pads for the helicopters.




My favorite part. "This is the chapel/ morgue." Notice the freezers behind the curtain.

The amphibious deck/ landing craft.

And of course they have a 69 bed hospital and 2 operating rooms.

Who wears short shorts? I think the U.S. Navy needs to implement the short shorts policy..haha.

Under Da Sea

One day, Olly asked some of his "kids" if we wanted to snorkel and clean the ship with him. So, while Olly did the scuba diving to clean underneath, we did the surface cleaning. Ali's dad who was visiting even got in on the action. The ship has to be cleaned every 2 weeks underneath ro keep the vents working and keep it ready for sailing, since ships are not so much meant to sit for months at a time. The vents and sides need to be scraped off because barnracles, sewage, etc. collects on the sides and bottom...mmmmmm. It is especially yummy as you scrape it off and it floats around your face.

A not so good picture of some of the stuff we scraped off the ship.

It was actaully pretty hard work but we got one whole side cleaned in an hour with 5 of us. Enjoyed a few fish, jellyfish (from a distance), and some stinging plants that grow on the ship...that my neck got to experience. I only swallowed one good gulp of the port water when I got a charlie horse...but I lived to tell about it:) And I think I'll volunteer again next time.

Julle and I attempting to get the water out of our boots so we don't track it all over the ship as we head to deck 8 to change.

Watch One, Assist One, Do One

Ok, so maybe it does not work that quickly, but one of the coolest things about this place is the constant training that goes on. Yes, we come to a country, help lots of people, but then we leave. What then?

If you happen onto this ship any day during working hours, and even after, you can find surgeons being trained in each operating room on the ship. Currently we have local surgeons who have been here most of this outreach learning from Dr. Gary how to do max-fax and cleft lip surgeries and others with Dr. Glenn learning new quicker and safer ways of fixing cataracts. We also have surgeons and nurses from Rawanda and nearby countries learning better ways to do VVF surgery and care for them.

Dr. Cristoph and Dr. Amaglo from Togo have been living and working on the ship for quite a while now. When Dr. Cristoph first came he had never done a cleft lip surgery in his practice. A couple weeks ago before Dr. Gary left for vacation Dr. Cristoph and Dr. Amaglo were doing them on their own! I had the privilege of going in and watching some of these surgeries. I just think that is such an encouragement to watch and see. Now, even though we are leaving, more people from Togo can receive this surgery.

(Dr. Mark (left) and Dr. Gary (right) helping/watching one of the locals do an operation. And yes that is a 400 gram lipoma they took out of a genteman's neck.)

It is fun to build relationships with them and see them in the hallways. Some of them even take call and get the honor of getting called in the middle of the night for their patients. A couple of the surgeons from Togo only spoke french so when I would call them for questions I always had to have a translator nearby but it worked:)

Dr. Amaglo even honored us by having the nursing and OR staff to his house in town for dinner one night. It was so fun to hang out with some of the local surgeons and their families outside of work...and even dancing with them to the little live local band that was there!

(Dr. Chrisoph with Karin and I and Dr. Ameglo and his wife who hosted us for dinner)

Heartstrings

No matter how long I live and work here, there are many things that never cease to really get me and tug at my heart. I have come to the conclusion that this is a good thing though... that I do not get calloused to the need around me.

Yesterday there was a father and son on the ward that were ready to be sent home...back up far north to Kara. The boy had surgery to fix his eyes, but he was too old and we were only able to help his sight minimally. They supposedly came down with some other eye patients earlier in the week and were to go back with them. Well, when we discharged them I found out the others had left without him. Turns out they all paid their way to come down anyway and it wasn't paid for from an eye organization up north like origianlly thought. We do have some patients from up north that we bring down and then are responsible to bring back up north. In gerneral though, patients are responsible for their own transport. Since the man heard about us taking the others up north Friday he wanted to go with them and had been told that was the plan. But because he was not one we brought down by us we could not take him back and the cars were all full. We had to tell about 3 patients no for a trip back north because we did not bring them. This sounds horrible, but where do we draw the line?

After telling him this he seemed devestated. I understand the reasoning and if we give one person transport money then everyone will want some. But the man paid 10,600 CFA ($20) to get down here -prob. 12 hr trip, and only had 5,000 CFA to get back home which is not sufficient. I have no idea why he did not bring money for both ways or how he thought he was getting back. I do know that it is a lot of money around here though...$40 for travel. After talking to him and trying to figure other ways out he just said that he would manage. I felt horrible. I know this happens ALL the time and I can't give money to everyone, but this whole thing just left me completely unsettled. I have so much money compared to him...I could easily give $10 and be fine. I really felt he was not just trying to get money off of us. At the same time I thought...well, if I give him money where do I stop. EVERYONE in this country needs money. I had to debrief about this with 2 friends who agreed it is not wrong to use my personal money to help, but also think it is not necessary because that is life here and they were told they needed to have transport money.

In the end his nurse and I ended up slipping him some money in the hallway and told him not to tell anyone. I have done this a few times, but only when I really feel convicted too. This is a constant struggle though for me and many who serve here. You want to help everyone and you can't. What do you do with that in your head? You have more money than anyone here, yet everyone is constatnly asking for money and you can't help them all. I trust the Lord to guide me when I do in fact feel led to help specific people and the others I just find myself praying for - that God would be with them and provide for them. In the mean time, I find it helpful to talk with friends about the matter. It is a constant sturggle for us all who work here. I feel it is good to think about but not to dwell on. In the meantime I try to focus on how much we are helping and not just the devestating need that surrounds us.

Goodnight, Sleep Tight, Don't Let The AFRICAN Bugs Bite!

I have never seen as many crazy wierd bug bites, infections, and swollen extremeties as I have since I have been in Africa. I mean, I guess it is Africa but wow. When you get an innocent bug bite you just never know what you are growing.

The other week a friend of mine, Alex, had 3 maggotts squeezed out of his leg/abdomen. I was very sad I missed the occassion so told them to tell me next time they catch wind of another maggott encounter.

Last night after community meeting a group of us was hanging out in the Peet's cabin...our adopted family on board...as we usually do after community meeting. The phone rings and Julle tells me that it is a call from down on the ward. Micah, one of the nurses, is down there and they are about to lance his incredibly swollen foot. I had seen the foot earlier and without a hesitation I said I would be back and promptly ran down...naturally. The whole thing was quite anti climatic, but quite entertaining. There soon was a group of about 15 people huddled around. First, Micah started with a needle pokin at the hard lump on his foot. Nothing much came out, so we got a stitch cutter blade. After cutting a bit he squeezed and squeezed. At this point he was getting to be in a bit of pain. So again, naturally, we get some lidocaine and inject it in his foot. This is what happens when a bunch of nurses get together to lance wounds as a favorite pass time. In then end we only got a little puss out unfortunately. I was really hoping for some more maggotts. He is on antibiotics, but his foot is absolutely HUGE. Hopefully they start working soon.

In the meantime, one of my really good friend's has gotten a bite of some sort on his cheeck. Within a couple of days it goes from lookin a bit red to..well..you can see for yourself. He is also on antibiotics now. Don't think we will go cutting open his face anytime soon though.

These are only the latest of African killer bug bites. I have even more stories from the beginning of the year, but will save you the gross gorey details...unless you ask;)

Ok, now who wants to come join me in Africa? :)

Please...no dog meat.

Every once in awhile I have those moments where I all of the sudden remember where I am and how odd the life that I lead really is. It is so easy to get into a routine and everything is normal. Well, last week I had one of those moments. It was the crazy day we were admitting all the new VVF patients. I was running around until I noticed one of the admission sheets for one of the ladies.

Notice anything odd? (Besides the fact that they ask WHEN was the last time you had malaria...not have you EVER had malaria?)
Well, I thought the special diet needs were quite important. I notified the other charge nurses and the galley immediately...haha :) Earlier in the year we also had a request for no snake meat. Again...I had to notify the galley promptly so we could make them a seperate tray since snake meat was on the menu for the night. ;)
I just love these moments...when no matter how busy or frazzled I am...I am reminded where I really am have to take a moment to giggle small small.

That time of year again!

So VVF has officially begun for this outreach. It is so wonderful to have my favorite ladies back. The day they all came was quite intense as we had to screen patients for 6 weeks of surgery in one day. On top of organizing 70 ladies from all over the country and neighboring countries we had to work lack of bedspace (anywhere-on ship and hospitality center) as well as many languages from the north which none of our translators know. The Lord was definitely in the day and much prayer went into it. The screening went faster than it ever has and we only turned down a few ladies. Last year we turned down SO many because they were too complicated or they had a different problems we could not fix. At the end of the day we filled the schedule, put 4 on a waiting list, and only turned away 6. As for the bedspace...we had to get creative and open up our extra ward just for housing and made little bunk beds. Nothing like puting 18 ladies in a room meant for 10:) Creativity and flexibility is always the name of the game here!

I was in charge that evening when we admitted everyone. Despite it seeming like mass chaos most of the evening it finished well. And there is never a dull moment when working with these ladies. My favorite part was teaching these woman how to do sitz baths with a syringe. Since some of the ladies speak a northern language that no one can translate I decided a demonstration would be best...fully clothed of course:) I got the pan and syringe and sat on the floor like I was doing it. It was quite funny. After doing it one of the ladies had a question about it, so the translator grabbed the syringe from me and proceeded to continue to demonstrate how to use the syring to clean "down there"...except she continued to demonstrate on me. Let me just say a bit akward, but all the ladies got a big kick out of it and some good laughs:)


The first dress ceremony was today...6 days after the first surgery. Five ladies danced and all five are dry!!!! Praise the Lord! The exitement for these ladies NEVER gets old.

Happy International Nurses Day!!!!

(and Florence Nightingale's Birthday of course)

Even captain Tim joined in on the festivities!

Kids, Craziness, and Coffee

The last couple days have been a bit crazy. Ali is gone to Ghana for a week with her husband which means I am playing assistant ward supervisor for the week...full well knowing this is in a small way a ploy to get me 'used to this role' in hopes of me doing it next year. This has been the basis of much thought and prayer lately.

As for this week, however, it means that I am the day charge nurse in A and B ward Monday-Friday. In other words, I am more or less in charge of 8 nurses (many of which are new) and 40 patients. Now that the wards are full, it is a bit chaotic, especially when you are trying to do a bajillion things at once with 4 kids hanging off you, tickling you, poking you, mimicking what you are saying in English (quite hilarious actually), and trying to sit on your lap. Playing the chicken dance song does keep the kids quite entertained, however, and they have it fully memorized.

Today was just crazy. Everything that could possibly happen, happened. Or so it seemed. I really do enjoy charge nursing but today I could not think straight...between missing labs, caregivers needing to be tested for typhoid, surgeries added and cancelled, discharges, figuring out who we can possibly send home to find space for the 7 patients coming in tonight, questions from nurses, missing patients (luckily we found them), chasing escaped kids down the hall, trying to find an IV or deciding to put an NG down a little baby who isn't eating well, and dealing with the wrong amount of food trays...to name a few....I could barely catch my breath.

All this to say, I really do love my job and I really do have amazing friends. Two of my closest friends-Julle and Jenn- came down to help me out. They know how busy it can get and thought they would check on me. Jenn came down first...not knowing what she was getting herself into. She came with a fresh cup of coffee and helped me out SO much. Julle came later and also did a bunch of work for me. Even with the two of them helping, and no lunch break....I was still finishing the nurse allocations when the next shift was coming on. I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends and work with such helpful and amazing coworkers!

Please pray that God directs me this week as I do this job and gives me wisdom about the future. We also have several really big cases this week while a neuro surgeon is here to help Dr. Gary. This means several post op ICU patients. Please pray for wisdom for the MDs and nurses caring for these patients and the decisions that need to be made. For example...a woman with several large facial tumors went to surgery today at 2pm and at 9pm there was a page overhead for B+ donors to come to the lab. The woman had 8 units of blood already and they were only about half done with surgery. We are praying that we find enough donors for them to finish the surgery. Thankfully not every week is this crazy.

Sorry for the crazy long blog. This is just a little bit on my life at the moment. I am so behind on blogs...partially because of lack of motivation, partially cause I find it will be so hard to catch up, and partially cause so much is happened -many personal patient and friend stories that I do not know where to begin sharing, so I haven't. Not only is there a lot happening on the ward, but so much with crew as well. Two families have had to leave within weeks of each other very unexpectedly due to family health emergencies. It has taken a toll...but the devil ain't gonna win! In the meantime, we all keep keepin on....and to God be the glory!!!

Independence Day

April 27 is Togo's Independence Day. It was quite the memorable experience. I worked in the morning, but there was much celebrating and dancing on the wards...as well as balloons and flag making. The best idea of the day was from one of our translators who suggested we take the patients to the parade in town. I mean, sounds logical right? After we said, ya..that's a great idea he again replied, "no really, we should ask them if they want to go". Well, apart from finding a large bus, and herding about 50 patients with casts, drains, bandages into town...it sounded like a great idea...:) At least the translator was really trying to help the patients out! In the afternoon there was a large celebration in the dining room for the day workers..complete with food, prayer, and dancing....LOTS of dancing.

(Aissa really was having a blast...I think this picture just caught her off guard:) Oh, and can you see the balloon crown we taped to her head....she was queen Togo in the ward that day. Will have to write a seperate blog just on this precious girl.)

The rest of the day was spent with two of my close friends- Jenn, and Kristen. We met up with some of our day worker friends and they had big plans for us. We checked out the new monument the president had built and opened that day. It was fun listening to them telling the political history of Togo. They are all so proud of their country and really take praying for their country and leaders seriously...something that convicted me about how often I need to be praying for my country and leaders.

The dancing and celebration at the soccer stadium was my favorite. The president even came for this celebration. At one point there were hundreds of dancers doing a choreographed dance on the field, complete with pink and blue flowers. We thought the chinese music they danced to was a nice touch for Independence Day...haha:) The dancing was quite impressive actually. As we left in a huge squashed crowd Kristen leans over to me and laughs, "I think these are the exact crowds we are supposed to avoid". It was pretty crazy as thousands of people exited, but our friends took good care of us.

And of course the evening would not be complete without visiting a couple family homes. Eric (one of the day volunteers) had his sister cook some yummy akume for us. I was pretty proud that one of the Africans started sweating from the spices before us yovos did.

All in all it was a wonderful day!..except for Jenn's really bad burn from the exhaust pipe on the zemi we rode home on...oops. It made a nice tattoo though.