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.