Technology...

…is a wonderful thing sometimes.

 Especially when you’re homesick. Or missing friends.

We’re always thankful when the internet connection is good and we have the chance to call/e-mail or Skype home. No rain today and a lot of good conversations between Congo and America.

Soyez bons les uns envers les autres, compatissants, vous pardonnant réciproquement, comme Dieu vous a pardonne en Christ. -Ephesians 4:32

Rain, Coffee and New Babies

It was a rainy day and we were locked down in the Bloc for the whole of it with plenty of surgeries. I had spent an interesting night in maternity with a lady who was two weeks past her due date, wasn't progressing in labor and had high blood pressure. She ended up in the Bloc in the morning.

After a long day (and I mean a LONG day) in the Bloc…Jessica and I made a stop by Salle de Urgence to give the nurse an update on two of the post-op patients who were there for recovery.

So, to sum it up briefly: Power went out in the night, phones stopped working, not one, but TWO C-sections in the morning, "no sleep" the night before, no breakfast, left my key at the mission and had to bike home and then come back. No lunch, but I brought coffee and cookies for the Bloc team after work, left my bike out in the rain, almost missed my ride home...it was quite a day.

Where Chocolate Comes From

Deep in the jungles surrounding Impfondo there are hundreds of cacao trees. The Bantu people living in Impfondo, and especially the BaAka pygmies who live in the jungle, tend these trees and harvest the cacao pods to sell.


Several of us had the chance to spend a morning helping one family harvest from their jungle "garden." It was hard, hot work and the biting insects were numerous. We used long sticks to knock down the pods high above the ground, and I got to climb a few trees which was fun.

They pile up the fruit and let it sit for a few days before hauling it out of the jungle, cracking open the pods, drying the beans and then selling them. The family we were helping has nine kids and a bunch of them joined us in the work. Their mom makes the long trek into the jungle to work every day during this season.

Namesake

This week I had the great honor of having a baby named after me. A friend of mine who's been at the hospital these past few months had a beautiful baby girl early in the morning. Dr. Harvey did a C-section which I assisted with. It was one of the scarier things I've done, and I wasn't expecting to go to the hospital that morning, let alone scrub in and assist, but that's how things turned out. Helping to operate was scary enough, but her being a friend of mine made it worse. Thanks be to God it went quite well and she and the baby are doing great. When I went to maternity the next morning to check on my friend and her baby she told me she wanted to name the baby after me...so now there's a little Kate in Congo; my first namesake.

There are those who will never die...

It was six o-clock in the morning, or a little after. We were in the Bloc, just finishing with a C-section. I’d come with Dr. Harvey instead of him calling one of the other guys. We were tired. Tired from being woken up early, from the intense focus of the surgery and from standing so long. The surgery had gone well; a healthy baby and the mom doing just fine. 

As we finished up Dr. Harvey cranked up the CD player. I wasn’t paying any special attention to what music might come on, but all of a sudden the familiar sound of ‘Mansion Builder’ by the 2^nd Chapter of Acts filled the operating room, and I rejoiced to hear it. I hadn’t heard that music since I left home, where it had been quite popular in the months prior to my departure. It was the perfect thing for Sunday morning, and brought a special beauty to the scene. 

However, as much as I was enjoying the song, the fact that Marie-Rose (our anesthetist) was singing along, not with the words exactly right, but definitely with joy, completed the moment for me. It reminded me of home, and somehow it reminded her of home too; Rwanda before the genocide. The songs they used to sing in her church there. She told me so. And so we went out singing and welcoming a beautiful Sunday morning as the darkness faded into day.

Mansion Builder

I've been told that there are those
Who will learn how to fly
And I've been told that there are those
Who will never die
And I've been told that there are stars
That will never lose their shine
And that there is a Morning Star
Who knows my mind

So why should I worry?
Why should I fret?
'Cause I've got a Mansion Builder
Who ain't through with me yet

And I've been told that there's a
Crystal lake in the sky
And every tear from my eyes
Is saved when I cry
And I've been told there'll come a time
When the sun will cease to shine
And that there is a Morning Star
Who knows my mind

Rainy Days

 Marianna and Raphaella manage to have fun in any kind of situation, no matter how limited their "resources." They spend the majority of their day finding fun and interesting things to do, and are left to themselves quite a bit. However, it seems to suit them well and they are definitely some of the happiest, contented and entertaining children I know. They love to laugh, dance, sing, play with dolls, color, snuggle, be outside, and make creations out of dirt and sticks.

 

What if...?

I'm thankful for everyone's prayers...

...especially when there isn't a happy ending to everything.

The lady in Salle de Urgence died after four days of intensive care.

One of the extremely malnourished twins who was there at the same time didn't make it either.

Expensive tin roofing was stolen from the hospital.

The little girl we sent down to Pointe Noirre for surgery died a few days after she got there.

The medical container is still stuck in Pointe Noirre.

Dr. Henri's brother died leaving behind a wife and eight kids.

I think it's during these times that we look to God the most.

Sometimes healing comes through tears.

On the River

The Platt siblings spent three weeks here and Dr. Esther and Dr. Tim did about sixty surgeries during that time. They were a great help as well as a lot of fun to be around! We had a chance to go out in a dugout canoe on the river the morning they left.

It was absolutely beautiful, and still cool because it was so early. We stopped at an island in the middle where there's a small village and from there you can see the other shore which is the DRC.

"At the end of the day you're another day older."

So today was my birthday… Joyce made a lovely chocolate cake for me which was quite a surprise, and she invited Yvonne and I over for lunch at her house. In light of everything that’s been going on with them and the death in Henri’s family, it was quite amazing that she pulled all this off for me; making it special and seem like a real birthday. She’s a wonderful lady!

It was a cloudy, dreary sort of day, and I spent part of the morning getting food for some patients in the hospital who don’t have relatives to provide for them. The best birthday present I got was the money for a ticket to Brazzaville so I can go to meet my father when he comes. I am really excited about that!

In the afternoon it cleared up, and I got to Skype my family for a nice long time, which was great. Couldn’t get the video to work but hearing their voices was very good. Helena and Yvonne joined me for part of it, and my “mama” Olga stopped in and sang happy birthday to me. It was very sweet. We were planning to take a walk in the evening (the closest thing to a midnight hike that’s possible here) but Tim and Esther both got called in for several surgeries, so that plan didn’t work out.

I got multiple text messages and a few phone calls from various people wishing me well, spent a quiet evening at home writing notes to departing visitors, and went to bed early.