When we have a chance...

 My favorite place to eat is with various members of the staff at the hospital cafeteria. We usually get a few plates and divide them among us, every one gets a portion. Sometimes someone contributes some bread, bananas or something else to go with the meal.

In the midst of a busy day we managed to take a few minutes to eat some nice Congolese food and hang out with the people I work with every day. I was happy for Father to get to meet them.

 We always have interesting conversations and today certain people got especially animated and enthusiastic. It always makes for an interesting meal and sometimes reminds me of home due to the fact that multiple people are raising their voices and talking at once and trying to prove their point or tell their story all at the same time. I love these people.

Father is here!

Bienvenue

Father's welcome to Impfondo. The Harveys had us over for lunch, which ended up being dinner due to usual complications, and even had a welcome cake for us all to enjoy in honor of Father's arrival. Very happy tonight!

Brazzaville

October 21-25

I arrived in Brazzaville on Monday around noon, and spent a nice afternoon at the Bravo Guest House relaxing and catching up with friends that I hadn’t seen for the last two months. Tuesday morning I delivered letters and money and papers I’d been sent down with, and got things sorted out with bills and money that needed to be exchanged. When that was all finished, I had time to read my favorite book and take a nap. Jeannichelle cooked a lovely supper for me.

In the afternoon I got to meet up with Barb, a C&MA missionary working in Brazzaville. We went to Casino, the grocery store, together and got specialty items like chocolate and salami and yogurt to take back up to the Impfondo folks. Barb was really wonderful and invited me over to her apartment afterwards where we talked and had ice-cold fruit smoothies. That was a real treat! I haven’t had a smoothie, or anything sweet and cold like that, for quite some time now. :) But the best part was getting to talk with her. 

I took a taxi back to the guest house and went to bed early. Wednesday morning I could hardly wait to go with Honore to the airport. The hours seemed to drag by, because I was waiting in such anticipation of seeing Father. Finally it was time to go, and we didn’t have to wait long before we had Father and his luggage and ourselves all back in the truck and were heading back Bravo. That same afternoon we walked around, hopped on a bus and took a “tour” of sorts of the city. We got out and went through a large market and then when we tired of that we hailed a taxi and went back to our lodgings.

Thursday Father slept in late, we ate a lovely breakfast prepared by Jeannichelle, and then we went to the grocery store again. In the afternoon we went to the rapids with Guylvi and Dulce. It was a really pretty place and watching some little boys jump into the rushing water was pretty entertaining. Afterwards, a whole bunch of us went out to dinner, including two visitors who’d just arrived from Impfondo and the couple that ran the guest house.

Bright and early Friday morning we were on our way to the airport and then after a few short hours we arrived “home” in Impfondo. In a way, I felt like I was coming home after being away for five days. I was really happy to be back and excited to show Father my place and all the wonderful people I now know here.

Us getting from the airport to our house at the mission ended up being quite the ordeal. One truck set out to get us, and got a flat tire. Another one set out and broke down. Molimo began working on changing the tire of the first truck, and I think the second one got left to be dealt with later. 

After a two-hour wait at the airport, Dr. Harvey (of all people) showed up, straight from the hospital, stethoscope still hanging around his neck, to rescue us from our plight. As soon as we were back at the mission he set to fixing the truck and then went straight back to the hospital to see twenty outpatients. (In case you didn't know, he manages to do everything and then some). So that ended my trip to Brazzaville…and it was a good one.  

Now back to helping at H.E.L.P. and all that entails.

Impfondo Mothers

Happy Birthday...

...to Emily! May you have many hard-working, joyful years of service and may you return in good health from the far-off land where you now reside. God is indeed merciful.

Heading South

Time to pack up my bag and head to Brazzaville for the week... Thanks to some wonderful people I have the opportunity to go to Brazzaville to meet my dear old dad when he arrives. Lord willing, he is coming on Wednesday and we will fly up to Impfondo together on Friday. I'm really excited. I will also hopefully be able to see some friends who moved there from Impfondo this summer, as well as meet up with some C&MA (my home church) missionaries.

Not Looking

"...It is easier not to look.With our eyes closed we can sleep peacefully, content that the world is improving. If we are careful, we will never be touched by compassion for the poor and the lost. We will not even be aware of them. And, of course, when they die, we will feel no loss."

On Call, by Dr. David Thompson (pg 217)

Getting Ready

For the past ten months the shipping container full of medical and electrical supplies has ben en route from the States. I won't go into the details of the all the red tape and problems involved in getting it here, but many prayers have been prayed concerning this container. Finally it is on a boat coming from Brazzaville to Impfondo... and we are so thankful!

 Last week some mechanics/handymen/geniuses came to help out with getting the new generators installed and electricity set up. This week they are fixing things that need fixing around the hospital and mission and getting ready for the container. The mechanic shop has to be cleaned and cleared out to make room for the new things. Trenches have to be dug for wires and a million other things have to be done that I know nothing about.

Cookies!

Sunday afternoon I went over to Marie-Rose's house and we made cookie dough, and then walked to her friend's house and baked them in the big outdoor oven. The whole process took us several hours but I couldn't think of a better way to spend the afternoon, and it was great to get to be with Marie-Rose outside of work.

 Folding laundry while waiting for the cookies to bake:

Sunday Best

All dressed up and ready to go to church for four hours. :)

Mini 1 and Mini 2

In the past two weeks we got two more premie babies at our hospital. They were born at the government hospital and came here shortly afterwards. The first one was a boy, and I had a few scary moments trying to get him warm again when his temperature dropped drastically. I held him under the heat lamp in maternity until it had heated up enough for me to lay him down. Meanwhile across the room a lady was about to give birth, so another "nursing assistant" and I delivered her baby, and then I went back to the premie boy and tended to him. At the same time we had a baby in the other room in very critical condition who died about an hour later. Everything seems to happen at once.

It is always a bit of a struggle to get the family totally on board and responsible and active in the care. We don't have enough nurses to get even close, so it's very necessary that the family attend to the needs of their loved one. People seem to have a pretty fatalistic mindset too. Anyway, I spent about two very stressful days in maternity doing intensive care for the baby boy, who weighed close to two pounds at birth. Today the family is doing great with care and feedings and watching the incubator temperature (oh for a thermostat that worked properly!!) I'm very happy with the results and it seems my work has paid off once again. The baby is doing really well.  But if anybody reads this please pray for both of these minis (as my big sis would call them).

Below is a picture of him. When I showed it to the mom she said the photo made him look bigger than he really was, so I took another one with my hand in it too, for comparison. (Keep in mind I don't have very big hands)

The other premie is a girl, a little bit bigger, more than a kilo today, which is good. Her mom has been very attentive and listening to instruction and paying close attention to her baby, which makes me really feel pretty good about that situation, but I'm still checking both babies every day to see how things are going. Since when did I know anything about taking care of premie babies? And here I am trying to teach families how to do the work involved to keep them alive and growing. You learn something new every day!

Jessica

Sharing a meal together...

 

Hanging out with Kevin and his family in Chirurgie Mixte...and going for a ride with Mama Liddy, one of the cooks:

 Jessica having fun with the kids

 

 Jessica was here for three weeks and lived with me. It was great having her!

Family

Helena, Mama Olga, Raphaella and Marianna…my adopted family. (Not pictured: JDD, Dulce and Julde) We are definitely missing the menfolk but managing all right without them. :)

 To be quite honest, if it wasn't for them, I would have died long ago of loneliness and despair. (Of course that's just my dramatic side coming out, but you get the idea.)

Dinner at Siko and Delphine's

Everyone rejoices at an opportunity to hang out with the Bambembas and enjoy their company and Delphine's amazing food!

Beautiful Skies

 Oui, c’est en Dieu que mon âme se confie;

 De lui vient mon salut.

Oui, c’est lui qui est mon rocher et mon salut;

Ma haute retrate; je ne chancellerai guère.