Life

These days we have been waking up to the sounds of crying children, and going to bed to the sounds of screaming children. Mostly coming from the Pediatric ward, which is not far from our house. Just one of the normal parts of life here.

It has been extremely hot a couple of days this week. Yesterday especially so. In the evening the heat wave finally broke with a torrential rain.

Last night I had cockroaches (the big kind) crawling over me in bed. It was not a nice experience. Today our outdoor toilet was infested with red ants. Where do we go instead??

Annie: “Where did you pee?”

Berta: “In the forest”

(Actually she was right outside the front door)

This morning I taught Sunday school. It was a madhouse. 30-40 unruly kids. Actually that is an exaggeration. They are not ALL unruly. Only ten or fifteen of them. Anyway, it was a challenge - as usual. I am glad I don’t do this every week.

This afternoon we had lots of kids over. They colored and played soccer and watched a movie and made a mess. I love children. 

We see lots of suffering here, but every day I wake up and remind myself to be thankful for God’s goodness. 

Berta

I think I made a new friend. 

Recently our financial director’s family moved up from Brazzaville to join him here in Impfondo. Now they are living at the “Blue House” which is the house nearest the hospital entrance. They have three children - Julbert, Annie and Berta. 

Berta, who immediately took a liking to me, is almost four years old and talks non-stop. She mostly speaks French, but some Lingala and sometimes a funny mixture. We had their family over for dinner the other night and she loved being at my house. Mostly because of the opportunity to color and play with a toy elephant. She cried when they had to leave - but I assured her she could come back soon. 

We had a nice evening with them and I think it’s going to be great having them as neighbors here at the hospital. Berta has already proved to be an endless source of entertainment and laughter.

Today the children came over again, and we had an adventure chasing chickens and trying to catch them all to trim their wings. (They keep flying out). Eventually we got most of the wings clipped. The kids also played games and colored inside the house.

When it was time to go, Berta, with her mixture of French and Lingala, protested enthusiastically. Esther actually had to carry her home crying while the older two children followed. I promised her she could come again tomorrow. 

I think there might be tears at each departure.

Marigolds

The flowers are blooming...

The cucumber plant which has grown against all odds: chickens, weeds, bugs, goats trampling feet and torrential rain. It is starting to produce cucumbers and we picked our first ones this week!

The River and the Singing

These are two reasons I am so thankful I live here. The river is probably the most beautiful part of Impfondo as far as scenery goes….and the most beautiful sound here is definitely the singing. 

On Tuesday Esther and I went down to the big mission church and listened to the mens choir sing. It was amazing.

There are a lot of church chorales here..some all women, some all men, and some a mixture of both. I have never heard such amazing singing as I do here. I’m sure it is a taste of heaven.

That was then

and this is now.

Josiah was the first baby I delivered here in Congo back in 2013. Erin was just sixteen years old then, and I remember how grateful she was after the birth. Today she came to visit me with Josiah, and the new addition to her family, little Ruth.

Here I am with newborn Josiah

Josiah is four years old now!

Erin and I in 2013

Erin and newborn Josiah

 and here we are today!

Joyful Noise

I put together a video of my girls singing. I made the video for one of the Congolese missionary families here because they do a lot of ministry with these girls - and then I added in the part with them sending their thank you to all of you who gave craft supplies for me to bring with me when I came here.

Here is the link to the video: https://youtu.be/r36wHI2T73E

The Kimwanga family, who are doing medical work and youth ministry here, are in need of additional monthly support. If you want to help - go to https://www.missiongo.org/donate/missionaries/masky-and-anne-kimwanga

I get together with these girls once a week as a whole group, and then two at a time on Fridays.

Each of these girls is very special to me and I am getting to know all of them better. Some of them are giving me cause for concern. Please pray for each one of them after you watch this video. Enjoy!

Congolese Flags

The neighbor kids decided to find an alternate use for the pick-up sticks game...

First the DRC flag because that's where they're from....

and then the Republic of Congo flag, because that's where we live now!

Time for some art

I finally had the time - and was in the right mood, to do a few pictures. Here are a couple of them:

Baby Molly

....again! I couldn't resist these adorable photos. She's a pretty popular baby. 

Wishing

Last week we had a baby born with a cleft lip and palate. We were really hoping we could get them up to Cameroon and from there to Douala, the capital city, where Mercy Ships is docked right now. Unfortunately Mercy Ships can only take people from Cameroon for surgeries - so this family was very disappointed to learn they would not be candidates.

I spent a lot of time with them helping the baby with feedings. It was difficult at first, but everyone got the hang of it and now it's going well. Right now the mom is expressing milk and putting it in a special kind of bottle that allows for a slower flow. This is good because of the way the baby's mouth is, and on one side it's open to the inside of the nose.

Anyway, the baby is doing well - they named her Kate and were discharged from the hospital yesterday. They are hoping to get down to Brazzaville and find someone there who can do the surgery.

I wish so badly we could get a doctor to come here for a few months who could do this kind of repair...then we could find the people who need it and schedule them for surgeries.

Less Frequent Posts

Dear blog-readers,

I apologize for the less frequent posts. This means I have less time...we are busier...probably more stressed. There is WAY too much going on. I will try to catch you all up later. Thanks for your prayers!!!

GOD IS GOOD. Let's not forget.

P.S.

To follow up on my previous post... That was written a few weeks ago and I had forgotten to share it. So now how is this girl doing? And how is her baby?

She is much better. Physically, she is still very malnourished, but she is up walking around. She goes to get her own food at the kitchen/restaurant. She feeds her baby without being practically forced. She smiles and talks to me. Just the fact that she will answer when I speak to her is a HUGE improvement, but she actually smiles and interacts with me. I feel so encouraged and blessed. What a difference a little time and a little love and some medical care can make.

If

I was reflecting back on some notes I took from Amy Carmichael’s little book “If.” One in particular had really struck me, and I wrote it down.

“If in dealing with one who does not respond, I weary of the strain, and slip from under the burden, then I know nothing of Calvary love.”

I have been struggling to care for one particular patient in the hospital this past week. She is from way out in the village, probably in her teens, and has a two week old baby. I have been met with nothing but challenges in this situation. I feel like nothing I say or do is getting through to her…and her baby is suffering because of it. She was admitted to the hospital for a serious abdominal abscess, and had to have surgery. After the surgery she stopped nursing her baby - and then of course her milk production went down. By the time I realized what was happening she wasn’t producing much. With post-natal vitamins, decent food and lots of water, letting the baby at least try to nurse every two hours, her milk came back. But in the meantime the baby cried constantly from hunger, so the family took the baby away and were going to take him home to the village and give him medicine there. I managed to stop the ridiculous plan of separating the baby from the mom and got them to bring him back. After that, I started the baby on formula and continued to work with the young mom to get her breastfeeding regularly. It was so hard to get through to her. She would just stare at me with big eyes and an expressionless face. She would rarely respond, and it was a struggle to get her to hold and feed her baby. For several days in a row, the father would bring the baby to my house and stand outside with the crying baby until I came. Some mornings early I wouldn’t register the sound of the crying baby until he’d been standing there for more than 10 minutes. (We live in the hospital and it is almost always noisy around here). Some nights he’d come over late and just stand outside the house, not even knocking or asking to come in, he would wait for me to come out.

Right now I am tempted to be very frustrated with this situation, but the words Amy Carmichael wrote are reminding me to be patient and loving. If I am not - then….what do I know of love?

'Life Around Here"

Here is another "Life Around Here" post. These posts just mean I show you pictures instead of writing much. I just have a few comments to describe the photos.

Our two stoves...mama stove and baby stove. Mama stove has died finally so we are using baby stove now.

A gift to me from an unknown friend in town 

(a large bunch of bananas which all got ripe at once)

A sideways shot of our table 

An interesting plant

All dressed up and ready for church...