there is a plan...

this week God reminded me that he has a plan and purpose for everything. one of my boxes was stuck in minneapolis for a good time, then the phone numbers i gave klm in nigeria for contacts in the country did not work, then the office at the airport was closed on the day the driver was in town.... finally the box arrived on thursday, the second last day we spent in mkar. i had been fairly irritated with the whole process because i wanted to hand out all the supplies. so on friday, i still had the majority of supplies sitting in the house still.

friday morning, i walked up to the house where we eat breakfast, and a man was laying on the sidewalk who looked like he was 15 months pregnant with triplets. he had the hugest ascites (fluid in the belly) i have ever seen. so much that it had started leaking from his belly button!! he was on his death bed, he could barely breathe as the fluid in his abdomen was pushing on his lungs. dr. reedyk decided that we would offer him some relief by tapping his abdomen on the front stoop. and what do you know, i had all the supplies in the box! we put a 16 gauge (really huge) needle in his belly, hooked it up to an IV tube and drained it into a bucket over several hours. i even had tegaderm bandages to cover the site with. over a period of several hours, over 8 liters of fluid drained from his abdomen on the front lawn. "real bush medicine" at work! it was disturbing, but cool. he felt alot of relief and his breathing improved. if we hadn't had all the supplies, we would have had to admit him (a family with no money anyways - you are really desperate when you drop someone on a doctors sidewalk for help).

a little later in the day, joe, our engineer was on the front porch was talking to his wife on the phone when he mistepped and fell off the porch. he dislocated his shoulder and they couldn't get it back in without some valium. jenny and leanne started an IV with the supplies from work, leanne ran to the hospital to get some valium, and we sedated him a bit to "reduce" his shoulder back into place. again, if the box had arrived on time i would have given away all the supplies and would have nothing on hand. God works in mysterious ways!

So to my colleagues at work, I have photos of all those discarded supplies that you have faithfully put in the box, being put into use! Thank you for your efforts!

This trip has carried with it alot more frustrations than last year with the nursing students and it was easy to get overwhelmed, angry, irritated. i have been questioning my desire or calling to work and live in africa. i talked with several people who have lived here for decades and ask how they cope. they have encouraged me to focus on the people that show hope, determination, desire, and mentor them. i did meet a few nigerians along the way that give me hope... a 15 year old boy who is head of the household as his mother died, his father works out of state, he is responsible to put his younger twin sisters through school. he shows a strong desire to work hard and suceed, and i really want him to pursue education. so i have invested time in my relationship with him, encouraging him... please pray that i don't get disillushioned with the
"bigger" more depressing picture...

we are heading up to "the bush" tomorrow and i am looking forward to seeing all my old friends in the village of mahula. apparently they have internet up there, so hopefully i will be able to update there...

peace alida