Gusu Village Clinic

"If

you live for the next world you will get this one in the deal; but if you live only for this world you lose them both". C.S. Lewis

Wednesday and Thursday we (Joseph, AKA Jose, and I) joined up with a team from California – high school and college kids, and went to Gusu, a village about two hours out of the capital. We had one nurse, Becky, with us on day 1 and Carson, another nurse, joined us on day 2. For those Texans reading this, Carson and her husband have committed to three years here in Malawi. He teaches at ABC and Carson is a nurse. They came from Wichita Falls, Texas, where Carson was an ER nurse.

Back to the story – Gusu is a village that was the ministry of Sam Kawale while he was an ABC student. All students are expected to have a ministry while in school. He, with the help of others, has started an agricultural program, using irrigation. They have three wells in the village area. He has started a goat ‘farm’ and is hoping to work on raising pigs soon. He has helped build a school. He also arranges village clinics when teams are available. The first day we saw only children, 18 years or younger. Joseph acted essentially as a doctor and between the two of us we saw 180 kids. Some not so bad, some really, really ill. One of those kids had fallen in the cooking fire a week ago and burned his right arm, then two days before we got there, he had burned his left arm. He has seizures and appeared to have a congenital mental issue. The nurses cleaned and dressed the wounds (the old one was bad, infected, oozing…. Just a mess) and told his father to bring him back on the second day for a re-check. We saw a variety of rashes, colds, fevers, coughs and assorted other things. We actually had a way to test for malaria and had several positive tests. Joseph seemed to have a run on ‘bad ears’ and saw lots of nasty ears. He also had a 2 year old with episodes of painful swollen hands and feet – we suspect the child has sickle cell disease, but had no way to test for it. At the end of the clinic a runner came from the village area, saying there was a girl too sick to come and could someone come see her? I went with Becky and some other members of the team. On the dirt floor of a traditional mud hut was a 12 year old girl. Her left leg was hot and swollen and she did not want it touched. She had an ugly wound below the knee that was oozing green exudate (pus). She was in obvious distress. The story was that a week ago she fell and hurt her leg on one of the mud benches in the church. The next day they took her to a health clinic and the leg was sutured – no xray, no antibiotics, no pain meds. We decided the best course of action would be to load her in the truck (the team came with a bus and a truck to carry supplies) and take her back to ABC and the in patient clinic with us after the village clinic was done. After the clinic was finished for the day, we all went back to Lilongwe; Becky, Joseph and I worked on the little girl – started IV antibiotics and pain meds, plus removed the sutures and washed out the wound. Her name is Taona, which means ‘we are suffering’. I ordered an xray for the next morning (we don’t have techs at night). Day 2 at Gusu was to be the adults. It started with our first patient lying in an ox cart, too weak to get up. She was quite ill and we ended up starting an IV on her for dehydration. Her malaria test was negative, but she kept saying it felt like malaria. We treated her for general infection and malaria, plus pain meds and vomiting medications. It was the first IV the nurses had started in a village clinic and they did a fine job! They hung the bag from a strip of gauze wrapped around a rafter. She seemed better by the time she left on her ox cart to go home. We ended up seeing ~160 adults. They take longer because they have many, many complaints and they all want to ‘tell their story’. There were probably 200 people that were not going to be seen, so Becky and Carson divided them up into groups of ‘general body pain’ stomach problems’, and ‘coughing’ and just handed out medications. It is dry and dusty now (dry season), plus the smoke from the cooking fires – well, everyone has a cough. We also saw lots of vision problems (which we could not help), as they are in the strong sunlight and they have the dust and smoke blowing in their eyes. We saw lots of diffuse pain, coughs, high blood pressure, and stomach pains. A few wounds that needed attention, some very funky rashes, a couple of hernias, some ‘private parts’ issues, and a goodly number of bad teeth. The boy with the burn returned. We decided he should come with us to the ABC in patient ward to arrange a consult with the Malawian doctor, Dr. Lungu, at the Korean hospital in case he needs skin grafts. While we were in the village, Dr. Young (ABC doctor) called – Taona’s leg is broken! She had an open fracture that has now sat in a cesspool of infection for a week. The plan was to transfer her to Kamuzu Central Hospital for an orthopedic evaluation. Pray for her that she does not lose that leg! Finally we were done for the day and drove back to Lilongwe, to tuck in one more village child and family. We came home to no water and we are filthy… but God is good and the water came on in about an hour. We are exhausted.

We can only hope that we made a difference in the lives of some of the people. While we were doing the medical part, members of the team were interacting with the kids and teaching about the Gospel. Pray for Taona and for the burn boy (I think his name is Joshua).

Pray for us!

Pictures: Joseph and Charles, ready for the patients! A child with a burn on her face from flaming plastic that a sibling accidentally threw on her. Child with front central incisors that have not erupted but with swollen gums -this has been going on for some time, any dentists out there have any suggestions? And the right arm of the burned patient that we ended up bringing to the inpatient ward. Excuse any errors as I am too tired to really do a decent spell check!

Mai ministry, working at ground level

Mr. Whiskas has been our housekeeper every time we have stayed at the Assembly of God guesthouse. Last year, he retired after over 40 years of service. He is in his mid 70s. We had resigned ourselves to not have his cheerful, energetic nature as part of our daily routine. Ah, but things are good and he decided to come out of retirement to work for us! He will come ~3 days a week and we have told him to only do those things that he enjoys doing and to not over-do anything. We are blessed than he enjoys washing dishes and doing ironing. You will see a photo of him with Joseph (aka Jose) in the kitchen of the house. The cute Texas apron is a gift from us a couple of years ago.

We are still trying to get a more reliable Internet – at present we will have service for ~10-15 minutes, then nothing for hours. Makes it a challenge at times. We did get our car legal today (yeah) so we are ‘free to move about the country’. We also found a station with some petrol, so topped off our tank. For a couple of hours this morning we had both power and water, but the rest of the day we have been without one or the other.

This afternoon we went to visit Michelle Clark. She is currently with AIM mission and is doing quite a work in Malawi. We have known Michelle for several years, and actually saw her current place in the early stages. She has built a house outside a village on the outskirts of Lilongwe. She is teaching the local village ladies how to read and write, both English and their language, Chichewa. She has classes one her kondi (porch), usually daily. She also is teaching permaculture and has turned all of her ‘yard’ into gardens for the ladies to experiment with. She hopes to have chickens, rabbits, turkeys and pigs in the future. The best teaching methods seem to be by demonstration and hands-on instruction. She lives alone, although her Mother often visits from the states. Her ministry (funded through AIM) is called Mai (for ‘lady’), as she has targeted the women of the village. She is in need of support, as are so many of the missionaries here. The recession in the US has made many folks (and churches) decrease or even stop their donations. I know sometimes you wonder ‘is this really doing any good?’ – I can tell you that it is!! Contact me if you are interested in supporting her and I will hook you up!

The photos today include Joseph and Mr. Whiskas, Joseph and Michelle outside her fish pond, cabbages growing in the permaculture garden (sorry, that is in there twice and I don't know how to get it off!) and me, sitting on Michelle’s couch – we thought this was funny because it is so high and I am so short! My feet did not easily touch the floor!

Tomorrow we will leave a little after 8 AM to do a village clinic. Keep us in your prayers, for travel safety and that adequate fuel is found!

Your friends are a gift from God - Pastor Sean

Sunday morning our friends Matt and Toni gave us a ride to church since we were still grounded (see earlier post for details). We attend Flood when we are here and the praise, worship and preaching is outstanding. Pastor Sean (a graduate of ABC) gave a great sermon, as usual. After church we went to eat at Kiboko Hotel restaurant. Oops, they had no power so the meal had to be cooked the traditional way, over the little cookers. Took a little longer than we thought it would, but the food was good and the company great! Today we took some medical supplies to ABC and dropped our car off to get it legal. We also saw all the great changes at ABC clinic - some new building but mostly re-allotment of space, and some really nice new equipment. We arrived shortly after a sweet little baby boy was delivered in their new OB ward. I want to pause for a moment and thank some of the folks who got us medical supplies, especially Judy and Henry Mertz, Martha Wallis, daughter Anne Alaniz, Robert Twite of ACTNT, the entire hospital in Olney, and Susan Lacy Hightower. I am sure there are others, so I apologize if I forgot you but trust me, the supplies are appreciated! The two American nurses were thrilled with the stuff (and there will be more coming with Michael and Katie!). We have borrowed another car while the long process of making ours legal is underway. We were able to go to the new shopping center in town - with a Game (sort of like a Walmart), a Spar (new grocery) and assorted other shops. It is impressive with how much 'stuff' is now available. However, the prices for most of these items is high. That is the cost of importing things and of no fuel, I guess. We are still struggling with the Internet, but it is supposed to be fixed tomorrow. Yesterday I had to learn over the kitchen counter and hold the computer up to the window to get any connection at all. For some reason this evening I suddenly have a good connection (of course, I am sitting outside) so I thought I would post something! The photos - the church building Flood is currently using (on 'loan' from the Anglican church), Joseph (aka Jose) outside the gate to Kiboko Hotel and restaurant, me in the kitchen last night with the computer held up to the window (note the big bucket in the background - our hand washing water!), and then Carson and Becky with the pill counters, given by Susan Lacy Hightower (thanks again!). Enjoy the photos and keep us in your prayers.

Addendum - as I typed the last line, the Internet went out, so once again I am working in the morning. Enjoy!!

Back in Malawi

Greetings from the beautiful country of Malawi, where the day temps are in the 70s and the nights in the 50s. We spent ~2 days getting here, but other than being long the flights were un-eventful We arrived to find the country in the midst of a fuel crisis. The filling stations are either closed (no fuel) or have hideously long lines. Rumor is that some people have been stopped in the line for days before they either got gas or were told is was 'finished'. Fortunately, the car we have was full when we got it (a great blessing indeed). We are being very careful with the fuel use. It is unclear if this situation will improve; another rumor states it will get gradually worsen until Dec of this year. The reasons behind the crisis appear to be many - the country itself is strapped for funds, the country has no credit line with which to buy fuel, and not much forex (foreign exchange, i.e. outside cash) is coming in. If you think the recession in the US is bad, you have no idea!! Almost everything here is transported by truck - those trucks now sit in lines to get diesel. No products being transported. The rail system is poor and the shipping system is non-existent. Food prices, always high, have soared. A bag of dog food costs $48. Butter is $7 / pound. Any canned vegetable is at least $2.50 a can. Milk - $2.25 / liter. Most workers do not have any of their own transport except their feet, or, if they are lucky, a bicycle. They depend on the minibuses to get them to work and to the stores - those buses that now sit in fuel lines. Oh, and gas is $8 / gallon with black market prices upwards past $11 /gallon. The poor here are really suffering, and the 'rich' are not doing so well either. Pray for some relief for the fuel situation.

We hope to do some village clinics this coming week, but it all depends on if we get fuel. Many of the ministries have had to cut out their village clinics. The ABC clinic has an ambulance -with enough fuel right now to make one more emergency trip to the central government hospital, and NO fuel to get to the big orthopedic or Seventh Day Adventist hospital in Blantyre. A gentleman sits in our inpatient ward with a tibial fracture, hoping to find a friend with fuel to take him to Blantyre on Monday. The clinic generator has enough fuel to last 4 hours. If -or rather, when - the power goes out, we have 4 hours of light, labs, sonograms. Not to mention surgeries in the new OB wing. The fuel lines are creating traffic hazards, even more than usual, and the tempers appear to be flaring. Since the country is so short of funds, the police have been given quotas and told they must 'make their own salary'. The car we have (actually 'my car') I loan to some missionaries while I am away. Oops, they forgot to check the license and the 'certificate of fitness', both of which expired. We were stopped last evening and told we were in violation. The fine was 12,000 Kwacha ($67) but Matt Moffett showed up (long story) and talked them down to 2,700 kwacha but we are grounded from driving the car until we get the certificates. That should happen Monday. The fine was paid, in cash, with no receipt, to the officers stopping us, as they all proclaim 'we are not corrupt'. Oh, well, it was another Malawian experience. We are staying about ~1 mile from ABC and there was a dinner last night we wanted to attend, so we took off on foot, slightly before dark. Matt and Toni Moffett came by and saw us, offering us a ride. I am not sure if walking after dark is actually that dangerous, but they seemed to think so. I personally think Jose is tall enough and strong enough to deter most muggers. I did enjoy the ride, though!

The dinner was wonderful. One of the guys on ABC who works with a couple Malawians to do a Educate, Empower and Employ ministry (E3) has been having some interesting classes. He is David Epperson and his wife, Becky, is the OB nurse at the clinic. He has a cooks class, where he brings all the cooks on the campus to share their recipes or learn new ones, and invites the missionary wives to come, too. Anant Peacock is one of the theology professors at ABC and is Indian. He taught an Indian class yesterday and the results of the class were our 'feast'. I love Indian food and this was the best!! And the desserts were heavenly, too, not to mention the fellowship with the ABC staff and getting to know new folks and catch up with old friends. David also does a permaculture gardening class, where he is teaching use of heirloom seeds, composting, organic techniques, restoring the soil, etc. I hope to see his main garden tomorrow. I brought him a large packet of heirloom seeds, but anyone interested in sending some seeds, contact me soon and we can get them in the bags of Michael or Katie who come later in the trip. The use of heirloom seeds and organic methods frees the small farmer from dependence on always buying his seeds, fertilizer and pesticides plus it gives better produce! It is a wonderful idea. I have found that the people making the biggest difference here seem to be the ones working one on one with the Nationals, understanding their needs, not depending on technology. Pray for these grass root efforts.

Enough for now! I am afraid the internet will be gone and I will lose this blog. More later. Our plans today are church at the Flood (we will have to have a ride there), lunch and then still settling in.

Thanks for all your prayers.

The pictures are simple, just from the gas lines. More interesting stuff to come! When you pull up to a gas station in the US, think of the Malawians and be thankful, so thankful, for what you have. Pray for these struggling folks. Pray for us!

Returning to Malawi

Jose and I will be leaving the US on June 22 for about 10 weeks in Malawi. We have been blessed by some very generous folks for monetary donations and donations of medical supplies. We have a scribe, Micheal, who will be joining us in mid July for about 10 days. Then Katie (scribe from last year) and her Mom, a physical therapist, will come for about 2 weeks. We are hoping to not only volunteer at the ABC community clinic, but also to help Anne with the new clinic in the Salima area, the Pothawira project. Not to mention clinics for some of the COTN orphans and other villages. Pray that we can also be involved in at least a one time prison clinic, along with a visit / clinic to an Assembly of God girls school. If any of you are interested in donating, you can contact me directly, or you can donate to me via African Bible College, PO Box 103, Clinton, MS, 39060. Just put my name on the memo line. If you are unable to donate, please keep us in your prayers! We are busily preparing to leave, trying to figure out how to pack medical supplies! The recession, coupled with the increased gas prices, has hit everyone - many of the missionaries have lost support, the prices of food and gasoline has risen dramatically in Malawi, the poor of the world are getting poorer. We hope to bring some small amount of comfort, to show the poorest of these that they are not forgotten by the rest of the world, to shine the light of Jesus into some of the darkest places on the planet. Plus, we hope to offer support and fellowship to the awesome missionaries in Malawi, many of them working with reduced funds and feeling like they have been forgotten, too. Pray for us! Watch this blog for updates as our trip starts on June 22. Blessings to you all