Just in the past hour, I knowingly ate several bugs that had made their way into my trail mix because I didn't want to waste the M & M's, I looked out the window while I was writing this and there was a family of goats wandering around my front lawn, I almost stepped on a chicken when I opened the front door, I took a cold shower from well water (because there is no such thing as hot tap water), I made tortillas from the only cooking appliance I have which is a small propane camping stove while rocking out to Nigerian reggeaton and listened to my roommate's account of how she just went to go meet people at the airport and ended up on the runway helping fix a part on the plane because the plane broke down and she was one of the only people at the airport that could speak english as well as the local native language.In the past week I have taken care of more people with advanced malaria than I can count, seen a boy that I have been taking care of since I got here that was an inch from death due to malnutrition, meningitis and pneumonia sit in a wheelchair and smile and try to say "Mbote" to me (hello in Lingala), I have seen people die simply due to lack of diagnostic tools or treatment options, I have also seen patients survive and improve beyond what I even thought was possible, biked with my roommate and friend, Mama Sarah, through a jungle road to a village outside of the town where the pigmy people live to bring food (stuffed into my massive basket that I have on the front of my old rusty beach cruiser bike), do wound care, and listen to Mama Sarah tell them a bible story. I have been bit by the most interesting looking bugs while in the middle of giving meds or starting an IV, and I have chased gigantic African wasps out of the Emergency Room to the complete amusement of all the patients and their families. I have been so hot that I just sat down on the floor of the ward to find some coolness. I was invited to a coworkers house (they are typically 1 room huts made out of mud) in town and was taught by her and all the local neighborhood children how to prepare and cook some of the local food (who knew that it would take coming to Africa and having to pound out leaves in a wooden bowl while being cheered on in Lingala to get me to learn how to cook.) Read the rest here
At Reigning in Life, the Tenpenneys continue to share about the stories of patients here at the hospital. If you aren't following this blog, I highly recommend it! Check out the story of Presence and Mr. G and His Chronic Wound.
One of my favorite writers, Rachel Pieh Jones posted about Dangerous Riches at A Life Overseas:
There is an inconvenient truth in my heart that I like comfort and ease. And yet, when I am comfortable and life is easy, I do not cast myself on God. I don’t beg and plead and demand that Jesus make his presence palpable. I don’t cry for miracles, I am less desperate in prayer. Read the rest here
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