Ebb and Flow 27 Oct 2014

(Late blog post out of order...)

32 weeks is long enough, right? A baby boy was born prematurely and his first 24 hours were rocky. 

I was called to the OR immediately after the morning worship service finished outside at the hospital. 

  The baby was in my OR because it's our "ICU" when there is trouble. He was a 32 week preemie born at 4am and now he wasn't breathing well and his pulse was too slow. Actually he was also cold and wet and apparently his cord wasn't clamped when they found him at 7am. Sometimes the night shift in Chad can be dangerous. 

He improved after receiving oxygen, CPR, and lots of warming. Score +1 pt for the good guys. 

  Unfortunately by noon he was back in the OR.  We were just finished with a surgery when the baby was rushed in.  This time he wasnt breathing and was pulseless. I wonder what our adult patient was thinking when we ignored him on the OR table and worked on this baby boy right next to him. 

-1pt for bad follow up care, but nothing is easy here. 

Despite the odds we resuscitated a 32week preemie again! After 10 minutes of CPR and manual ventilation he was alive! 

I even managed to get an IV started in a preemie neonate's femoral vein (no ultrasound available--just good old fashioned landmark technique). We warmed him up, gave him antibiotics, glucose and tiny fluid boluses. The mother was brought into the OR to witness the entire resuscitation and she was so grateful. That was really rewarding. She even attempted to breast feed the newly resuscitated baby before returning to maternity with him.  Strange timing but A for effort. Wow! +1 for the good guys. 

I was walking tall and feeling pretty proud of myself--- I even hurt my arm patting myself on the back.  I AM GOOD!

  That unnamed baby boy died later that night. No one saw what happened. No one called for help. No one woke anyone up. Gone. 

I don't usually keep score. We win many more than we lose but it always stings me a bit more when a baby dies. 

 So I named the baby Merci. I don't know if that's a reasonable first name in Chad but its a reminder to say "thank you" during the good times and the bad. 

Merci tout le monde. 

-Mason

 

Abundance 11/4/2014

Abundance is not a term used to describe Chad unless in the manner of poverty. There is an abundance of poverty. Yet, right now, we are experiencing an overwhelming abundance. 

Just two weeks ago the shipping container, carrying hospital supplies AND our household goods, arrived.  This coincided with the completion of plumbing and electricity in the home planned for us prior to our arrival. We were now able to move into a larger home with all new furnishings.

Last November (2013), we received notice of a container destined for Chad from California. We traveled across the country to shop for furniture and household goods to add onto the container; all the while thanking the Lord for his provision. 

I was disheartened to learn, just prior to our departure from the U.S. in May, that not only was the container significantly delayed, the home planned for us wasn't completed either. We were temporarily housed in a one bedroom apartment with the few meager possessions we carried with us in our cases and (thankfully) quite a few more borrowed or loaned from other team members. 

I have been very eager to have more space and to have a bit more privacy as visitors could look into our old bedroom from the front porch. And visitors, I had a plenty, many days it was a continuous wave.  From those selling items, needing items, needing money, needing my time, the locals'  "clapping" could be heard coming from the porch alerting me to their presence should I not be sitting or standing a mere foot away in the dining room, bedroom, living room or office.

So happily, we traveled to Moundou, 3.5 hours away during rainy season to unload the container filled with our belongings plus a bevy of medical supplies and equipment for 3 hospitals and a few other families in Chad. It was Christmas in October for everyone!! But most especially us!!

Yet, as we began to unpack all of our new possessions, we had so eagerly awaited the arrival, the feeling of overwhelming abundance weighed upon us. In a culture of the truly impoverished, who have so few possessions, little access to clean water, no electricity and poor education, it was difficult to celebrate our good fortune. We unloaded a 40ft shipping container in front of some of the poorest people in Africa. Our 1000 sqft corrugated, metal warehouse with cement floors seems too large, too grand, too much. We are embarrassed by the abundance our new home and possessions.

Still, as we adjust to our larger space, I am thankful, in hindsight of course, for His timing and providence. We will not take our possessions for granted or as our own. "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it." I am abundantly grateful for the home and comforts He has provided us. I hope we remain steadfastly faithful in sharing with others what has been given to us. 

Living refreshingly grateful and abundant in Chad, "Do not give me poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread lest I be full and forget or deny You."

-Kim