"And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matt 28:18-20 ...."and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal." Luke 9:2
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Easter Sunday
After the first series of songs, choirs from multiple churches sang and praised the Lord, often breaking into bouts of dancing as well. Interspersed among the songs were readings from scripture, the verses translated into English by a local pastor for our benefit. Toward the end of the service, we had several baptisms as well as communion (also known as the Lord's Supper if you're Baptist) and a reenactment of the crucifixion; the entire affair lasted three hours.
Despite the fact that most of the service was in another language, the spirit of worship was unmistakable. God moves through these people in a way that kindles a fierce joy in your heart. What a blessing it would be if we brought back some of that same fierce joy. After the service, the officials of the church invited us to partake in an Easter luncheon. Despite being a poor church, they blessed us with quite a spread: bananas (or plantains, I can never remember which), rice, pasta, cooked greens (we'd probably call them collards if at home), a peanut-infused sauce, and a centerpiece of stewed goat. Meat is such a rarity here, that it spoke volumes about how much they appreciated our coming and worshipping with them. Their spirit of servanthood is truly magnificent.
Our trip back to our houses was more of a scamper than anything else. We tripped and slipped our way back down the hill of the peninsula and into our boat/canoe and began our race with the rain clouds. Most of us were out of the boat and most of the way up the side of the small mountain before the rain came, a blessing seeing as how almost all of us carried some kind of digital camera or cell phone for the same purpose. We each collapsed into our beds, the result of a couple of long hikes and a three hour, joyous Easter service...what a splendid day.
God bless each of you back in the states. May He open our eyes to the magnitude of our sins and simultaneously to the even greater ability of His to love and forgive us of them.
-Daniel
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Greetings from Kibogora!
Concerning the food: Many of you who know me are wondering how I am doing with the food here. We are blessed to have some wonderful ladies preparing our food, and though it is considered a luxury to Rwandans, we have been having meat with almost every meal. While my colleagues here enjoy poking fun at the vegetables lacking in my diet, I assure you, I am eating them on occasion. One or two salads. With pepperoni. That counts, right?
Market day was on Friday this week: It’s like we are celebrities here. The children in the marketplace followed us around the whole time, and many adults crowded around too to see what the Mzungus (“the rich white Americans”) were buying. We seriously had 25-30 kids following us everywhere we went. Some of them even followed us about halfway home (around a mile). Many of us found fabric for dresses (not I; they didn’t have my color), and Laura and Katy bought ingredients for homemade guacamole to go with our delicious dinner of enchaladas. Finally, I want to post a prayer request. Our friend, JC, a surgeon at Nebobongo Hospital in the Congo has visited Kibogora with the group these past 2 years. He is one of the only surgeons in the Congo, and it is 700 km from his hospital to the next nearest surgeon. I ask all of those who read this to pray for JC and Nebobongo Hospital, and if you feel so led, find a way to support his efforts through other action. If you would be interested in finding out more about JC and his work in the Congo, you can ask me (or anyone on the trip), and we can get you more information. We appreciate all of your prayers! More pictures to come!
Joseph
Thursday, March 28, 2013
A week at Kibogora Hospital
Anyway, here are some pictures from in and around Kibogora Hospital over the past few days for your viewing pleasure.
Carter
Monday, March 25, 2013
The Canopy Trail
I hope you enjoy the pictures!
-Jamie.
Canopy walk
Rain forests and hot chocolate
At the mid-point of our hike, there was a suspension bridge, called the Canopy Trail, where, if you were daring enough, you could dangle untold meters off the rainforest ground to get the view of a lifetime. (Really, though, we couldn't tell how far up we were because we were above the clouds and could no longer see the ground!) Of course, the suspension bridge wasn't as steady as some of us might have preferred, and at one point I may have had to gently and *lovingly* correct our fearless leader, Duane, who thought it would be (ahem) funny to jump up and down on the bridge while we were crossing. But, we all made it out alive(-ish).
Back at the top of the forest, we all dragged our soggy and muddy selves to the Nyungwe Tree Lodge -- a five-star resort in the middle of a tea plantation -- for a spot of tea... and hot cocoa and French-press coffee. And there may have been more than one of these hot and tasty beverages per person. But at this point, we'd definitely earned it!
More pictures to come -- just as soon as we can all dry out our cameras!
-Meagan-
Sunday, March 24, 2013
The first week so far
The patients here often present with problems that we rarely see in the states: massive tumors, traumatic injuries several weeks out from the incident, and diseases we've long since relegated to the tomes of ancient medicine due to the relative eradication in the states. This, while great medical training, poses thought-provoking difficulties regarding the management of the maladies. Tomorrow, Dr. Albertson will surgically address a young boy's elbow which, he thinks, had been previously broken and had healed incorrectly, keeping him from flexing his elbow. Without a CT scan, it's nearly impossible to tell what exactly is happening with the boy's elbow, but if the boy is left as he is, he will probably never be able to use that elbow. It will be a great learning experience for me as a future orthopedist, and I pray that God guides Dr. Albertson's hands as he works to try and heal this boy.
We went on "spiritual rounds" today at the hospital, a tour of the patients with their faith as the main focus as opposed to their bodies. We were able to connect with and pray for almost every patient in the surgical wards. Most of the patients profess the Christian faith, and we hope that this is sincere. The language barrier is most often the challenge, with staff at the hospital more accustomed to medical rather than spiritual English terminology. Please pray that God would transcend the cultural and linguistic differences and touch these peoples' hearts, drawing them closer to Him.
We've been studying Philippians during the mission, and I'd like to leave you with a verse or two from this epistle. In the fourth chapter, verses six and seven, Paul writes "Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank Him for all He has done. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." I hope this is as encouraging to you as it was to me.
- Daniel
Friday, March 22, 2013
Eye Opening
My travels began in Argentina and have expanded to Guatemala, West Africa, and currently East Africa. Hundreds and thousands of miles separate these countries. Despite the different languages, climates, and over all cultures I have noticed some similarities. One....the people always think Americans are extremely funny when they attempt to speak the language...or maybe they just laugh at me. Who knows? Secondly, they all just want to be loved. We come into these areas to serve these people by providing medical services, vacation bible school, or simply telling them about Jesus. No matter how little they have they take you in as family and offer it all to you. They attempt to serve you and ultimately end up blessing you more than you ever could have blessed them in return.
This journey for me began after a few discussions of last years trip with Dr.Peevy. I wanted the opportunity to go serve people with my medical knowledge. The gift that I felt God had given me. I was amazed as God opened the doors and provided above and beyond what I needed to make this journey. Dr. Peevy attempted to educate me on what NICU life is like here in Rwanda. Needless to say it was still an eye opening experience.
Initially in the NICU I was somewhat frustrated about things I thought needed improvement. The first day of work left me wondering what could be done to "fix" things. I prayed for understanding about the challenges they faced instead of a selfish view of how we could make it better for them. We joke in the states about the fact that in the NICU we have to be creative to make equipment small enough for our special patients. Well...creative does not begin to describe what the women of Kibogora hospital need to be. Adult home CPAP machines provide CPAP to the infants in the NICU here when needed. Actually, ONE adult machine. They also have one old bubble CPAP machine as well. With no compressed gas source ventilation of intubated patients in nearly impossible. A team must be created to manually bag infants around the clock. The list of challenges and how they have overcome things goes on and on. I mention these things because today as I examined a former 28 week infant who survived despite these circumstances I realized that God has blessed this place. There are no state of the art resources, but these men and women who work here are learning to do good things with a whole lot less. The greatest moment though....I got the the privilege of putting this NICU's first heart rate monitor on a baby and show them how to use it. To see the joy on the head nurses face as she realized they had a real monitor was a blessing beyond what I expected.
I pray that I do not return to my NICU as the same person. I hope to return grateful to provide care to the infants at USACW with abundant equipment.
Thank you to all the supporters who provided financially and in prayer. Your investment is going to change my life. God is just getting started in Kibogora.
Jamie
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Getting acquainted
Well today is our second day working in the hospital and I think we are all getting a little more into a groove. We have split up between Pediatrics, Internal Medicine, General Surgery, and Orthopaedics with Sarah getting in some good physical therapy time across disciplines. We are all seeing some patients with different sorts of problems and pathologies than we are used to seeing in Mobile. So far though with some prayer and research we have found the answers we need. Today Mickie and I introduced some children to the Garage Band app and found some avid music and dancing lovers. They could have played all day long!
We have been trying to educate ourselves on the language and culture here. When I inquired about how to ask a mother the name of her newborn I was informed that babies are not named here until after 2 weeks of age and never while they are still in the hospital. This is a practical tradition based on the harsh reality here that it is very common to lose babies prior to this age. We were also told not to be overly complimentary of any babies because the people here feel this may draw the attention of evil spirits.
Back at the house no one has cause to complain. We are in NO danger of starvation-quite the opposite in fact. Lunch is supposed to be the big meal of the day here but we are all usually just as stuffed after breakfast and dinner! Our cooks are pretty amazing and we have been treated with french toast, pot roast and mashed potatoes, pork chops with gravy, and hearty vegetable soup-and this is just day 2 and a half! My favorite is the fruit salad with a delicious mystery fruit we just discovered is passion fruit. If I can find this back home it will definately become a new staple. The only thing I could ask for is that the rooster sleep in just a liiiittle later than his 4:15 wake up time!
-Katy
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
View from our window in Kibogora.
Laura
We've made it to Kibogora!
Carter