My Journey

Thought I would update you on what has happened in the last few reports I have given you.  First, Eli has gone back to school.  I have heard from him once informing that he was getting settled in. The circumcision clinic officially concluded with 668 circumcisions completed.  However, more men and boys continue to come every day, so our staff have continued to perform the procedures.  As of yesterday, the number was close to 800. As for the bathrooms which are in the toilet.  I will be receiving updates on the amount of donations at the beginning of each week starting next Monday.  If you have not put a check in the mail yet, please stop and take a minutes to do so.  If 100 people would send $50, we would almost have the amount we need.  But in order to get 100 people to donation, I need you to be first. And finally, I have some very sad news concerning the 4 month old little girl who had been treated by a local doctor.  She had been...

Help!, I have fallen (into bad disrepair) and can't get up without your help! Below I am going to show you a picture story of the bathrooms at the Chimala Hospital.  When I arrived one year ago, I found many areas which were in need of improvements but sadly could only do one thing at a time.  I am now looking to fix the horrible disrepair of these bathrooms, but without financial assistance from you I sadly will not be able to fix this short-coming. As you look at this pictorial, please remember that you (one person) does not have to pay for it all.  If each of you would send what you can then with God's help we will reach the amount needed to bring these bathrooms into a good state of repair.  We need $6,000 to complete this project.  As you look at the pictures, let me explain that it is hard to clean concrete walls.  When we recieve help from our friends to repair the bathrooms, we are going to tile the walls in order to keep them cleaner.  Als...

  Home visits are a part of mobile clinics.  Meet Zabibu (on the right) and his brother Doto (on the left). Zabibu is 37 years old and has been paralyzed from the waist down since a bicycle accident 9 years ago.  Doto works for the Chimala Estate.  Both are members of the Mfumbi Church of Christ.  Since he is paralyzed, Zabibu gets around in a modified bicycle pictured below.         Currently,  Zabibu is having severe difficulties with deep wounds to his bottom from sitting so much and not being able to move much.  Rene and I have taught Doto how to perform wet-to-dry dressing changes.  On each Thursday, we go to  house to check the wound and do a dressing change.  I have placed him on antibiotics due to an infection and we will pray for quick healing.  Please keep them in your prayers and pray for the work we are doing in Chimala.

The government of Tanzanian Health Authority has recently begun a campaign encouraging all males to be circumcised.  Most of the tribes and villages here do not approve of circumcision until the young men reach their teenage years.  Some of the males are never circumcised.   Our hospital began its 10 day campaign for our area on Monday.  We converted one of our minor theatre rooms (ER rooms) into a procedure room with 6 beds.  Along with the staff from the regional hospital, we have 15 - 20 staff working this clinic throughout the day. Each day the team will work from 7am - 9pm.  I am not sure what I expected when I was informed we would be holding this clinic, but I don't think I expected this....   The above picture shows a couple of the beds set up for the procedure.  There are actually 6 beds in this room.     At the beginning of Monday, there were over 200 men and boys waiting to be registered for the proced...

There have been several cases since I have been here where the local medicine (witch doctor) has caused pain, severe infections, need for amputations and even death.   Because the parents believe the local medicine man knows what he is doing, the patient is not brought to us until their health is in really bad shape.  Most of the time I don't share the stories because they are so sad and the pictures so devastating.  However, I have permission to share this one with you.   When I walked into the room to see this 4 month old baby, I was shocked and horrified.   I was informed that this is the local treatment when a child is suspected to have pneumonia.  The local medicine man takes a razor and performs all these cuts on the body to let the infection out.  I could not count the number of cuts because all I could think of was this 4 month old baby screaming while it was tortured in this horrific way.  Now this precious little one ...