My Journey

 Safari simply means “journey” in Swahili.  We all take safari’s…..all are different and individualized.   I am on my safari at the hospital with the goal of assisting all those working there to be able to perform better services and to assist the patients and families with their needed care as well.  With the Oklahoma Christian Students here, my safari changes a bit so that they can have a positive safari here and learn many things from the hospital.  And on occasion, I am blessed with the opportunity to participate in an animal safari like I was this past weekend with the girls. I know it has been several week since I have posted.  This is the one piece of my journey which gets neglected when I add items to my days and weeks.  So where to begin?  I think the first thing to tell you is that many times cases in the hospital become complicated.  We had a 6 yr old little girl with 2nd and 3rd degree burns to bilateral legs and arms.  The d...

 It has been a couple of weeks since I have updated you on our work here.  Many things have been happening.  Some good, some not so good but all is under God’s control. Baby Promise was admitted to the hospital about 13 days ago due to decreased feeding and malnutrition.  We felt we needed to get some weight on him so he would be more able to tolerate surgery.  He had thrush in his mouth and his throat.  We started antibiotics and increased his feedings.  After these 13 days, he still had not gained weight.  Then on Wednesday night, our Baby Promise died.  On Wednesday, we saw some changes in his condition.  One of the doctors, myself and one of the nursing students talked with mama and Bibi about his declining health and we prayed for him.  If you remember, mama and Bibi are new Christians.  When I got to the hospital Thursday morning, I went straight to check on him and learned he had pasted.  We arranged for Bibi to com...

 Up to 30% of profits will go to Chimala Mission Hospital! Who loves supporting Chimala Mission Hospital!? Who loves shopping!? I have some great news for you!  Starting now thru June 6th , I’m hosting a Pampered Chef Fundraiser for the Chimala Mission Hospital!  The entire catalog is available along with the online outlet.  My consultant, Angelica, has set up a Fundraiser page and I would LOVE for you to join!   https://www.facebook.com/groups/552077519646196/ BONUS: Angelica is also going to add on a FREE gift to anyone who places their order by  tomorrow night  ( 5/31 )!! You can shop for yourself, grab some birthday gifts for friends, and support Chimala Mission Hospital while doing so!! Win-Win!   Let’s see if we can raise more than $1,000!!

  I sometimes feel the biggest deterrent to updating my blog is trying to create a title.  I start to write and cannot think of a catchy title, so I just stop.  It has been 2 weeks since I updated you and so much has happened, I am sure I won’t remember it all.  I am going to put my request to you at the beginning as I don’t want you to stop reading and miss the big need we have at the hospital. As I informed you in previous blogs, the hospital has no available cash flow.  We barely make payroll each month.  The staff have not be receiving over-time, on-call or holiday pay for about 3 years now as we do not have any additional money.  They have not complained.  They work very hard.  The government required all hospitals to be on the same computer system so that reports can be sent  using this system.  We are trying to work with the minimum number of computers we can.  Several weeks ago, as you know we had a lightening strike wh...

 All the time… Things are moving forward a little every day.  We had a generous donor purchase 10 mattresses for the hospital!  Soon, we will have a decent place for our community to lay their sick heads while we and God treat them.  If you wish to contribute to this cause specifically, you can send funds to my work fund account at Dalraida church of Christ and put a note with it stating it is for mattresses. Brayan and baby Promise have continued to see the specialist in Mbeya for their condition.  I am hopeful that they will continue to do well until the special surgeon gets here in June/July.  Anyway, that is when we have be told he will be here…..but I have found in this country that may mean November/December.  Please continue to pray for these two boys.  We are providing baby Promise with special formula and vitamins to help boost his system. All of us at the hospital continue to evaluate our financials and look for ways to cut expenses as w...

 I have had a few people ask about more information on the cost of the mattresses.  We have 128 beds in our hospital.  Not all are adult beds, so we only need to fix about 100 mattresses.  The cost of purchasing new mattresses at this time is about $82.50 each.  We spoke to a tailor about the possibility of having him make us mattress covers.  The cost of covers is $22 each!  We are hoping to purchase 25 covers within a short time.  Then if money allows, we will purchase another 25.  Below is a picture and to me they look as good, if not better, than a new one. If you want to help with the mattresses, you may send money through Dalraida church of Christ for my work-fund and send a note saying it is for mattresses. The construction on the new OR suite is continuing. We were able to get insurance for Baby Promise, but not yet for Brayan.  We are continuing to work with Mbeya Hospital for his treatment.  We have now made 4 trips to the...

 Just like squirrels.  I like to call them my African squirrels.  This morning, there were around 30 squirrels in my yard.  One of them came up close to the house and stood on his hind legs to look in my window at my cat.  Oh! Yes!  I have a new baby kitten!  Anyway, I was not able to get a picture when the monkey was at the window, but I did manage to get one with him fairly close.  If you look closely, you will see several in this picture. This is Diamond, my new baby kitten. This has been a wonderful Sunday as two new souls were added to the Lord’s Kingdom!  Baby Promises’ mother and Grandmother were baptized today.  Ever since Frank and I first met with them and Baby Promise, they have been studying the Bible with Frank.   What a blessing!  I pray they will continue to study and grow to be strong Christians.   Mama Promise is not making enough milk to feed Baby Promise, so today we made a quick trip to another village ...

 For the many of the children here and in other developing countries.  This week we had a young boy, 11 months old who came in for an abdominal hernia.  The day he was due to be discharged, I went to check on him and found him to be malnourished.  He also has a twin sister, but she is much healthier.  Many times patients want to be discharged as quickly as possible as they cannot afford to pay for a long stay.  I spoke with the mother and a friend of hers about the concerns I had for the child.  His name is Benic.  I encouraged her to stay 4-5 more days to see if we could get his weight up.  A normal 11 month old should weigh around 19 pounds,  Benic weighed 12.5 pounds when I first saw him.  After 5 days of high calorie diet which included “Plumpy Nut”, which is protein high peanut butter, he weight 14.5 pounds.  He looked much better and so we let them go home.  He will follow-up with us at our malnutrition clinic next T...

Complications and issues to address.  Looks like I will be busy for a while.   My days have become a little routine of late…but I am sure they will lead to some pretty busy days in the near future.  Up at 6 and down to morning devo at the center of the hospital in the gazebo by 7:30.  Most days I make it a little earlier and check in on each of the patient wards just to say morning greetings and see how many patients we have.  Then I meet with Exavery who is the acting Hospital Secretary (Katibu). We discuss what will be happening today and the items we need to check up on from earlier days. The rest of the day is filled with meeting those who have been asked to do or make some changes to make sure thanks are moving in the right directions.  And, we have some potential hospital plans coming up in the near future which we have also been working on.  I will let you in on those things as we get started.   The hospital was all paper charts when I was ...

Are a great success!   I will admit that traveling from US to Chimala is not as easy for me as it used to be.  It was a long and stressful week as I mentioned last week.  This week, I spent all my time at the hospital re-orienting myself to the daily activities and condition of the hospital.  It was much what I expected and some what I didn’t.    Today, I made a trip with Frank from CSOP to Kapunga to meet 2 children with the same birth defect.  They do not have rectums and therefore have ostomies.  One of the children, Brayan, is  10 years old who lives with his grandmother.  In the Chimala newsletter a few months ago, Brayan was featured with a large abdomen due to a non-functioning ostomy.  Since that article, Brayan has had a large surgery to re-do his ostomy.  We praise the Lord for his full recovery.  The new ostomy is working for now.   However, Brayan has not been going to his follow-up appointments due to the...

 I seem to have left them in America!! My feet are nothing to look at, but if you look closely…..my ankles have disappeared!  They were gone when I got off the plane and after a week, I still have not found them! On a more pleasant note….I have made it to Chimala!  The trip here had many challenges, but I am now on the other side.  It was such a blessing to see the beauty of the green mountains and plains which I remember with such fondness.  And better yet was the sight of my many friends whom I have missed so much!  I arrived here late Friday night.  On Saturday, I unpacked and greeted those who came by the house to greet me.  Sunday, I visited the Chimala Mission church to let them know I was here.  On Sunday evening, we (Menard who interprets for me and I) went to the Chosi A church.  Those who have visited in the past will remember this church by two other fond names we have given it.  The first was “The Bat” church.  When...

 To Go and Trust in the Lord.  You know, I mentioned a few weeks ago how I struggle sometimes between whether God is speaking or I am wanting.  Well, I know without a doubt that God is telling me to go to Tanzania to help those I can.  I know He will be beside me in all I do.  Several weeks ago when I was informed to wait for the government paperwork, I delayed my trip.  I also prayed to God and told Him I was turning this over to Him.  At that time, there was nothing else I could do from here.  I had sent in all the papers requested from my side and all that was left was the approvals from the Tanzanian side. I listened to those who said wait and waited an extra 5 weeks to leave.  At this time, I am being pulled to go.  The time is now.  God is in control and He wants me to trust in Him as I go.  I will leave on Tuesday, March 22nd for Tanzania.  I plan to meet with the man who is working on my papers on Thursday to see w...

 I was all set to leave this next Tuesday.  However, just yesterday, I was informed I needed to delay my trip for another 3 weeks!  I must say that my heart fell just a bit.  I have been talking with people in Chimala and they are as excited about my return as I am.  I have already requested some paperwork from them and started doing some reviewing so I am up to speed when I arrive.   When I was getting ready to update you with this delay, I was trying to come up with some interesting way to tie this update to my last post of Speed-bumps and Hiccups.  I thought you might be interested in learning that there is one main Highway which goes from the east coast of Tanzania across the country and enters Malawi.  This highway is called the Tanzam Highway.  Once you enter Malawi on this highway you can continue on this highway all the way to South Africa.  Many refer to this highway as The Great Northern Road.  When I first started in Chim...

 Don’t you just love speed bumps.  They slow down your progress, but they can’t really stop you.  You just take them in stride and continue on.  Now I am sure you have had a few really bad encounters with speed bumps, just like I have.  I mean sometimes you find a speed bump where you lest expect it and you are cruising along when you hit it before you can slow down.  “Wham!”  You hit it hard and everyone in the vehicle flys out of their seat, hitting their heads on the ceiling or on the window.  Everyone yells “OW!”. Or how about the incessant episodes of hiccups that never seem to end.  They usually come out of nowhere, last so long that you start hurting with each hiccup.  Others around you try to make you stop with all their home remedies for them.  These episodes may slow you down for a short time, but eventually they go away and you continue on with what you were doing. Well,  My plans to return to Chimala have hit a smal...

 When God is talking to us?  When I believe He wants me to do this or that, how do I know it is really Him talking to me and not me just wishing it so?  When something bad happens, is He talking to me then too?  Or could that be satan?  I mean doesn’t satan work in our lives too?  My mother and I would talk often to each other about how God works in our lives and what it feels like to feel that God is guiding you to do something and also about how satan works against us.  We enjoyed these theological discussions and going back and forth.  Recently, the sermon at church was about will power and then turned to what I would say is God power.  Will power will only take you so far….it has limitations.  We must remember 2 things.  1). We must have faith in God and 2) we must have faith in the power of God.  A statement the preacher said which hit me was the definition of a Christian Atheist.  He believes in God but not in His po...

 In His own time.  As you know, if you have been reading my earlier reports, I left Chimala pretty abruptly in November of 2018.  The over-sight of the mission changed hands and I was requested to leave.  I never truly understood the whys, but always knew without a doubt that God was in control.  We may not always understand things that happen and don’t agree with them, but God is with us and uses all things for good for those who trust in Him.  At the time, I did not see the good…but now I do. I would never had left Chimala on my own.  It was where I felt strongly I belonged.  Yes I missed back home, but I was so happy doing what I felt God wanted from me.  I was sad to leave but the last 3 years were a gift.  I was able to spend 18 months with my mother before she went to her eternal home and 3 years with my dad.  I continually prayed during the last 3 years for God to show me where He wanted me. I hoped I would be able to return ...