My Journey

It always amazes me at the wonderful things God created in this world of His.  All around the globe are many beautiful splendors which many of us know about.  However, there are untold numbers of wonders created for our pleasure which are enjoyed by a few.  God's Bridge is hidden in the south of Tanzania and is completely natural and full of God's handiwork.  As you all know, pictures can never capture all of the beauty but I will share the pictures I have.   We walked up this rocky path.  I really wasn't sure where I was being lead to, but I was trusting my guides they were taking to see something awesome.  The path was a little steep, VERY uneven and quite intriguing.   After the climb up, we leveled off a little and then came to the steep steps down....Here the grass was gress and I could see a river.  It was starting to really catch my eye.  (however, I was not doing too well at catching my breath!  Whew, I am out...

The Masai have many traditions.  We were invited to join the tribe at Matebete for the celebration they hold when their boys become men.  We enjoyed an afternoon and evening as they butchered and cooked a cow.  We sat under the shade of a tree enjoying the quiet of the outdoors while the Masai served us a wonderful meal. We were then taken on a tour of the village and shown where the cow was skinned and butchered.  And then we watched as they cooked the beef and rice dishes.  It was such a great treat to be able to spend time with them.   This pile of black is the skin of the cow which was cooked for our eating pleasure.... Here you see where the meat has been cut into smaller pieces for cooking.  This is a small room in a mud house of one of  the villagers.  Note that it is laying on the dirt floor covered only with some dry corn stalks.   Some of the local women were dancing while the food was cooking....

Yesterday, Rene and I held our second mobile clinic at Mapangala.  At this clinic we provide weights for all children, vaccines for those who need them and pre-natal check-ups for pregnant moms.  We also provide a short educational talk related to pregnancy, child care or other related topics. We provided education to the mom's about proper nutrition during pregnancy and breast-feeding.  We held two classes: one for the early arrivals and then a second one at the end of the day for all the rest.  The second class was 3x's as big.  The women received the education very well.  Pre-natal vitamins are also very important to pregnant women and breast-feeding moms.  Many women do not take pre-natal vitamins due to the high cost, so Rene and I offered them one month of vitamins at a very low cost with the hope that they would take them.  We were pleasantly surprised at the positive response...we took 33 packets and we ran out!!  Next mont...

I have been told to "think outside the box" on various occasions.  However, I have never seen such a wonderful example of this as the one below. If you break a fender on your motorcycle and do not have the money to replace it, what do you do?  Well, I might try epoxy glue or maybe even duct tape if that didn't work, but the picture below is very impressive. I truly do not believe in all my "thinking outside the box" I would have evey thought to drill small holes along both sides of the break and then sew the fender back together.  How about you??!  

My first trip to Chimala Mission and the hospital was an experience in every department not just in the nursing area.  Below is what the registration area looked like.  It was a small room with barely room for a small desk, 2 workers and the files.  And the files.....I could not believe it.... They were pieces of paper folded in half and then stuffed in bins.  I could not even come close to estimating the number of files in this room.  It was an absolute mess.  The files went back more than 20 years.  I have begun the process of archiving (sending them to file 13) files where patients have not returned to the hospital in 5 years or more.  In other words, when I went through the 2006 files I only had around 75 files which I kept....the rest went to the burn pile. The picture below shows the files to be burned on the right and I have only gone through the first third of the bin on the left.  The dust, dirt and dead bugs in these papers...

I have been thinking about writing this blog for the past week.  Every time I think about what I must say the saying "a necessary evil" pops in my head.  So then I started asking myself  "Just what is a "necessary evil?"   "What evil could be necessary?"  Could any evil really be necessary?   So I have decided that what I need to say is really a "necessary dislike"!  I truly dislike having to write about what I MUST write about.  But here it is anyway.....FUND RAISING. So here it is...short, sweet and to the point. There are two financial needs which a missionary needs.  The first need is for personal support.  This support covers items such as food, clothing, insurance, medications, dental work, etc.  The second financial need is for "workfunds".  Workfunds are used to pay for anything needed for the mission work.  In my case this would include medications for mobile clinics, fuel for local travel, Tanz...

The season has changed quickly in the past 3 weeks from the wet to dry season.  This is the fall/winter season here.  The trees have quickly lost their leaves and the temperatures have become cooler.  Of course, cooler here is not really cold; the nights can get in the mid 40's and then the day temps will get up to mid 70's for about 3 or so hours during the early afternoon.  In the early evenings, cool breezes come down from the mountains. As the Oklahoma Christian University students left, we welcomed a group of 20 from Harding University in Arkansas.  This group is largely nursing students with a few nurses and doctors with them.  Janice Bingham, the nursing instructor and coordinator for this yearly group, lived here at Chimala for 5 years in the late 90's.  Her experience as a missionary here is of great benefit as she brings her students here to both learn and help here at the Chimala Hospital.  It is a great blessing to have these annual ...