New
Job...Again! Many
Looks Africa
Mercy
Mattru Screening
Screening Surprise
Ablavi & Brigette
Upcoming Dates
I’m beginning to feel like a broken record. Each newsletter
I’ve sent out in the past year has told you of a new position I’ve assumed.
Last December I became Project Coordinator for HealthCare Services, helping
our team leaders determine what they would be doing and the direction they
would be going. The proposals that resulted have already helped raise more
than $70,000 for the surgeries we provide and renovations to our
ward/pharmacy area.
At Easter I assumed the role of HealthCare Administrator,
overseeing the department as my predecessor moved on to interim Executive
Director for the ship. While I was home on leave this summer, I was
persuaded to change my plans, end my leave a month early, and go to the
Africa Mercy for 6 months.
As I write, I am sitting in cold, damp, northeast England and
helping with the construction and procurement decisions related to the
hospital portion of the new Mercy Ship. I’ll be the first to admit that this
was a difficult move to make and I struggle often with being here when my
desire is to be on the Anastasis in Sierra Leone. It is an act of
obedience on my part, one that I’m afraid I have not always lived out
cheerfully.
I was in Sierra Leone for from November 17 – December 1 to
help with the outreach start-up. On February 24 I will my role as HealthCare
Administrator on the Anastasis. In the meantime,
please pray that a replacement will be found for me here, someone with a
passion, vision, and skills to see this ship equipped; for Norma who has
assumed my HealthCare Administrator role on the Anastasis on an
interim basis and in December will assume the nursing supervisor role as
well; and for good contacts with companies for donations.
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My new job is multi-faceted. On any given day I may be
dressing up to attend a healthcare equipment exhibition or donning a hard
hat and steel-toe boots in order to show potential contractors around the
Africa Mercy. Most days I’m wearing three layers just trying to stay
warm! I’ve been charged with specifying & procuring the medical equipment
for the Africa Mercy, finding a company to design a medical gas
company, and reconciling job descriptions with an organizational chart.
The area shown in
the photo (left) will one day house a recovery room, 15-bed high-dependency
area, an ICU, and dental clinic for crew. You can still see the rails from
the time when the Africa Mercy served as a train ferry.
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The Africa Mercy is the newest addition to the Mercy Ships
fleet. When complete, she will have 6 operating rooms (theatres in the UK)
and 78 inpatient beds. Our intent is to continue providing some of the same
services we provide on the Anastasis, but perhaps broaden our scope within
the various specialties.
Dr. Glenn Strauss, an ophthalmologist who is now working part
time with Mercy Ships, has developed a procedure that corrects age-induced
farsightedness. Because the equipment and time required for this are minimal
and the benefits are substantial, it fits well with Mercy Ships.
We’ll also be able to perform a broader range of orthopedic
surgeries while continuing with maxillofacial and plastic specialties.
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In mid-November, ten of 10 of us drove two Land Rovers to
Mattru, Jong to hold a mini-screening at the hospital where I worked
from September 1988-February 1990 (before the war in Sierra Leone). We
selected 28 patients for surgery and gave an additional 5 appointments
for specialized screenings in January 2004.
This was a time of reunions as the screening team included
former missionaries Dan & Elaine Metzger, returning to Mattru for the first
time in more than a dozen years. Mohamed, our former cook at Harmony House,
now works as a watchman and helped us for the day as a translator. Some of
the nurses and aides remain. Each has his or her own tale of the war, often
a blend of sorrow and loss as well as God’s protection and provision. Life
remains difficult, but they continue to persevere.
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It’s taken me a while to write this letter, so we’ve
completed our screening in Freetown. My role this year was different than
any other time as I am no longer responsible for scheduling the operations.
For two days I stood at the front gate and told people no or maybe, but
never yes. It was fun to speak my broken Krio, using a translator only
occasionally.
The goal at the gate is to sort through the thousands who
come in search of help to identify those likely to benefit from the services
we provide. Friday afternoon a young man stood in front of me and said, “I
know you. You were in Mattru, Jong.” Immediately I tried to place him from
our recent visit, until he said his name was Patrick and he used to live
with Mama Stone, an elderly woman I frequently visited. Immediately, I
rattled off several names…George, Christiana, Augustine, Augustina…grandchildren
and grandnieces/nephews who boarded with Mama Stone. I’ve often wondered
what happened to these kids, but had no way to track them down.
Patrick and George were about nine and eleven the last time I saw them, so I was amazed that Patrick
recognized me.
They visited the ship on Sunday and I heard how Mama Stone
offered her life in place of George’s (the rebel was so shocked he didn’t
shoot either of them), how she invited the rebels to visit with her so she
could share the Gospel with them, and how George spent nine months hiding
beneath a bed. This visit was a highlight of my two weeks in Sierra Leone.
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About a month ago
I received an email update from Kokouvi to let us know that both
Ablavi and
Brigette died this past summer. Ablavi, you may recall, is the teenage girl
who came to the ship in late may, but we were unable to operate on her
because of the extensive malignant facial tumor. Brigette was a young girl
who came to the ship in Benin during our visit in 2001. When her large
facial tumor was removed, the biopsy taken during the operation showed that
the tumor had turned malignant. I know that Brigette knew Jesus personally
and is today enjoying his presence. For Ablavi I only know that she heard
of Jesus’ love for her and saw it demonstrated in the words and actions of
those who cared for her. I don’t know if she responded to that message. When
Kokouvi went to visit her village, her parents had moved to Lomé.
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