A Packed Full Three Months...

I can't believe it has been three months since my last BLOG. Okay, I can. I know I haven't gone on Blogger.

I left The Gambia in the middle of June. The rains had just started. The clinic was closed until my return the second week of August.


I arrived safely in the US and was met at the airport by Darlene Gabler. We first met in candidate school. Darlene is a church planting assistant in Mexico City, Mexico. It was such a blessing that God allowed us to meet up. Darlene drove me from Baltimore to Harrisburg. What a friend! We had a great visit as we shared what God has been doing in Mexico and The Gambia.


My first assignment in the US was to attend the Medical Mission Interface at ABWE. My goal was to present The Gambia to recruit individuals willing to come out for short term stints, 2 weeks to a year or two. I had a great time at the meeting. I praise God for the many contacts made and the one who is coming out in October.


This summer was full of many special blessings. One such blessing occurred at MMI. I was able to be present when Dr Irene Alyn, Dr Lois Baker, and Dr Caroline Carlson received an award for their volunteer service with ABWE in Medical Missions. Drs Alyn and Baker were two of my instructors when I attended Cedarville University. What a special opportunity to be able to be present.

After my meetings at ABWE, I went to see an Endocrinologist for my blood sugar problems. It was very interesting. I had a LOT of blood work done, both before the appointment and afterwards. I returned a month later for my follow-up appointment and heard a lot about what I don't have. It was fun to ask the doctor, "but what do I have?" The answer: Reactive Hypoglycemia. The treatment: a diet of protein and good carbs (just a bit). He suggested taking a prescription over with me, that would help if the really low blood sugars returned. I am thrilled that God has seen to it that my blood sugars have stabilized again. I have been to the store to buy supplies for a meter as well as the prescription. I was a bit blown away with the cost of things. Praise God He isn't caught by surprise.

My time in Harrisburg finally came to an end. My sister and nephew drove up from West Virginia to take me to the mountians. The last 7 miles included 45 turns at a 9% grade incline. My ears popped 15 times. I was sure I was going to have altitude sickness. The Gambia is just above sea level; the mountains are beautiful though. (After you get rid of the road induced nausea.) The stars were very nice, but they are beautiful and so bright in Ndungu Kebbeh.

I enjoyed my time with my sister. My parents came up for a visit. It was great to see them again. I was able to go to a wedding in Jamestown, New York. I made a whirlwind trip. It was great to see the folks at First Baptist Church Cherry Creek. Thank you for letting me share.

I returned to my sister's new home to help her prepare for her daughter's wedding that would be the 2nd of August in Schroon Lake. I also prepared to return to The Gambia. Then it was time to head to the Adirondacks. I got to see a lot of mountains this trip. Jessica and her fiance traveled over from Ohio and met us there. We had a great week preparing for the wedding.

The wedding was officiated by Pastor Herrmann from a supporting church in Thurman, NY. It was great being able to see so many supporters. Thanks for your prayers.

As I prepare to return to The Gambia I am excited about what God has been doing this summer. A few weeks ago I received the news that the Lippy family will be returning to The Gambia in three weeks. God is good! Pray for the Lippy's as they prepare to return to The Gambia and start language school.

I am looking forward to having a short term visitors from America throughout the Fall. I have volunteers lined up for 2-6 week stints now through the first of November. Pleasae pray God would send help in November as well.

Thanks for your prayer and your encouragment. I am sorry I didn't get to see many of you.

I love Wednesdays...

Because Wednesday is the official start of the clinic week, I feel like most of my weeks have two Mondays. Some weeks that is okay, and some weeks it is by calling upon the grace of God that I get through it.

Today was a fun Wednesday. I arrived at the clinic pretty much on time. (Major miracle... I hate mornings.) I have prayer with Teresa, find where I am on the John tape to play for the clinic patrons... and read that section in my Bible before heading out. The yard men meet me, I forgot their key, so had to go home for it. They decide to whitewash the last of the clinic building today. : ) The whitewash job should be finished by tomorrow!! The three guys have been whitewashing every building on our compound. They started about 5 weeks ago. (They have had time off and they have done other jobs, but it has been five weeks.)

Half way through our clinic day I plan to meet with our staff to tell them about our summer plans. I missed judged my patient load and didn't get to talk with them until about 11 am. After chatting with the staff, I saw a few more patients and then headed to the cillage to pick up Joanne. We were going to go talk to the head of the Village Development Council, about the summer closure. I take Joanne along, not for moral support, but so that she can clean up my Wolof. We had a great time with Malik... who is Joanne's son. (All very gambian here... her namesake, is Malik's mother... therefore, it could be said that Joanne is his mother. She is my mother too. I remind her of that sometimes.) On my way back to the clinic I pass a woman and her young son and he has a huge wrap on his head. Turns out he was getting Mangos out of a tree and was hit in the head by a stick. Nice gash! I had them get in the car and took them to the clinic andthen sewed him up! I finished seeing patients at about 2 pm, just had a quick bite to eat and now I am off to the office. I have a man coming to get our butane bottles this evening. Another man is coming to fill in a sink whole (a tree used to stand there... until we burned it out... it burned for weeks.) My yard crew should be back any minute to start the lst of the touch ups with whitewash. What a day!

The sad news is... the humidiy is coming back. It was 95 degrees with 705 humidity in the clinic today... that would be about 122 degrees. : ) Praise God for showers and running water!

Chat at ya later!

Relaxing Weekends Gone in a Minute.

Teresa liked heading to Banjul for a treat so much last weekend that she suggested we do it again. I was game. It has been pretty hot here in NK, I wondered if I could talk her into going in for a day or two and going to a pool. It was easy to talk her into it. So, Friday afternoon, we packed up our stuff and headed out. It would be a very relaxing weekend. We weren't going to take a car, we had no shopping to do. Arriving in Barra, our ambulance driver dropped us off a the ferry, when we bought our ticket we discovered they were already in the process of loading foot passengers. Praise God, we didn't have to wait in the hot sun. Upon arrival in Banjul, one of the two taxi drivers I have used in the past and trust found us at the ferry and offered to be our taxi. We introduced him to the fruit cocktail drink and a schwarma sandwich at the KING OF SCHWARMA downtown Banjul. Delicious. Then it was off to the money exchanger, the roadside veggie stand, and the grocery store. We arrived at our place in Ker Serin in rare form. Friday evening was a relaxing time. Saturday noon we spent the afternoon at a new to us pool. As patrons of the restaurant, you can use the pool. We never had, but it was great! No one around, very quiet. Saturday evening... more rest. Sunday, church... what a blessing the music is to Teresa and I. One of the families that has been attending has a teenage son who plays the flute, another woman who attends with her husband plays the keyboard. I think both of these families are from Korea. Other Sundays we may have a violinist, and maybe a guitarist. In Ndungu Kebbeh it is accapella, so we are always blessed to hear the instruments.

After church, Teresa and I headed to one of our favorite hotels, great pool, okay food. I hadn't been there since I returned to The Gambia. Strolling down the side walk I hear my name... (not unusual.. but my English name... very unusual. It was the lady from the front desk, I may not have been there in two years, and since the quest house opened up I haven't stayed there... but I am still known. (pretty cool!) The pool was indeed great and the owner has made several improvements. The only improvement we saw in the area of the kitchen was a great new seating area. (Yup, the food was still lacking, but great pool and the price was right.)

After two wonderful days of relaxation Teresa and I braved the return to NK. Adelia, our team mate that runs the guest house, drove us the Banjul where we ran some errands and then she took us to the ferry. It was exciting to see a ferry lined up at the dock. That is until I ran into one of the sellers I know... she told me to go have a seat somewhere. It would be a while before we would leave... the president was crossing. We waited a total of 2 hours, as we waited we counted our blessings....1) we weren't under the direct sun, we were fairly close to a ceiling fan, 2) the bathrooms weren't near by (you can figure out why that would be a blessing) 3) we didn't have a crying, wet baby on our backs... Arriving in Barra, we were able to get a taxi (opting for a private one not a bush one) and were home in no time. It is hot, there is a slight breeze, the shower was great and it is good to be home. Oh, but the best was that on the way home we passed all the school kids that were waiting at the side of the road for the president to pass by. He made a detour north and then will come this way. As the driver passed the school children in our village and they saw me sitting in the car... you could hear them start to chant... Maam Soxna, Maam Soxna. What a welcome home!

The work week starts as soon as I open my door. I need to find something for lunch first. Have a great week.

How Do Your Tea Times End?

Today, being Monday, is a favorite time of mine. I actually look forward to Monday afternoons. Tea Time. No, not the British flair. There are no biscuits or scones. Gambian Style Tea Time. It doesn't happen at a specific time everyday, except at my place. Mondays from 4:30-7. Anyone who comes can join the fun. I like to tease that the national beverage in The Gambia is Attaaya. (Chinese Green Tea, but believe me this form has caffeine.) They brew it in little teapots. Then add a lot of sugar. When it is nice and strong, it is poured from one glass to another, to get a nice head of foam. Then the two glasses are rinsed with water and the serving begins. : ) Each Monday, my friend comes to brew the tea and have a chat. Today, she arrived a little later than usual and was in a bit of a hurry, no time for tea, let us just do the milk (warmed and then mixed with sugar, add a little vanilla and YUM!) So, I agreed, that was okay with me. Then I learned she had a baby naming ceremony celebration going on at her compound. So, she brewed, we all chatted.... by the end there were six adult women, one teenage gal and five young girls. We all enjoyed the milk.

My friend left and told me that next week she wouldn't be able to make it, but in two weeks she would be back. I stayed and chatted with the others and then slowly they left. It was a little early and still light out. So, I picked up my magazine and settled back to enjoy a rare quiet moment. About twenty minutes later I looked up to see my friend walking back into the compound and behind her was a horse and cart. I saw about five young men on that and behind it was my friend's husband, who is one of our ambulance drivers. My friend then told me, her son (most likely a nephew) was hit in the head with a metal door. It fell on him. I did a quick assessment and asked her husband to get one of our Gambian staff nurses to ride along with them in the ambulance. I ran for supplies and started an IV, by the time I had the patient ready for transport all the necessary staff had arrived. I worked right at the horse cart. (I just brought out the supplies I would need.) My coworker Teresa thinks she needs to follow me around with a camera. I was starting the IV as she came upon the scene.

By the time they arrived at the referral hospital, the man was awake and when asked where he was he said he was at my house. I am not sure what to think of that... my house looks like the inside of an ambulance. No, I took it as a good sign, he knew my name and that that is where he would go for help. Pray for BD. He stayed at the referral hospital just long enough to get into their ambulance for the ride to the city hospital on the other side of the river. Again, I am praising God for the resources he has given us to help our neighbors.

You just never know how Tea Time may end. Now we know why my friend needed to leave early and why the rest of the group left earlier than normal. God has an amazing plan!

Things that bite...

Okay, years ago when I told my family I was going to be living in Africa.... there was some laughter. I HATE bugs, spiders,snakes,etc. I have done pretty good here, by the grace of God. I have seen a few snakes, most of them are dead when I see them. (PRAISE GOD) I have lizards living in my house (they eat mosquitoes that carry Malaria, so they are welcomed). I have had the rare scorpion, centipede, baby snakes, and a critter from the mouse family.

I woke up this morning to find this cute(?) little (okay, I added the fly swatter so you could see he isn't exactly little) critter, dead at the side of my bed. Apparently he was under my throw rug and met his demise because he couldn't see what was landing on him.

The last few mornings I have awoken with strange bites. We are now wondering if this is the culprit. I don't want to really think about it. I took the photo across the street to my tomaa and she said yes, they bite. Deb says that they bite but it doesn't bother you right away and then it gets sensitive to pressure. YEAH! That's the one. He feasted on my leg the other night, three right in a row.

Gives new meaning to sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite.

Thanks for your prayers.

APRIL 2008
Lately I have had my hands full. No, not with Adama and Awa, but I thought they were a cute picture of full arms. Their mother is a dear friend and this is her second set of twins. The older set is now five. Hadam also has a three year old girl. She really has her hands full.
I am very thankful for your prayers and partnering with me in the ministry here in The Gambia. It has been an interesting time. I will give you a review of the last few months.
January
Wow, it has been a long time. January is suppose to signal the start of the quieter season at the clinic We really haven’t seen that as I am still being called in frequently for children with severe Malaria. Once in a while I get called down for an adult that needs medication and couldn’t make it during the clinic hours.
One of the encouraging things that happened in January was a visit from our regional administrator and his wife.(Ron and Ann Washer) They brought along a couple who are looking to change fields of ministry. It was a blessing to hear about their many years of service in Zambia.
I was making home visits to a few patients in the NK area. One of my patients came from the city to be treated here and refused to be transported to the referral hospital. When he was much better, I did finally convince him to go, he needed TB testing. I enjoy the home visits as it gives me an opportunity to get off the compound and into the village; all though the late at night home visits aren’t as much fun. Teresa usually joins me on these as my chaperone and driver.
February
For a short month it was packed full of things. I found myself making more home visits and getting ready for our quarterly field meetings. These were held in Banjul and the three of us packed up and went across together. We had some fun shopping. You would have enjoyed a picture of the vehicle when we returned to NK. I (sitting in the back seat) was part of the baggage.
During our team meetings, it was decided that I will return to the USA in June to attend MMI (Medical Missions Interface) and represent The Gambia. Please pray with me that I would present the clinic ministry in God’s view and that God would provide short term help in the form of Dr.s and nurses to come to The Gambia and help during the busy rainy season.
During this month I was also preparing for short term help in the form of an MD and maintenance on the compound in NK. How much whitewash do you need to buy for all the buildings we have? We made a guess and I have two big buildings and three small buildings to go. I think we guessed pretty close. God blesses!
On a family note: My niece, Jessica Fish, emailed me; she is planning an August 2nd wedding to Patrick Gernert. The wedding will take place in the Adirondacks. I am planning on spending my yearly vacation in the USA so that I may attend this happy family event. I am praying that I may be able to touch base with my supporting churches in that area while I am there.
March

God has been quite faithful to the three of us gals out here in Ndungu Kebbeh. We have experienced safety as we travel, safety from the snake that wanders our compound, joy in our work and God blesses us in that usually only one of us is sick, or physically down at a time. The other two are great at encouraging the one that needs help. Our prayer meetings can get very lengthy as we share with each other the joys and heartaches of our individual ministries. Praise God this month saw the believers returning more faithfully to Bible study and I was able to start a Bible time for the children at the Literacy Centre’s Library.
This month saw the arrival of the Marrie family. Stacie was a BIG encouragement in the clinic. I know we didn’t keep her quite busy enough (I was thankful it was quieter) and she would have to call me for in the evening and night visits because we no longer have an interpreter on the grounds. I did send for her one time. The guard (who really doesn’t speak English) arrived at her house, knocked at the door and said “Doctor, Soxna, Lopitaan you come.” And come she did. I kept Jim busy with various unpleasant maintenance projects. I was also busy this month doing electrical work at the Literacy Centre (I changed out their inverter) and plumbing work on the compound with Jim.
I started the kids Bible time at the library and it was cancelled for two weeks due to Easter break. We had a quiet Easter celebration. The Marrie family doubled our church attendance. We viewed a few clips from the That The World Should Know series by Ray Vander Laan and Focus on the Family. It is a great video series about the Holy Land. We then had an Easter meal together and lots of fellowship.
April
April continues in the steps of being a busy month. Stacie Marrie led an In-Service Day for the clinic staff. It was a fun day, a bit hot in the classroom and Jim would say it was really hot where he spent his morning… a hot aluminum roof. The staff enjoyed their lecture topics and the Gambian meal that followed. I was a little run ragged by the end of the day; my house had three cooks and the clinic staff traipsing through. It was a fun day and I am glad we were able to offer this training to our staff.
The Marrie family left on the 10th of April. We hope they get to return to warmer weather than what they left. After spending a few 100 plus degree days here, forties may not feel so well. I praise God it is still cool in the mornings and evenings. The Marrie’s would laugh when we would mention getting a sweater or blanket.
Praise
1) The Bible club with the neighborhood children has started and I have over forty in attendance each week.
2) The Marrie family came and they were a blessing in the clinic and doing a lot of work around the compound.
3) The believers have begun to return for regular Bible study.
Prayer
1) The young woman who needs to have emergency surgery is still waiting. The family said the doctor will now do it on 21 of April. Thank you to those who gave money toward her surgery. I will keep you all informed as I hear.
2) MMI June 19-22, I will represent The Gambia. I am asking God to provide short term help for the months of August through December. I have eight weeks remaining: mid Sept- mid Oct and the month of November. Pray for my travel and time with Family and churches. Pray for transportation needs to be worked out.
3) I am having difficulty with my hand and arm. I am not sure what is going on, I have resumed all my therapy.
4) Pray for my meeting with the Department of Health regarding my returning to the US this summer. Also, pray that God may fill those gaps in the fall with short term MDs and/or nurses so that we can open the clinic full time and open the hospital.

Phil 3:14 As I serve God here in The Gambia, I press toward the mark.

Another Crazy Period of Time

I think I should change my goal of writing a blog frequently. I have had to crazy a life.

I should share some of the successes God has given to me and my patients. One of our bakers is a diabetic. He was really sick in February and our Gambian staff treated him. When he did not improve he came to see me. I was able to check his blood sugar and discovered that he was out of control. I sent him to Banjul. The Drs there treated his pneumonia and sent him home on his oral diabetic meds and had him purchase a vial of insulin. He was then told to see me the next day and I would start his insulin. HA-HA. NOT! I adjusted his meds for a week and read up on insulin. I prayed a LOT. Finally, I had to face it, he needed insulin, but not as much as the dr in Banjul thought. I reduced it and gave him his first injection, explained what to do if he felt like his blood sugars were too low. That started my twice a day trips to his compound. I was able to decrease the insulin dose further and teach his wife and daughter how to give the injections. I had to go into Banjul to pick up Dr Marrie and family, so I left the medication filled syringes with him. His daughter did a pretty good job while I was away. Praise God I was able to continue to decrease his insulin and now he is feeling great and on just oral medications! God is good. The family tries to give me the credit, I won't take it. It has opened the door for talking about God and how HE provides. Yesterday I saw the baker in the clinic. He is feeling and looking great. He told me his children would be bringing me something that afternoon. I received the nicest loaves of bread I ever saw. They were tasty.

I recently saw a four month old whom I had treated at home for an abcess when he was just a newborn. He is growing so fast and is so big now. His mother and I gave praise to God for helping him.

Dr. Stacie, Jim, Ryan and Megan have returned to the US of A. It is lonely, (aka quiet) here now. Teresa and I miss Megan, she was full of energy and fun to have around. I would love to rematch Ryan in ping pong. I think we are even, two games a piece. How did I let him leave the country with that score. HMMM

Before Stacie left, we had an In Service Day for the clinic staff. It was a fun, hot day. Stacie gave three lectures, I only gave one little one. I over saw the good stuff, breakfast and lunch!

Well, Blogger won't let me up load the photos I have for this post.... so until later. Have a wild one!