Seke!

(Note from Steve: I received the following post as an email today.  The group should be flying back now, but I wanted to forward this to you asap so that you can begin to picture what the group has been up to.)

The first question we need to ask here is: How long will this battery last? The generator is on from 7 to 10 p.m. It is on during the day when there are surgeries, most the time now that Drs. Smith and Moosavi are here slicing away. This is a different kind of living to which most are adapting quite nicely. We are staying at the hospital which has housing on the campus that is much better than we expected... flush toilets, beds, tile floors.

The doctors who work here all the time have reached hero status. Daily they face relentless challenges which require creative response to life or death situations. Miraculously, they have been gifted with the ability to nurture life in death riddled situations. They need encouragement, so please pray for them. Dr. ABD and Dr. Erdi (a Dutch doctor) deal not only with physical problems, but funding problems as well. Clearly their hearts are here and their integrity is solid. They love these people and are pouring their lives into them.

We arrived finally on Saturday after spending a night in Lungi because our flight came in late. I have learned that driving here, especially at night, is a ridiculous experience. (Ron got to drive one day and didn't kill anyone.) Every flight on the way here was either delayed or cancelled, yet in the end we were only 90 minutes later than expected. Getting from Lungi/Freetown to Makeni requires lining up our cars and loading on a ferry. It is time to go when the deck is full, and the last act is for the locals who are going across the river to run on. They ride for free and bring their wares across to sell.... baggies of water, bananas, mangoes, fish, coconuts, cigarettes, ground nuts, and a variety of other things that fit on a basket on their heads that might help them eek out an existence. We were, gratefully, met at the airport by Dr. ABD who has celebrity status in this country, apparently, and eased the customs process and led us smoothly thru the ferry process. Two hours or so later we laid our eyes on Magbenteh Hospital, Mallory and Kindel (Alma College students who arrived a week earlier) . Ahhhh.

On Sunday we got a tour of the hospital, and immediately Dr. Moosavi was called in to emergency surgery, and I was allowed to go in to watch. The first one involved a woman delivering who waited too long to come for help. The baby was dead and the mother didn't survive. It was a tough start.

The last four days Dean Wilson, Stephanie Benn, Mike Karr and the non-medical folk (Ron, Mal, Kindel, Kyle and me) headed a couple hours down the road into what we call The Bush. The ride on the road was like a Disney Land roller coaster gone bad, even with our wonderful local driver, Abraham. We went to Yele, the home town of Dr. ABD. People were waiting for us to arrive, and once we were there the mass of people multiplied exponentially. The medical people diagnosed and prescribed and the rest of us did intake, crowd control and pharmacy. Overwhelming. A local doc, Dr. Turay, went with us as the expert, though I must say our med folk were impressive. There is no way to see every person. Many of the complaints had to do with body pain....and who can wonder? These people walk everywhere and have no modern convenience to help with their farming and moving about. They work hard in order to survive and are desperate when help shows up. 

 

The surgical team has been pushing hard through 10 surgeries or more each day. To them I think Africa looks like the inside of the “Theatre” (operating room), but they love their jobs and are completely committed to doing as much good as possible.

A volunteer, Todd, who is here for 6 months has allowed me to use his computer, but warns me that we may or may not be able to send this, and it may or may not take several hours. But I am thankful for the chance to let you know a tiny bit of what is happening even as we wind down toward our going home, and thank you again for helping make this happen.

I have a thousand pictures of African children and each one is beautiful. Can't wait till I can post them for you.

Dbw

Virtual Africa: 3 days and packing!!!

Virtual Africa: 3 days and packing!!!: "I consider myself a multi-tasker, but really I just focus from one check list item to another. Once a fun night of welcoming the New Y..."

3 days and packing!!!

I consider myself a multi-tasker, but really I just focus from one check list item to another.  Once a fun night of welcoming the New Year in with some friends was over I realized that the next big, BIG event is to really get ready for Africa!   How can someone who started packing clothes in October when the weather changed feel so frightfully unprepared???   Ah, well.... I am surrounded by much more efficient and organized people than myself, so I will once again be grateful for the various gifts of the group that is going.  

This morning the church prayed for this group going to Sierra Leone.  Some people surrounded those of us who are going as we prayed and the rest of the congregation stretched an arm forward, open palm toward us as we prayed.  I was a mess... the songs had touched an emotional spot in my nervous heart and I was already teary (with no kleenex in sight.  Fortunately the hem of my dress is quite absorbent.)  As I looked around to see all those hands raised in support of this little posse of people who are traveling I was overwhelmed with a sense of ..... unity.  That's the best word I can think of for the sense of realizing the involvement that so many invested in this mission.  There are many who have no ticket for this adventure but who have given their time and energy toward making it happen.  Many have bought into it, literally, by supporting this blog.  Many have committed to praying for us continually.  Every palm outstretched was a silent cheer for all of us joining our lives to God's love for this world.  I looked and tried to memorize each face that was attached to the hands and I will thank God with every remembrance of you. We are united in this, you who read this in the states while a few of us experience it 5 hours ahead of you. What a unity!  What a gift! 

Information!! Woo Hoo!!!

Dec 12, 2010

As this trip so quickly approaches I want to have a basic background of Sierra Leone.  Also, I always need to practice with my blogging skills, so you get to learn with me.

The Republic of Sierra Leone (official name) hosts 5.7 million citizens and is in West Africa on the Atlantic Coast.  The capital is Freetown. founded in 1787 as a home to many repatriated slaves.  (Names communicate a lot, don’t they?)  English and Krio are spoken, along with many other African languages.  Islam and Christianity are the main religions (I think I read 30% Christian somewhere) The GNI per capita is $320, and life expectancy is 46 (men) and 49 (women).  To put that in perspective, I would, statistically speaking, have one foot in the grave.  Wow.  While Sierra Leone has had some economic growth in recent years, and would like to develop in the tourism industry, it still ranks at the bottom of the UN’s League for human development.  Just this year (2010) the UN Security lifted the last sanctions, establishing that 8 years after a brutal, decade long civil war, the government has established enough control over it’s territory and disarmed rebels.  Diamonds are a major export, still, and the human desire for the wealth they bring helped fuel the war in which rebels hacked off hands and feet of their victims.
 I am really going to try to watch the movie Blood Diamond before I go in an effort to grasp a glimpse of the trauma many of those I will meet have endured.  This kind of movie is not my usual fare as I have an over active picture archive in my brain, and I cannot imagine the reality of such evil.  I watched the movie Amistad, years ago (about a ship commandeered by slaves that landed in America) and can still see it in my mind.  Perhaps you would watch either or both of these movies in the next month ‘with’ me???.
On the bright side, cocoa and coffee are also major exports, so maybe my hot chocolate fix will be met.
On the interesting side, in June 2009, there were 13,900 internet users in Sierra Leone.  That’s .5%.  I plan to be one of them while I’m there..... :)
Well, school is cancelled tomorrow, so there’s your educational moment.

Have I mentioned lately how grateful I am that you are with me in this?
Dawn

Ambulance to Atlanta

Atlanta, here we come!

The Ambulance of Adventure

 9 December 2010       

“The Lord said, ‘Leave your country, your people...your household...and go to the land I will show you.’” Genesis 12:1

This is the scripture that kept coming to mind as we drove from Alma toward Atlanta...without specific directions of our intended destination.

Why do people shudder a bit when they hear that Sue Stack and I drove an ambulance to Atlanta?  We only used the siren and lights when we arrived at my friends home in Nashville, which I’m sure she (and her neighbors) appreciated.  We might have used the bullhorn to gently remind freeway drivers that they were WRONG to text behind the wheel.  Other than that, we were the very picture of responsibility....except maybe when we wore the antlers provided by Stephanie Benn in our fun little care basket.    Let me regress in my story.

An ambulance was generously donated to the Sierra Leone project by MMR.  It was filled (and I mean to the brim) with medical supplies and equipment and parked in the church parking lot to await shipment.  Dr. Cujo (and I might be making up stuff here, but this is what I understand) knows a man in Atlanta who ships stuff to Africa regularly and is willing to help us.  We only needed to deliver the vehicle to him.  Other, less scary, drivers (Jeff Smith and Dean Wilson) were unable to make their schedules work to do the deed, so Sue and I found ourselves with keys, title and a gleam in our eyes. 
We decided to leave on Wednesday evening.  It seemed a good idea to ease into this long drive as the ambulance had probably not been driven more than 20 miles at a stretch.  Just before we left, Dean assured us that someone would pick us up at the airport on Saturday, so we didn’t need to leave a car at the Flint airport.  YEAH!!  That saved us more than an hour and no little stress.  So we headed for Anderson, IN to tick some hours off the trip and spend the night with Savas and Olive Joannides (my adopted parents).  Since they are in their eighties we asked them to warn their neighbors of our peculiar ‘car’ which would be parked in their driveway.  They are wonderful people who are hospitable at any time of the day.
Thursday morning we met Sage and some of her friends for breakfast at Anderson University, and to show them our fun ride.  There’s nothing quite like yelling of your love for your child through a loud speaker as you drive away. 
Our destination dujour was Nashville where my Phoenix  friends, Kim and Lynn Smith, now live. Now, I’m telling you that little diesel fed engine can get going!!  So we found ourselves with a little extra time as we fueled up in Bowling Green, and there was a Lost River Cave right there on our exit, so Sue and I decided to do a little tourist-y excursion, and we went and found that Lost Cave!  After that, we found our way through Nashville rush hour to the Smith’s where years melted away as we explained our mission and heard of their life adventures.  What a beautiful gift to have this oasis of welcome from missed friends!

The tires were looking a little low, so we thought we’d check the pressure before we left Tennessee, but we couldn’t even find the tire stem, so we trusted that we were low riders because of the great weight of gifts we were carrying and headed south again.  We wanted to avoid Atlanta traffic and make sure we could find the address that had finally arrived in a text from Dean.  As we followed the GPS which we finally plugged in, we were led through more and more....’interesting’ places.  Doors locked, sirens at the ready..... and we arrived at the gates of.....a chop shop???  Wrecked cars littered the lot in front of a metal warehouse.  A man whose name I wasn’t sure of came and greeted us, directed us to pull into the quagmire of cars and park.  Before we had our stuff out of the ambulance, there were guys measuring and rearranging items and talking about taking off the bumper and side lights.....  It was a bit unsettling.  Sue, quick, called her friends, Jen and Micheal Dickey, our mooching point of the night.  In the hour that we waited we were engaged in a fairly intense conversation about the Muslim Faith and Jesus, and I am reminded that it is important to know who I am, what I believe and why I believe it.  Not so that I might present an iron clad argument to another, but so that I will be filled with gratitude of the love of God and his desire to be in relationship with me, His creation.  A desire so profound that he would wrap His holiness in skin and walk before, beside and behind me.  Even in this ridiculous Atlantic Adventure any good deed done is only in response to the goodness of God.  How lucky Sue and I are to have journeyed together!  What a gift!!!

(P.s.  Thanks to the leftovers we packed for lunch, Stephanie’s goodies in our surprise basket and the generosity of our friends along the way, this trip cost us diesel–about $250- , airfare to return- about $200, and a few blessed days of our lives–priceless!!!)

Savas and Olive Joannides

Sue's friends in Atlanta

Sage and friends...breakfast

Lost River Cave has been found!

Lynn, Dawn's friend

So, where do we put in air?

welcome sight?

will the ambulance be shipped or sold for parts? (jk)

Practice Adventure

30 Nov 2010

  Just when it looked like there was part of a week to breathe in, opportunity knocked.....or flashed it's lights and honked.  There is an amazing ambulance sitting in the parking lot of church that has been donated to Footprints Missions for the work in Sierra Leone.  In order to ship it, maybe in time to have it their for our visit, it needs to be transported to Atlanta, GA.  Now, who has the time and spirit for a road trip as Christmas approaches??  Well, Sue Stack and I do!  At least we do now as we shuffle schedules and find a way to embrace this chance to assist the process of helping others.  It is clear and humbling how my choices affect the lives of others.  Because I choose to be gone, Steve, especially,  has added responsibility.  And he supports this effort without complaint.  What a guy. 

So many details I don't know as I pack a carry on bag for the return flight.   Who do we meet to hand over the ambulance?  What papers do we need so that it all goes smoothly?  Is there anything I am supposed to do here before I go?  Is there really a special switch to turn off the battery?  Where?  What if we break down?  And.... can we turn on the lights and drive fast????  Please?????  Dean Wilson should answer all these questions tomorrow afternoon.  (should we ask him about the siren?  or is this a case of 'better to ask for forgiveness than permission'???)  Then we're on our own.  Makes me feel like a non-swimmer standing on the diving board knowing I'm going to jump in --and drive this over-grown van to a place I don't know and send it to a place I have never been. 
Ticket-less travel has me feeling a little edgy too.  Did I click all the right buttons when I purchased the tickets on line?  Will they really know that I have a spot on that plane just by giving them my name?  I don't think I've ever flown one way before.  How early do I really HAVE to be at the airport?  Will I make it back for Ben and Teri's wedding??  And....what to do if I get chosen for one of those intimate scans?  Do I say "thank you" for that???  So, so many questions.

The part of me that wants to panic is soothed by the giddiness I feel at knowing that Sue Stack is in this with me.  She isn't going to Africa in January, but she has the heart of a missionary and the spunk of a Yellowstone geyser. I am so thankful for her continual sense of adventure that allows her to jump with me in this, and her capable and supportive family that sends her without guilt. 

A few details I do know:  we will drive my car to the Flint Airport so we have wheels upon our return.  We will take a little bit longer route (about 1 hour) to go via Anderson (to briefly see my 'adopted' parents and Sage) and Nashville where we will spend the night with some friends of mine....hence, no hotel cost, but lots of catching up!!  On Friday, we will get the ambulance where it needs to go in Atlanta, then stay with friends of Sue (again, free digs!).  By leaving Saturday morning we save money on the tickets, and we allow more time for any glitches in the transfer on Friday.  On paper, at least, this all seems quite smooth.  I look forward to relating the wonderful experiences that await us.  Already I am thankful for the way this has dovetailed into life.  And I am grateful that you will be praying for us as we travel and do our best at serving the cause of Love. 

        So is this what always happens in adventure?  It begins with fears and questions and ends with gratitude as blessings and provisions are revealed.  For all of us.....I sure hope so.
dbw