April 2016 DRC

After a couple weeks with intermittent electricity and no internet, I'm finally able to get some of these pictures posted.  April (and May, so far) was a very busy month.  I was the only non-Congolese physician here for a couple of weeks while all of the others were in Greece for a medical conference.

After 6 months of working with just 1 long weekend, I'm ready for a break.  I've taken a couple of days off this last week to try and catch up on e-mails, stuff at home, and (mostly) on sanity.  I've been enjoying the beautiful weather, the greeness that comes with the rainy season, and the time to talk with friends and family.

I'll be taking a couple weeks off at the beginning of June to spend some time with 2 of my sisters and my nephew.  We'll be meeting half-way in a city in Southern Spain.  I'm looking forward to time to relax and be encouraged.  And, I'm hoping that there will be some pretty significant changes with the maternity service when I come back.

  Some nurses are going to be shifted to other services where they will be better suited for the work.  And, unfortunately, we'll have to fire a nurse who has become negligent in their work.  This is extremely difficult to do in the Congo without going through the proper protocol and paying the person to leave.

  This change in personel, hopefully, will improve the quality of work in the maternity ward.  We will be bringing in some new nurses from the nursing school who are motivated, intelligent and ready to learn.  We'll be hiring a newly trained mid-wife to add to the one that we have. It will be a lot of time and work to train new nurses, but it will be nice to start with a fresh slate.

Please, continue to pray for safety.  In our area there hasn't been any recent violence, but there are areas south of us that are experiencing a lot of problems.  Also, pray for the hospital administration.  They often lack the training and tools to organize the hospital and it's finances.  And, pray for me, pray that I will have patience during the many changes.  And, pray that I will love the people here even though I sometimes get frustrated with how they work or don't work. 

    Fun times with neighbors

Different patients I've been working with.

Visitors