Hello from Congo.
Bonjour du Congo.
I hope everyone is enjoying the end of July heat! I thought I’d share some things that
I’ve found myself saying or heard other people saying in the last several
months.
J'espère que tout le monde profite du chaleur au fin Juillet! Je pensais de partager certaines choses que j'ai entendu au cours des derniers mois.
“Hey, I was going to Skype, but a tree branch fell on the
internet wires.”
"Hey, j'allais Skype, mais une branche d'arbre tombé sur les fils de l'internet."
“Can I call you back?
I can’t hear anything because of the rain on the tin roof.”
“Um, we can’t do your case today because there isn’t any
water at the hospital.”
"Um, nous ne pouvons pas faire ta cas aujourd'hui parce que il n'y a pas de l'eau à l'hopital."
“Are there any gloves around?”
“Maybe check in the OR.”
“Oh, there aren’t any in the whole hospital?”
"Est-ce qu'il y a des gantes?"
"Puet-etre verfies à la salle d'op."
"Ah, il n'y en a pas dans l'hopital?"
"Is that a child or goat crying?"
"C'est un enfant ou une chèvre qui crie?"
“I think he had an anaphylactic reaction to Malaria.”
“Is that even a real thing, or are you just making it up?”
“It’s real. I
read this study….”
"Je penses qu'il a eu une réaction anaphylactique à la malaria."
"C'est réal, ou tu l'imagines?
“Was that your 3-legged dear making that noise or you?”
"C'était toi ou le cerf avec trois pattes qui fait ce bruit?"
“I’m going to catch a chameleon.”
"Je vais attraper un caméléon."
“Do you have any jet fuel so I can kill these ants?” (An
infestation of army ants…think the very last, very terrible Indiana Jones
movie).
"As-tu carburéacteur afin que je puisse touer ces fourmis?"
“Hey, where did you get those Skittles?”
"Hey, tu as trouvé ces Skittles où?"
“I’m so stoked. I found 4 tires for my 4 wheeler in Dubai. And, it only cost $80 to ship them to
Uganda!”
"Je suis tellement content. J'ai trouvé 4 pneus pour mon 4 roues à Dubaï. Et, il ne coûte que $ 80 à les expédier en Ouganda!
“So, I bought this machete to take back to the US as a
souvenir and then noticed the ‘made in China’ sticker on the handle after I got
home.”
"Alors, je l'ai acheté cette machette pour reprendre aux États-Unis comme un souvenir, puis remarqué le Made in China autocollant sur le manche après je suis rentré."
“I totally found soda water and it’s made in Butembo.”
(about 6 hour drive from here)
"J'ai trouvé eau gazifiée et c'est fait à Butembo." (à peu près 6 hours en voiture d'ici)
“Sorry it’s your day off, but…”
"Désolé, il est ton jour off, mais...."
To a MAF pilot’s wife who is 6 months pregnant, never been
out of the US before, and arrived 2 weeks ago: “I think you have a kidney
stone. Did you bring anything
stronger than Tylenol with you?”
Pour la femme d'un pilote de MAF qui est enceinte de 6 mois, n'a jamais été hors des États-Unis avant, et est arrivé il y a 2 semaines: "Je pense que vous avez une pierre au rein. Avez-vous apporté quoi que ce soit plus fort que Tylenol avec vous? "
I think you get the idea.
Je pense que tu as compris l'idée.
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| Outside the airport in Bunia waiting to send off Willem and Joanna after Willem had an anaphylactic reaction to malaria. Notice the plane in the background (a remnant from the war). |
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| You can fix anything with duct tape! |
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| Removing fibroids (muscle tumors) from the uterus. |
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| Celebrating the advancement to the nursing students to the next year. |
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| A type of ginger candy that apparently is great for nausea in pregnancy. It was brought by a team of people who worked with the youth for 2 weeks. |
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| A mom finally going home after several weeks in the hospital. She had developed a hole from her bladder into her uterus after trying to deliver her baby. It's a miracle the baby is alive and great that the mom goes home healed. |
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| Me with Salama, the midwife in charge of maternity, and my 'I love Detroit' t-shirt from my grandma. |
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| Celebrating the last week of training for 2 of the doctors (Nono and Emmanuel). They are hoping to get their license numbers so they can start working. It can take months or years for people to get their number. |
Pray for peace in the country as elections are likely to be postponed or cancelled.
Pray for a sense of team unity.
Thank God for good health and the ability to work.
Pray that we will continue to make wise decisions in helping and supporting people in what they do here (most of us have multiple people asking for help with building homes, buying food, paying for schooling, helping with medical expenses).
Many thanks to all of you who continue to pray and support me in the work that I'm doing here. Thank you, too, for the very generous gifts in order to purchase the new ultrasound. We are waiting for a backordered part and then someone to hand deliver it to Nyankunde.
Upcoming plans:
August: Maybe going to see Goma at the end of this month (a town south of here) if I can catch a flight with MAF.
December: Christmas in Nyankunde
January: tentative plans to travel to a different hospital in Africa to see working conditions, etc
February 13-23: CMDA medical conference in Thailand!
May: finish 2 years with Samaritan's Purse
June: return to the US
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