Ready or Not, Here I come

As a child, we loved to play hide and seek.  And most of us remember that refrain that was uttered at the end of the countdown--"ready or not, here I come."  And if you had not yet found a good place to hide, what scurrying around was accomplished in that little bit of time! I really hate to apply that analogy to leaving for Ebola country, but that is somewhat the way it feels to leave tomorrow.  To leave the cold and snow of the Netherlands, and to be 8 hours later in a warm climate feels good to me, but not knowing all that will be faced and the dangers seems a bit scary.  But to go with God gives much more confidence and strength for the task ahead.  There have been so many people praying and those prayers provide the strength for the next step.

Last year, when I was climbing mountain paths in Peru, there were times where the only thing you could do was to put your foot down in its next place.  To look to the right, where there might be a 1000 foot drop off, or look to the left, where a solid rock face kept you from going any further away from the edge--both options were too scary.  So the only thing to do was to take the next step, and then the next one, and then the next one, until you arrived at your destination.  But at the same time, sad is the man who doesn't at least sneak a peak to the right, because you might just see a magnificent Andean condor soaring in the breeze, or a snow capped mountain in all its glory.  So, in going to Sierra Leone, I think that I will do both things.  There are times that the only option will be to put one foot in front of the other, and hope that it doesn't slip, but I want to see the condors too..I want to experience the joy of being in a church service where we say, "Tell God tankee, a no die-o (Thank God I'm still alive!) The joy of that kind of enthusiasm can sustain through much difficulty and trial.

So, risks are real for everyone in Sierra Leone right now.  And many times, we are reminded of that risk. It might be a bit like someone in church here in the Netherlands said Sunday, talking about our airline flight.  He said that the airline flight will be the safest part of the whole trip.  But then he followed that by the news bulletin, "Did you hear there is another airline missing in Malaysia?"  No, I hadn't, and nice of you to mention it now!  So, people are always willing to say with a worried look on their face, "Sierra Leone..." but they leave the rest unsaid.  And I will take it that way, as a sign of their concern, and not a discouragement to go.

So, we leave in the morning.  How nice to say, 'We leave', because I am not going alone.  My fiance Heleen is traveling on the plane with me.  That makes this trip different than other trips, because there will be someone there for me.  I know that our contact will be extremely limited for 4 months, but just to go with someone gives courage.  It has been good to prepare together for the journey, and find in strength in common prayer for upcoming journey.  ..And to be honest, I have to say that the same courage is felt with God..he goes with us where-ever, when-ever, who-ever, all-ever....and you can count on that.  Thanks to God, who will walk with us, even through the valley of the shadow of death.....

And back....

The excitement of the past 2 months has become now the sobering reality of the future.  My future is now intertwined so deeply with West Africa, and particularly Sierra Leone.  It started with my daughter Kristin’s short term mission to Sierra Leone in 2011, where she worked with an organization called Word Made Flesh.  That 4 month stint then inspired her to go back in 2013 for a longer 2 year term.  And so I made plans to visit Kristin in the spring of 2014, planning to spend 6 weeks there to experience living once again in a 3rd world country, and helping out with the work there.  2 things happened in 2014 at the same time that would change my life forever.  The first was that a Dutch missionary, Heleen van den Brink, had her time of oversight by her professor changed from January to late March, and so she stayed on in Sierra Leone for 3 more months after completion of her term of service with a Mental Health organization called City of Rest.  And the second was the beginning of the Ebola epidemic, which particularly ravaged the countries of Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone.  And so, those events intersected with my visit to Sierra Leone, both affecting my life forever.  

The ebola epidemic at that time was just starting, so the effect on my visit was not that great.  I was working in a clinic which was run by Aberdeen Women’s and Children Hospital, and the final week I worked there, they made us wear gloves to examine every patient, and then finally closed down the clinic the last week...so a negligible effect.  And Heleen, well, I barely met her, but had 3 times of interaction on an informal basis which piqued my interest slightly..Once when I was invited to some friends of Kristin’s house for a meal, which she also attended.  (Later, I found out that this ‘chance’ circumstance was orchestrated by her friends, but love doesn’t care that it has been set up!) Then there was a time that we went to the beach with some other friends, as I went along to visit with her professor.  During that time, I visited with her professor and found out that he had spent a time in Guinea Bissau as a family practice doctor, and so he invited me to a mental health conference that he was giving in Freetown there.  So, since it was on my off day, I went there, and not knowing a lot of people there, ate lunch with Heleen and an American psychiatrist.  So I found out that she was single, that she was from the Netherlands, and that she loved the Lord.  But I left it there, when I left, thinking both things would soon pass.

Little did I know.  The ebola epidemic mushroomed over the next few months, and particularly in the last 3 months of 2014.  That inspired in me the thought that I was uniquely gifted to help in that effort.  I was familiar with West Africa, knew the language to some extent, and not as attached as a doctor with a young family.  And my work as family practice doctor and ER physician was good preparation for the work that would be going on over there...And so I investigated several opportunities, including Doctors Without Borders, Samaritan’s Purse, but with little success.  Meanwhile, Heleen left Africa for the Netherlands during my time in Africa, and so that did not bear fruit either.   

So...fast-forward 6 months plus…Through definite leading of the Lord, I am now engaged to be married to Heleen, and heading to Africa to Sierra Leone to work in an Ebola clinic in Sierra Leone.  I will be working with an organization called International Medical Corps, which will be staffing some of the new clinics in Africa started to treat the Ebola epidemic..so here we both go, as Heleen will be working with Save the Children.  We will be in separate cities, separated by more than distance, as no physical contact will be allowed for the 4 months that I am there.  But when you go in God’s will, there is peace, and so I am happy to help in any way I can over the next several months. So I (we) go in peace...

Coming Home from Africa--with memories

Well, when you get this, I will be home from a long time in Africa, primarily the country of Sierra Leone.  A journey like this marks you with impressions that are like a kaleidoscope, ever shifting, some things now standing out at one time, more than others, and than something else transfixes you.  But not depending on your mood, those things that mark your soul the most will always be there.  So when it think of this time, I will remember so many people, and so many experiences.  I will remember going to a different church the last Sunday morning, and there being almost transfixed in utter amazement in Sunday School by the young teacher--maybe 25 if I am generous. Although English was not his native language, he taught in grammar perfect English, and during his 45 minutes or so of teaching, I would estimate half of that whole time he was quoting scripture without referring to any Bible...I didn't catch one mistake in his quoting, as I was looking up his references.  What a testimony to the power of memorization, and what a Sunday school time.
     I remember several times when on the way to work in the morning, I would pass these very loud fans that apparently were used to cool a bottling plant, and there I would see this young fellow standing right in front of the fans, with his ears held tightly shut.  The noise right in front of those fans is deafening, and so I didn't know what he did that for, what was he trying to accomplish?  But then I found out later that he is a schizophrenic in a country where the mental health system has so many holes that they treat some people like that by chaining them down.  But before we get judgmental, in our country in the 60s, we were doing the exact same thing..and so in his effort to get rid of the voices in his head, he finds the loudest noise that he can in an effort to drown them out..
    I remember listening as Africans shared their stories of pain, going through a terrible war that ended in 2002.  Although I didn't hear his story personally, from others I learned that It was during the last part of that war that Ansu got caught up in the fighting that  came to Freetown, and so was caught by the rebel soldiers, who brutally chopped his right arm off right below the shoulder.  He survived, but not only survived, but has thrived by going to school and learning how do do accounting, and now is a faithful worker in the Word Made Flesh organization of Sierra Leone.  Never complaining, he is a powerful testimony to the power of God.
   I remember Chief Alimammy, the designated chief of the settlement of Kroo Bay.  I would almost always see him as I walked to the clinic every day, going past his area where I guess he held court, or whatever it is that chiefs do.  Although by virtue of his position he is one of the more wealthy men (a relative term in the poverty of Kroo Bay) in the area, he was bothered by a large stasis ulcer of his leg, of the type that never heals in the grime and dust and dirt of the area.   I tried to give him some medicine for his problem, and although I didn't have much hope that it would help him, he was grateful, and requested "more of that good medicine" when I left. Will he find Christ, the Christ that takes away the sin of the world?
   And there is the other Alimammy, little Alimammy, one of the boys that comes to the tutoring in the afternoon.   He almost has had no schooling, as he goes from street to house, never quite fitting in anywhere.  Though his behavior is a problem, with no real family to raise him, that is easy to see why he is like that.  I was haunted by the look in his eyes, a look that says I have been hurt, often, and I don't quite trust you either.  An old man's eyes, an old man's eyes that have seen too much, inside a 7 year old body.  That is haunting, and tears your heart up into quivering pieces.
    There is the "wisdom of Pa Kwame", often shared in his whimsical style with long roundabout stories that don't go anywhere, and then the proverb pops out of nowhere.  Pa is "Kristin in Papa" or Kristin's surrogate African father, probably a person more unlike me than anyone else in Africa.  He smokes too much, even in the house where Kristin lives, and usually smells like he has been drinking, although not intoxicated.  He makes patent medicine, some that cures malaria, and worms, and other things, using native plants and concoctions.  I don't know if it works, but people pay good money for it, and it supports their family, and thereby he takes the name "doctor" as well.  But he is full of wisdom, such as " the rich man jumps when he sees his shadow, but the poor man isn't afraid of anything", or "don't rush life", wisdom that especially applies to us Westerners.  The wisdom is often couched in profanity, such that you would have to pick your way through it, but for me he usually toned it down.  So he didn't necessarily go the " how to treat your customer school". The timid children that show up at his house to buy his products for their parents are sometimes caned for their efforts, and go home up unrewarded, depending on his mood.
    6 weeks in Africa, time for reflection, time for remembrance....

Having lost the ability to post on Xanga, I think that I will be moving my infrequent blog over this way.  I don't know how exactly to do it on here, so I will do some experimenting with loading some photos.  Below, are some photos from fall, 2013 here in south Alabama after getting home from Peru.  I want to see how easily posted photos can be, because they were a pain on my Xanga site.  Already, it looks like this will be a lot easier, and I think that I might like it.  We will see.

Satsumas ready to be picked outside our house

The cotton field that is next to our house, "white unto harvest

Individual cotton bolls bursting open

A leaf of a buckeye tree, ready to fall off in a day or so

More buckeye leaves

Popcorn tree leaves--a pest tree, but nice color in the fall

Cypress trees by the pond, getting ready to shed their leaves

Looking back across the pond towards the field

Pond, with cotton on a crisp fall day

Perhaps the last canna lily of the summer, as they will soon die and be gone

Southern sugar maple