Homeward Bound

I am a little disappointed by the lack of internet access, however, in future I will bring along my own computer. Yesterday was a day for finishing up networking and souvenir shopping. I spent most of the day with the physician from the German team talking about their impressions of Ganta and Liberia. The flight over to Brussels was non-eventful and I actually slept well. But have woken up in a bit of a stupor as the sleeping meds ease off their effect. I am looking forward to getting home now. I pick up my luggage in Chicago and go through customs then onto DFW and home. My head is spinning with all that is happening and needs to happen in Liberia and Zimbabwe. I think time will tell as to what will happen next as to plans and directions for us to go in.

Liberia - Partners in Health

Sorry for the gap in communication - well that is Africa for you! Since I last blogged we have been busily travelling and settling into the Conference. We came down to Monrovia on Monday after rounds at Ganta. The hospital was about the same with the usual desperate cases of folks struggling to survive with diseases of poverty. It was great to see the staff that I got acquainted with last summer. Water and electricity were about the same as last summer infrequent and inconvenient. Once in Monrovia it was wonderful to settle into a room where I could shower. Dinner was great and then to top it off my suitcases arrived - yeah, my jeans were actually able to stand up by themselves (I won't bring up the condition of my underwear again). Tuesday we spent another long trip out to Camphor Clinic. This Clinic is an inspiration. We were met by 42 traditional birthing attendants who eagerly demonstrated their knowledge. We then toured the clinic itself which is maintained neat as a pin. The pharmacy was highly organized and all medications were labelled. The laboratory, sadly, doesn't have working equipment. Today, we started the business of the visit. The meetings to create a way of dealing with how to empower the Liberian Annual Conference in its quest to provide quality health care in resource poor settings. There were the USA partners, Representatives from Ganta Hospitals and UM Clinics, government officials, Curamericas. At the end of this I was able to meet the brother of one of the security guards who works at Medical Center of Arlington. He was very happy to hear news of his brother. I am looking forward to tomorrow as we vision and develop plans for the health of Liberia.

Ganta Hospital Liberia

Sorry for the long delay, but travelling through Zimbabwe I had no internet connection (what a surprise!) Anyhow, I couldn't have safely written very much about the conditions while in country. How did I find Zimbabwe? Devastating. There are only a handful of schools in sessions in the whole country. The children are starving - not just hungry, but wasting away. The schools look like ghost towns - no teachers, classrooms dirty and overturned, no supplies. The grounds weedy and overgrown. The headmasters are there - ensuring that the porridge is made everyday for the children, and an agreement was made through ZOE to include the teachers in the feeding. Teachers have been trying to negotiate their pay, but since FOREX (foreign exchange) in USD and SA Rands are the only currency being used, the people have not yet grasped the value of the money - they are used to handling 3 trillion dollar notes (worth only a few cents with tons of zeros!) so can't believe that $1 is worth anything at all.

The hospitals as ever are under supplied and in addition to tackling the everyday killers - HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB, they are now having to address cholera. Mutambara hospital alone has 224 reported cases with 17 deaths. There are many, many more unreported cases. Medicin San Frontier did come in and turned the male ward into a cholera unit, taping the area off and providing disinfecting footbaths at the entrance and exit. This has in particular effected the Apostolic Church which in Zimbabwe practices polygamy so spreads disease rampantly. The cholera meds are arriving and getting where they are needed. The lab testing however, has been challenging as labs are without the basic reagents to do even the simplest tests - including tests for cholera.

It was in these rural areas that I heard stories of last year detailing the violence that took place. Children were beaten, women and men were beaten and tortured. Any violation you can think of was done to the women. They were raped in their own bedrooms infront of their husbands and children. Thousand of people were killed. Today they sit together - victims and perpertrators next to eachother in Church. The Pastors who had hidden the women and got them out to safety just don't know how to handle it.

Many pastors throughout Zimbabwe have been going without pay for months. They rely on their congregations for their salary and people are only able to scrape enough food and money together to survive. It was therefore a blessing to be able to give a donation for rural pastors support to the Zimbabwean Bishop.

Overall in Zimbabwe, I found old friends, made new ones. Looked over many projects and will come back to report all. I would not recommend teams going there, but I did feel safe. I think that now is not the time for us to develop sustainable projects in Zimbabwe. Now is the time for us to offer hope through feeding, clean water and by ensuring that hospitals get the essential supplies they need. This is best done through donations that will help to feed the hungry and tend to the sick and never to forget the power of prayer for a country that has been totally and utterly brought to its knees.

So after living with no running water and small bouts of electricity I left Zimbabwe for Liberia. My journey took me through Johannesburg, South Africa to a brief stop in Libreville, Gabon, to a change of planes in Abijan, Cote d'Ivoire to Monrovia. This took all day at the end of which, I had no luggage, which I am assured will turn up by Wednesday. So I will have by then mastered the art of making clothes last 5 or 6 days! For those of you who wish to know - I am washing my underwear - not turning it inside out and back to front to make it last longer!! Yesterday I made it up to Ganta Mission Station on the way stopping at the Liberian Annual Church Conference and meeting Bishop Innis who kindly introduced Central Texas Conference as his friends.

It has been wonderful to purchase a small cell phone and speak to Dana. Please pray for wisdom as we make plans for the health care here in Liberia.

Johannesburg, South Africa

After a smooth, flight DFW to Washington DC, to Johannesburg. I am sitting here tired and catching up on the blog. In a couple of hours I will be flying onto Harare, Zimbabe. I met Greg Jenks of ZOE Ministry in Washington and we have made a new friend a retired Zimbabwean pastor who is returning home to see how he can influence his country and the disaster it is in. He is obviously heartbroken. I have caught up on my travel email that Dana contacts me at - and I know my family are a little worried and missing me...but this will be a great adventure with many things to bring back and share with the Church that hopefully will open eyes and help the way we do things. Right now though I am praying that God will keep us all safe and put us to good purpose. Please pray for us and the work we will do. Pray that God will open our eyes and our ears to listen and our hearts to love those we meet on this journey

Getting Ready

Today I have been going down the checklist for my trip. My Liberian Visa arrived safely over the past weekend, and I will get one for Zimbabwe when I arrive there. I have ordered my Malarone - my new prescription plan covers it so I can get it locally rather than send off to Canadadrugs.com. I am up to date with my shots. I am also getting a prophylactic prescription of Cipro - just in case. I am reading up on cholera and also malnutrition ... just to be prepared. As I sit here typing my gift to Simon of La Rochelle where I will be staying in Zimbabwe is charging....he loves music so I got him an ipod shuffle with the chargers etc., and so am going to fill it with a wide variety of music. There seems to be so much to do in the next week and a half. I have picked up travel size toiletries, but other than that packing will be a last minute thing I should imagine.

Church friends are putting together clean delivery kits - hundreds of them I believe. These all help to reduce infant mortality rates when properly used by traditional birthing attendants who have been trained. A meter square of plastic sheeting, two pieces of cord to tie off the umbilical cord, a pair of latex gloves, a piece of soap to wash the mother's perineum and caregiver's hands, a piece of cloth to swaddle the baby in and most importantly a single use clean razor blade to cut the cord (which fit nicely into a gallon plastic ziplock bag), all serve to decrease the infant mortality rate, by dramatically cutting down infection rates! These kits the team in the summer will take with us, and any extras we will ship across.

I cannot close today without acknowledging the inauguration of President Obama who brings us hope in troubled times. I pray that he will lead with integrity and wisdom.

This summer I led a group of 14 medical and non medical as a Volunteers in Mission Team of the United Methodist Church. The work started at Ganta United Methodist Hospital, Liberia is to continue and will become part of a coordinated, networked effort by the United Methodist Church to fight poverty and the diseases that thrive in those conditions.

Next month I am travelling to Zimbabwe to see the difference that relief feeding provided by the United Methodist Church is making in people's lives. This food is being distributed by ZOE Ministry. In addition, through special contributions, including funds from FUMC Mansfield, TX, the Nyadire Connection and ZOE Ministry, cholera medications have been purchased to help in the ever growing cholera epidemic. I will have the opportunity to see how these medications are being used and also will be helping to deliver the medications to the doctors in Zimbabwe. I will then travel on to Liberia to play a role in developing a comprehensive health care plan for Ganta Hospital and the United Methodist facilities across Liberia. It is hoped that the plan will offer a community based initiative focusing on sustainability, empowerment, that will eliminate the killer diseases of poverty (HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB, and diarrhea), and also focus on maternal child health. I hope as I work on this blog you will keep reading, get involved, pray for the mission, and be patient with me as I learn how to do the blog effectively.