Days 4 and 5

Saturday 2.28.09

Saturday, Tim and I went into Nalerigu proper (~1mile from the Medical Center). The crowded living conditions were a stark contrast to the open spaces in the medical compound- wooden shacks crammed between mud huts...donkeys, babies, goats, and people all lined the red dirt road (which is their front door step) to gawk at us. The air smelled of trash burning and food cooking. The largest contrast was the sheer number of people (ironically, many with cell phones) -and trash. The market was overwhelming- slum style crowding and a slum style mix of mud, trash, pregnant goats, and babies. The market sells fabric, clothes, housewares, produce, cooking needs (spices, dry goods) and ready-to-eat snacks like dough balls and dried fish.

We had a dinner of "Fufu" at what looked like "just another small shack." It is made by beating a starchy substance (from yams and plantains) with a giant mortar and pestle. The women wanted me to help them pound and laughed uncontrollably at my weakness compared to their amazing arm strength (picture below)! Reggae music blared in the background and we ordered a red sauce (tasted like potatoes at a crawfish boil) and ground nut sauce (tasted like potatoes with gravy). I say "ordered" but a better description is "received the sauce out of a black plastic-wal-mart-type sack and carried it to the fly infested porch! The atmosphere was amazing, there is nothing like enjoying dusk in a third world country. The only American experience I could compare it to is sitting on a front porch, on a summer day, in a small town, at sunset. We had Fanyogurt (Ghanian frozen yogurt brand) at another shack and met up with the Dickens (precious OB/GYN and family who are here for a self supported, 2 year committment) on the walk back.

Abbigail (2), Colt (7), Hollie and Joel Dickens ate at our house that evening (the cook had prepared a meal of Shepard's Pie). Jenn joined us from her call at the hospital and we laughed and talked into the night. It is amazing how long you can enjoy visiting with one another when you don't have a TV or computer to run home to! Jenn and I had a great conversation and were in bed by 10PM.

2.29.08 (Sunday) I went to the First Baptist Church of Nalerigu this morning with Dr. and Mrs. Faile (full time missionaries at BMC). It was a 3 hour long experience- lots of clapping and singing. The congregation of ~100 was beautiful. They are so dark and dress in such brilliant colors (except for the few American dressed young men). Hairstyles are actually similar to African Americans in the US. The pastor preached on Daniel 5, when the king was suddenly killed...reminding us that we are not promised tomorrow and going through the crowd with a microphone asking what people would do if they knew they were going to die. Good question to ponder! Church was incredibly loud, with speakers that seemed to be broadcasting to an audience 300 yards away.

Thank you for your prayers and words of encouragement! Please continue to pray that the Lord would give me direction on career decisions (rank list due this Friday!) and boldness to testify of what he has done in my life.

Day 3 and 4, Shanian Twain in Ghana

Side note: as I walk into the schoolhouse to check email, there is a Ghanian laying outside blasting Shania Twain. Apparently they LOVE American country music!

2.27.09
Friday…
Yesterday was a clinic day. The 6 doctors (3 full time missionaries, 1 ER MD and the medical resident (Jen) and medical student (Tim)) saw about 500 people- everything from newly diagnosed, advanced cancers to malaria. I worked in the pharmacy from 7:30AM until 5PM, pre-packing commonly prescribed amounts of drugs (95 degrees and no AC in the pharmacy… I almost passed out a few times…I am being dramatic, it was fine…probably just jet lag)! I stopped at Holly’s house (wife of Dr. Dickenson- the new OB/GYN who will be here for the next 2 years) to talk and pray for a second. She is such a godly woman and very encouraging.

I felt a little discouraged and that I wasn’t really making an impact; there seems to be very little place for a licensed pharmacist on the mission field- the drugs are limited and all of the doctors have a copy of the formulary, so they aren’t even asking questions about substitutions. This was a great day to exercise Colossians 3:23 “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” As I sat in my broken chair and counted Tylenol into church envelopes being recycled as pill bottles, I thought “maybe I should go to PA school instead of doing a residency.” I only have until Friday to certify or delete my rank list and I am really expecting the Lord to either confirm or change the way I feel!

Crazy people…
So there was a group here from Fairhope, AL and they are a little “different.” One read my ADPi t-shirt and said “ohh, ADPi- I was a Gamma Phi…they only let beauty queens in ADPi” and later interrupted the conversation of the table with “my favorite Bible verse is ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,’” followed by a long silence. She was truly manic- could not stop talking and made lots of offensive remarks (like when a couple mentioned they looked at a residency in Utah “Utah! Why would you want to move there with all of those mormons!”). Their group was doing VBS and church services in remote villages, I know they meant well. I was especially sensitive considering my house mate is not a Christian and later remarked “I think there are two types of people who do missions, those with a skill like a doctor and those who are crazy.” I apologized on their behalf.

Our little house….
I love our house: Guest House 6. It has a common room/dining room, a kitchen, 4 bedrooms, and 2 large sleeping porch rooms (one for guys, one for girls). The couple from University of South AL left Friday, so only myself, Jen, and Tim are staying in the house. No AC, but plenty of windows and ceiling fans and western style plumbing. We even have a microwave and refrigerator/freezer…all luxuries considering other houses in Nalerigu are made of mud! We also have a cook who knows lots of American recipes- we had homemade (like, from scratch!) pizza last night and woke up to fresh bread this morning. There are 9 houses total on the 500 acre medical center compound, some for the missionaries and some for guests.

2.28.09

Running mates…
I have the weekends off, so when Tim and Jenn left for rounds I went for a little run. I was ready to stop after about 10 minutes thanks to the dry air and the 86 degree 8AM heat, but was joined by a little boy. He said hello, and I asked if he would like to run with me. Then his friend came, then three girls started running behind us. I tried to stop, but they weren’t tired yet! Sweet babies, their body odor was strong enough to be smelled even upwind from them!

I spent the rest of the morning reading (I brought Beth Moore’s “Esther” study and got her group sessions from iTunes) and waiting like a stay at home wife for Jenn and Tim to get back and make plans for the day. We are mostly relaxing and are planning to go into “town” (Nalerigu) tonight for the market and dinner.

Purpose…
In the last few months, as I have thought and prayed and fasted over what I should do post-May, the Lord has given me scripture and many wise advisors. This has continued in Ghana, and I would like to share some examples as I think they are profound!
· Dr. Ford (Birmingham) “Spend your time getting to know God, as you learn more about who He is, he will teach you more about who you are and refine His purpose for you. I am 50 years old and I feel like I am just now discovering my purpose.”
· Mom: “You will know when you need to know”
· Elizabeth Elliot: “A strong spiritual principal is this: pray through things, think about them in the presence of God, and stick with the decision” “Don’t dig up in doubt what you planted in faith” “Do what God tells you to do now, and depend on it- God will show you what to do next”
· David Platt: (paraphrased) “Christians ask so often, ‘what is God’s will for my life, what is my purpose?’ He has very clearly stated it in scripture ‘Go into all nations making disciples and baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.’ That is your purpose, Christian: go in to all nations and make disciples.
· Random lady on the airplane to Ghana, quoting from her pastor: “Your gift is what you have in your hand right now, you use it and it takes you to your purpose.”
Some scripture on "purpose:"
o 2 Corinthians 5:5, 9; Psalm 90:12; Galatians 6:15; Philippians 2:13; 1 Timothy 2:7; Isaiah 61:1
And "direction:"
o Psalm 31:4; Job 23:10; Isaiah 52:12, 55:8-13; Jeremiah 29:11-12; Proverbs 3:5, 23:18, 20:24, 16:9; Hag 1:5; Luke 11:13; Matthew 6:25, 6:33; Habakkuk 1:5, 2:3; Hosea 14:9; Lamentations 3:22-33; Daniel 2:23, 10:12; Job 42:2

Some prayer requests:
· That I would be diligent to be in intimate communication with the Holy Spirit
· That I would be “wise in the way I lived toward outsiders”
· That I would become “all things to all people, that some may be saved”

Day 1 and 2

2.25.09 One of the hospital’s drivers picked me up in Tamale (pronounced Tah-ma-lay) this morning from my 6AM flight and we ran errands in town until 10AM, accompanied by three midwives (pictured). Some highlights from our conversation… “25! Youd ared growd and ready ford marriaged- we willd find a husband for you! Youd willd be a gift for ourd brothers” and “Do youd haved blacks in America?” We laughed out loud at each other the entire 3 hours.

Tamale is much poorer than Accra; as we moved from the city center, housing changed from cement blocked buildings, to wooden shacks, to mud huts with tin roofs (pictured, right) and finally, mud huts with straw roofs (picture to come). It finally looks like Africa. There is less humidity here, but temperatures are still in the upper 90s/low 100s at midday- no AC, of course! I am drinking tons of water and slowly adjusting! After an hour of paved road, we took a broken dirt road for a final 56 Kilometers to reach Nalerigu. The Baptist Medical Center is less of a hospital and more of a compound- about 500 acres including a TB Village, Koko Nutrition Center, staff/guest housing, and the hospital/outpatient clinic.

Yay! I have friends!! [answered prayer!] I am in Guest House 6 with a couple from University of South AL med school (originally from Birmingham!), a medical resident from North Carolina (Jenny) and a medical resident from Maine (Tim). Surgery finished early today (Tu and Th are elective surgery days) and we spent most of the afternoon hanging out in the heat. After meeting tonight we spent about an hour throwing insulin teaching balls in to the ceiling fans, not sure how that started or why!

Jane, the full time missionary pharmacist, showed me around the hospital and oriented me to the pharmacy. Any US hospital pharmacist would have been horrified at the rudimentary IV room, but it works! The picture is of our "version" of a Pyxis machine. We walked through the 6 wards (no private rooms!) and saw a range of acute issues, the most remarkable being a man with massive (unbandaged) burns covering his face and upper body and a tiny baby in a crude ventilator tent.

The pharmacist will be gone the next few days purchasing snake venom to prepare for the anticipated increase in snake bites…as the weather continues to become warmer, the snakes crawl out of the ground into houses and people are often bitten in their sleep! I will lock my doors! One of the most common is the Carpet Snake- causing dramatic anticoagulation; they also see cobra bites and others.

Some prayer requests:
· For full time physicians to staff BMC- both of the current MDs are retiring this year
· For a house mate who is “not really in to religion”
· For a missionary staff member here who is particularly “burnt out”
· That I would be an encouragement and the “fragrance of Christ” to all

2.24.2009

After a very comfortable 10hour flight from JFK I arrived in Accra, inappropriately insulated for the 92 degree 8am humidity! The ride to the Ghana Baptist Guesthouse revealed a city that reminded me of Lima, Peru...certainly a third world country, but in the process of modernization (I.e. the Price Waterhouse Cooper’s office we passed). I spent the day exploring and people watching in the Osu area of Accra- initially feeling untypically overwhelmed, timid, (and waiting to pass out from the heat) but much more optimistic and excited after a nap! Romans 15:4 "that through the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope!"

They are so nice here! Their friendliness and helpfulness rivals our southern hospitality! There is a beautiful rhythm of western and native worlds- with equal amounts of luxury cars and push carts, stylish clothing and tattered native outfits.