She is burned from the thighs to her ankles on both legs.  It’s “cold”, 62 degrees.  She was huddling next to the fire when her cloths caught on fire.   She lives in the mountains and they brought her to the hospital after two days.  She had no sensation over the burned areas.  And her legs were contracting in a sitting position.  For a year now we have not been able to purchase antibiotic ointment but Béré Hospital in Chad gave us some burn ointments recently.   She was brought in the hospital andtreatment begun.  I explained to the family that in a few days she would need skin grafts.  We are very fortunate to have received a Zimmer dermatome as a donation.  Over the first few days she did well.  Then she started having chills and fevers.  I at first thought of infection from the burn site.  I started treatment with oral antibiotics.  She continued to have fevers.  I checked a malaria smear that was positive.  After a few days her fever abated.  We received another woman who was burned when her cloths caught fire and had a 2nd degree burn on her right side.  So I decided to graft both of them one day.  The morning I planned on doing it her father was there.  He did not want anything done.  He wanted to take her home.  I tried to explain how it was not good for her.  That without dressings she would likely die.  He said that it was because he had not done the correct sacrifices that she got burned.  So since this was the problem he was taking her home to make the right sacrifices.  I asked him if he believed in God and he said he believed in the spirits and this was why the I didn’t understand ofthe sacrifices.  It is hard to explain something to someone who believes completely opposite you in every way, medically/spiritually/physically.  Everything about this man and his thinking is different than mine.  So they paid her bill and took her home.  It is so hard to reach some people for their good.  Medically my ideas are so different than the local populations.  Theirs is based on spells and correcting the spell given.  A few people believe in modern medicine but most in traditional medicine (herbs, roots, potions)  and some in sacrifices.  Even some of our nurses use medications and if they are not working fast enough will try traditional things also.  It covers all their belief  bases.  Audrey willwrite more of their beliefs in the near future.  Please continue to pray for our work here.  In His Service, Shanks
Shanksteps #79-Greg