Shanksteps 22, 23

#22 Cameroon
Well it’s 7 days till Christmas. It was 90 degrees
today and dry. Now those of you in the south-west may
be used to that. We are not! It doesn’t at all seem
like Christmas here. We are however very thankful for
a friend of mine who was able to fix our MP3 player
and we now have all our music back on it. So we have
started playing Christmas music in our house. That
helps a lot. Especially if we turn on the fans and
close all the windows in the morning so it stays cool
and we cannot see the dry outsides. We are definitely
“dreaming of a white Christmas!” We have cut
“snowflakes” and hung them around the house. We saw
a little plastic Christmas tree in Maroua about 2 ft.
tall. Sarah really wanted it but I couldn’t bring
myself to purchase it (it was to pitiful). I would
rather cut a desiduous tree from the yard than buy
THAT! We were also blessed to have a group from Loma
Linda here a few days ago just for a night as they
traveled through. It was nice to spend time with
them. They were on there way to a health fair at
Batouri Adventist Hospital (our sister hospital in a
rural area of the south). Anyway it was nice to see a
little familiarity. I think it’s most difficult to be
far away at times of the year like this and loved ones
birthdays. It seems like the holidays have always
been a time for extended family. Now it’s the nuclear
family. I must say Im very thankful for all my family
members here and in the US. They give me much support
especially when it is needed. When being a Director
was NOT what I had in mind, Audrey is very supportive.
I am also blessed by a good Administrator of the
hospital. He is very good and I think we are each
able to make eachothers job a little easier. The most
difficult issues are dealing with things that occurred
before I arrived and knowing what is best to do with
it. I would be happy to continue receiving your
prayers for my own wisdom administratively and
medically. The challenges are never ending.
I was very encouraged recently when I learned of two
girls who gave significantly to our hospital, Nichole
and Christy. They had a birthday recently and had
heard of the financial difficulties we are having at
the hospital. They decided at their birthday party
they would ask everyone who came NOT to bring them
presents but to bring them money that they would have
used on the presents. They took this money, $100, and
sent it as a donation to our work here in Koza. What
a blessing that was and what commitment to advancing
God’s work. Nichole and Christy, I am very thankful
for your generosity and I know that God is very happy
too. I am praying that you will always keep Him
first in your lives and that we will be able to meet
someday soon, and in heaven!
Also to let each one that is praying for us we very
much appreciate it and know God is leading. We expect
to be back stateside for a few weeks in early summer
2006. If you know of any physicians who would be
interested in covering a hospital for any time frame
up to a couple months while we are gone please let me
know. I pray that each one of you are growing closer
to God and following His plan for your life.
In His Service, Shanks

Shanksteps #23

In the States when someone gets sick what do they do?
If it is mild or something they have had before they
may go to the pharmacy to look for some type of
over-the-counter medication, possibly discussing it
first with the trained pharmacist. If it is more
serious, they go to their local family doctor or
urgent care center or the hospital. Here in Cameroun
the usual sequence is: 1) Wait at home until you make
sure you are very sick. 2) Go to the traditional
healer for a potion or a powder of herbs, roots, and
sometimes, crushed animal parts; or cutting of the
skin to release the bad spirits. 3) If that doesn’t
work, try the local outdoor market for the boy with
the pharmacy on the front of his bicycle. 4) Still
sick, take a trip to the dispensary to see a
marginally trained nurse and receive a real treatment
(although not always correct in dosage or duration).
5) If all else fails, go to the hospital and complain
about how you have already spent all of your money on
medical treatment. Granted, the hospital doctor’s
fees are a bit more than the “pharmacy on a bicycle”,
but by the time they get to us, they have already
spent a lot of money, and precious time that the
person (often a child or woman) could be healing.
As we have seen recently, these steps may overlap,
more than we first realized. Very often after
surgery, a cord with a sack, or often a nut of some
sort will appear on the patient. One woman who came
in with an open fracture of the forearm now wears a
type of dried fruit around her arm for healing. A
sack of seeds appeared around a little girl’s wrist
after having abdominal surgery for typhoid
perforation. Greg teases these patients about taking
off their cast if the dried fruit works as well; or
that they should have had their sack of seeds ready to
ward off surgery. Usually the patient and family
laugh, knowing that it doesn’t really work, but afraid
not to try it. The sack of seeds is relatively
harmless from a medical point of view (a bit more
harmful from a spiritual one however…). I often will
see kids in the hospital who have a powder pasted to
their skin as a type of healing. This is potentially
a bit more harmful from a medical standpoint because I
don’t know what types of active ingredients are in
this treatment. I have seen this powder placed
around the neck, under the armpits and recently in the
ears and nose. Yesterday I saw a child who has been
in the hospital for about 5 days. She initially had
an IV for quinine, but was able to eat so it was
removed. The next day she started vomiting and the
family couldn’t afford another IV, so we have tried
several methods of getting her medication into her.
She was finally able to keep it down. She initially
came in with coughing, vomiting, and occasional
diarrhea (often these are all symptoms of malaria).
We tested her stool to make sure she didn’t have
dysentery or other GI ailment. After asking a bit
more, we found that three days before coming to the
hospital she had her uvula cut out, because this is
what they do for cough. Yesterday as I was going
through her bag of meds I came across a baggie of
unlabeled pills. I asked the mom what these were and
she said that since the child was having diarrhea and
we weren’t treating it, she went to the local pharmacy
(box on the front of a bike) and bought medication
for diarrhea and gave her one pill. Sometimes I just
throw up my hands and wonder what it is that I do here
anyway. We try to practice the best medicine we can
under the circumstances, and still the “pharmacy on a
bike” is trusted more than the hospital. I need to
realize that trust takes time, and we’ve only been
here in Koza for four months. I also have to remember
that Satan is at work here. He doesn’t want people to
trust or come to the hospital to receive God’s
healing. It seems that the more God blesses the
hospital, the more Satan attacks it. Please pray for
God’s blessing on our hospital. Also pray that we
(the workers here) show Christ to our patients and
that they realize that true healing is from God, not
man. Many of our workers need spiritual healing as
well for us to be all unified in Christ. We thank you
for your continued prayers. -Audrey