Friday, January 28, 2011
My days
8:30 AM Sometimes late at night, as I lay quietly in my bed, I hear the screams of unfamiliar women outside. I try to put myself in their shoes and picture what they might be going through… it is impossible. Maybe they are running from their husbands who want to “show them who’s boss”, or they are wailing over a loved one who just passed away. It is difficult to hear those sounds at night when my life doesn’t compare in them in the slightest.
I apologize for the absence of blog posts lately. It has been a busy holiday, and a lot has happened. I keep telling myself “Elissa, you need to keep writing your experiences or you will forget everything!” Again, I’m not really sure where I left off. This New Years was the first time I actually slept before midnight. I got woken up abruptly by two phone calls from America wishing me a Happy New Year, which made my week?. After new years, it was a countdown until my mother and Diane’s arrival. Some days went horrendously slow, and other days I had no time to think about their arrival. Finally, the day came when I got to hop in the car and go see them. It was a fantastically wonderful reunion. There were, of course, tears and smiles as I looked into my mothers and I looked into each other’s eyes. Before I came to Cameroon, my family and I had talked about the possibility that I wouldn’t see them for 9 months. We decided that for me to have my own experience, it would be best for us to stay apart for those months. Well, my mother did not take that too seriously especially after 4 months of not seeing me. I am glad that she took the opportunity to come and see me as well. Not only was it nice to see her beautiful face, but also I was running out of American supplies?
While my mother and Diane were here, I tried with all of my strength to show them the full experience I was having here in Africa. You can imagine how difficult it is to fit a whole 4 months of experience in 4 days. Thankfully, Koza is not a big place, and we had time to share everything by the time they left. I can’t even tell you everything that happened in those 4 days without writing pages and pages, but I can tell you that God blessed much! He has, through my mother and Diane, giving many gifts of love and comfort to these people. I will hear about them in Koza probably until I leave.
After the short four days that they were here in Koza, we traveled to WAZA where we would spend the remainder of our time. It was a “safari” type of place, but when I say that, don’t expect that we were in paradise. It took us almost a whole day and a half to know that they even had running water to take a shower. It was the cheap version of a safari, but it was a great experience. We saw giraffes, elephants, and many other beautiful animals. It was pretty intense.
2:15 PM Continued… I couldn’t finish my blog because I had to get to work. My goodness was today a good experience. Yesterday I went to work, but I was very sick because I had to travel for 9 hours from WAZA to Koza, but today I was strong. I went to Maternity because I heard that there was a delivery. There are two girls from South Cameroon who only speak English, so I can communicate with them very well. I asked them if they were going to perform the delivery and they nodded. It was going to be there second time only. Since I am always interested in deliveries, I stayed close by. As we were watching for the head to come out, we all noticed that the head was too big. Ganava had to do an episiotomy. So as the woman was pushing with all of her might, he cut a little slit in her vagina so the baby’s head would come out, thus causing the suffering of the baby to end quickly. Yes, we used Lidocaine so the mother wouldn’t feel pain during the process. The baby was not breathing or crying very well, so I quickly escorted the two girls to help me give oxygen. We also kept patting the baby’s back so he would start crying. By the grace of God, he started to cry? I love it when that happens…
What I didn’t realize was that I would be put in Ganava’s place for the next women who walked in. It got a little crazy because there were two women in the OR who needed to have help. Since Ganava was busy with the women prior, he asked me to help with the other woman who was delivering. I quickly realized that I was going to be the teacher of a delivery. Just like the delivery before, this woman needed an episiotomy. As she pushed and pushed with no result, I asked Ganava if I could do the episiotomy. I had seen it many times, but I had never done it myself. He told me to go for it. I quickly got 5 cc’s of Lidocaine in a syringe, numbed her vagina well, and cut a slit so the baby’s head could come out perfectly. The same time I was doing the episiotomy, I was teaching the Limbe girl how to receive the baby. I am not very good a multitasking, but the Lord helped me to accomplish everything well. At the end of the two pregnancies, I looked at the two women and the two healthy babies with joy. The Lord provided for me and the people in the OR. I can now say I am ready to teach people how to deliver babies (in Africa)!
9:00 PM continued… I came home from visiting the surrounding villages and after choir practice this night. I found a woman staying outside my house with Pierre my guard at night. He said that it was Isaiah my housekeeper’s wife. I quickly invited her inside to eat my daily dinner with Pierre. Pierre continued to tell me why she was staying at the house. Her 20-year-old daughter had just passed away of who knows what, and she was traveling to see family. She was going to stay in this horrible smelling room that is compared to the garage or worse in America. She was going to sleep on the cement floor. I told Pierre I couldn’t handle that so I made a bed for her in another room. When she came in a saw, she almost fell over with excitement. I do not have to do a lot to show God’s grace on these people. She will only stay here one night, but I am glad I got to do something for her as encouragement. May God be with the family during this hard time.
It has been a privilege to learn the things I have been learning in the hospital. I have experienced a lot of good things and a lot of bad things, but I know that in each experience I go through, the Lord is teaching me to be more Christ-like and helping me to grow in the image of his character. I am in the stage of my life here where somewhat all of the “first visit” excitement is wearing out, and I am truly a resident. Sometimes I feel like the day when I will come back to America is so far away, and yet I feel that if I left here, I would feel the same pain. Just as I have been talking to my mother when she was here, Africa is definitely a calling for me. I’m content with where he has brought me, not because it is easy in any sense of the word. It is because I feel the Holy Spirit moving in this place. I cannot say how appreciative I am of the support of prayer from America. Keep it up!
Posted by Elissa