I sure hope trials produce perseverance:)

It's been too long since I have written here- sorry. I will try to give a bit of an update on life and hopefully it won't come across too negative;)



I guess as far as work is concerned I don't have any particular news to share personally. Work continues on here despite the unfortunate exit from the hospital of our only ortho surgeon. It is a huge loss for the hospital. There have been a significant number of staff that have left since I have arrived which means adjustments and obviously some disruption to hospital life. It has been sad to see people leave and the hospital leadership and staff really need to be upheld in prayer as this new year begins. A substantial portion of funding is being cut this year and next year from significant donors so it is putting financial strain on the continuity of some of the hospital activities. Wisdom is definitely needed. During times of so much transition it also tends to negatively influence the morale of the staff and the hospital as a whole which affects the work environment.

On a more positive front my accommodation changed as of January 30, 2010! I must admit that apart from adjusting to using a pit latrine (for those not accustomed to this term it is basically an outhouse except there is just a hole in the cement floor so instead of sitting on a seat you have to squat), I was anticipating life would be more comfortable.....

However, this wasn't quite the reality. On Sunday January 31, I had pretty much moved my stuff to my new place. It wasn't a great distance, just about a 3 minute walk from the guesthouse. There have been 3 German girls with another mission here at the hospital. One of them has relocated to another town and so their mission had requested that I move in to their place as the two girls remaining at the house are fairly young (although very mature) and the mission wanted someone older with more experience I guess to stay with them.

I had not yet unpacked or settled by Monday night when I came down with a fever and general body aches and pains. I woke up on Tuesday morning and was fairly certain it was malaria. The girl who had "moved out" happened to be over which was good as she is a nurse and gave me malaria medicine to treat myself. I pretty much stayed in bed for 3 days straight with a fever on and off in a house that was about 30-32 degrees with no fan since we found out on Tuesday that there would be no more electricity for an indefinite period of time...! There is a generator for the hospital to run but it doesn't supply the staff housing. So, our excitment at just having our water pump fixed so we didn't have to be quite so careful with our water consumption (although we still have to be conservative with use as it is dry season and we rely on rain water) quickly disapated as we realized that without power we could no longer pump water up to the tank and therefore would run out of running water inside. We tried to prolong our water supply as long as possible, but our bathroom water ran out in a couple days I think and then not long after our kitchen water ran out. Thankfully, however, their is a communal water tap just outside our yard so we take big jerry cans out to the tap to fill with water for our bucket baths and dish water etc. I've personally found it easier to take my shampoo and conditioner out to the tap and wash my hair outside;) If I imagine that I am camping it seems more manageable to handle life right now! Also, for a short time the bohr hole where we get our drinking water was also out of use so we were having to get water from the tap outside, boil it and then filter it! We were grateful when the bohr hole water was available again.

Despite these inconveniences we are still very blessed because we have solar panels that provide us with light in most of the rooms of the house at night, have a gas stove we can use, and a fridge that can run on gas:) Overall, it could be a whole lot more difficult and others are struggling more than us. We also have been battling some house guests. When a guy went up into the attic to fix something with the water tank he commented on wires being chewed by rats up there... so we have had someone put tomatoes with some powdered poison on them and some local food with poison in the attic. However, I don't think it was effective as I still am fairly sure I can hear them quite active in the ceiling and when he checked there were no dead rats discovered despite the food being gone.....maybe the bats ate it!? (apparently there are many). We also discovered that some cat decided that our shed in the backyard was a good place to have her kittens, so we have 3 little kittens in the shed. I have found homes for 2 of them I think. Anyhow, thankfully although there are some unwanted house guests in the place, I am very grateful for my two new housemates as they have been fabulous and I have to admit I think it is more truthful to say that the "young" are teaching the "old" in many respects. I am trying to learn all the quirks and routines of this house which is actually a bit of a challenge! We generally share the cooking responsibilities and usually eat our dinners and sometimes our lunches together and share the household chores that aren't taken care of by our househelp. So far I haven't really been able to pull my weight in these areas as I have been sick most of the time:( But my two new housemates are a huge blessing and example to me in many ways!

In other news, I know I had mentioned hoping to start a Bible study with one of the doctors here. Unfortunately, it is proving difficult to co-ordinate people's schedules especially a surgeon who does not know when she will finish work in the evenings! We are hoping to meet on Thursday evenings but we may have to try to change this time if it continues to be a problem. Please do keep this in prayer though as I think it would be great to meet even if it is just a few of us that are able. (As of this afternoon we have been able to decide on meeting on Mondays which is great. I already feel like things are coming together and would like prayer for God to bring along the people He wants to be a part of this study- so far I think we are 5. We all need prayer for commitment as well as it is easy for distractions and other obligations to hinder our consistency.

On the topic of prayer I have been privileged and honored to have had several opportunities lately to pray with patients/mothers of babies here and I trust they have sensed God's blessing and peace. I sometimes have to remind myself that working in this hospital and context affords me the freedom to do this and to discuss my faith with my patients openly;) I need to remember more often to ask God to lead me and open my eyes to situations where he wants me to pray with and share Him with those I meet- both patients and staff.

I will sign off for now... I will try to post more pics of my new home and maybe some more hospital pics as well soon. I hope to go to Kampala maybe next week to apply for my work permit and so may be able to take advantage of faster internet there to upload some pics. Please pray for this too as I've heard rumor that obtaining a work permit is not the most simple process...

Thanks to all those who take the time to read this blog. It is encouraging to hear from you and to also know of those who are keeping me in prayer. By the way, I started back at work again on Tuesday this week but have taken some shorter days as I still don't feel I have my full health and strength back yet and really don't want a relapse.

More to come...