A week in review...

4 August, Wednesday


Wow, what a week (and a half) for expecting the unexpected! First, please
accept our apologies for not communicating for a while. We only have access
to email through Dr. Ann's phone and she's been delayed in the capital
(N'Djamena) for quite a while. She left Monday, July 26, was able to attend a couple
of important meetings, but the "quick fix" on her gas tank turned into a
week-plus ordeal, and on top of it all she got sick and needed some days to
recuperate. We've been managing ok, but haven't been able to communicate
with the "outside world"!

Some highlights from the journal:

Sunday, July 25. Boys struggled through church. It's in French, which
doesn't help. But to be honest, after 2 ½ hours I was struggling a little,
too. After a bit Cari took Tony outside for a walk. (Chadian children
under 12 don't seem to sit in church, so the fact that our boys are there is
a bit of an oddity, but no one has said anything to us yet. The older kids
sometimes linger at the doors and windows watching but the little ones just
play outside.) Did you guess what happened next? Yes, about 20 kids
swarmed around Cari and Tony. Cari led them to the Sunday school building
across the way and held an impromptu children's church.

Monday, July 26. Survived first day in the hospital without Dr. Ann.
Rounded on 14 "ICU" and 29 ward patients. Trying to figure out how I can be
of help when we don't run IVs, don't have oxygen (needs electricity), can't
give more than 1 or 2 doses of IV antibiotics (too expensive), and don't
place nasogastric tubes for nutrition (the parents refuse them because they
think it kills the child - never mind that the ones who really need it are
so malnourished they're half-dead before they come to us :( They don't
even use ibuprofen until after age 12 - Tylenol just doesn't cut it when
you're 1, shivering with malarial rigors and your fever is 104. I feel like much
of my teaching and experience is superfluous...Cari started teaching English
daily to about 20 kids in the Sunday school classroom (and about 20-30 kids
who hover at the windows and doors).

Wed. July 28. Baby died in front of me during ICU ward rounds. Stopped
breathing. Nothing to be done, no resuscitation bags, no oxygen, can't
intubate. We can give malaria treatment and a handful of antibiotics, but
basically the kids are left to try and tough it out...I might have offended
someone today -- wish I knew for sure. Greeted everyone in the peds office,
including a new guy, but then we gathered the two binders and the three
students and left for ward rounds. To do so we had to interrupt the new
guy, an older gentleman looking at one of the binders, but I didn't think
anything of it since we've been rounding the same way for a week now. He
lingered in the periphery as we started rounds and I started to sense
something might be amiss. Finally I introduced myself and asked his name
and it turns out he's one of the instructors at the nursing school,
definitely my senior, and not someone whose work I should be interrupting.
Ergh...Went to Wednesday night prayers with Adolph.

Thurs. July 29. Tough day for peds. Two patients died during rounds in ICU
this morning, one only 30 minutes after being admitted. 45 patients total.
Too many two year olds that weigh 8 ½ pounds. Families asking to go home
because they can't afford to stay but knowing that the child will only get
porridge once they leave (all the malnourished kids get fed "la lait"
(formula) and "la bouille" (protein-enriched porridge) 3-4 times a day while
admitted)....Called to OB during the night and couldn't help much because
Adolph wasn't there to interpret. God took care of the baby though and it
improved rather quickly. Can't wait til I learn French....Realized I'm the
only white guy for miles. Yikes! There are a few white ladies besides
Cari -- Dr. Ann (when she's here), Dr. Elizabeth, and a couple of Spanish
nuns that have a compassion ministry in the area.

Friday, July 30. 47 patients, including the saddest one I think I've ever
seen. Only 3 weeks old and the entire right neck was necrotic and draining
pus. Every girl gets her ears pierced shortly after birth, and as best I
can figure hers got infected either when they pierced it with a dirty needle
or when they tied a dirty string through the hole. Regardless, they've
waited FAR too long. Will try IV antibiotics and ask the surgeon to clean
it up....Cari and the boys brought bubbles and stickers to entertain the
pediatric ward. We sang a song and I shared how much Jesus loves children
(Luke 18 - unless we become like one ourselves!). Most of the kids were too
young to know what was going on but the parents (and aunts and uncles and
grandparents) loved it. We did the same briefly for the ICU. Afterwards
Adolph told me he had never seen bubbles before - Wow. This coming from a
guy who knows three languages (Gumbai, French, and English) and spent time
in Nigeria. So I have to figure none of the people had ever seen bubbles
before. Indeed, a few looked downright pessimistic at first....Some
encouragement from Lamentations 3 today - "I have hope..we are NOT
consumed." What a great passage of scripture....Friday night = stay up late night....

Sat. July 31. Family movie night. No popcorn but did I mention Cari makes
awesome doughnuts? And really good bread. It's no wonder the mice like it,
too. Word from the team in N"Djamena that Pam is doing better, finally, and
that Ann (and her car) are still sick and won't be returning right away.
The team seems close by texts and phone but they're still 7 hours by car....

Sun. Aug 1 (Is it August already?) Called up to the front (with all the
other elder men and a few women in the front rows) to hand out a certificate
to one of the youth choir members..in French. Fun..Found out that Adolph
can speak quite a bit of Arabic, also. That makes four languages (Gumbai,
French, English, and Arabic). Yet he is stuck here. There just aren't jobs
available, the uncle who promised last year to pay his way through nursing
school isn't going to anymore because his two kids (Adolph's cousins) now
want to go, and yet he could do very well in any graduate program.

Mon, Aug. 2 Encouraging quiet time in Luke 1 this morning. While Zechariah
was having his encounter with the angel "all the assembled worshippers were
praying outside.(v10)" I was reminded how important you all are to our
ministry here, that without your prayer support I don't think I would have
the courage to do this - the doubt and discouragement might get
overwhelming. So thank you for praying - not just for us, of course. God
desires mercy and acknowledgement more than all the sacrifices and offerings
we might give. (Actually, the way the passage reads, the prayers came
first, THEN the angel of the Lord appeared. I wonder if things would have
gone differently for Zechariah that day if the people hadn't first been
bathing his incense burning duties in prayer)....Found out the family of the
3-week old with the necrotic neck abcess/sepsis stopped the meds over the
weekend because they didn't have money. Ergh.

Tues, Aug 3. Journal says "Great day for the Robertsons". Hmm... During
morning quiet time someone was singing/shouting "Hosanna" at the top of his
lungs in English at the end of the road. Not the best pitch, tempo, or
sound quality, but hey - praise is praise, right?.........Rounded on 50+
patients without any students (taking exams) and only 1 nurse in each ward
(you heard me right - one nurse each in the ICU and peds ward!). 1st hour
in the dark as the generator was late to kick in. Amazingly, things went
very smooth and we were done before 2pm..Home for nap, Cari said boys had
GREAT morning playing together, building forts and chasing "bad
guys"...awakened from nap because Tony was bleeding on our bed (not
supposed to be there) having jumped and cracked his skull on the window (not
supposed to be jumping on the bed). Nurse Cari quick to apply pressure to a
decent sized laceration (about a half inch) over the right eyebrow, applied
the last of our Dermabond superglue with some steri-strips in lieu of
stitches. He was chasing bad guys within a couple hours so I don't think it
slowed him down too much, but that's twice now, makes you wonder when he'll
break his first bone...Played soccer with Drew and all the local kids,
sweated up a storm but it felt great..Boys in great mood, Cari cooking great
meals including chocolate chip cookies!, things seem to be going well, at
least for the moment ("pour le moment").

Wed. Aug. 4. Started a list of all the restaurants we're going to visit
when we get home so Cari won't have to cook..Dr. Ann may not be back for
another 4 or 5 days. Yikes..

Sorry that was so long-and sorry we haven't been in touch like we've been
hoping.

Please continue to pray that we don't get discouraged, that we love the
people here the way God loves the people here, that the boys continue to
adjust well and make friends, that we remain healthy, that Dr. Ann and Pam
will heal up soon, and that whatever we do we do for the glory of our God
and risen Savior. And we will pray the same for YOU.

Thank you again and again for holding us up before the Lord.

Your partners in the great commission, serving in Chad,

The Robertsons