People are really nice...especially when you're wearing a cast. Today i actually thought about keeping my cast well after my hand is healed so i can wear it on different occasions to increase the possibility of people being nice. It just seems that people are more likely to help you put the mangoes you just bought into your backpack if you have a broken hand or a broken anything! Silly i know but that's just the way i think sometimes.
In actuality people are usually nice if you're nice first. the problem is no one wants to be the first person to be nice so we all just walk around missing the possibility of being nice and experiencing niceness. I know I've thought "I'm sick of being the nice one." I also know that I have often been the 'not nice one'. But the reality is we are all called to love and that means being nice or at least kind...whether there's a cast involved or not.
Kind words are short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless-Mother Teresa
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
dichotomy
i returned to work today. after having spent the first half of the month in burundi visiting various health care centers, malnutrition centres, talking to people who live there and just watching their lives i was overwhelmed by our excess. walking through the doors of the hospital, knowing i was going to have everything i needed to care for patients and to teach students, was harder than i thought it would be. why? it makes no sense but i am changed and i must respond.
during one procedure i was assisting a coworker and i contaminated a package during the sterile set up. it was everything within me not to pretend i hadn't contaminated it...it felt so wasteful to discard the contaminated item...images of cots with no mattresses went through my head.
what do i do with the emotions inside of me? how do i respond? i do not have an answer...but i do know it is my responsibility to feed the poor, clothe the naked, care for the sick, visit the imprisoned and to love the lovely and unlovely alike. that is my calling and that will be my life whether that is within the borders of Canada or to the farthest reaches of the world. it is my everyday.
during one procedure i was assisting a coworker and i contaminated a package during the sterile set up. it was everything within me not to pretend i hadn't contaminated it...it felt so wasteful to discard the contaminated item...images of cots with no mattresses went through my head.
what do i do with the emotions inside of me? how do i respond? i do not have an answer...but i do know it is my responsibility to feed the poor, clothe the naked, care for the sick, visit the imprisoned and to love the lovely and unlovely alike. that is my calling and that will be my life whether that is within the borders of Canada or to the farthest reaches of the world. it is my everyday.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
many more thoughts
7 hours of delay in ethiopia leads me to being in a swanky hotel in london writing this post in the "internet room". maybe one day i'll have a house that has an "internet room". no, i probably won't!! anyway, i digress.
at the end of the last post i said i would talk about chicken so here goes. when brandon and i and this other guy named normand went up country we went out for chicken. now i know what is going through your head...what's the big deal about that? well, you go and "preorder" your chicken in the afternoon...there is no electricity where you eat the chicken...the ambience is set by a flourescent light bulb run by a generator. the chicken comes in large pieces that you eat like a barbarian...every guy i know would love this experience. the chicken itself is great and you eat it with this sauce that is good too.
this past week, brandon and i were driven around by a very nice burundian man who without the holy spirit and the protection of God would have surely killed us both. we drove to many health care centres most of which did not have mattresses, let alone medications, or bandages etc. etc. etc. when asked about this i honestly don't know what to say. one man asked me what those places were like in comparison to canada...that is an unanswerable question at this point. if i ever hear anybody compare the Canadian health care system to a third world country again i think i'll scream. oh yeah, we also saw many churches, primary schools and secondary schools.
the highlight of the week was when we visited this one particular village. the leader of the place and all these others leaders met with us. we got to sit on the greatest couch i have ever seen. it would actually do it injustice to describe it. it was a lovely shade of green and had these crocheted doilies on each seat. the doilies are flourescent yellow and pink. brandon was wearing these pants that had velcro closures on the rear pockets. when he stood up he took the doilie with him. it was one of the funniest things i'd seen for a while. so there we were with these people who i couldn't communicate with and we laughed together. i loved it!!
finally, on wednesday afternoon we met with the bishop of Hope Africa University. they have a nursing program there. after this informational meeting i found myself agreeing to an interview with the board of directors the next afternoon. it looks as though i'll be exploring options about teaching in the new year in Africa. what is happening to my life?!
at the end of the last post i said i would talk about chicken so here goes. when brandon and i and this other guy named normand went up country we went out for chicken. now i know what is going through your head...what's the big deal about that? well, you go and "preorder" your chicken in the afternoon...there is no electricity where you eat the chicken...the ambience is set by a flourescent light bulb run by a generator. the chicken comes in large pieces that you eat like a barbarian...every guy i know would love this experience. the chicken itself is great and you eat it with this sauce that is good too.
this past week, brandon and i were driven around by a very nice burundian man who without the holy spirit and the protection of God would have surely killed us both. we drove to many health care centres most of which did not have mattresses, let alone medications, or bandages etc. etc. etc. when asked about this i honestly don't know what to say. one man asked me what those places were like in comparison to canada...that is an unanswerable question at this point. if i ever hear anybody compare the Canadian health care system to a third world country again i think i'll scream. oh yeah, we also saw many churches, primary schools and secondary schools.
the highlight of the week was when we visited this one particular village. the leader of the place and all these others leaders met with us. we got to sit on the greatest couch i have ever seen. it would actually do it injustice to describe it. it was a lovely shade of green and had these crocheted doilies on each seat. the doilies are flourescent yellow and pink. brandon was wearing these pants that had velcro closures on the rear pockets. when he stood up he took the doilie with him. it was one of the funniest things i'd seen for a while. so there we were with these people who i couldn't communicate with and we laughed together. i loved it!!
finally, on wednesday afternoon we met with the bishop of Hope Africa University. they have a nursing program there. after this informational meeting i found myself agreeing to an interview with the board of directors the next afternoon. it looks as though i'll be exploring options about teaching in the new year in Africa. what is happening to my life?!
Saturday, May 12, 2007
many thoughts
honestly i'm not sure where to start. we just returned from a 3 day trip up country. this is apparently the real africa, the heart of africa. there are many beautiful things. some of the foliage is the greenest you've ever seen. there are thousands of banana trees. the women where bright clothing; a neon orange that you can see from very far away. if you are child of the '80's think neon orange and turn it up a few notches.
on thursday afternoon we drove for a while on difficult roads. we were going to see trees that had been planted and to visit the Batwa. these people are the pygmy people of africa and according to brandon they are the most vulnerable of all Burundians who are very vulnerable on the whole. the Batwa village is comprised of 12 families. 11 men and 12 women. after we had been there for a while the man who was translating said, "they are used to brandon but they have never seen a muzungu lady before." that means that i am the first white woman these people have seen. i never thought i would ever say those words! when we first arrived one of the women had a baby and a toddler with her. i could see the toddler struggling to see me out of his right eye. as i looked closer i noticed his left eye was completely closed and his right eye was beginning to fail. it looked as though he had developed an eye infection a long time ago which had not been treated. this poor boy will now go blind. what do i do with that? i am still processing.
as we drive along roads, many, many children come out waving, yelling "muzungu, muzungu!!" i honestly feel as though i've waved at more people than the queen! but how can children not make you melt!
we also visited a malnutrition center. again sadness, but they are doing amazing work saving children who would not survive otherwise. one of the nurses there showed us around and explained the different stages the children go through before they are sent home again. their mothers are at the center with them. the hope is they will not have to return.
through various sources i have discovered it costs $90 per year to educate a nurse in this country. multiply that by four years and a fully qualified nurse is produced. $360 to educate someone to nurse their own people. that is crazy!! i'm sure i spend more than that on coffee alone in a year.
i know this is a lot of random information but there is so much more i could write. i'll save it for later or when i get home. this is an unbelievable experience....oh yeah i'll talk about the chicken another time!
on thursday afternoon we drove for a while on difficult roads. we were going to see trees that had been planted and to visit the Batwa. these people are the pygmy people of africa and according to brandon they are the most vulnerable of all Burundians who are very vulnerable on the whole. the Batwa village is comprised of 12 families. 11 men and 12 women. after we had been there for a while the man who was translating said, "they are used to brandon but they have never seen a muzungu lady before." that means that i am the first white woman these people have seen. i never thought i would ever say those words! when we first arrived one of the women had a baby and a toddler with her. i could see the toddler struggling to see me out of his right eye. as i looked closer i noticed his left eye was completely closed and his right eye was beginning to fail. it looked as though he had developed an eye infection a long time ago which had not been treated. this poor boy will now go blind. what do i do with that? i am still processing.
as we drive along roads, many, many children come out waving, yelling "muzungu, muzungu!!" i honestly feel as though i've waved at more people than the queen! but how can children not make you melt!
we also visited a malnutrition center. again sadness, but they are doing amazing work saving children who would not survive otherwise. one of the nurses there showed us around and explained the different stages the children go through before they are sent home again. their mothers are at the center with them. the hope is they will not have to return.
through various sources i have discovered it costs $90 per year to educate a nurse in this country. multiply that by four years and a fully qualified nurse is produced. $360 to educate someone to nurse their own people. that is crazy!! i'm sure i spend more than that on coffee alone in a year.
i know this is a lot of random information but there is so much more i could write. i'll save it for later or when i get home. this is an unbelievable experience....oh yeah i'll talk about the chicken another time!
Monday, May 7, 2007
holy hippos!
brandon and i had breakfast with a burundian man named Cassien. he told me the story of how he began Help Channel Burundi. it was inspiring and amazing. what God can do through one person is incredible. Cassien, himself, has 40 nieces and nephews orphaned by hiv/aids. he believed it was his responsibility to care for them and raise them. many of them are now having children of their own. through the prayers of others and a dream from God, Cassien started Help Channel Burundi; an organization that channels aid to the right places and people. it is always so good to hear others speak of how God has spoken to them and confirmed what he has said by bringing those things to pass. He really is a God who can do more than we can ask or imagine.
After breakfast brandon and i went to look for hippos. they were 20 feet off the shore! it was amazing. they were quite docile, so in order to rile them up brandon threw some rocks. yes, i know that sounds dumb, but it is what it is. brandon's good shot konked one of them right on the head. he went under he water pretty quickly which kind of made us both wonder where he was going. fortunately he didn't appear on the shore as hippos kill a lot of people here in africa. a pretty good first day i think!!
After breakfast brandon and i went to look for hippos. they were 20 feet off the shore! it was amazing. they were quite docile, so in order to rile them up brandon threw some rocks. yes, i know that sounds dumb, but it is what it is. brandon's good shot konked one of them right on the head. he went under he water pretty quickly which kind of made us both wonder where he was going. fortunately he didn't appear on the shore as hippos kill a lot of people here in africa. a pretty good first day i think!!
Friday, May 4, 2007
on my way
i just saw my hand surgeon who was pleased with the progress of my fracture. this is good news as i do last minute things to get ready to head to the airport later today to fly away to africa! i'm not sure what will greet me there. i do sense deep within my soul that my life is headed for some big changes. what form will those changes take? being on what feels like a precipice is both invigorating and scary. something in my soul is unsettled. i believe this is where i have a choice. do i run away from this because it seems difficult? or do i walk straight into it because it seems difficult? i have faith that i have been lead here for various reasons and in response to different situations. i know today, and each day following, will be punctuated by moment to moment revelations. may my heart be in such a state that i will respond accordingly. "now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be all the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations for ever and ever! Amen." Ephesians 3:20, 21
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