Monday saw about 40 patients from 9 to 12 then scrubbed a hernia with Michael. It was an inginal hernia in the right groin the hernia sac was freed up quite easily and the vas and its vessels that come up from the scrotum through the inginal canal and into the abdominal cavity were isolated quite easily. If you do not isolate them and you cut as we often do you cut off blood supply to the testes and the testicle dies and the patient gets upset .We then had to work quite hard on freeing the hernia sac from the hernia walls so we could return sac and bowel back into the abdominal cavity. It was fun. Around supper time a vehicle with two gunshot victims were brought in I believe some Tonj police were trying to stop two drunk soldiers from fighting and bullets were fired one into the upper abdomen of a young man his stomach was lying outside his belly . The other had a in out wound to the upper leg which fractured his femur (the big bone in upper leg)He was given dressing and I splinted the upper leg There is talk of him going to the village surgeon(witch doctor) but he is still here. The other patient with stomach outside abdomen was transferred to Wau. We are still not quite ready to open abdomen in which we have no idea what we will find. We need suction and electrocautery and a little more experience with anesthesia . It all will come in God’s timing. #1rule in medicine is do no harm. We just trust God to guide us. I still think it is amazing how God got Mike and I here. I knew 20-30 years ago him and I would be in Africa together someday. God is amazing.
Radio Tower
A team of five men from a German company called Diguna which is based in Kenya arrived on Wednesday for the completion of Radio Tower. They are all knowledgeable and experienced in doing this work. A cement foundation or base as it’s called was built before the team arrived to erect the tower. From that base sections are added. Actually the correct term is an element. There are 23 elements in total. When finished the total height of the tower will be 69 meters or 226 feet. Kerrie Snow is here for the follow up of the radio tower and she is also helping in the clinic with dressings.
Kerrie came here specifically to try and understand more about the culture and beliefs as it pertained to health so that she could write lessons that would address needs as she perceived them. It has been extremely helpful and eye opening. It is easier for her to gather information in the afternoons as the clinic has generally slowed down and translators are more available. She sometimes just hang out on benches in front of the clinic and ask a lot of questions. All the young men that work in the clinic are very eager to help her and seem to enjoy discussions.
After Kerrie gathers information she will then process and categorize it so that she can place it in the right lesson that she want to present. Next she will need to write out her questions in English ahead of time so that the translator can review them and know what she is looking for. After some practice runs they finally get to record on her computer. Her kind and patient son- in law helped her set up a the recording program.
That’s not the end of the process by any means. After the interview it may be necessary for her to add information that will enhance the lesson. When it is all final she will send it to Houston where it will undergo editing and finally it will be sent via satellite going through Canada back to radio towers in Southern Sudan. Wow, modern technology!
“I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.My soul will boast in the Lord;let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together.” – Psalm 34:1-3
Field Update from Dr. Tom
Friday nite I subbed for a tired midwife. Delivered a baby the head went right into the bulging amniotic sack and I believe it made for a nice controlled delivery. everyone did fine. Saturday morning a real sick 3 month old came in Dennis our IV starting champion got an IV going and we gave fluids and meds to stop the convulsions. We started antibiotics and anti malarial meds and prayed. The child was sick for over one week with care by the village witch doctor and only when the infant was at death’s doorstep did it come to the clinic. Another seizure and aspiration into the lungs ended hope of a recover. I always say we need 12 hours to turn things around and we only got 6 hours. It is always sad but we can only do so much. During that time interval I pulled a tooth of a 15 y/o girl it was a tough pull because the crown of the tooth was very decayed and the roots were very strong. I have pulled about 40 teeth now. Michael Stick the surgeon from Madison continues to be a great asset to us here. He cannot believe all the hernias here and he is enjoying doing the surgery thing even when I assist him. I am starting to understand this hernia thing. – Tom
Witch Doctor
Feb 28th started out much as any other day.I was taking care of people who came in for dressing changes and just before lunch, Dennis, one of the medical staff asked if I would take over caring for a 5 month old baby that needed to be watched closely. Baby Anyar, had been very dehydrated and was in shock initially suffering from possible pneumonia and amebic dysentry. I gave some IV medications and kept an eye on him out on the back porch. After I had seen all my patients for dressings I went out with the translator to ask a few questions of the mother. There was a man sitting there also who I asked if I could pray for the baby. They said yes, and I did. The uncle asked if I prayed because the child was suffering? I said yes, that’s partly the reason, but that we all needed prayer and pointed to each of us.
I went to lunch and do some other things but felt drawn back to them. I asked Isaac who is a translator and A Community Health Worker if he had time to translate for me. He was happy to help. We started a conversation that lasted quite a while. Apparently the child had been sick for about 10 days. They had gone to another clinic quite some distance away and were given medicines. After 3 days the medicine did not seem to have made any difference. A family member said if it hasn’t helped then they should go to the witch doctor.
I know that all of you reading this in various parts of the world, outside of Africa, think this is very strange. For those who have many questions about this I would love to talk with you some time face to face about it. Let me just say, it is very, very real. They ended up going to two witch doctors. The first one asked to be paid 50 Sudanese pounds. This is a huge amount for most people. This witch doctor said the baby had gases in it’s belly, and rubbed oil all over him to remove the gases! It didn’t help. The 2nd witch doctor wanted a bull, goat and chicken for payment. This was a big problem because when the mother of the child got married her uncle was supposed to pay with a bull, goat and chicken but never did. The witch doctor stated the baby won’t get well without the payment. Fortunately I asked them if they knew God to whom I had prayed earlier. They did not know about God at all. We talked about God, his son Jesus and the Holy Spirit. It was a long conversation that I can’t go into details but it was very obvious that God had set this appointment for us to meet together this day.
In the end the brother and sister prayed with us to ask God’s forgiveness for their wrong doings, accepting that Jesus paid the price for their sins and invited Him into their lives. I explained that this was a free gift, no money, no bulls, goats or chickens for their healing.
They will never again go to, or trust in the witch doctor.The power of the witch doctor pales in comparison to the power of the One who made heaven and earth and rules over all his creation.
“There is no sorcery against Jacob, no divination against Israel. It will now be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘see what God has done!'” – Numbers 23:23
Guaria Village Praise Report
Guaria village has a population of about 496 people. One of our Bible School Trainees planted a church in Guaria village. The Gauria people love God so very much and they usually meet for fellowships every Saturday in the evening and they have invited us to come. They also have Sunday services. Albino (Compound Manager) has gone to the Saturday evening service a couple of times along with Pastor Joe and Peter Malok (Community Health worker) and some of our Pastors from the Bible School.
The major challenge they had was the lack of clean water for drinking. They requested our Ministry to drill a borehole for them if possible. One interesting thing about this village is that they have unity or a oneness. They all joined hands; Pastors, chiefs, elders, men, women and youth and sent to our ministry a proposal that stated that they are in need of a borehole. Our partners, Aid Sudan, sent a group on Saturday morning to Guaria village to drill a borehole. Every member in Guaria along with the women and children were there together to see what was going on in their village. These people are so very excited because they are looking forward to having a borehole which will give them clean water for drinking and will help prevent many of the common diseases such as diarrhea.
Because of this borehole and the availability of water, they will now be able to implement projects such as green vegetable planting and mango planting. This will result in the growth of Guaria and the other surrounding villages.
They thank God above all for remembering them, and they also thank Aid Sudan, our Ministry IDAT and our supporters and all those who participated.
“So that people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it.” – Isaiah 41:20
