Back to Work

Getting back to work at Mattru has been good.  We have been pleasantly surprised by the persistence of power during the rainy season.  We have had a couple of outages at the hospital, during very cloudy, rainy weather, but in general, the 24-hour power puts us in a very unusual position in the country of Sierra Leone. Perhaps some of the credit goes to a less severe rainy season, but for whatever reason, we are grateful for the efforts of the project that has provided plenty of power for the hospital.

Through our sending organization EMM, we were blessed with a mission intern, Rebekah Steiner, for the 3 months of summer.  Rebekah is a delightful young lady who spent most of her time in the laboratory at the hospital, assisting them in writing protocols, and increasing their knowledge of lab procedures, among other responsibilities.  In only 3 months, she was given kudos for learning the Mende language better than all of the long-term missionaries, and with a much more authentic accent.  We enjoyed having her here and livening up the nights by playing games, playing her ukulele, and visiting often.  We said good-bye to her at the end of August, as she returned to Switzerland where she lives in Basel pursuing her advanced degree.

We were also getting ready to say good-bye to daughter Kristin and Karlin after their 5 years here in Sierra Leone.  That is hard in that it is the first time that we will be here in the country without family around.  They are returning September 12 to the US for the birth of their first baby, and to spend some more time in education.  We were privileged to visit them in Freetown the first weekend of September, and Heleen attended/assisted with a baby shower held by Kristin’s friends there. We treasured the times that we were able to spend with them before heading back to Mattru.

Rainy season means muddy cars! The bottom of the car washes clean when we get on the ferry! :)

Hospital transitions continue here as well.  We said goodbye to Reverend Gbando, the administrator, as he continues his pastor work again, effective July 1^st.  Pam McKee is the acting administrator for the transition period, and we are glad to have her in that position.  We were also joined by Mohammed Allieu, a surgically trained CHO (community health officer) who is well trained for those frequent surgical cases that we have.  We are glad for his assistance in the hospital.  We also have continued our training of other medical personnel.  Right now, we have 10 CHO students who are rotating in our hospital for the next 3 months.  It is a good opportunity to minister to them, and help with training for the future health care of Sierra Leone.

Jon making rounds with some of his CHO Students.

The days in the hospital continue to be at times draining both physically and mentally.  Saturday, September 8^th was an example.  After the death of a young child in the wee hours of the morning from severe malaria, it was followed by two neonatal deaths within 1 hour the same morning. One was a completely healthy newborn that was discharged that morning on rounds with the mother after a normal hospital delivery and stay, and inexplicably died while the mother was waiting by the side of the road for transport back to her village.  The other child was less of a shock, a 1 kg child born by premature labor who died after two days of tenuous life.  Death is never far from life here, and it takes a toll on families and staff alike.

Also on Saturday the 8th, there was also an “Opening of School” celebration with the children with disabilities that Heleen has been working with. Most of them do not attend school due to the severity of their disability, but three will continue their education (although they have basically been stuck in Classes 1 and 2 – there is no special education here…) and one is starting for the first time. He is not really disabled, but has epilepsy, which in Sierra Leone is often a reason to exclude a child from school. We were able to get him some epilepsy medication and are looking forward to seeing him in his school uniform soon! It was a precious time again as we listened to the story of David & Mephibosheth, talked about different emotions we can have, practiced our letters and numbers and learned about epilepsy. With these meetings we hope to not just to bring some light and joy in the lives of the children, but also to encourage their parents.

Three of the "school boys" - happy with their bags!

Starting at the end of this month we are entering a busy season with steady stream of visitors: two engineers who come to make preparations for the renovations of the Maternity Ward; our dear friends Carl & Deborah; our UB Global director and finally a resident and a medical doctor. We will keep you informed of our adventures!