This week I thought I was seeing a 15 year old boy with a stomach ache, until I looked in his mouth and saw Candida (a fungus). Oops. He was there with his mother, so I had to tell them I suspected AIDS. I sent them to VCT, Voluntary Counseling and Testing, and he was positive. He probably has fungus growing all along his esophagus, which puts him at stage 4 out of 4 AIDS. That is pretty darn sick.
He had very cool shades and a very macho black T shirt, but he was choking back tears as I was telling him all about HIV. I’m not surprised. His world just turned upside down. Now instead of looking at another 60 years, he might be looking at another 10 years, 15 tops.
How did he get AIDS? There are three possibilities:
1. He was born with it. No one else in the family knows their status, so He could have been born with it, having gotten it in his mother's womb. It would be late to present, at age 15, but he is from a well-to-do family, so he could have been healthy enough all along.
2. He could have started having sex at age 12 or 13. That would be odd that he would get that sick that fast from 2 or 3 years of sexual activity, but it's possible.
3. He could have been molested. He has been at boarding school for two years, so he could have been molested by one of the older boys or by a teacher or another adult.
So, as we get to know each other a lot in the coming months, it may come out how he thinks he might have become infected. The how doesn’t matter much now. He is infected and sick. The why doesn’t matter much either. He is unlucky in a fallen world.
The only question s that matter now are “Who?” and “How?”
Who? : Not, “Who gave this to me?” But, “Who do I turn to since my life has flipped upside down?” I will humbly be suggesting that he turn to Jesus. He probably won’t make the infection go away nor will He punish the infector on this Earth, but He will be with the young man as he struggles to live a healthy life. Jesus will sustain him when there seems no hope. Jesus will redeem his soul. It doesn’t seem like much consolation from a 15 year old boy’s point of view, but it is all we have on this Earth.
How? : Not, “How do I get even?” or “How do I get rid of this?” but “How do I live with this horror?” I will also humbly suggest that Jesus is the same answer to that different question. Jesus can turn horror into hope. There isn’t anything redeeming about dying young or being sick young, but there is redemption in eventually using his illness to help others who are ill and to give glory to God.
How does AIDS in a boy who is just becoming a man glorify God? I don’t have a clue how it will happen, or even how it can happen, but I pray that glory does come out of this. I pray I can give some comfort as he starts this very sad journey.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Friday, May 7, 2010
Zacharias is with the Lord
The young man with juvenile arthritis that Elizabeth was caring for passed away about one month ago. We learned of his passing last week.
As you can see from his picture, Zacharias was very unhealthy. He was often fed only every two to three days by his family. When Elizabeth would see him, he would be lying in his own excrement and urine, covered in flies and bed sores, and often hadn’t eaten in a day or two.
Thanks to Elizabeth and Jessica McMillan, Zaccarias was moved from his village to the Michinje District Hospital. When they visited him there, Zacharias said he preferred staying in the hospital because they fed him and bathed him.
On one of her visits to Zacharias’ village, Elizabeth took a woman who spoke Chichewa to explain to Zacharias about Jesus love and His forgiveness of sins. Zacharias accepted Jesus as his Savior that day.
It is horribly sad that an eighteen year old boy who just had arthritis died, but because of Elizabeth and Jessica, he died clean and fed and most importantly, saved. Thank you Elizabeth, thank you Jessica and thank you God.
As you can see from his picture, Zacharias was very unhealthy. He was often fed only every two to three days by his family. When Elizabeth would see him, he would be lying in his own excrement and urine, covered in flies and bed sores, and often hadn’t eaten in a day or two.
Thanks to Elizabeth and Jessica McMillan, Zaccarias was moved from his village to the Michinje District Hospital. When they visited him there, Zacharias said he preferred staying in the hospital because they fed him and bathed him.
On one of her visits to Zacharias’ village, Elizabeth took a woman who spoke Chichewa to explain to Zacharias about Jesus love and His forgiveness of sins. Zacharias accepted Jesus as his Savior that day.
It is horribly sad that an eighteen year old boy who just had arthritis died, but because of Elizabeth and Jessica, he died clean and fed and most importantly, saved. Thank you Elizabeth, thank you Jessica and thank you God.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Chicha: Yum, Yum
One of the more interesting items that comes form the jungle of Ecuador is chicha.
In the jungle, there is food, but keeping it fresh without refrigerators, canning and other modern conveniences is hard. Rodents are everywhere, as are bugs, rot, fungus, and all other kind of things that ruin food.
So, what is chicha? Yucca root, also known as manioc or cassava, is chewed up by the women, spit into a bucket and allowed to ferment. In the jungle, each woman makes her own chicha from her own batch of spit. Then to show their hospitality, each woman wants you to try her own special brand of fermented spit.
You may be asking, “What does chicha taste like?” Elizabeth says it tastes like warm, lumpy beer. Jerry says it tastes like a mixture of skim milk and vinegar. Both descriptions way oversell the quality of the brew.
So why do people make chicha, and more importantly, why in Heaven’s name would anyone consume it? Both are very good questions.
Adults consume chicha for two reasons. Since as long as history has been written, almost every culture and civilization has writings of epic heroes and recipes for beer. People just like to get drunk. I used to like to get drunk, and can’t for the life of me remember why I thought I was having fun. Go to most college campuses on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday and you will find a large number of young people spending their parents money. By studying? No, by drinking fermented beverages and thinking they are having a great time. Most cultures consume alcohol, and the jungles of Ecuador host a number of tribal cultures that like drinking.
The second reason is that from the time jungle children are young, they drink chicha. The water is mud brown and the open sewer from the Andes at 16,000 feet down to the 1000 feet of the jungle. That’s 15,000 feet and miles of human sewage. It’s hard to imagine that fermented spit is more sanitary than anything, especially river water, but in the Amazon chicha is definitely a cleaner beverage. Even a couple of days of fermenting will keep the starch from going bad. Being a liquid, rodents don’t go for the chicha, and mold is less likely to grow so in a really low tech way, chicha is a way to store starch.
Chicha is a comfort food for people from the jungle. It’s what fills your belly when you are a kid. It’s what you drank to get your first buzz as a teenager. It is what you drink after a tough day in the jungle or after a long hunt.
True chicha stories:
> Folks from the jungle will bring chicha on the missionary airplanes when they fly, since you can’t buy chicha in the stores in town. Since it is a fermented drink, it doesn’t like the drop in pressure as the plane goes up to 10,000 feet. Sometime when it is brought out of the storage locker under the plane, the chicha will burst out of the two liter coke bottle it flies in and soak the pilot or ground crew with fermented starch spit.
> I watched a jungle nurse, a man, suck down almost two bowls of chicha after work one day. I saw him again about 45 minutes later, quite tipsy. The alcohol is real.
> Chicha is drunk from a bowl, not a frosted mug. The bowl is made out of a hollowed gourd or a turtle shell.
That’s chicha. I don’t like it, but thousands of people who live in in the amazon rain forest have a right to what they like. Some people like to eat raw fish on a wad of rice, but sushi is a different blog.
In the jungle, there is food, but keeping it fresh without refrigerators, canning and other modern conveniences is hard. Rodents are everywhere, as are bugs, rot, fungus, and all other kind of things that ruin food.
So, what is chicha? Yucca root, also known as manioc or cassava, is chewed up by the women, spit into a bucket and allowed to ferment. In the jungle, each woman makes her own chicha from her own batch of spit. Then to show their hospitality, each woman wants you to try her own special brand of fermented spit.
You may be asking, “What does chicha taste like?” Elizabeth says it tastes like warm, lumpy beer. Jerry says it tastes like a mixture of skim milk and vinegar. Both descriptions way oversell the quality of the brew.
So why do people make chicha, and more importantly, why in Heaven’s name would anyone consume it? Both are very good questions.
Adults consume chicha for two reasons. Since as long as history has been written, almost every culture and civilization has writings of epic heroes and recipes for beer. People just like to get drunk. I used to like to get drunk, and can’t for the life of me remember why I thought I was having fun. Go to most college campuses on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday and you will find a large number of young people spending their parents money. By studying? No, by drinking fermented beverages and thinking they are having a great time. Most cultures consume alcohol, and the jungles of Ecuador host a number of tribal cultures that like drinking.
The second reason is that from the time jungle children are young, they drink chicha. The water is mud brown and the open sewer from the Andes at 16,000 feet down to the 1000 feet of the jungle. That’s 15,000 feet and miles of human sewage. It’s hard to imagine that fermented spit is more sanitary than anything, especially river water, but in the Amazon chicha is definitely a cleaner beverage. Even a couple of days of fermenting will keep the starch from going bad. Being a liquid, rodents don’t go for the chicha, and mold is less likely to grow so in a really low tech way, chicha is a way to store starch.
Chicha is a comfort food for people from the jungle. It’s what fills your belly when you are a kid. It’s what you drank to get your first buzz as a teenager. It is what you drink after a tough day in the jungle or after a long hunt.
True chicha stories:
> Folks from the jungle will bring chicha on the missionary airplanes when they fly, since you can’t buy chicha in the stores in town. Since it is a fermented drink, it doesn’t like the drop in pressure as the plane goes up to 10,000 feet. Sometime when it is brought out of the storage locker under the plane, the chicha will burst out of the two liter coke bottle it flies in and soak the pilot or ground crew with fermented starch spit.
> I watched a jungle nurse, a man, suck down almost two bowls of chicha after work one day. I saw him again about 45 minutes later, quite tipsy. The alcohol is real.
> Chicha is drunk from a bowl, not a frosted mug. The bowl is made out of a hollowed gourd or a turtle shell.
That’s chicha. I don’t like it, but thousands of people who live in in the amazon rain forest have a right to what they like. Some people like to eat raw fish on a wad of rice, but sushi is a different blog.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
New Partners in Hope Videos
Here is a new video about the new in patient ward at Partners in Hope. (Click on the title to see it. Pretty cool, eh?)
Blessings,
Jerry & Elizabeth
Blessings,
Jerry & Elizabeth
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Questions the Chinese guys have asked at our Bible Study. How would you answer?
1. Why didn’t God send a prophet to China?
2. When Jesus was staying in Jerusalem, did he stay in a hotel? (from the story of Jesus meeting Andrew and John in John 1)
3. In John 1:38 when Jesus showed John & Andrew where He was staying, did He take them to Heaven or where He was staying? Was it a hotel?
4. Jesus genetic make-up? (Was it 23 chromosomes from Mary & 23 from the Holy Spirit or all 46 from the Spirit or some other way? “You’re a doctor. You should know.”)
5. Was Jesus light or God or a man or words? (Prologue from John 1)
6. Is Muhammad a prophet?
7. Was John the Baptist a son of God?
8. Are trees, plants and animals sons of God?
Please us know how you would answer by clicking on Post a Comment.
2. When Jesus was staying in Jerusalem, did he stay in a hotel? (from the story of Jesus meeting Andrew and John in John 1)
3. In John 1:38 when Jesus showed John & Andrew where He was staying, did He take them to Heaven or where He was staying? Was it a hotel?
4. Jesus genetic make-up? (Was it 23 chromosomes from Mary & 23 from the Holy Spirit or all 46 from the Spirit or some other way? “You’re a doctor. You should know.”)
5. Was Jesus light or God or a man or words? (Prologue from John 1)
6. Is Muhammad a prophet?
7. Was John the Baptist a son of God?
8. Are trees, plants and animals sons of God?
Please us know how you would answer by clicking on Post a Comment.
Monday, February 15, 2010
It Just So Happened
Sometimes something just falls into your lap, and you know God dropped it there.
Jerry was working at the main public hospital here, and happened to meet a young Chinese man volunteering at the same hospital with a Chinese government program. It happened that this young man is a Christian. It also happened that he lives just down the street from us.
So Jerry went over one day and took some avocados from our tree to Tuki. They prayed together, Jerry in English, and Tuki in Chinese. Jerry invited Tuki to a Bible study starting in our area that happened to be next door to Tuki’s house, run by an English businessman who goes to our church. When Tuki came he brought three other Chinese volunteers with him and the following week he brought five. Through very broken English we found out that these young people had never met any Christians until they came to Africa and that they were eager to learn about God and about what Christianity is all about.
In Ecuador, Elizabeth used a Bible Study in Spanish that was especially designed for people who have never looked at a Bible, and concluded that it would be useful now if we had it in English. She determined to translate it herself. Well, guess what? It happened to have been translated in to English last year.
After printing out scanned copies of the Bible Study sent from Ecuador, we walked over to Tuki’s house and gave homework to a bunch of enthusiastic young people. We started with the Gospel of John. Friday was the first day of the new Chinese Bible study for Chinese volunteers curious about Christianity.
The students came ready with homework done, and loaded with questions like, “Why did God send prophets to Israel, not to China?”
“Was Jesus just light or spirit or man?”
“Are animals and plants children of God?”
“Was John the Baptist the son of God, too?”
After an hour of lively discussion we had only covered the first nine verses of Chapter One but there were smiles all around and enthusiasm to continue on next week. And off they quickly went to prepare dumplings, because tomorrow happened to be Chinese New Year and we happened to receive a last minute invitation.
Jerry was working at the main public hospital here, and happened to meet a young Chinese man volunteering at the same hospital with a Chinese government program. It happened that this young man is a Christian. It also happened that he lives just down the street from us.
So Jerry went over one day and took some avocados from our tree to Tuki. They prayed together, Jerry in English, and Tuki in Chinese. Jerry invited Tuki to a Bible study starting in our area that happened to be next door to Tuki’s house, run by an English businessman who goes to our church. When Tuki came he brought three other Chinese volunteers with him and the following week he brought five. Through very broken English we found out that these young people had never met any Christians until they came to Africa and that they were eager to learn about God and about what Christianity is all about.
In Ecuador, Elizabeth used a Bible Study in Spanish that was especially designed for people who have never looked at a Bible, and concluded that it would be useful now if we had it in English. She determined to translate it herself. Well, guess what? It happened to have been translated in to English last year.
After printing out scanned copies of the Bible Study sent from Ecuador, we walked over to Tuki’s house and gave homework to a bunch of enthusiastic young people. We started with the Gospel of John. Friday was the first day of the new Chinese Bible study for Chinese volunteers curious about Christianity.
The students came ready with homework done, and loaded with questions like, “Why did God send prophets to Israel, not to China?”
“Was Jesus just light or spirit or man?”
“Are animals and plants children of God?”
“Was John the Baptist the son of God, too?”
After an hour of lively discussion we had only covered the first nine verses of Chapter One but there were smiles all around and enthusiasm to continue on next week. And off they quickly went to prepare dumplings, because tomorrow happened to be Chinese New Year and we happened to receive a last minute invitation.
Friday, February 12, 2010
The Adventures of Molly the Catatonic Kitty
We adopted Jessica’s cat on Tuesday. The poor cat was catatonic all day long. She hid between Lorraine’s mattress and the wall all day long. When Lorraine would pull her out of the space, Molly would go right back to the gap. After a number of hours, Molly finally would go about six inches from the wall and let Lorraine pet her, but only as long a Lorraine kept holding her.
This went on for a whole day and night. The next day Molly actually walked around the girls’ room. She wouldn’t venture out of the room, but she would actually sit on the desk, looking out the window and meow to get out. That was an improvement until the early hours of day two with the catatonic kitty, when she started meowing loudly and insistently that she wanted to go hunting at 5 am. In a battle of wills between a cat and a human, even two humans, the cat will win. Molly won. The girls came to our room to sleep, and Elizabeth went to try to sleep in their room for two good reasons: 1) she is a self sacrificial mother who will do almost anything for her “babies” even when her babies are almost her height, and 2) she was so sick that night that she hardly slept anyway, with or without the cat.
On day three the cat gave us a fright that she had run off. Andrew left the back door open and Molly couldn’t be found for a few tense seconds. She had gone to the porch but came back at Elizabeth’s call. Why are we keeping the cat locked up inside? We were told by cat people it takes a week for a cat to imprint on a new home, so we are keeping her locked in the house for a week to let her imprint on our house, then she can go back to her catly duties like hunting rodents and snakes and placing the rotting corpses under our bed. We can’t wait.
We are up to day four now, and Patty the mop dog is about to learn about his new competition for our cuddling affections. Right now he is just confused as to why we aren’t letting him track the red mud of Malawi into our house. In a mere three days we can open the doors again to let Molly out and Patty in. We can’t wait.
This went on for a whole day and night. The next day Molly actually walked around the girls’ room. She wouldn’t venture out of the room, but she would actually sit on the desk, looking out the window and meow to get out. That was an improvement until the early hours of day two with the catatonic kitty, when she started meowing loudly and insistently that she wanted to go hunting at 5 am. In a battle of wills between a cat and a human, even two humans, the cat will win. Molly won. The girls came to our room to sleep, and Elizabeth went to try to sleep in their room for two good reasons: 1) she is a self sacrificial mother who will do almost anything for her “babies” even when her babies are almost her height, and 2) she was so sick that night that she hardly slept anyway, with or without the cat.
On day three the cat gave us a fright that she had run off. Andrew left the back door open and Molly couldn’t be found for a few tense seconds. She had gone to the porch but came back at Elizabeth’s call. Why are we keeping the cat locked up inside? We were told by cat people it takes a week for a cat to imprint on a new home, so we are keeping her locked in the house for a week to let her imprint on our house, then she can go back to her catly duties like hunting rodents and snakes and placing the rotting corpses under our bed. We can’t wait.
We are up to day four now, and Patty the mop dog is about to learn about his new competition for our cuddling affections. Right now he is just confused as to why we aren’t letting him track the red mud of Malawi into our house. In a mere three days we can open the doors again to let Molly out and Patty in. We can’t wait.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Both Hands Tied Behind Our Backs
Professionally, I’m having a blast. I’m at the government hospital in the capital, Lilongwe, which makes Wishard look like Clarian North.
We had two kids die of rabies last week. One of the kids was bitten on Christmas Day. It was a 1/4 inch lesion on the thumb. The parents took the kid to the health center, but it was closed on Christmas day. Since Christmas was on a Friday, by Monday they thought, “It looks OK,” so didn’t take him back. He didn’t start the post bite vaccines at all and died a month later. He had hyperreflexia followed by hyporeflexia, progressive paralysis, and myoedema. The other kid, 12 y/o, had the foaming at the mouth. I’ve now seen four cases of rabies in six years: 2 in Malawi, 2 in Ecuador.
You can ask, “Why didn’t we use the Milwaukee protocol (induce a coma for 3 weeks)?” We didn’t even think about it because there are only three ventilators in the hospital, and only one can handle kids. It’s not right to use such a limited resource for a kid who has a 0.01% chance of living, even after a month long induced coma. There are also only 3 working dialysis machines in the country, all at the hospital where I'm working.
I’ve been a doc for 17 years and only encountered Burkitt’s lymphoma on board exams. In one hour I saw 15 kids with Burkitt’s lymphoma. A General Practice doctor from Nigeria has an interest in Burkitt’s & pediatric cancers, so he does the Burkitt’s kids. (Burkitt's lymphoma has mortality anywhere from 5-30%, depending on the stage when diagnosed and whether they relapse after chemotherapy.)
I took a sample of peritoneal fluid to the lab on January 3rd. Since I couldn’t find a lab tech anywhere in the lab, I put the sample down on the counter, right next to a sample of peritoneal from the SAME patient dated December 31st. It had been sitting on the counter for 4 days, untouched by human hands. All the crud growing in the test tube wasn’t so much of an issue because we can’t do cultures here. You are lucky to get a cell count, glucose and protein. My issue was that I had done all I could for the patient and if no one could do even five minutes of work over four days to help another human being, and the systems were so nonexistent that labs samples can go untouched for four days, there wasn’t anything else I could do. So, I just got in my car and drove home.
I did come back the next day. (That’s the difference between being fed up and giving up.)
Mind you, this is the free labor I’m doing in the government hospital to get my medical license. Tomorrow is my last day. Not that I’m counting, (20 hours).
Next week I start at Partners in Hope. It’s not a perfect place, and it has similar problems with motivated staff, but we can fire people who don’t do their work, pray with our patients and at least know that most everyone at the hospital cares about the patient.
This is getting long and might look depressing, but since most of the patients get better and go home, and we actually can make a huge difference. “We had both hands tied behind our back and STILL saved the patient.”
Three factoids before I quit.
1. There are three residency trained pediatricians in a country of 14 million, two here in Lilongwe and one at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Blantyre.
2. Every day at morning report on the pediatrics ward they discuss the admissions and the deaths. There are 3 – 9 deaths per day. That’s one death every 3 to 8 hours. (In the US, if a child dies in the hospital, the whole building goes into mourning.)
3. No one can get reliable data about admissions and deaths, but the estimate is that the mortality rate is 9.1% of all pediatric admissions, down from 9.6% last year.
We had two kids die of rabies last week. One of the kids was bitten on Christmas Day. It was a 1/4 inch lesion on the thumb. The parents took the kid to the health center, but it was closed on Christmas day. Since Christmas was on a Friday, by Monday they thought, “It looks OK,” so didn’t take him back. He didn’t start the post bite vaccines at all and died a month later. He had hyperreflexia followed by hyporeflexia, progressive paralysis, and myoedema. The other kid, 12 y/o, had the foaming at the mouth. I’ve now seen four cases of rabies in six years: 2 in Malawi, 2 in Ecuador.
You can ask, “Why didn’t we use the Milwaukee protocol (induce a coma for 3 weeks)?” We didn’t even think about it because there are only three ventilators in the hospital, and only one can handle kids. It’s not right to use such a limited resource for a kid who has a 0.01% chance of living, even after a month long induced coma. There are also only 3 working dialysis machines in the country, all at the hospital where I'm working.
I’ve been a doc for 17 years and only encountered Burkitt’s lymphoma on board exams. In one hour I saw 15 kids with Burkitt’s lymphoma. A General Practice doctor from Nigeria has an interest in Burkitt’s & pediatric cancers, so he does the Burkitt’s kids. (Burkitt's lymphoma has mortality anywhere from 5-30%, depending on the stage when diagnosed and whether they relapse after chemotherapy.)
I took a sample of peritoneal fluid to the lab on January 3rd. Since I couldn’t find a lab tech anywhere in the lab, I put the sample down on the counter, right next to a sample of peritoneal from the SAME patient dated December 31st. It had been sitting on the counter for 4 days, untouched by human hands. All the crud growing in the test tube wasn’t so much of an issue because we can’t do cultures here. You are lucky to get a cell count, glucose and protein. My issue was that I had done all I could for the patient and if no one could do even five minutes of work over four days to help another human being, and the systems were so nonexistent that labs samples can go untouched for four days, there wasn’t anything else I could do. So, I just got in my car and drove home.
I did come back the next day. (That’s the difference between being fed up and giving up.)
Mind you, this is the free labor I’m doing in the government hospital to get my medical license. Tomorrow is my last day. Not that I’m counting, (20 hours).
Next week I start at Partners in Hope. It’s not a perfect place, and it has similar problems with motivated staff, but we can fire people who don’t do their work, pray with our patients and at least know that most everyone at the hospital cares about the patient.
This is getting long and might look depressing, but since most of the patients get better and go home, and we actually can make a huge difference. “We had both hands tied behind our back and STILL saved the patient.”
Three factoids before I quit.
1. There are three residency trained pediatricians in a country of 14 million, two here in Lilongwe and one at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Blantyre.
2. Every day at morning report on the pediatrics ward they discuss the admissions and the deaths. There are 3 – 9 deaths per day. That’s one death every 3 to 8 hours. (In the US, if a child dies in the hospital, the whole building goes into mourning.)
3. No one can get reliable data about admissions and deaths, but the estimate is that the mortality rate is 9.1% of all pediatric admissions, down from 9.6% last year.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
HCJB In Haiti
HCJB sent a team to Haiti.
See the photos on the BBC website.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8466989.stm
See the photos on the BBC website.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8466989.stm
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
The Patient Died Before I Got to See Him
Yesterday was Monday. The doctors divided up the patients who came in over the weekend. I had six. I started seeing them one by one, and as I came into a room, there was a body wrapped up and ready for the morgue.
I asked, with some anxiety, “Is that Charles?”
“Yes.”
“Do you need help putting the body on the gurney?”
“Yes, but you don’t have gloves on, so don’t help.”
It was sad that my patient died even before I got to see him. At least I don’t feel guilty that he died while under my care or even under my stethoscope. It is a recurrent problem here that patients came long after it is too late. They are not comfortable with western medicine, a place that is totally unfamiliar: multi-story buildings, electricity, odd looking machines, even elevators.
You can see little nicks with black tint on the sick part of the body made by the medicine man. The patients are so much more comfortable with the witch doctor. He lives in their village. He speaks their language. He lives in a grass hut like they do. He believes in curses, demons and ancestor worship like many Malawians do. He may even place curses or say that he can prevent curses. By the time the family has given up on the medicine man they are long past the point where we could have helped.
I don’t know what the story was with Charles. I never even got to see him.
Blessings - Jerry
I asked, with some anxiety, “Is that Charles?”
“Yes.”
“Do you need help putting the body on the gurney?”
“Yes, but you don’t have gloves on, so don’t help.”
It was sad that my patient died even before I got to see him. At least I don’t feel guilty that he died while under my care or even under my stethoscope. It is a recurrent problem here that patients came long after it is too late. They are not comfortable with western medicine, a place that is totally unfamiliar: multi-story buildings, electricity, odd looking machines, even elevators.
You can see little nicks with black tint on the sick part of the body made by the medicine man. The patients are so much more comfortable with the witch doctor. He lives in their village. He speaks their language. He lives in a grass hut like they do. He believes in curses, demons and ancestor worship like many Malawians do. He may even place curses or say that he can prevent curses. By the time the family has given up on the medicine man they are long past the point where we could have helped.
I don’t know what the story was with Charles. I never even got to see him.
Blessings - Jerry
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Happy New Year everyone, Happy New Decade!
This year started in a cold Midwest winter and ended in the warm heart of Africa. We have just moved into a “permanent” house here and it’s already feeling a bit like home. Home for me is not really a place. I’ve lived in eight countries and five states. The longest I’ve lived any where is eight years (five of them while I was in college). Home for me is a feeling, a feeling of comfort and security. I feel it most with family and with friends that have lasted over several moves. I feel it in prayer sometimes. I begin feeling it after about six months in a new place. Still, sometimes no matter how long I’ve been somewhere, there is a longing for “home”, whatever and wherever that is. We Christians are fond of saying that our home is in Heaven, so maybe that’s as things should be.
We wish everyone a sense of home in this New Year, and praying that Malawi would indeed become home for us this year.
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