33 and 3 birthday celebrations!

I've always loved my Thanksgiving birthday (Nov. 28) - sometimes on Thanksgiving, usually during Thanksgiving weekend. Family is often together and there are lots of fun things to do for a birthday celebration this time of year. Well, my family continues to creatively bless me on my birthday from a distance as do friends around the world. And friends nearby planned THREE birthday celebrations for me this year! I definitely felt loved and celebrated!

Amazingly delicious birthday dinner (chicken cordon bleu and cherry cheesecake!) with friends who live here in the dorm with me

 Birthday lunch with the girls on my team

 Brownies (from the U.S.!) and ice cream with the team

 What an incredible blessing all these teammates are to me! Abundantly beyond anything I asked or imagined! 

 Presents! Including cherry coke, hot tamales candy, and macaroni and cheese. My favorites! :)

 And the youngest teammates keep my walls beautifully decorated

And, finally, not a birthday, but a definite celebration - we all passed our exams! And are no longer "debutant" French students. Here we are celebrating at an Indian restaurant in town. It's both encouraging to realize how far we've come and discouraging to experience how difficult it still is to have a simple conversation! But we press on - one day at a time.

Third International Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving continues to be one of my favorite holidays and I'm glad that thus far, I've always enjoyed the celebration - maybe a few days late or early (like when on call during residency or when living in countries where the fourth Thursday in November is a normal work or school day), but I've never yet missed Thanksgiving entirely. I just wrote a post for the team blog from our thanksgiving celebration in France this year: click here to see the pics, etc.

And since this is my third international Thanksgiving, I thought I'd share a couple pics from the previous Thanksgivings in Kenya:

2009 - shortly after arriving in Kenya, warmly welcomed by the Roberts family (on the left in the above picture) and by the Cropseys (Jessica in the below pic - my birthday was on the same day as our Thanksgiving celebration that year)

 2010 - just after traveling to Ethiopia and climbing Mt. Kenya with my friend Sarah from Alabama (sitting to the right of me). Through those experiences, God confirmed distinctly the long term medical missions path ahead of me with the community of the McCropder team. I celebrated the McCropders especially that Thanksgiving (as well as giving thanks for surviving the climb to 16,400 ft)!   

2011 - traditional and blessed family Thanksgiving at my parents' home in the U.S. Loved it! I certainly miss the family fun and fellowship (and football) during these far-away Thanksgivings. 

2012 - France

And 2013 - Burundi! Do they have turkey there? 

Recent Travels & Exams

It's hard to believe that we're already nearing the end of our first term of language school. But we are almost three months in and our exams start Friday and continue until Thursday, Nov 29. These exams will measure our progress thus far and hopefully demonstrate that we are ready to progress to the next level. I still need to continually remind myself why I'm learning French - to share both the Gospel and medical knowledge and care with Burundian medical students and patients. After being so accustomed to class and exams from years of schooling, I easily forget this and look for the grade instead - or worse, for the identity of good performance. But God gives grace and continues to teach me through this experience. Beginner language learning is especially good for learning humility!

One thing emphasized during our language acquisition course in Colorado was the strain learning a new language puts on the brain. They recommended getting TWO extra hours of sleep per night (hard to achieve in reality) and to take regular breaks from intensive learning to allow the brain to catch up in processing all the new information. So it works out well that we're following the French school system here and so have regular breaks scheduled. We recently returned to school from our fall break. I did do some studying during that time but also read a couple fun books in French. It was interesting to note during that time off from school that randomly French words or phrases would come to mind in the course of a day, so I think my brain was doing its processing job!

But I also benefited from rest and the joy of seeing friends and new interesting and beautiful places. Living in Europe means there are lots of possibilities for travel just a short flight or train ride away. This break I visited friends in Great Britain. It truly was an amazing vacation and I'm thankful for a very dear family member who provided the funds for this adventure and for my friends who hosted me warmly in their homes. Following are some pictures from my time:

 My first trip to London!

 I loved exploring all the history at the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, and throughout the country in castles and museums. And almost all of the history reported took place before America even existed! 

 My friend Sumona (from the tropical medicine course I took in Peru) gave me a great night tour of London - including an unexpected glimpse of the Queen! 

 In Bath, I visited the Jane Austen Centre. I love the Jane Austen books, so it was interesting to learn more about her life. I also worked on reading "Pride and Prejudice" in French - definitely didn't understand all the words, but I know the story well enough that I could follow along - a fun challenge!

 Roman Baths (constructed originally in A.D. 60!!!) with the Bath Abbey behind (site of the crowning of the first king of England in A.D. 973, current building founded in A.D.1499)

 One of my favorite parts of the beautiful countryside was all the sheep

 I collected Beatrix Potter figurines as a child, so I was interested to visit the Beatrix Potter museum in Windermere - note Peter Rabbit's coat behind me

 The Lake District is gorgeous! 

 The beach in Scotland where Chariots of Fire was filmed. Eric Liddell, "When I run, I feel God's pleasure"

 Dunnottar Castle on the East coast of Scotland

 I loved getting to visit with these Wheaton College friends who live in St. Andrews, Scotland. Heather and I were actually freshman year roommates - 15 years ago! So fun to catch up! 

 Christine is another friend from the tropical medicine course and I enjoyed getting to spend time with her exploring the sites of her home town - Edinburgh, Scotland. 

 In the dungeon of Edinburgh castle - this is actually where they kept the American prisoners of war during our War of Independence - pretty interesting to read about our Revolutionary War from the other side! And there was a small sketch of one of the early versions of the American flag on a door there. 

 "Arthur's Seat" - hills above the city of Edinburgh

 Afternoon tea with friends - I love this British tradition - especially the scones! 

Vacation is fun and a good break, but coming back to such an adorable welcoming committee is even better! Love these kids! 

 

Field Trip

The whole language school here recently enjoyed a field trip to two nearby cities - Aix-les-Bains and Chanaz. We enjoyed the opportunity to practice our French through the tours and presentations at the aquarium and the walnut/hazelnut oil mill, and we especially liked having a little break from the classrooms. :) One of the benefits of being a student again that I had forgotten - when was the last time I went on a field trip?! Brings back fun childhood memories - especially sharing the experience with all the kids here - many of whom had never been on a field trip before.

The day started out pretty cold with snow on the mountains (picture taken from our parking lot)

 While the aquarium presentation and tour provided lots of French practice and new vocabulary, the kids' favorite part was definitely feeding and touching the fish in the interactive exhibit. I participated, too. :)

 I was especially interested in this fish (above and below pics) because the sign says it fights malaria (paludisme) and was imported to France from the U.S. for that purpose. Evidently this fish eats mosquitos - we need these as pets in Burundi! How exactly does one import fish?

 Ambroise - school principal, originally from Togo - explaining the mosquito-eating fish to a missionary nurse heading to Togo

Heather and I enjoying a lunch time stroll in Aix-les-Bains. The palm tree seemed a little out of place with the weather. :)

 A small town called Chanaz. Evidently this canal strategically connects Lac du Bourget (the lake in the previous picture) with the Rhone River (flowing from the Alps). We learned that both Julius Caesar and Napoleon III traversed this 4km canal with their troops.

 Yay, fall leaves!

 Sarah (my teammate), Dominika (a classmate from Slovakia), and I in front of the water mill

 Inside the mill

 This mill was built in 1868 and turns walnuts and hazelnuts (Nutella!) into oil, jelly, mustard, tarts, flour, etc. You can see the stone crushing the walnuts above. We especially enjoyed the samples here!

The entire school (minus a few of the babies who remained in the nursery). I'm thankful for this unique opportunity to get to know these new friends who will mostly be working in Francophone Africa.

Hunger in Burundi

Picture taken in Burundi May 2011 - 2 medical students and I with a malnourished child and his caregivers

My mom sent me the below article this week. Evidently Burundi has the highest hunger levels in sub-Saharan Africa. I looked at the official report and the 2012 Global Hunger Index Report is based on the percent of undernourished in the population (62% in Burundi), prevalence of underweight children under 5 (35% in Burundi), and the under age five mortality rate (14%! in Burundi). The compilation of these numbers actually results in a higher Global Hunger Index number for Burundi than any other country reported (the next 2 countries are Eritrea and Haiti). Of note, no data was available for Somalia or the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan's data is mixed with Sudan's data - I suspect all three of these countries may be even worse off than Burundi.

It's interesting to me to read these statistics - five years ago, they would have meant very little to me. But now I'm preparing to spend a career in Burundi caring for malnourished children. I also have friends in each of the above countries caring for the "least of these" with their significant and overwhelming physical and spiritual needs. I remember the little boy in the above picture. He was lying on the ground outside the hospital in Burundi and I recognized the classic signs of severe malnutrition. I asked his mother if I could evaluate him in the hospital and she agreed. We admitted him and began the World Health Organization protocol for severe acute malnutrition (probably written at the headquarters in Geneva where I visited a few weeks ago:)). As I taught the medical students about malnutrition through this case and others, we began weighing and measuring all the children on the pediatric ward. The students correctly began considering malnutrition as a major factor in almost all of the pediatric patients' illnesses. And only being in Burundi for a week, I didn't know what to do with the data - because according to the WHO, almost all the children met criteria for severe malnutrition. All were stunted from long term undernutrition. And, while we had a nutrient rich food supplement called "busoma" to offer the families, we didn't have much else.

It's overwhelming to read of the severity of the poverty in Burundi and to think about what we can do to care for these children with so much stacked against them. There's so much physical and spiritual hunger in that country. And the time of preparation for our team is so long with learning both French and Kirundi before we can have any meaningful conversations or impact in that place. And yet again I'm reminded that it is not us who will "save" Burundi. The Burundians are created in the image of God just as we are and their Heavenly Father who cares about the sparrows also cares immensely for them and desires to satisfy their hunger in the way that only He can.

Report: Burundi has highest hunger levels in sub-Saharan Africa By CHRISTABEL LIGAMI in Nairobi | Monday, October 22 2012 

Children picking beans in a field just outside the Burundian capital Bujumbura   PHOTO | IRIN

Burundi has the highest levels of hunger in sub-Saharan Africa and in East Africa, according to the 2012 Global Hunger Index (GHI) report.

The country is ranked last at position 79 with a global index score of 37.1 followed by Eritrea and Haiti in the second and third position with a score of 34.4 and 30.8 respectively.

The report says that the challenge of hunger is the lack of sustainable food security under land, water, and energy stresses; hunger on a global scale remains serious with 20 countries having levels of hunger that are “alarming” or “extremely alarming”.

In East Africa, Burundi has the highest hunger scores followed by Rwanda with a score of 19.7 at the 57th position on the global index.

Kenya and Tanzania tie in the third position both with a score of 19.3 and are ranked at the 54th position globally; Uganda is at position 42 with a score of 16.1.

Tanzania’s hunger scores have dropped sharply, down from 25.9 in 2001 to 19.3 in 2012.

This, according to the report, is due to renewed emphasis on the potential of agriculture, and intensified efforts to commercialise their agricultural sectors.

Undernourished

“Such initiatives can also observed in Sierra Leone where Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide [an FAO initiative to fight global hunger], cooperate with farmers in the areas of agriculture, rural development, and food security,” said Welthungerhilfe President Bärbel Dieckmann.

He said in Tanzania, Concern is supporting smallholders to secure land titles and improve access to water as the government advances a wider programme to transform the agricultural sector.

In terms of the GHI components, Burundi, Eritrea, and Haiti currently have the highest proportion of undernourished people — more than 50 per cent of the population. Burundi and Comoros, however, remain the two countries where the GHI rose by about six and four points, respectively.

“Increased hunger since 1990 in Burundi, Comoros, and Côte d’Ivoire can be attributed to prolonged conflict and political instability,” said the report. “Between 1990 and 2001, Burundi’s GHI score increased steadily, but it has declined slightly since. With the transition to peace and political stability that started in 2003, the country began a slow recovery from decades of economic decline.”

However, the proportion of undernourished people has been rising, although the rate of increase has now slowed.

Thankful

One thing highlighted at our missionary training course was "Remembering our joys and giving thanks." We were encouraged to end each day by recounting 5 aspects of joy and thanksgiving from the day. I have found this to be especially beneficial on days when I don't feel particularly thankful - when the cashier speaks English to me after "Bonjour" because it's clear I don't speak French well, when I mildly sprained my ankle the other day and now can't participate in running/hiking/ultimate frisbee for a little while, & when I worked on pronunciation with a language helper and had almost every phrase corrected for incorrect grammar or pronunciation. :) I wanted to share with ya'll a few of the recent thanksgivings (a little early for the Americans, but I think it was recently Canadian thanksgiving :)):

1) My French visa was approved! I began the visa application process from Peru in February, and there were many steps involved. All did not go smoothly, but the final step on Friday resulted in official approval. And the required chest x ray and exam proved I don't have tuberculosis, so that's good. :) Interesting process, for sure - thankful the final visit was after a month of class as I heard lots of vocabulary we've learned recently. Next step: Burundi visa! But we won't begin working on that quite yet.

2) Team. I continue to love being back together with the team. Language school is busier than expected, though, so we actually don't see each other as often as anticipated. So we look forward to our Sunday night sermons/worship together after the kids are in bed and our separate girls/guys prayer time every other Wednesday. And of course we enjoy the spontaneous meals together, watching the kids play outside together, running into each other in the library :), etc. My wall is decorated with McCropder kids' artwork - I love it!

 

Impossible to get 16 people all looking at the camera at the same time. We'll try again another day. :) Fun team time regardless (except for the popped balloon just as this pic was taken)

3) Schedule and consequent out-of-classroom learning experiences. The French public schools don't have class on Wednesdays and thus neither do we (as the parents need to care for their kids that day). This provides an excellent opportunity mid-week to spend more concentrated time in the community. Heather & I visit at the nearby nursing home for a couple hours each Wednesday. This is really an ideal language practice environment as the people who live there are patient in waiting for us to formulate sentences and the activities coordinators often plan memory games or singing or other events for the residents on Wednesdays that are also great language learning things for us. In one-on-one conversations, it's still hard for me to talk about very many things, though, so 2 weeks ago I resorted to labeling the body parts like a toddler - eyes, nose, mouth, etc. I did learn some new words that way and the residents and staff seemed to enjoy the game of teaching the words to the American. :)

4) Food.

Lunch at the local Creperie with my French dictionary

Learning to buy fresh bread, local cheese (and to disregard any odor involved :)), and fresh produce. I head to the market at lunch on Thursdays and look forward to practicing my French with the vendors.

 5) Seasons. It's starting to look and feel like fall here. I love seasons and definitely missed them in Kenya, so I will really enjoy one more fall, winter, & spring before heading to Burundi.

Le weekend d'eglise

Teammates Heather, John, and I participated in a church retreat last weekend. I'm so thankful for a welcoming and thriving local church - small, of course (only 1% of the French people are evangelicals), but happy to have us join them even with our minimal French. The first Sunday, I understood maybe 20 words in the whole service. Now the church vocabulary is familiar to me (to understand, not yet to speak) and if I can understand the Bible passage, I can usually figure out the gist of the sermon. (I bought a French Bible this week, so hopefully that will help me follow along better.) I noticed this for the first time at the church retreat, so that was really encouraging - to not just be picking out words here and there, but to actually get the point of a message. The retreat provided 24 hours of almost continuous French, but also provided the opportunity to get to know some of the local people more. Conversations are still pretty challenging beyond basic introductions - especially if the French are speaking with one another when they speak so much faster! They're kind to slow down and patiently welcome our attempts to speak (and butcher their language, unfortunately - for now!). Twice this week I've encountered people I met at the retreat on the street or at a church Bible study I'm attending, and it's been nice to feel a connection and to have people remember me - especially as the French are generally thought to be harder to get to know initially than Americans. The church is quickly becoming a place where I feel I can put down some small roots in the community and make some new friends.

Church retreat at Champfleuri, France - even pretty in the rain

John, Heather, and I

I'm enjoying learning the French worship songs