Sunday Beauty

Usually I look forward to sleeping in on Sundays since it's the one day of the week when I don't round on the pediatric ward (and church isn't till 10am), but I woke up early yesterday and was glad I did! I enjoyed a beautiful walk in the nearby hills - likely one of the last hikes before I head to the US for 4 months (I fly out November 19). 

 Sun shining on Kibuye Hope Hospital

 Rocks, gravel, and dirt being used to build our new water reservoir

 This picture demonstrates the unique vegetation in our area - evergreen trees, eucalyptus trees, and the ubiquitous banana trees and other more typical tropical plants. 

 The buildings at the bottom of the hill in the distance are those of our hospital and the med student dorm

 "Iphotora?" (Translation: "take my picture" - gladly!)

 Shepherds pausing to pose for a picture

 Beautiful 5 year old Melissa on Kibuye rock

 It was evidently the time of day for bringing the cows down the hill from grazing

 On the left is the old water reservoir and on the right is the new bigger one under construction. Our water has been mostly absent for at least a week (we fill buckets when it begins to trickle which happens about once a day). It's now the rainy season so hopefully this reservoir will be completed soon and then the rains will fill it up so we'll have more consistent water. The good news, though, is that the hydroelectric dams in Congo must be getting rain because our power supply has been much more consistent the last couple weeks - so if I take a bucket shower at least I can blow dry my hair afterwards. :) Oh, and the hospital has more consistent power, too! :) 

 Up the hill next to the reservoir there were many people filling buckets from the pump - evidently there is more water up there! Maybe I'll bring a bucket next time. :)

 This is the new student dorm that is under construction. When it's finished we'll be able to house approx 100 nursing and medical students at Kibuye - which is about a 1:1 student:patient ratio! They are limited in the number of places they can go in the country for rotations, though, so we make do with the large number of students. 

 My house is nearing completion and I'm hoping to move in next week! I'm super excited and love the way it's turned out thus far. 

 The one "power tool" used in building my house - a homemade welder

 Reading on my new back porch on Sunday afternoon - the little clumps of grass were each planted by hand. Hopefully the rain will cause them to take root quickly (instead of getting washed away!). 

And the McLaughlin family is so gracious to include me in their Sunday afternoon tradition of eating snacks and watching a kid movie together - love spending that time with them! I'm thankful for a relaxing and restful Sunday here in Burundi. Though also looking forward to church in English for a predictable period of time and donuts and family Sunday lunch after church in just 4 Sundays! 

To do list, condemnation, and perspective

I suspect many of you can relate but as it gets closer and closer to my departure for the U.S. (for a four month home ministry assignment), I've been feeling more and more overwhelmed by the to-do list that seems to only grow and never shrink! It stresses me out to not have enough hours in a day to get things done and to consequently feel like I'm letting people down. Case in point: yesterday at 2pm I received a phone call that the construction workers/foremen/plumber/electrician were waiting for me to come answer questions as my new house nears completion. At the same time I was trying to print an article on edema in children to share with a student preparing a presentation who wanted to review her power point with me. And I was already late to meet with a nursing student who was asking advice about what she needs to prepare to be a school nurse when she graduates in December. And a mother with 3 month old baby who is blind and developmentally delayed was waiting for me to go over lab results with her. I basically was late for everyone and the article never did get printed. I hate disappointing people! And I also hate feeling unproductive because I get interrupted from finishing tasks and so I don't get to check them off my to-do list. And when I get stressed, it's not a pretty sight!

"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed." Luke 10:41-42
"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace." Romans 8:1, 6

Why am I so quick to feel condemned? Judged by myself and found wanting even if I don't also feel the judgment of anyone else? I forget all too easily to fix my eyes on Jesus, to cast my burdens on him, and to rest in my identity as a beloved daughter. I appreciate your prayers that even as I continue to do the work I'm here to do that I would simultaneously set my mind on the Spirit and experience life and peace as a result whenever I am tempted to feel condemnation.

One way to tackle the to-do list is to recruit helpers! The girls are putting 30 children's vitamins in each bag to give out to malnourished kids. Happy and cheerful helpers! 

Another good plan sometimes is to drop everything for a day and join God where He's already working. We found out last minute about a Christian medical conference in Bujumbura sponsored by the Christian Medical Student Fellowship here in Burundi. That sounded like an ideal activity to be a part of so we filled up the van with students and drove to and from Buja on the same day to participate in the conference where Christian health professionals (mostly Burundian) were encouraged and inspired together by talking about the Kingdom of God. The above picture is the beauty of the drive from Kibuye to Bujumbura - the blue line in the middle is the mountains of Congo on the other side of Lake Tanganyika - rarely are they that clear. Of course the drive is also exhausting and motion-sickness-inducing but the beauty often overshadows those elements.  

The highlight of the conference was Ivan's testimony. He shared how when his class came to Kibuye in January of this year for their first clinical rotations they were shocked by the significant physical and spiritual needs they found in this rural area. They prayed and worshipped together weekly and eventually began to compile their resources to buy food or medicine for patients and they also began to pray and share the gospel with patients, visiting them even when they weren't on call or scheduled to be at the hospital. He shared story after story of people who felt loved and cared for and who then responded to the gospel, some just before dying. Others experienced miraculous healings like a young boy hospitalized for 4 months with a traumatic brain injury who now is well and able to play soccer with his friends. I loved how his stories contained examples of "word" and "deed" - caring for people in a holistic way in their suffering. It was encouraging to hear how God was at work in ways previously unknown to us.  

And it was worth giving up a day of "productivity" to spend time with these fabulous med students sharing this experience and fellowshipping with them and others who share a similar vision for caring for patients with compassion and holistic care. 

Another fun recent break was Sammy's 3rd birthday party. What could be more fun and rejuvenating than watching adorable kids hitting a piñata and then eating cake and ice cream together?! 

Team time is certainly a joy - and isn't it a miracle to get all those people looking at the camera and mostly smiling with no one screaming?! The kids are growing up. So thankful for this special group of friends! 

 And finally, I felt refreshed on a peaceful walk home from the hospital today after a downpour. It seems everything is brighter and clearer and more beautiful here after the rain. I think there may be a lesson there somewhere. :) 

Do you see the rainbow? Promises abound! 

What a week!

This last week here in Kibuye, Burundi has been anything but ordinary! Here's the week in review in pictures to give you a glimpse of what new experiences I've been learning and growing from:

 My teammate Jessica unfortunately had to fly unexpectedly to Kenya for emergency back surgery. Read more about her adventure here. We're so thankful she's back now and so many prayers for healing have been answered. And prayers were also answered for all of us as we cared for the 3 Cropsey children as a team - a week is a long time for little ones to be away from their parents (in another country) and I learned a lot about kids and parents and myself through the process of helping with these precious children. 

 Being responsible for small children at home and at the hospital simultaneously is not my usual life - especially when one of the kids at home got sick. I'm amazed at the perseverance and patience of parents! I really appreciated the flexibility of these medical and nursing students, too, with all the events of the week. I was especially encouraged to hear that one afternoon when I was unavailable to teach, the medical students took the initiative to teach the nursing students how to resuscitate newborns - just what one would hope for and hopefully lives will be saved as a result! 

 At least I didn't have to do any shopping this week - here is our produce being delivered! Of course it wasn't ideal that our phones were all cut off this week - thankfully it's a small campus, but one thinks twice about whether to walk to the other side to ask someone a question. Next week will include a trip to Gitega (30 minutes away) to get the phones straightened out but we're making do in the dark ages now - and we still have internet thankfully! 

 Ironically the chronically malnourished kids above in the outpatient feeding program and the severely malnourished kids below in the inpatient malnutrition ward had to wait an extra hour to eat on Tuesday because of a documentary being filmed here about malnutrition! 

 The families were gracious and accommodating to the Belgian film crew from UNICEF. I survived my first experience being interviewed in French on camera (as the pediatrician caring for the malnourished kids) and will be interested to see if they end up using the part I was in. I'm coming to understand just how much material gets cut in a video before the final product - way more than I ever realized as a viewer. I also learned that even before the editing process, many activities are planned that don't even end up getting filmed in the first place. I guess flexibility is the name of the game - and patience as just getting the cameras to the appropriate settings takes forever!  

 Obviously a film crew of approximately 15 people attracted quite the crowd! 

 Sweet Jonas continues to care so faithfully for the malnourished children in the feeding program and you can see above how the kids love him. I took a step closer to this child after this picture and she immediately started crying! :) 

 So another new event of the week was teaching kindergarten math. It got easier as the week progressed and I figured out more how to prepare but I had no idea just how challenging 30 minutes with 4 five year olds could be! They all work with such different paces and interests and knowledge bases and diligence and listening skills. How do elementary school teachers do it with 20 kids in a class all at different levels! The kids are precious and I love being their "aunt" but I'm also happy to go back to teaching 25 year old med students! 

 So after the UNICEF film crew on Tuesday, we hosted a second film crew from Serge on Thursday! Above is me trying to grasp the goals and hopes of this project - quite different from those of the prior crew or of the single videographer who was here a few months ago. I think this is the end of video crews for a while - who knew Burundi would be such a photogenic place?! 

 Pediatric patient care continued throughout the week but with more photographs than usual. 

 I loved getting to greet Shalom on the walk home from work yesterday - he's a little boy who was on our service for a couple weeks with persistent fevers but who is now healthy and started school this week. 

 And finally, the head nurse on pediatrics got married recently out of town and so I hosted a small gathering for the peds team to congratulate her today. As you can see below, I was a little underdressed - still figuring out these cultural expectations! But it was fun to share time together outside the hospital and I am thankful to feel more and more connected to the staff. 

 Oh, and the other event of the week was getting tile installed for the floors of my new house - well, mostly - the calculations evidently weren't accurate and they ran out of the bathroom wall tile. Another learning process - always buy extra boxes of tile when you're building a home in Burundi! But what did get finished looks great and I'm happy with the progress of my house. In fact I think I may hang out there for a couple hours tomorrow recovering in peace and quiet from the very full last week!

Cross cultural hospitality

I didn't realize until I moved to Africa how strongly culture influences the way we visit people and welcome them to our homes. Who initiates the visit - the guest or the host? Does the guest bring a gift? Does the host offer refreshments? If so, what - chai, soda, water, a full meal? What does one talk about? How long does the visit last? Who decides when the visit is over and how do they express that? Does the host "release" the guest or does the guest decide to leave? Does the host walk the guest to the door, to the gate, to their home? Is a reciprocal visit expected? What about a thank you note?

Being the stranger in a new culture (and an introvert) means these interactions are frequently quite awkward. I remember welcoming an intern to my home in Kenya for dinner. I expected her to come late and so was prepared for that. We ate dinner together and then I served chai and dessert. After dessert, I was completely out of anything to say and yet she still sat at the table. I wondered if she would ever leave. I asked more questions about her family. It was getting near bedtime by now. I stood up and cleared the table. Finally I said something to the effect of, "Well, I guess you probably have a lot to study; I don't want to keep you from it." And she expressed her thanks and left. It wasn't till months later that someone explained to me that in Kenya, the host releases the guest rather than the other way around!

I've been observing and learning hospitality here in Burundi - often by trial and error. One is more often to be served Fanta than chai here. And the guest initiates the closing of the visit. I welcome the medical students into my home each week for Bible study. They don't seem to mind being crowded into a small space (24 students plus 6 leaders in my small living room last week - can't wait to get into my new house where I'll have more space for entertaining!), but they don't know what to do with a plate of cookies. The concept of "serve yourself" is evidently very American. I put out napkins and welcome them to the table, but still they stay seated. I think I'm probably supposed to bring the tray around to each person and serve them on a plate with a utensil. They do seem to like the sweet cookies (biscuits in French/British English), though!

Last weekend I welcomed overnight cross cultural guests for the first time. My Belgian friend who I met in France lives in Bujumbura and is married to a Burundian, so she, her husband, and a friend came to Kibuye to visit. I learned a lot! Again "servez-vous" proved difficult as I served pizza and explained to the Burundian friend that he could serve himself and his gracious response (in French) was, "I'll just watch what you do first cause I've never done that."(!) They seemed to like the American dishes, though, such as pizza, honey chicken curry, macaroni and cheese, and granola. We enjoyed playing games Saturday night and I introduced them to the game of "spoons". They seemed surprised by my house décor - the many books and picture frames and mirrors - and they liked looking at my children's books. We spoke exclusive French all weekend and I added words to my vocabulary that don't come up every day at the hospital - like "toaster" and "deck of cards". I have renewed motivation to continue working on French after a pretty exhausting (linguistically) weekend! Below are some pictures of our shared adventure to the southernmost source of the Nile as well as hiking near Kibuye. One other cross cultural surprise was that my friend's husband couldn't understand why it was annoying to me and my friend to have Burundians following us everywhere shouting "mzungu" (which means "white person") - another cross cultural challenge for me to still get used to - always being signaled out as a stranger! Pray for me to keep learning and growing in understanding the Burundian culture as well as Kirundi and French!

 That little hole begins the great Nile river!

 Kibuye Hope Hospital in the background

 Interesting trees

I learned this tree is actually used to welcome royalty (back when there was a monarchy here) or the president. No wonder it's such a unique looking tree!