The kids have found lots of friends here to play with. They have been chasing lizards, playing soccer, and attended a birthday party this week. The older two started school Thursday. My mom has been a huge help, because Natasha and I have both been busy at the hospital.
The hospital and clinics have been booming, and the wards were completely full until yesterday afternoon. It's busier than I remember from our trip three years ago. The full time general Surgeon here, Dr. Eric Miller has fixed 4 femur fractures with Sign nails just this week. I was able to help with two, and hopefully I will be proficient at this procedure by the time I leave.
While the medical interventions do help to improve the lives of most, the stark realities of poor preventive healthcare and people presenting very late is everywhere. As a result, one of the other short termers relayed, he has had at least 1 person die every day for the two weeks he has been here. Almost everyone sees death all around. One patient's brother relayed that this reality helped him make the decision to place his faith in Christ!
Ebola has still not entered Togo or it's neighbor's borders. However, there is lots of false information going around on the radio. One of these myths is that drinking hot salt water with onions may somehow prevent Ebola. Several patients have come in sick from trying this home remedy. Our chief of staff had educational meetings with the hospital staff this week to try dispel these myths. Please continue to pray for the affected countries, and the rest of West Africa during this Ebola epidemic.
The weather here has been very nice. It's actually been unseasonably cool! Highs in the low 80s, lows in the 60s with mist or rain every other day or so. I still feel like it's hot in the hospital and operating room though it could certainly be worse.
Today it's cool and raining. In this picture you can see the mountain in the background has clouds and mist around the top of it. In the front of the screen is a small termite hill. There are some 3 and 4 times this tall around the area. In the middle is the newest guesthouse. We are staying in one that is very similar.
Many of you have asked what we will be eating here in Togo. This was our Friday night cuisine, Pizza. The kitchen staff here are amazing cooks. We do get some Togolese cuisine mixed in as well.
There are a lot of teammates traveling for the meetings starting Monday - Wednesday August 25-27. Please be in prayer for safe traveling and for a productive meeting. It's very exciting to have so many teammates together and we want to seek God's direction for the medical ministries in Togo. Please pray for wisdom and unity to be gained during our time together.
The day after the meeting we will be traveling to Mango. Please pray for us to make the most of the 5 days we have there. We are excited tell you all about Mango, our future home, very soon.
We are so grateful for your continued partnership!
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