April/May 2018 Nattier News

We are excited to introduce you to the newest member of our family, Mélyna 

(May lee na) Hope Nattier.  She was born on April 7, 2018 weighing 7 pounds 2 oz or 3.24 Kg. She was the first baby to be born from our team at our hospital. We have seen God's hand of provision in many ways and we are so thankful for all those who provided such excellent care as our sweet little Mély entered the world. We were blessed to have a wonderful delivery team.  

Mély was part of a record setting month here at HOH with more than 80 other babies being born.  Two of these babies were born to our friends and colleagues who work with us in the operating room and labor and delivery.  It has been especially fun to go through this with them over the past 9 months and now watch these precious children as they grow.

Natasha's first trip to the market with Mély on her back.  She was a little concerned that she would become the first white women to drop her baby in the market........  all went well.

Since our last newsletter we have seen a change in the weather here in northern Togo.  We are currently in the midst of HOT season. So much so that our baby monitor is constantly alarming that the temperature is too hot- lol.   This was one of the things we weren't sure how we would handle individually and as a family.  We are thankful that in many ways the first half of the season has been a bit milder than normal this year, but it's still very warm.  We have also been blessed by a few rains.  After over 4 months without rain, it's so nice to have these cooler breezes and a reprieve in the temperatures that last for a few hours.

We have been seeing a steady stream of patients at the hospital.  There are always ups and downs, but in general the word seems to be getting out about the compassionate healthcare being provided here.  During first 4 months of this year we have fixed over 20 fractures with Sign nails.  This is a program in the USA that donates orthopedic equipment in exchange for providing followup data about our demographics and surgical outcomes.  This is especially helpful as this sort of equipment would otherwise be very expensive, and it's higher quality materials than many of the other facilities in Togo are able to offer.  Recently there have been strikes in the healthcare sector for several reasons, but partly due to the lack of access to many of the supplies needed to provide medical care in even the larger hospitals.  During these times, our hospital has been the only choice for many types of emergency and surgical care.  Please continue to pray with us for improvements in the infrastructure and healthcare here that would greatly decrease physical suffering of those around us.  Please also pray with us for wisdom to know how to best help in this low resource environment.  Some of you may have read a book called When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor.... And Yourself.  We often wrestle with many of the issues raised in this book here in Togo.

The beginning of May brought with it several occasions for celebration. We had the opportunity to celebrate our department supervisors and to recognize them for all their hard work and leadership. Also, the 1st of May is the Togolese labor day. This is a big event here, celebrated with a parade through town, matching tee-shirts for all hospital employees, a picnic lunch and games. We had a lot of fun celebrating the day with our team, colleagues, and friends.  

Our kids have been working very hard this past school year and continue to work diligently as the end of another grade is now in sight. The past 6 weeks they have each been working on a big project called the living wax museum. They each chose a character of interest, someone who has made a difference in history. They read books and researched their people, wrote reports and speeches, created posters, collected props, and created costumes transforming themselves into their characters (we have to get a little more creative here with no walmart, target, or amazon to save us at the last minute). The culmination of all their efforts was an open house this past Friday when all the children, 1st grade through 8th, set up their booths and became their characters in order to share the impact they have made in history. They all did such a great job!

Elli as Amelia Earhart

Andrew as George Washington Carver

Sofia as Annie Oakley

In just a few short days we will be headed back to the America to attend the wedding of Natasha sister. We are so looking forward to this this event, seeing family, meeting and introducing new family members, and some much needed/anticipated R&R. Amazingly, it has been 2 1/2 years since we’ve been in the States. While we wish we had time to visit with each of you, this trip will be all too brief. We do, however, greatly look forward to catching up with all of you when we are home on furlough in 2020. And as always, we DO love hearing from you whether via emails, letters, etc, so please let us know what’s new and how we can be praying for you! 

Praises and Prayer Requests

Family

We are so thankful for God’s protection of Natasha and Mélyna during the birth here in Togo.  She is such a precious blessing.

The passport application for Mély went smoothly and quickly and her passport is now in country and ready for our pick up. Thus, she will soon get her first glimpses of the US. Thank you for all who were praying for this specifically.

We are also thankful for DSL internet.  Limited internet has made many things here challenging.  This will improve our ability to communicate and get things we need for the work here.  We are thankful for even these small improvements in the infrastructure.

Team

We are so thankful that up to this point God has protected us from Lassa Fever.  We haven’t had a case at our hospital this year!   We are still on the lookout, since there have been many cases of Lassa in Nigeria, and we regularly see patients coming from even this far away.

Our team is currently doing well.  We have recently had a new medical teammate arrive, and we are looking forward to the return of others soon.  This will lighten some of the heavy loads being carried.   We still have many needs especially in the surgical department.  We can always benefit from short term surgeons from the end of 2018 and all of 2019.  We have many patients who could especially benefit from surgical subspecialties like urology, pediatrics plastics, and orthopedics.  We also need nurses!  Please let us know if you would like more information.