Frustrations

Sorry this took me so long! I have arrived back to Portland safely and absolutely LOVED my time in Africa..this is the last note from there:

A car full of crew members was driving along a busy city road when a tragedy occurred: a zimi (motorbike) that had been weaving in and out of traffic hit a woman on the side of the road. It was a terribly gruesome accident as the woman's leg was nearly completely severed off. Luckily Dr. Jose, an extremely talented surgeon from Spain (he was actually the chief of pediatric thoracic surgery in Madrid), was in the car. He did his best to tourniquet the leg before rushing her to the local hospital. She had lost almost three liters of blood so we took an emergency blood donation on the ship to keep her alive. Because we paid the $44 required to do surgery on her leg at the local hospital she is doing well and healing. Through this experience, however, I have become aware of the desperate state of the local hospital system. The hospitals here are first of all dirty, cramped and noisy. There are so many patients that they carry numbers around their necks to identify them and must sit lined up in the hallways when beds run out. What's worse is that if they do not have the money up front to pay for treatment they will not be seen. They must pay a daily fee to stay in the hospital plus the cost of their treatment, which includes buying their own medications, IVs, bandage supplies, etc. Those that are unable to pay are not admitted. Instead they lay on the dirt ground outside the door as doctors and nurses pass by, ignoring their cries. One of our translator's siblings had severely fractured his humerus and because he had no money, was laying in the filth for five days, bleeding and screaming in pain.Celestine had been a patient with us for three weeks. She came with a grotesquely infected leg, worsened by diabetes. She was septic and therefore had her leg amputated. She seemed to be healing slowly but was clearly depressed. We discovered that her husband left her years ago when she first got sick and took her sons with him. Her entire family disowned her because of this gross infection and refused to come despite our many attempts to contact them. She passed away this last week as I was caring for her, alone and unloved by family....but very loved by many of us on the ship. Maybe she was just brought here to be loved as she died.Another one of our patients passed away but this one was an act of injustice. A teenage mother brought her two month old baby to us four months ago, extremely malnourished due to a cleft lip and palate. He weighed only 3 lbs. With tube feeds and three months of lots of care and attention he gained enough weight to have surgery. Many people on the ship fell in love with him and the mother seemed to bond with him, despite the fact that these children are traditionally thought of as demon children because of their deformity. We sent them back to their village with special formula and a feeling of success. This week, however, we found out that the mother had gone home to another man (not the baby's father) and that they were refusing any follow up visits and would not pick up their formula. The social worker finally travelled to their house only to discover that because of the strong voodoo beliefs in the village the mother had been pressured to starve "our" baby...to death.These frustrations and heartaches have been tough but as I was reminded I did ask God to open my eyes to what breaks His heart. I guess He answered that prayer! What a broken world this is...It has been a tiring, busy week but I have learned a lot. I have worked every day as we are short staffed, even helping in the OR and getting some experience as a dental assistant! :) How interesting...I can't complain though because last weekend I joined some friends on a fun adventure to a village called Possotome, right by the Togo border. We learned how to fish from the locals, played with many cute kids that enjoyed staring at us, hiked through several villages, made friends to eat lunch with, etc. I love the laid back, easy-going attitude of the people. :) It was very relaxing.On friday we were all planning to go to one of the president's palaces for a banquet he had prepared for us. That morning, however, he told us that he would have to reschedule. I'm sure as the president of a country he is a very busy man and that would give him an excuse to cancel on 300 guests! :) haha. Oh well...we still had a fun night. It is an amazing blessing to live with so many people that have become wonderful friends. And I am so blessed to be a nurse...I do love my job! :) Love you all...see you soon!