A recent experience

It has been a while since I have had a chance to share what God has been doing here. First of all, thank you for your prayers! Chitra, the guard who got hit, is healing well and all of us with malaria are almost fully recovered. For those that didn’t know, I came down with malaria last week. I actually had a wonderful week at work before I got sick and had written about one experience that I wanted to share with you but never had a chance to actually post it. I have been feeling so blessed to be called to work with thes people. I know I have thanked you before, but I want to thank you again for helping me make this possible. I am truly grateful.

October 7, 2009

Today I was inspired, humbled, ashamed and burdened.

I had the opportunity to join Suzanne, our palliative care nurse, on her morning visits out into the community. As the palliative nurse, Suey spends her days visiting patients of all ages in various locations who are dying. Because we were unable to help these patients with surgery, palliative care offers them pain medications, supplies to dress their wounds, calorie boosting nutrition, and money for food.

The first lady we visited is living with the largest malignant facial tumor I have ever seen. It has completely disfigured her face and has overtaken her mouth so that she is only able to drink. Somehow she is overflowing with the joy of the Lord. We were welcomed into her one-room house and sat with her on the bed as she preached to US of the goodness of God. Her daughter, who takes wonderful care of her mother, cleaning her open sores several times a day, chased her small 2 year old son Glory around the room as we prayed with this patient and gave her more pain medications to control her constant discomfort.

The young boy we visited next was equally inspiring. A lively 15-year-old with a contagious smile, he is dying of rapidly growing lymphomas. He takes care of all his needs himself, telling us what supplies he low on and how the medications are treating his pain. He diligently works through the workbooks Suzanne gave him and loves going to church to pray for 3-4 hours a day! He is praying in faith that God will heal him before Christmas. His mother is a strong, beautiful woman who wanted to sing and worship with us before we left.

Unfortunately the common theme of the day seemed to be the absence of male presence. The father was absent in each home we visited, absent for years, leaving the women responsible for finding ways to provide food as well as care for the entire family, including the sick family member. Not only that, but in two of the three cases, the man of the house had actually cursed the sick family member at some point and the voodoo belief that the curse was the reason for the illness was definitely present. What would entice a father to do that, especially to his teenage son? The devil, no doubt. While the strength, joy and faithful toil of the women inspired me, I came away shocked and ashamed by this much too prevalent reality.

As I said, it was a wonderful chance to be challenged, humbled and inspired. Being welcomed into a dying person’s home was so intimate. Not only that, the conditions in which they must live are amazing. One small, hot room with one bed for the entire family sufficed, filled with the pungent odor of the trash that was covering the dirt ground outside the door. What a reminder that I have been blessed with so much more than enough!

Prayers Please

Sometimes it feels like the world is falling apart.
That is when you have to realize you are not in control and all you can do is pray.
In the past two weeks, health and safety on this ship have seemed to be spinning out of control and that is why I ask for prayer: for the Lord's protection and encouragement.
Two weeks ago, despair hit the hospital walls as one of our translators was hit by a truck and killed; another translator was attacked by thieves who stabbed him and nearly cut his thumb off.
This last weekend two of our crew members grew incredibly sick and were admitted to the ICU for malaria. I had been feeling quite unwell but was sure it was not serious and did not want to make a big deal of it. I decided to pull it together for work as we were short on nurses. Luckily two of my friends convinced me to get tested for malaria, which came back positive. I was immediately summoned to bed and rightfully so. Within hours I was in so much pain I could barely move. My head throbbed and every bone and muscle in my body ached without relief. I joined the other two in ICU and after a few boluses of IV fluids and some good IV pain medications, my headache finally let up. (Not to mention, my parents were praying fervently by this point and I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that their prayers were heard in alleviating my pain). I never realized how serious malaria can be: the strain we caught is the only potentially fatal strain which can cause cerebral malaria, pleural edema, anemia, etc. Praise the Lord we are recovering. I am now just feeling incredibly weak as my body tries to recouperate. Prayers for all of us are welcome as it is easy to get discouraged with the slow healing process.
Today Chitra, one of our security guards, got hit on his morning run (the morning run I always do at 6am with them). Luckily he was running alongside medical staff that included a surgeon and several nurses. He was unconscious and bleeding profusely. We rushed him back here to be scanned and examined and are praying against any lasting head injury.
This may come across as depressing. I guess all Im asking for is a bit of prayer as it seems to us that things just keep happening. It is a wonderful chance for us to look for God's grace in all of this and trust His goodness. Thank you.

Hiking, swimming, laughing

Can you picture yourself following a small, brutally strong African man with a machete through thick jungle and up steep cliffs to reach the highest waterfall in West Africa? Well I couldn't either... because I had no idea what I was getting myself into! After working a stretch of night shifts I could feel myself getting sick and wasn't sure how excited I was to to go on such a long adventure.

3am came far too early on Friday morning as the twelve of us sleepily piled into an old, creaky van and entrusted the drive to a hired African. Each border crossing (there were four) demanded a tiring amount of paperwork but praise the Lord we were eventually allowed to pass without too much hassle. Karl (our adventurous Aussie leader) did offer to barter off some of us girls in exchange for an expediated crossing...but luckily that was not necessary. :)

On our way through Togo we visited a Baptist mission hospital. This rural hospital set in the tropical mountains of Togo impressed us all! Megan, our Physical Therapist, was put right to work when we arrived as they were desperate for the input of a Physio. The rest of us were invited to tour the hospital and interact with the patients. Missionary doctors volunteer their time and all the nurses are locals who were trained on location. Because the Ship will be at port in Togo next year we were able to suggest that many of their patients who could not receive treatment come to us in the spring. It was such a treat to visualize an alternative way of serving medically in Africa!

Our drive carried on; we honked our way through narrow mountain roads which should technically be referred to as paths. At last we arrived at our hotel which overlooked the Wli Waterfall, the highest waterfall in West Africa. When we got out of the car it was as if we were all breathing for the first time. We never realized how polluted and smoggy Cotonou is until we soaked in the fresh mountain air, admired the lush tropical scenery and walked down dirt village roads, greeted by children who rarely see "yovos" or "white people."

To make a long story short...we had an incredible time. We hiked to the waterfall on Saturday which was much more strenuous than any of us had bargained for! Soaking in the waterfall, allowing the water to beat down on our backs was, well, painful but also extremely exilerating! Seriously, one of the most joyful moments of my life. I had a moment this weekend where God really freed me from a lot of anxiety. I have been a bit anxious about what to do next...where will God take me after this? Do I continue with missions? Travel? Get a job?...and it was this weekend that God stopped me and said "Angela, look around. You are sitting in Ghana. Did you ever think I would take you here? Trust me with what is next." Thank you, Lord. I can be an idiot :)
So after joyfully frolicking about we began the dangerous descent. Literally, dangerous....and FUN! Poor Cassidy, a super brave, beautiful ICU Trauma nurse was in front of me and took a hard fall...like most of us. But unfortunately she ended up a bit worse off. She recovered from the fall and turned around to look at me and held out her arm which was covered in dirt, sticks and bright red gushing blood. Ah! Had to think quick...we washed it off with the rest of my drinking water and I took my shirt too tourniquet the deep gash in her wrist. That got her down the mountain and luckily Karl was ultra prepared and had a suture kit in his pack. We created a makeshift operating room, got her a beer and watched her brave her way through stitches without pain meds.
Next day (ill make this shorter, I promise)... we explored Ghanan caves which turned out to be equally adventurous. The best part of this day was climbing down into a cave only to be greeted by a swarm of bats flying into my face!! I screamed like a little girl and our guide laughed at my fright...:)
I cannot tell you how refreshing it was to be active, to go jogging in the morning down a dirt village road as women got up to start their fires, to spend time with amazing people... Wow. We came back, re-energized for a week of work.
As for work, I am enjoying my little burn patients. They are precious! We have more fun the more I get to know them. This weekend they taught me how to count in Fon (a village language) and laughed as I danced in church. We are deep cleaning one of the wards in preparation for VVF (vaginal fistula) patients to arrive again. Their surgeries are very complicated and each one usually has a strain of infection that is extremely difficult to treat. We have lost a couple patients due to infection...sepsis... and are trying to prepare as much as possible.
I hope and pray this finds you well and that you are truly learning what it is to Live. Live joyfully. Live freely. Love with abandon. "Above all, love each other deeply..."1peter 3:9

On our way


Our fantastic group


The hospital in Togo...thats the nursery or neonatal ward on the left


An external fixator...rustic but useful


We did a lot of waiting at the borders... some beautiful friends


Finally we arrived! This is Ghana


Look at these little studs :)


On our way up...




The Wli WAterfall


One of the most joyful things to do! scary but fun


It hurt!!


We loved it


At the base of the falls when we came down...there was an AFrican dance party going on!


The hike down was rough..Cass with her tourniquet


And now..her stitches!!


Caving..


The rocks were quite slippery

The top was AMAZING


The kids were very curious...they don't see many white people. They were LOVELY and welcoming!!

"Angels amongst the sons of men"

Sometimes I miss home. I miss good coffee. I miss being able to go out and about on my own and going for a run in clean, non-polluted air. I miss being able to communicate with anyone. I miss baking and of course I miss friends and family. So why come to Africa? For me, that question is answered every day: every time a crowd of kids gleefully greets me on the street simply because I'm white; every time I send an entire ward of Africans into a fit of laughter because I'm trying to pantamime the question "have you had a bowel movement today"?; every time I jog by the crowd of disfigured people that is forming outside the ship each morning waiting to be seen; whenever I get to cuddle the orphans who are craving attention, and every time I get thanked profusely for placing an IV just because they are so grateful to be having surgery. I love the huge hug the little cashew-vendor lady on the street gives me when she sees me even from a distance because I've purchased her cashews on a few occassions. I love that I can have a full conversation with a mama about her baby by using hand signals. I love the joyful music and dance that breaks out at any given time...and letting them laugh at me as I try to dance along! I think its beautiful when a surgical patient herself gets up to help another patient to the bathroom or when the mothers on the ward lovingly care for each other's children in times of need. Of course there are things that are difficult but God is definitely real in this place.
This week I have been blessed to work with an older man who is very sick. He is precious and gives me the biggest, most genuine grin every time I walk to his bed. Half his face is covered in gauze as he has a weeping wound around his left eye, grossly disfiguring his face. He is being treated for a very serious infection and we are discussing what to do next. Hopefully the medications will clear up the purulent, bloody drainage that is constantly dripping from his nose and face. He is gentle and grateful, reminding me when it is time for his IV medication and nodding happily as I draw his blood. He told us that he was so depressed about his condition and his appearance that he contemplated suicide before coming to us for treatment. My heart broke to hear this! I'm praying that we can help him but mostly encourage his heart.
It is a true blessing to be here.
Please keep praying for these people and for my heart, that it would be willing and open to whatever God would have for me.

This is a beautiful poem that a patient wrote for us (his English is great!)

ANGELS AMONGST THE SONS OF MEN
The day the Big White whale landed on the black shores of Africa was a blessed day to the sons of men.
It came with angels to walk amongst the sons of men.
Why do I call them Angels? Let me tell you of my time with them.
I came aboard the White Whale with rooms filled with the lame, the mame, the formed, the deformed, the wrong and the rough.
And deep into the darkest part of the night I saw men and brethren, maidens and ladies though flesh as us yet with hearts of angels.
Sleeplessly and tirelessly they toiled through the night, through the pains and aches of men. They with hands to heal and mend, bringing from above the Fathers love to the sons of men.
Some they cut, some they tie, some they seal and yet others they fix with tools untold.
Like messengers of the Most High they came not thinking of their own, they risked their lives and sailed the sea to the lands beyond the endless world to shores of men afflicted and in pain.
Their hearts and lives they came to share as angels who walk amongst the sons of men.
Some in this life are born to pass and some are born in life to live, yet these angels are born to preserve humanity.
Though some lives we see as waste yet with speed they move to save. With words of love and touch of peace they endlessly toil to make right the wrong.
You were born as men to your lands and yet as angels you served the earth.
Gold is dug from earth beneath. Treasures are hunted on high seas. But love so pure and true can only in hearts like yours be found.
Your labor in the Lord shall not be in vain.
For every life you touch and every soul you save
For every bone you mend and every face you straight
The Lord of life and light will light your path and guide your life.
For you are truly Angels amongst the sons of men.

By Prince Eddie Daniels

Work and Play

I just wanted to share an amazing weekend with you guys! After a hard work week I enjoyed a LONG bike ride down African dirt roads to a distant salt-water pool with amazing girlfriends! What a great day enjoying the sun and seeing the country from a different vantage point.
Saturday night we had an 80s dance party! Who knew serving on a ship off the coast of West Africa could be so much fun?! We were wondering what the locals thought of us... a bunch of white people in crazy clothes jumping around to loud music on the top deck of a ship. :) It was a great time to laugh, be silly and let our hair down with our fellow shipmates.




walk like an egyptian...:)



doing the limbo ...



My beautiful roommate...so stylish! :)




It was a great time!

Now then, I wouldn't want you to think we only play on this ship called Africa Mercy. I have a few pictures (a bit graphic I'm warning you) of some of our patients going into surgery. They had some of the most massive tumors I've seen and have lived trying to hide their face... How sad! Praise God for amazing surgeons and for the fact that these patients are recovering nicely on our wards.



This is the mama of one of my favorite tiny babies in the whole world!! We have loved caring for her baby while she recovers. :)







This person wore a cloth over her face all the time to cover this tumor. What a new start! I am so thankful for the opportunity to serve these people :)

Here we go again...!

Wow. "Here I am again" is all I could think as I got off the plane to be greeted by crowds of sweaty people pushing and shoving to be first in line for their luggage. After three days of travel it was all I could do to barely muster a smile and make an apathetic gesture as my suitcase rolled by. My energy was rejuvinated, however, when I was reunited with several wonderful friends from my time before. Sarah, who out of the beauty of her heart willingly became my bunkmate in the tiniest space two people could possibly be expected to live, met me at the airport. I felt loved as I was welcomed by Mel, Deb, Sarah, Davey, the Nepalese guards, and the dear African translators. What a wonderfully warm place to be!
We started the weekend off with a bang, going from pool to beach to favorite local eatery. I was so blessed by this as I had the inevitable "transition jitters." What am I doing here again? Did I make the right choice? One such adventure was the African carnival. As it was one of our friend's last weekends in Africa, he wanted the excitement of entrusting his life to African ferris wheels. We all went along for the experience. ay ya yai.











Now, moving right along. They are short on nurses right now, especially with all the sicknesses ravaging crew on the ship, so I was put right to work. Honestly, though, it was just what I needed. I needed to love on some kids and be reminded why I fell in love with them in the first place. These kids are so brave!!






One such brave little hero of the week was Aimee.(pictures following) This little 4 year old boy was suffering from Burkett's cancer.When I arrived they told me he was just here for his third dose of chemo. This cancer (which really only exists in subtropical areas due to the fact that it attacks children who have been immunocompromised for a long time from malaria and are consequently bit by a certain type of mosquito) is usually treatable if the child receives three doses of chemo within a very tight time-frame. In 80% of cases you can actually visibly see the facial tumors shrink within a day! Aimee, however, was too sick for this chemo. He had contracted a respiratory infection and therefore the chemo was a few days too late and had spread to his lungs, liver and lymph nodes. My poor little boy was suffocating to death and it was miserable to watch. His mother went from having a healthy little boy only a few weeks earlier to being told that she was going to lose him. As this was her only boy she was hysterical, literally pulling her hair out. What was beautiful out of this was to see the other patients care for her. One patient in particular who had a deep love for the Lord and was healing from surgery himself would walk over to her several times a day to lay hands on Aimee and pray for him. When we could do little, her fellow Africans stepped up.
Aimee passed away on Wednesday in his grandmother's arms. His mother had gone home as it was too unbearable for her to watch.



All I can pray is that God will "turn her mourning into gladness" and "give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow." Jer 31:13.

On a happier note, my heart was FILLED with joy when I had a very special little visitor!! Maomai was a tiny 4 lb baby girl that I cared for in the ICU three months ago after a very intense surgery to remove a massive taratoma from her neck. She was expected to die and we were especially worried after she would not eat or gain weight. I called her my "little peanut" as I spent countless hours on my night shifts holding her and trying to feed her. This week she came back for a visit..and she is BEAUTIFUL and best of all...CHUNKY! :) Praise the Lord. :) Her mother was beaming and it made my week.

before...

our chunky "little peanut" with her happy mama!


Okay what else can I go on about...? :) For some more fun I sang a worship song in Spanish with my friend Juan as we were celebrating all the different cultures on the ship. I don't seem to really fit into any certain culture... :) Also I got to dance and eat ethnic African food on Obama beach for a goodbye party that Davey's African friends threw for him. They know how to have fun!

Overall it has been a wonderful week, jumping right back into life in Africa. It has been full of ups and downs, concluding with a very long stay in bed as I have had the joy of contracting a stomach bug. I don't think I have ever lost that much in the way of fluids! And I definitely wanted my mommy..:) But God has a way of slowing us down when we need it which was good for me. Thanks for your prayers!! Please keep in touch. Angela

Wrong address

I made it to Africa and through my first week. I already have some great stories so will post an update slash pictures tomorrow but wanted to correct a mistake I made in my address here...It was brought to my attention that I put the wrong zip code down for my address here. It is :
Angela Nesse
ICU Nurse
c/o Mercy Ships M/V Africa Mercy
PO Box 2020
Garden Valley, TX 75771.
oops :)