5 Cent Mission: Heads In The Clouds

Losses Hurt

It is with profound sadness that the Togo North Team must announce the death of one of our teammates. Cheryl Cleveland passed away at her house on the Hospital of Hope grounds here in Mango, Togo on Saturday morning. Cheryl was a pharmacist who had just finished her planned 18 month term with the Hospital of Hope.

Cheryl was a key member of the Hospital of Hope family and worked hard as a pharmacist to make sure the opening and first year and a half of the hospital’s operation went smoothly. Please pray for Cheryl’s family as they were expecting to welcome her home this week. Cheryl will be greatly missed by her friends and teammates here in Togo as well as by her many friends and family in the States.

It is our hope that even in her death, Cheryl’s strong faith and service for her Creator will point others to a relationship with Jesus Christ.

This is the second loss the team up in Mango has suffered in the past few months. Pray that they will remain strong and committed to the work to be done.

Another worker has finished her tasks here on earth.

Village Church

I had been asked by Jason to drive a visiting pastor, Gary Miller, to a little church up the mountain so he could preach there on Sunday morning. Pastor Gary from Alabama, a nursing student named Hannah, a nurse named Jeannette and Togolese Pastor Anani rode with me. Pastor Anani would act as the translator from 'Alabama English' to Ewe'. We drove for just over an hour across broken asphalt and dirt roads, avoiding most, no... a few of the potholes and all of the goats and chickens running across the road. We made it into the village of Elavanyo, to a little building not much bigger than a standard living room – maybe 20' x 12' or so in size.

The church is the building on the right

It was very barren. Eight rough, handmade wooden benches for the people to sit on. A little podium stood at the front of the room. Two doorways, and a single window broke up the dirty beige-brown walls. Open wood rafters held up a corrugated tin roof. No lights, no electricity of any sort. Eighteen of us sat on the benches to have church together.

It was a very overcast morning. It got darker as the clouds built up and rain started to look apparent. It got so dark in the unlit room that I passed my little flashlight to Pastor Gary so he could read his notes and his Bible. When the rain started, it came so hard and heavy and loud on the little tin roof that they had to stop speaking because no one could hear anything, and we had to close the doors to keep the rain from blowing in. So we sat, in a barely lit room, waiting for the rain to ease up.

Pastor Gary and Pastor Anani standing by the window for
some light to read by

The rain did stop, and the preacher continued on. It was a really great experience to be with these Togolese for their church service. They weren't rich. They were just gathering humbly together on a Sunday morning to learn more about God.

Pastor Gary Miller did a great job – especially considering he was using a translator, the interruption of the rain and needing a flashlight. He answered all of the questions they had and they appreciated him coming to talk to them. When we left they sent us off with gifts – a bunch of bananas and a bag of fresh-picked avocados.

Waterfall Ministry

I have had the fun job of driving visiting medical volunteers on a day trip to the area around Kpalime, which is about 35 minutes from the hospital compound. This is their chance to get out and see a bit of south Togo away from the hospital. I've formed a relationship with Expedit, our local guide and artist. He guides us around his local village up in the mountains showing us the various plants, fruits, crops and farming. He includes the two lovely waterfalls on the hike. He also shows how he makes the natural pigments from local plants that he uses in his paintings, which (of course) he offers for sale to those on the hike when we return to his house. He's not too fluent speaking English, I'm not too great at speaking French, but we manage to make it work and now that I know what he's showing us (after three trips with him now) I can assist in explaining what he's talking about to non-French speaking hospital volunteers.

After we finish the waterfall hike, typically the group leaves Expedit's village and heads back into Kpalime for lunch and a stop at the Artisan Centre for a chance to be tourists. After spending some time looking at Togolese crafts, we load up and I take them to the busy market in the heart of the city. There, folks are usually looking for the vibrant fabrics to buy so they can get some clothing made to take back home. Shirts, skirts, wild looking hospital scrubs, aprons... There are a couple of fabric ladies who smile when they see me coming now, knowing that there are usually a few other yovo's (white people) with me, looking to buy fabric.

I like the opportunity we have to support the local seamstresses around the hospital (they're typically members of the local churches, too) with requests for shirts and skirts to be made. Our family already has a few items made by them! For between $10 and $15 you can buy the fabric and have it tailored just for you.

Training Camp

Nurse Jonathan (he's actually a nurse practitioner) and Christine have been training several Togolese nurses on how to properly use the Baxter infusion pump. They had to develop a brief training manual (and then get it translated into French) for the machine and now have to teach it to the nurses.

Christine has also had some intubation rolls sewn by one of the local ladies, an idea she stole from St. Joseph's Hospital. These rolls are designed to be easy-to-grab rolls that fit the size of the child or adult needing to have their airway secured. These will be stocked in the OR, pediatric and adult ICU wards and the re-animation (emergency / post op) ward area. This will make it easier to quickly grab the the equipment needed, as well as stocking and then restocking after use. These are labeled in the age-specific sizes that the patients would require. This will increase the speed and efficiency of care in time sensitive situations. With a high number of visiting medical staff, streamlining the system is beneficial to all.

Additional to all of that, Jonathan and I have done many hikes up the mountain road very early in the morning, before either of us have to go to work. I've nicknamed him 'Jonny Five Bells' since that is normally the time we meet to start the 4km hike uphill. There was a running race up the mountain road a while back, and they conveniently painted the kilometer marks on the road.

The view downhill from our turn-around point.

The 5km mark is right at the gate of the hospital, the foot of the mountain. From there it counts down to the village of N'Digbe at the top of the mountain, kilometer 0. Since it's flat for the last kilometer (and there is a Gendarme / guard station just outsite N'Digbe) we stop at the 4km mark and turn around, making an 8km round trip. Jonny Five Bells wants to lose 20lbs on the mountain before he heads home. He's been here for about 6 weeks now. I'm not sure how he's doing in his quest, but we enjoy getting out and hitting the road together. We've had a couple of close calls with crazy motos zooming past too close for comfort, grossly overloaded cars and huge trucks squeezing us to the very edge of the narrow road, but those experiences make for good memories of early morning training.

Christine had a very positive case just the other day. A tracheostomy patient with a HUGE grapefruit-sized thyroid tumour had her week old trach tube downsized and was able to speak to her daughter. That means there was minimal vocal chord damage and good healing was taking place.

Doctor Greg did the surgery and wanted to get a picture with the mom and daughter after she was able to speak.

I wish the Togolese would smile for pictures. They were so happy
to hear mama's voice seconds earlier.

Mount Agou

The Wards wanted to get off the compound last Saturday, so we made plans to join them on a trip to Mount Agou – the highest point in Togo, at 986m. The big highlight is the fact that it's the highest point in Togo. Other than that, not too much really. It is only about 15 minutes beyond Kpalime so it's an easy destination from the hospital, less than an hour away. We were going to try driving to the top and maybe scouting around for a trail to hike from the base to the summit for a future foot-powered trip.

The road started out pretty good...

then deteriorated...

The suggestion was to buy a permit to get access to the mountain, get a guide to take you to the top, show you around and bring you back down. That's what we did. Our guide asked to drive the Land Cruiser. That would be like me asking for the keys to a Ferrari back home. Not a wise thing for the owner to do. Bryant flat out said “No.” The guide then hopped on his moto and escorted us to the top, waving his arm and pointing at every curve, pothole or washout. The bigger the obstacle, the more rapidly and wildly he would wave his arm. Now, we were driving very slowly up the washed out, rutted, potholed, broken and unmaintained 'road'. You couldn't drive fast. We could see everything in front of us. It's not like a pothole would sneak up on us at a brisk 5km/h! And there wasn't any other possible route up the mountain. One road up, same road down. So much for needing a guide.

and got overgrown...

The last view of the valley before heading into the clouds.

We made our way into the clouds, and lost sight of the land below us. Getting near the summit we found a cable across the road and a small military compound guarding the peak. We joked about the summit being the first point of attack if Canada were to declare war on Togo. Actually, there are a couple of cell towers up there that these soldiers are protecting. We had to give a copy of our permit to the guard, and he lowered the cable and let us past. We rounded a curve and found... the end of the road. A spot big enough to turn around in. We think it was the summit, but the clouds were thick enough that we couldn't see another peak anywhere. We weren't sure what was next. So we made lunch and ate it. Standing on top of the highest point in Togo, unable to see anything, was a bit anticlimactic. A lovely vista of the landscape below would have been great, but maybe another time.

Almost there...

The panoramic view to the south... somewhere through the clouds

The turn-around / lunch location

Our guide wasn't very knowledgeable regarding a hiking trail, but told us we could stop on the way down and wander through some of the little villages. Well, it's good to know that the villages aren't off limits! And as we loaded up and prepared to leave, our guide called Bryant over to talk to him for a moment. It seems that the 'guard' wanted us to pay him for lowering the cable across the road, as a token of our appreciation for his fine work protecting the cell towers and us from enemy attack. Our guide thought that was an appropriate gesture. When we drove up to the guard we only offered a can of lemonade and a package of crackers. He didn't look too impressed, but following mission agency policy, we aren't able to pay bribes (and wouldn't have, regardless of policy or not).

Sharing a drink and crackers must be permissible, no??

A bad photo, but if you look closely you can see a guy carrying
a mattress down the mountain slope. I bet Sleep Country doesn't
deliver like this!

When we finally got off the mountain to where our stellar guide released us of his duties. He asked for a can of lemonade for a token of appreciation for his difficult task, too. Bryant ended our time with him the same way he began it, with a “no”. And we drove away.

Our group was left feeling like we had been played for being yovo again.

Let's see:

- Pay around $7 for a permit to essentially turn around.

- Pay $3 for a guide to point out large potholes we could clearly see ourselves.

- Give a gift of crackers and a drink to a clearly overworked guard who lowered a cable across the road.

- Asked for another drink by our guide who barely earned the money we paid for his services to begin with.

Sounds like another day in Togo! We could have done the entire trip on our own, stopped just before the guard station and turned around without needing the above-mentioned turn around area. And we never found a trail to hike to the top. Further (independent) investigation is required. On a cloudless, sunny day we will conquer Mount Agou - for Canada! You'll hear about us on the news.

Care Package From Home!

We received a not-so-anonymous parcel from home. I knew it was coming but kept the boys unaware. At 4:30 on Friday afternoon I received a call from the hospital admin office telling me there was a note for me. I ran over to find that it was a pickup notice for the post office. I asked if they knew what time the post office (which is located in Adeta) closed for the weekend. "Five o'clock." I had 25 minutes to run back home, grab a vehicle and drive to Adeta to pick up the parcel. No problem...

In my rush to get to the post office I neglected to bring any form of identification. The guard let Logan and I into the little post office building after first taking our delivery notice and going inside. A sour looking lady was slowly filling out a ledger. She then called me up to the counter. She asked for my passport. I told her my name, and that I was from Canada, but that I left my ID at the hospital back in Tsiko. She eyed me up and down, the turned and looked at the package, then lifted it onto the counter in front of me and had me sign the ledger. No ID?? No problem in Togo! Out the door we went with our parcel!! Either I must have looked extremely honest or she didn't care at that point in her work week.

Guest were coming to dinner so I left the parcel for the next morning. When we told the boys it was Christmas they instantly got excited. Opening it up we found treasures beyond compare!

Just a bit excited!

Chips, Jolly Rancher candies, baking chocolate and CANADIAN FLAVOURED!! juice crystals, several pairs of new underwear for the boys, a few nice t-shirts, a pair of drumsticks, a soccer ball and other goodies!

So excited about new underwear, Hudson put them on over his shorts!

'I RACE FOR... chocolate'. I will also fight
you for chocolate!

What a blessing! Such a great reminder to us of the good friends we have supporting us back home. Thank you so much, anonymous parcel shippers! And thanks to those who send notes and continue to pray for us while we're here. Keep it up.