Merry Christmas, from Togo

'Tis The Season

Although temperatures are still in the mid-30's (Celsius) most days, and it doesn't feel at all festive here (except for a few fake Christmas trees in houses around the compound - looking peculiarly out of place in this environment), we want to wish you a very Merry Christmas.  This is a time for family and friends.  We will be missing many of ours through the coming weeks of celebration. 

The kids on the compound put on a lovely Christmas program for all of the doctors and missionaries last week in the pavilion outside the Guest House.  They sang their way through the Christmas story.  A lot of hard work by the kids and teachers paid off!

Jessica and the kids

This was 'unscripted dialogue' between
these two young kids

The three shepherds striking a pose.

Although in North America you get inundated with the commercialized side of the season, here in Togo we get none of that.  There's not much mention of Christmas at all, really.  The churches are announcing Christmas services and events.  There aren't any malls to shop at, so there's no advertising.  There are no glittering lights at night.  Singing carols with sweat running down your back is not what we normally experience, either.  We don't listen to any local radio, so we have no idea if there is Christmas music being played or not.  (One thing we did have is eggnog... Dr. Seth made a batch of West African eggnog.)  It's too hot to have anyone dressed up in a big red suit with a fake beard!  A sleigh would be useless around here, our Santa would need a good Land Rover 4x4 and all terrain tires!  This is probably closer to the scenes in Bethlehem than what were used to at home.

However, the real reason for the Christmas season is not lost on us.  The birth of Christ is a hugely significant event in the life of Christians around the world.  We trust that you will be able to celebrate this most important aspect of Christmas just as much as the treats, parties, presents and mistletoe. 

More Goodbyes

While the Guest House here is a revolving door of incoming and outgoing short term staff, some of our long term folks have a chance to head home for well-deserved breaks, family occasions or work back in the US or Canada.  John and Betty left last week for a six-month stay in the US.  It will be nice for them to spend Christmas with family, but this will end up being more work than vacation as they are loading up a container to ship back to Togo.  It will be filled with supplies and equipment for the maintenance department, as well as some medical equipment and housing supplies appliances.  

Before they departed, some of the gardeners and maintenance guys sang for them.  They finished with 'Silent Night', although it was 7:30am.  Check out the video of it below. 

Note:  you might need to turn your sound up a wee bit.

With John (and Betty) now gone, that leaves a large hole in the maintenance department.  I will be helping lead the department while John is away.  My goal is to return the property to him in a similar condition in which he left it.  No small task, but with some prayer and some hard work we'll get there.

(And of course, two hours after they departed the x-ray table broke.  I now know a whole lot more about the locking system of an x-ray table than I did a couple of days before.  And the table works.  No emergency phone call to the airport was required!)

Hospital Care

Christine has been in the hospital assisting the doctors with a couple of difficult cases recently.  Below is a picture of her working on a little 2-year-old girl who was seizing due to cerebral malaria. After a couple of days she was doing well and was released.   Another 10-year-old girl did not have such a positive outcome.  With many complications from cerebral malaria, bad pneumonia leading to bilateral pneumothoraces (yeah, I know what that means) requiring chest tubes, this was not an easy case.  Sadly, the girl passed away after six days, despite huge efforts from all of the staff.   There are some cases that are destined to end in defeat.  

Christine was also very thankful to have had a couple of donated CPAP machines on hand.  Just last night, as she sat down to have supper, the phone rang and she was asked to come to the hospital to assist again.  The new equipment was put into service and the patient was in much better condition because of it!  Know that the generosity of people back home is making a difference in the lives of people here.  Thank you.

A Few Quick Things To Share...

One of the fun things I get to do, working at a small hospital in West Africa, is provide some interesting assistance to the doctors and surgeons.  A couple of weeks ago Dr. Yamena needed a splint and came over to the wood shop in a hurry.  I cut a couple of pieces of plywood and made them smooth enough not to irritate the patient.

The splint just peeking out of the wrap.

Dr. Briggs came to the metal shop to ask me to cut a few pieces of surgical steel rod.  We made some bends in the rod, smoothed some edges and voila... something close to Rush Rods.  They're rods inserted surgically into fractured bones to stabilize and aid healing. 

Dr. Briggs grinding off some sharp edges...

Adding a 'shepherd's hook' bend to the rod...

And the finished product in action!

In a previous blog post I mentioned the differences in vehicle inspections and obtaining insurance.  I still need to tell the story about getting a bank account, but that needs more space.

Getting a couple of cylinders of medical oxygen and a smaller cylinder of acetylene was a fun experience too, however! 

The local Air Liquide is not quite as safe, secure, well stocked, comprehensive (yes, that's the word I'm looking for) as what I was used to in Canada. 
First, the entire operation - reception, accounting, warehousing, shipping, etc. was the same 10' x 10' concrete box - with a window, a fluorescent light that was not turned on, and a door.  With one employee... receptionist (kind of, we had to call him from his home), accountant (that John corrected on his invoice, twice.) warehousing and shipping (he watched as Mensavi and I loaded the cylinders). 
Second, storing some highly flammable gases in a confined room is probably not going to pass MOL inspection guidelines at home.  Not by a long shot.

John and Mensavi in the accounting department.

Beside the door - must be shipping and receiving!!

And once again, Merry Christmas -from all of us to all of you.  May you truly celebrate the birth of our King and Saviour.

Our Togo Christmas tree.

Something's In The Air

Show and Tell

Keenan and Logan are in the afternoon session of school in the one room schoolhouse, grades 4 – 8 included. They have weekly 'show and tell' still. It doesn't take very long with only six students.

Avery is one of the girls. She had the chance to do her show and tell second, after Logan showed his folding pocket knife first. Well, she had a little pocket knife of her own that she wanted to show everyone. It was a turquoise colour and 'small and cute and girly', as Logan described it. Once she had finished, it was time for the other boys to go. Not to be outdone, Avery's older brother Paton showed off his knife, followed by Keenan who also decided to show a knife, just to keep the theme going. Six kids in the class - and a total of seven knives were present...

School in Togo is definitely a bit different.

No 'small and cute and girly' knives in this picture!

My 'show and tell' is to show the cool skies God paints at night,
and I am able to capture them like this.

Dinner Guests

Last year, when we were here, we enjoyed hosting people for dinner at our house. We were often the recipients of such blessing, hearing the stories and experiences of the different medical and missionary staff that came to eat with us. We had the chance to host our fist dinner already. Dr. Josh, Dr. Brett and Dr. Yamena all came for 'make your own pizza' night. (We chose this meal so we couldn't be blamed if they didn't like theirs!) Josh and Brett are family medicine doctors, and Yamena is a surgeon. They're all great people to spend time with.

We had a great time getting to know the three of them better, as well as giving them a break from another meal in the Guest House setting. We hope to continue this as it has become a bit of a tradition here.

(Best wishes for the upcoming marriage proposal, Josh!)

Family Reunion!!

We were able to celebrate American Thanksgiving with my sister and her family. They are working in the northern part of Togo at another mission hospital, the Hospital Of Hope, in Mango.

First hugs after a year apart!

They all made the drive down for a quick weekend visit. It was so good to hang out with them all. Our boys were so glad to see their cousins as it had been a year since we had been together. What a fun reunion! We ate, played and hung out together. Nate and I were able to do some work, too.

It was a bit surreal to be sitting around a bunch of tables eating turkey and stuffing and pumpkin pie in a West African country with family. Surreal, but we loved it! We're making plans for a chance to get together after Christmas with them, too.

     [UPDATE: Knives are no longer permitted in school, as they became a distraction. In our Sunday church announcement time, the teacher requested a pencil sharpener as the electric one they have is a bit temperamental. A couple of boys - who shall remain unnamed - suggested knives as a way to sharpen the pencils...]

Harmatan Is Here!

Harmatan is a unique weather phenomenon in Togo and a large portion of West Africa. The winter winds from the north blow sand and dust from the Sahara Desert high into the air and then across the countries to the south and west. The air becomes filled with very fine dust which settles in or on everything. It's like fog - without the moisture. The one blessing is that the dust blocks the sun's intensity and lowers the temperatures a little bit overall.

The view on December 10, 2017, with the harmatan
effect.

The same view from last July, just cloudy.

We had two days with heavy rain showers, which the locals say was the last rain that ushers in the harmatan. The lush green mountains behind the hospital compound became obscured in the dust. Any flat surface in the house, hospital or outside got coated with a fine layer of it, too. 'Clean freaks' would have a nightmare here at this time of year.  

The Plane, The Plane!!

It arrived! After years of being without an aircraft, it has been delivered! What an awesome moment, when the aviation guys cracked open the doors of the container! 

Breaking the seal on the door

Our first look inside!

 We began unloading airplane parts out of a smoking hot container. Outside it was 96 degrees F, inside the big tin can it was only hotter!  Wings, ailerons, other control surfaces, and the fuselage all came off and were safely stored in the hangar in preparation for re-assembly.

A customs official was on hand to inspect items coming off
the container

My view, pushing the fuselage out the doors.

The final parts rolled off and we had time for a couple of pictures with the plane, still soaked and sweaty.

Derek, Ryan, Jason and John.  Sweaty, tired, but glad to
see the plane in the hangar.

Thanksgiving Leftovers

Here are just a few pictures of some things we've seen around here.

A termite queen that some of our workers
dug out of the ground.  Gross!

Hitching a ride on one of the compound's roads

Finishing the roof on the drive shed.

A classic old Rover on the side of the road

Logan sporting a new outfit for church.

We're Back In Togo!

Our house, under a starry sky.

A reminder of where we are.

We arrived in Lome airport about 24hrs and 40mins after pulling out of our church parking lot after saying our goodbyes.

 All of our plastic luggage tubs arrived intact, as well. None were pulled for further inspection upon arrival in Togo, and the only concern raised was for a couple of the CPAP machines Christine had for the hospital. Once the appropriate document from the hospital was produced, the customs officials were satisfied and we scooted out of the airport quickly. Praise God!

We spent a very short night in the Lucia Guest House in Lome, woke up early and headed directly out of town to avoid any of the planned protests by the political opposition groups. Even at 5am, the gendarmes and police were setting up on major corners and intersections to keep the protesters in check.

When we got to our new home at the Hopital Baptiste Biblique outside the village of Tsiko, we were tired and hot. We spent most of the day unpacking and greeting old and new friends. It was so good to be back!

Within a day we were getting back to work around the compound and starting the boys in their schooling. They are splitting time between the one-room schoolhouse and some home schooling. They seem to be settling in fine in this new educational environment.

Inspected and Insured

We were fortunate to be able to rent/borrow a nice Toyota HiLux truck from the Wards while they are home in the USA. A special thanks to them! This will afford us more freedom while living here. However, to use this little truck we needed to have it inspected (an annual event) and insured (annual, also) while in Kpalime.

 While we are familiar with vehicle inspections when buying or selling a vehicle in Canada, here in Togo the process is ever-so-slightly different. Allow me to describe both the inspection and the insurance processes...

Inspection:

At the inspection station, you pull through an official looking gate into a large gravel-like lot. I say gravel-like because it's a mix of fist-sized rocks all the way down to tiny pebbles... and dirt. Driving up in front of the very small office building no bigger than a typical tin garden shed, you will notice there are no windows at all. It's a concrete box. There is a solid wood door – with no window – a twin tube fluorescent fixture hanging precariously from the concrete ceiling and a little tiny slot to communicate through... like you would see in a prison, for example. Big enough to pass some papers and hand over some money. That's it. And you have to bend down a bit to talk to the person on the other side of the wall because this slot was conveniently placed at mid-chest height. You will then pass your ownership through said slot and be directed to wait on an assortment of large rocks or weathered wooden benches under a large tree to the side of the building with the others also getting inspections.

When you are summoned back to the office you are then told whether your vehicle needs to have a thorough inspection or if you just pay your fee and go away. We had to undergo the 'more thorough' inspection. This involves someone getting in the vehicle and backing up 50 yards or so, driving forward and slamming on the brakes to test their effectiveness. Happy with the results, they drive into an open shed-like building and proceed to check the various lights and windshield wipers. Then the power goes out. Yes, at a government agency everything grinds to an abrupt halt because the power goes out. We waited for about 10 minutes until someone appeared around a corner dragging a small generator, pulled the start cord a dozen times or so until realizing the little engine was switched in the 'off' position, then fired it up. Back in action!

With the little power plant now purring away, they plugged it in and continued the inspection. Next was a very fun test. They drive the front wheels onto two steel pads which shake the vehicle side to side in short, aggressive bumps. This is to test the front steering and suspension joints. Again, pleased with the result from our vehicle they back out of the shed and wander back into the office.

We were once again summoned from our comfy rock and invited to the little slot. There we were asked to pay the equivalent of $10 – in cash, of course – for the inspection, and were handed a new sticker that goes on the windshield of our vehicle to show it is current.

Now, all of this is well and good, but beside us in the vehicle inspection line was a beaten and broken looking tractor trailer that had its' fuel tank bound to the frame of the tractor by several feet of rope! This did not look like a winning proposition for the owner. Worse, when the inspector climbed into the truck and attempted to perform the 'brake effectiveness test', he backed the trailer into a large pile of the aforementioned gravel-like aggregate with significant speed and force. While I found this particularly amusing it did not give me much confidence in the whole process! As we were pulling out, the tractor trailer owner was happily walking back to his truck with his new inspection sticker... Can anyone actually fail this inspection??

Insurance

Insurance was a whole other story! We drove to the insurance 'office' which was maybe set back 15 feet off the main highway (which is a very busy, wide two-lane road) through the city of Kpalime. Again, a small concrete box – with a window! The calypso and African music from the bar next door pumping out into the street added a party atmosphere to the blank interior. The door was propped wide open, the hot breeze blowing in once in a while. The door had a curtain hanging as some kind of barrier between the inside of this concrete box and the outer chaos of downtown Kpalime. The curtain was a lovely Valentine's Day motif, mostly white with pink and red hearts on it. It had discoloured from months or years of dust and exhaust fumes . There was a small ceiling fan spinning at such a high rate of speed that it would blow stacked papers off the insurance agent's desk. If it weren't for the weight of the roof I'm sure it could have achieved lift-off!

The agent had a couple of disorganized-looking stacks of papers and files on his desk, a pad of lined paper with lots of hand-written numbers in wide columns, and a keyboard and computer. Beside his desk was a nice little printer. Once he found our quote on the pad of paper with the columns, he went to work entering our info into the computer and then printed out a nice little insurance form. He had to make a couple of photocopies of our documents since we were new clients, so he got up and walked out of the office, hopped on his moto and drove over to the 'photocopy store', another concrete box with a photocopier. He just left us sitting there, feeling both slightly bewildered and slightly amused. Perhaps this is a normal procedure??

He came back a couple of minutes later with the new copies in hand. We paid our annual fee – in cash, of course – and received another windshield sticker to show that we were properly insured now, as well as 'inspected'. We had to pay an additional 100 CFA Francs for the photocopies, but he gave us a nice plastic pouch to put all of our insurance forms in. Seemed like a fair trade at that point. He then wrote out, by hand, a receipt for our payment. His signature was a bit curious... two quick vertical lines, followed by two slightly longer horizontal lines forming a very rough X's and O's frame. He then continued to sign two circles around the centre of the intersected lines, then print his name below the masterpiece, like an artist signing his, well, his signature. A couple of handshakes later we bid the insurance man farewell.

And there we were, successfully inspected and insured, legal travelers on the crazy roads of a little country in West Africa.

Next up, opening a bank account! Sounds like another fun time.

About as big across as two soup cans, shown
by the cardboard behind it.

Logan killed his first snake!

The stand-off.

Our house, in the daylight.

Playing with glow sticks at night.

Seven Days Remain...

It's true, only seven days until we board a plane bound for Togo!

What an awesome journey it has been over these last seven months since we announced we intended to return to Hopital Baptiste Biblique for a longer stay.  We have been stretched and blessed in many ways.  It seems more stretching and stressing in these late days before our departure on November 5th, but it's all coming together.

Answered Prayers

We have been able to raise enough financial support in these past seven months to be able to head over to Togo in the compressed time frame we had originally hoped for.  It was a bit ambitious, but again God provided people who caught the vision for our ministry and then partnered with us.

God has also provided a family to rent our house for several months while we are gone.  They are having repairs done after an unfortunate fire to their own home, and God directed them our way through some good neighbours / friends.  How it all fell into place could only be orchestrated by a Higher Power!

We also have sold one of our vehicles!  Another answer to prayer.  We've got one more to get rid of yet, but we're just allowing God to take care of this one in His perfect timing, too.  There are still a few days to go, anyways.

Goodbye, yellow Jeep.  It was fun to have you in the family!

Pack It Up, Pack It In, 

We have packed all that we can squeeze into 15 Rubbermaid tubs (within the 50lb / container weight restriction for the airline) for the next year and a bit.  Condensing to just the bare essentials, a few necessities and some school materials, and a couple of deflated soccer balls and several pieces of donated medical equipment can be challenging.  A few items were sacrificed for the sake of extra peanut butter and chocolate chips.  Some sacrifices are more important than others!  Chocolate chips must make the trip.

We've also packed the remaining of our belongings out of our house into a storage container.  It proved to be an excellent time to purge what we didn't need.  Everyone should have to do that every couple of years.  We were able to take items to the Bibles For Missions thrift store to be used to support their ministry efforts, too!

It's easy to pick what to wear when it's the only thing in the closet!

Send Us Out!

Our commissioning service is on November 5th at Stoney Creek Baptist Church.  We'd love to pack the place with friends and relatives - and more friends!  It all starts at 10:30am.  This is a great chance for our friends and family to send us off with the blessing of the church family, as well.  It's such an encouragement to have all of that support behind us.  We're leaving right after the service is over to go directly to the airport, too!  (No 'long goodbyes' for Christine to deal with!) 

Currently, there is some political unrest in Togo.  Protesters have clashed with the police and military in a few areas.  There were the 'Day Of Anger' protests.  There are also protests planned in Lome (the capital city, where we will be landing) for the days immediately after we arrive - when we should be shopping for groceries and house supplies...  Not what you want to get caught up in.  Pray for safety and wisdom as we navigate this tense situation.

Thank you so much for the support, encouragement and prayers as we continue to get closer to our departure.  Keep them coming, we sure can use them!  It's been exciting to make the journey so far, but we're looking forward to getting our feet on the ground at HBB.

Feel free to contact us by email at penny.missions@gmail.com.  

You can also follow us on Instagram now, too.  Just search 5cent_mission to find us.