5 Cent Mission: A Mountain Top Experience

I love this picture. To me, it captures the strength and beauty of the women here in Togo. We get to see it in person.

Just before the rains came...

One of the variety of swallowtail butterflies

A guy with a load of bamboo on his head, on a moto.

Church Seats

We were on time for church last Sunday! This is exciting because we found out last week that we have been showing up unintentionally late since we first started attending the church in Tsiko. So, we arrived on time AND asked for a seat near the back, instead of being paraded up to the front.

The road to the hospital on the way home from church. Lots of
people heading home from the service

We were squeezed into a bench made for five people – seven of us! Didn't mention Carol & Dr. Frank Roam joined us from the hospital, did I...

Imagine a tall man (Frank's got to be at least 6'2”) sitting with not enough bench under his butt, knees in the back of the kids sitting in front of him – for two-and-a-half-hours! I felt bad for him, so I got up and snuck outside with Keenan and Hudson; so the others could have more space to spread out. Also, the boys were getting a little restless after the hour-and-a-half mark! Church runs a wee bit longer here.

Make sure your pastor doesn't get any ideas!

Busy, Busy

Christine's work has been going along well. She got called away from supper with the Ward family to assist a 4-year-old patient with cerebral malaria. He was having seizures. His breathing was compromised and the outlook wasn't good. Fortunately he was able to be treated with high doses of anti-seizure medications, but that made his breathing worse. Christine and Kristi were able to get him sorted out with assisted breathing and medication so that he is now doing much better. Answered prayers once again.

The boy, Grandma, Mom and Dad

So while we were all enjoying dinner, Christine was working. When you go in to see one patient you get asked to check on two or three others. Another patient came in having ingested poisonous tree bark in an attempted suicide. She was having breathing and bleeding problems from this suicide attempt. She was ultimately successful in her attempt and did not survive. A twenty-seven week old baby that Christine worked with earlier in the week was checked on and had her CPAP machine adjusted during this same visit. She's doing well despite the early start to life!

Christine's also spent some days training some of the staff on various CPAP and BiPAP machines so they can better treat the patients. She wrote out instruction guides and quick reference cards for some machines so adjustments can be made by the staff. This will help get the staff familiar with the machines while she's still here. Once we leave they should be competent with them.

This is a CPAP machine. It's about the size of a shoe box.

The boys did another Pre-School with the little kids from around the compound. They have fun planning out who is going to do what... most of the time. They taught a lesson from our family devotion book about building a house on a solid foundation, not on sandy ground. The did a great job of leading the kids in the song that goes along with the story, too.

Christine took the boys to the Cuisine (an area on the hospital grounds where families can prepare meals for their loved ones getting care in the hospital). She went with Carol and they took a bunch of nail polish and suckers. The suckers vanished in no time, and a bunch of little girls and moms enjoyed getting their toes painted! The boys were hoping to play soccer with some little guys, but unfortunately our soccer ball has gone missing for an extended period of time... Someone needed it worse than we did, I guess.

My work has consisted of fixing a whole range of things: the printer of a specimen analyzer, a laundry tub faucet, two seals on freezers and refrigerators, an oil change on a vehicle, repairing a test tube heating element, tracking down a “Togo-lized” A/C switch in a vehicle (think poorly re-wired because the factory wires didn't work any longer), cleaning A/C filters around the doctor's lounge and OR rooms, new OR surgery lamps and a bunch other things I can't remember. My days seem to be full!

Agbese' (on the tractor) and Togbe'. They wanted me to take
their picture when they saw the camera

Fancy adjustable surgery lamps in the OR.

Comings and Goings

One interesting thing about life here is the turnover of people coming to spend time here. The Togo South team leader and his family are packing up to go back to the US for a chance to visit with family and supporting churches for several months. It's been great getting to know them and their kids. They'll definitely be missed here. Other long term missionary families are due to arrive in the next few weeks, too.

We've met – and subsequently said goodbye to – many really awesome people who have come for a week or two, or a month or two. We miss their smiles and laughter, we miss their stories, we miss their skills and capabilities! We'll be continually doing the same thing for the remainder of our time here. Introductions, spending time working and worshiping with people, and then eventually saying goodbye to them.

(The same thing is happening at our church, too. A family we've quickly grown to love is heading back out west. We're sad to see them go – and not even be home to say goodbye. We'll see them again.)

We could use more medical staff to work for a couple of weeks at a time (or more) here. If you are a general surgeon, orthopaedics, OB/Gyn doc, a radiologist, a Gen. Practicioner or a specialist, we can use you here for a while.

Also, if you can fix stuff, we need you! Actually, we need two or three of you. The to-do list is long. Can you paint, screw cupboard doors on, fix small machinery, fix big machinery? Are you a plumber, electrician or carpenter? We can use you. Even if you can't do much of anything, if you can lift things, move things, clean things... we can use you. If you can play a piano (younger but more mature sister, are you reading this??) or play guitar – we can use you on Wednesday and Sunday nights! If you are a teacher, you can live here!! There are lots of missionary kids!

(Other selling points... It's always summer here. The bugs taste good. Everything is in fashion. Why wouldn't you want to come??)

Church On The Mountain

We went for a hike on Saturday with Nurse Jonathan with the loose goal of finding the church that is at the top of the mountain behind the hospital compound. We got a later start than we wanted, and it was already hot. We walked down the gravel road outside the back gate and past the aircraft hangar. We shortly turned off the road and headed down a little trail. Now, these little trails criss-cross the jungle. Locals know where they go, like we know the roads in our city. These trails are the links for little settlements scattered among the trees. Subsistence living at it's best – no electricity, no running water (unless you consider a stream 'running water'), no plumbing, no refrigeration...

That high point in the distance - that's the destination as
seen through the gate to the hangar.

Nurse Jonathan safely across the stream

The view looking back to the compound from a clearing
partway up.

We hiked over a couple of streams and then started up the mountain. The path was well-trodden, with the rocks being smoothed and worn by thousands of travelers passing over them through the decades. I walked this same trail a couple of years earlier with my brother-in-law and one of the only healthy nephews that was left standing.

The incline got much steeper, and we all began to perspire a little more. Jonathan and I were soaked, actually. The boys, not so much, and Christine just glowed. The crazy thing is we were passed by a young Togolese guy who was practically bounding up the mountain. It looked effortless, except for some reason my heavy breathing and burning leg muscles told me otherwise. The same with the two ladies in flip-flops climbing the mountain - - with large stainless steel bowls filled with fruit and vegetables on their heads. We passed them on the way down, but they were happily chatting with each other.

We missed the intersection for the trail to the church. There was no sign, and we were unsure of where to go. So, no visit to the church. Maybe next time! We hiked up to the little saddle between the two peaks and decided to head for the higher of the two summits. We got close to the summit, but the brush was so thick it wasn't worth the scratches and hassle to get to the very top. The view was lovely! We could look down the north and south sides of the mountain to either valley below. Smoke curled up from little cooking and charcoal fires. Tiny fields of crops dotted the flat land below. Huge trees reached up from the mountain sides and obstructed a full panorama. We could see the bend in the road in 'downtown' Tsiko. We could see to the main highway passing through Adeta.

A picture near the top.

The view down to the villages of Tsiko and Adeta below

A view through some trees to the south.

A small settlement at the top of the mountain. This is the kitchen.

After a quick picture of the team, we turned back and headed down the mountain for some well deserved lunch. The hour-and-a-half climb up created some healthy appetites. We were about 15 minutes into the descent when Jonathan realized his phone was missing. Oh, great! So, we sent Christine, Keenan and Hudson down the trail while Logan, Jonathan and I turned around to backtrack and search for the phone. Of course, his ringer was off so there was no point in calling it. And it was in an army green protective case – you know, the ones that blend in really well with jungle foliage... We scanned both sides of the trail all the way up and prayed a little that we'd find it. Thankfully our prayers were heard! On the side of the trail, blending in nicely with the greens of the mountain side, was a pretty little iPhone waiting for its owner to show up! Another prayer of thanks was said and we were on our way back down.

Found it!!

Soaked after the hike!

Three hours, litres of sweat and some good memories were made on that mountain. We'll be back to get to the church!

This is what some little mountain churches look like.

Farm Life

We are now farmers, too. We have six chickens and two guinea fowl. Actually, the Wards have them at their house in a little chicken coop they had built. We are merely shareholders in the birds. Combined as families, we had hoped to get some eggs from said egg-laying birds to provide a cheaper source of eggs than buying them from the market. What we may end up getting is a chicken dinner if they don't start laying!

Hudson and the hen

So far, these birds have been great entertainment value for our three boys and Rachel and Bryant's oldest son, Jasper. He's two years old, and is just realizing that the birds are probably more afraid of him than he is of them! He's a great little guy, and our boys love him and their other son Peter, who's just eight months old or so. The boys love to feed the chickens. They also tend to pursue the chickens more than what is good for egg production... The birds are also a good distraction for Bryant, who is a doctor here at the hospital! Oh, and total production to date: just one egg. One. 1.

Maybe the chickens will taste good?

We had a goat. For about 10 minutes. After that, we had meat in the freezer and goat stew on the stove! Mowsi, one of the local Togolese guys, brought us a goat and butchered it. It was a stark reality of where food comes from for the two younger boys. They have been to farms and seen cows and chickens, seen wild turkey and deer that have been hunted, eaten fish that was freshly caught from the lake. But this goat, being slaughtered and butchered right there in front of them was a good lesson.

We kept the meat, Mowsi kept 'the good parts'...

This goat died so we could eat, get nutrition and have life. There was an easy Bible truth taught in that image. Jesus Christ, the sacrificial lamb, died on the cross so we could have eternal life.

Goat stew was delicious, too.

Stockpiling Again

Christine is going on another shopping trip to Lome on this coming Friday. Lome (pronounced Lo-May) is the capital city, the biggest city in the country. It has the best shopping for groceries and household goods. It is the best place to get canned goods, dry goods in bulk and frozen goods. She'll be going with a surgeon and his wife (Dr. Frank and Carol Roam) who are going to the airport to return home, Betty – who runs the guest house and kitchen and needs LOTS of food to keep the visiting doctors and nurses fed – and Dr. Kristi, who also wants to stock up now that she has settled in here. These women are power-shoppers, but not in the North American sense. They are stockpiling food so we don't have to make the 2-hour + drive for another few weeks. We now know why all the houses have large pantries! Our shelves and freezer are getting empty. Not sure if Christine will be buying frozen chicken yet or not. The countdown is on for our birds!

From The Cutting Room Floor

Again, more pictures that are snippets of the action and activity going on with us in daily life.

There are so many bugs, butterflies, birds and critters running around that we could have dozens of pictures of them. Here are a few that we've found in the last week alone.

Don't know what it is. It was on the window screen one night.

Had to hurry to get this picture.

Jasper

Bryant Ward and Peter

A very tiny praying mantis

A female rhinoceros beetle.

These were found in a sealed package of pasta.
My sister called them 'pepper flakes'.

Not sure what to call this creature!

Not only do the bugs come out in the rainy season, the flowers are starting to all bloom around the compound and in the bush. Once the rains clear, the plants look great glistening while wet.