5 Cent Mission: Farewell, Togo

(for a little while, anyway)

Finishing Our Mission

We were able to finish up as much as possible before departing the hospital in Tsiko. Christine had the opportunity to teach some CPR and basic skills to the new class of Togolese nursing students. That stretched her a fair bit, but secretly I think she enjoyed herself. Christine is very good at teaching students beside the patient's bedside, but this was a new twist for her, being in a classroom. She had excellent assistance from one of the newer short-term staff, Mindy. They were a dynamic duo!

It seemed like the maintenance side of things never had fewer things on the 'to do' list, as we would complete one job another would get added to the list! I gave back the keyring to John, knowing that there was still much to do – but so much had been done. I was sad to leave my Togolese co-worker Karewa. He was fun to work with, and we would joke about how we made a good team – one guy would take something apart and then watch the other fix it! I'll miss that camaraderie. We accomplished a lot and had fun doing it.

A tire needing to be replaced...

Make that TWO tires to be replaced!

A cabinet needed to be built for storing CPAP and BiPAP
machines up top, as well as some emergency airway / resuscitation
boxes (on the bottom)

On the last day of official work, before we departed the next morning, all of the maintenance and landscaping guys came to the house as we were packing up. They sang a couple of hymns and gave hugs as they said their goodbyes. It was a kind gesture and deeply appreciated.

Not to be outdone however, Christine's students came by later that day and sang for her and said goodbye, as well.

Saying goodbye can be so hard for everyone

The next morning we loaded up into the van. We had a few more hugs, words of thanks and encouragement and a word of prayer to send us off. With the Potter family, who are moving from the Congo to Togo in the next few weeks to finish up their mission term at HBB, Rachel and Mindy joined as we all headed to the airport in Lome. An uneventful drive, a few more goodbyes and we carted all of our belongings into the departures check-in.

It's peculiar how in a short time spent with people you didn't know previously, they become your adopted extended family. Some of them we spent just a couple of weeks with, but they became dearly loved, as it was with the ones who were there with us the whole time – and continue to work there after we have left. We are so thankful to all of those folks for taking a chance on us (Dr. Gayle, it's your fault!), welcoming us into their lives and accepting us for who we are. To the HBB missionaries and medical staff specifically – thanks for making our time in Tsiko memorable. Thanks for the encouragement, assistance, shared knowledge and patience with us and our boys. We love you for it! What a great opportunity we had, to work alongside such a great team!

And - I guess that's it. We have completed this little mission. Hopefully it will be viewed as a success both in the earthly 'getting work done' way as well as a spiritual way, helping point others to Jesus Christ . And that's the main reason we made the effort, went out of our comfort zone, took a bit of a risk and hopefully had an impact in peoples' lives; to show them God's love. I know that is a huge reason why so many people supported what we were doing, prayed for us and encouraged us – because the mission is important.

From The Cutting Room Floor

Some final looks at life in our little corner of West Africa. The time spent here will be fondly remembered! Some of these pictures will have no significance to you, but we'll know their value.