Happy Easter!
We have bid farewell to the dry, dusty
harmattan and have entered into a brief rainy season here in southern
Togo. While the air is clearer, the heat and the humidity has increased and sweat is inescapable.
You walk to the hospital and begin to sweat. If you exert any force or effort whatsoever, you sweat. If you stand still, you sweat. And if I
describe that bead of sweat that begins at the upper portion of the
small of your back, and slowly trickles down to your waistband...
well, that's life in Tsiko these days! Everybody experiences that.
Things have turned green again, too.
It's like we had a miniature winter seasson (that got hotter) and now
we're entering spring. Dry grasses have been replaced by lush green.
The sounds of lawnmowers around the compound can be heard after a
couple of months of inactivity. Trees that lost their leaves in
December and January are now covered again. Quite the speedy
transformation, really.
This change of seasons also brings out
more bugs. Flying insects – we've got them. Strange looking
crawly ones – got them, too. The ones that are attracted to light
and bounce off our window screens – yep, got them. If I knew the names of them I would tell you, but I'm not very good with bugs.
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| They call this a water scorpion, but not sure if that's the correct name. We find these guys in the pool sometimes. |
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| I call this one 'big'. |
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| It's hard to focus on the speaker when this guy lands on your Bible. |
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| Just a very cool looking moth. |
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| An elegant praying mantis |
We also get to reap the harvest of this new season - fruits and vegetables are ripening. We have bananas and pineapples, mangoes, avocado, star fruit, carrots, lettuce, peppers, coconuts and oranges coming to our local market from this area. Not really a bad trade off, after all.
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| Cracking open a fresh coconut that was seconds before still on the tree. I'm not a fan of coconut, but this... this was delicious. |
Work Reports
Christine has just finished her time teaching at the Togolese nursing school here in the south. She repeated the same course she taught in the north school for the students here. She covered many topics, all related to the respiratory system or respiratory care of patients. I don't think she's willing to become a professor any time soon, but it was a great experience. You just can't beat working directly with the patients, she says.
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| Students practicing on a mannequin |
On top of the teaching, Christine has been involved in patient care at the hospital, working alongside the doctors and nurses. There have been opportunities for instruction just like in the classroom, as well. Seeing the nurses grasp a new method of care is exciting.
Homeschooling the boys for a couple of courses in tandem with their work at the schoolhouse takes more time out of the day. Neither of us feel particularly gifted as teachers, but the boys seem to be succeeding in spite of this. Thankfully we have a very capable teacher to bring them up to speed on their work.
Christine also organizes the 'coming and going' of all of the volunteers that come here. If you need to be picked up at the airport, or taken back after your time here is completed - she's the one who plans it. If you want to get to the market or see some of the sights - she's arranging vehicles and drivers. If you want to put her to work, contact us and tell us when you'd like to come out and serve at our hospital. She'd be glad to fit you in.
Actually, we are very shorthanded at the moment and looking forward into the summer. If you are a doctor, surgeon, anesthetist or other medical professional, we need you.
But really, we need anyone. (We recently had two awesome girls who were beauticians. Seriously, I think they were the favourite guests so far. Ladies got pedicures and / or manicures, many people received haircuts, me included!) If you are an accountant, tradesman, retired salesman, teacher, cook or farmer; come on out. Send us an email and we'll get you in touch with the right people.
My work has been quite varied. Between me and the Togolese guys around the shop we've had a chance to dive into all different kinds of things:
- a small reno in the Guest House kitchen
- several vehicles needed service
- dug a new septic hole
- painted the walls around the pool
- dug and cleared the drainage ditches around the compound
- plumbing a new water line into a doctor's house
- built new shelving in the pharmacy warehouse
... and many other fun and not-so-fun projects.
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| Digging a new septic hole and installing the pipe. "Doctor" Kerewa is smiling even though it was not a fun job. |
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| Even the surgeon, Dr. K., pitched in to help unload a container full of medical supplies! |
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| Emefa, one of the Guest House staff, helping out during the kitchen renovation. Yes, that's a microwave on her head. Don't try this at home. |
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| Preparing for my debut on HopeRadio as the Mango 'trafific-and-weather' announcer. |
The President and First Lady
We had the opportunity of hosting the president, his wife, and their two sons for a few days. Okay, he's the Canadian President of our mission agency, ABWE, but still this is big-time stuff for us. We had guests! And they came to see all of the different facets of work that the Canadian contingent are involved in. We arranged to meet them at the airport and take them on the long drive up to Mango to visit Erin & Nate Weston and family for a couple of days. We returned to host them at our hospital after that, then hand them off to another family in Kpalime before their whirlwind trip of Togo was over.
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| Minne and Michele visiting the hospital clinic with some toys |
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| Michele playing with a kid in the maternity ward |
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| Bouma, Weston and Penny families together in Mango |
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| A few people we met at the Hospital Of Hope |
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| John Patrick had an amazing story to share with us. |
It was great to have the Bouma family here. They brought chocolate bars, which was AWESOME!! They brought news from home. They brought encouragement and thanks for the work being done by everyone here on the team. We're blessed to have people who care for us in positions of leadership. They want to see us succeed in what we came here to do. Thanks to Minne, Michele and the boys for taking the time to visit. It meant a lot. (And it was fun.)
From The Cutting Room Floor
Here is a collection of pictures that didn't warrant a whole lot of text. What they do provide is a glimpse into life here in West Africa. Enjoy the scenery - without the heat, smells and sounds!
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| Rush hour on the road between Tsiko and Agame |
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| Another clear night. Not much light pollution in our area! |
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| Hudson built a Togolese cooking oven out of mud. A weenie roast soon followed. |
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| A Blue-bellied Roller in flight. |
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| Ever fill an Operation Christmas Child shoe box for Samaritan's Purse? If so, it might have been headed to Togo! |
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| A couple of smiling faces in the Hospital Of Hope cuisine. |
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| The view across the mountains to the valley beyond. |
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| Our miniature 'Uluru', on the road to Notse. |
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| Mount Agou, the highest point in Togo. We've been up there. |
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| Hornbill; its my favourite bird. Enough said. |
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| Flowers. Pink. |
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| The small waterfall near the village of Tokpli |
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| The upper section of the falls near Wli. It's pronounced 'Vlee' or 'Blee' by the locals. They can't even get it right, it seems. (I wonder why they just didn't spell it with those letters...) |
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| The entire Wli Falls. It's 80m / 260ft from the top to the bottom. Makes the strenuous hike worth it! |
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| A llittle boy received a balloon at the HBB cuisine |
Thanks for reading and checking out what we've been up to over the last few weeks. Like always, if you would like to contact us feel free to drop us an email. We try to respond but sometimes we're a bit slow. You can reach us at penny.missions@gmail.com.
You can also follow us on Instagram, just look up 5cent_mission.
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