5 Cent Mission: March 2022

Suddenly it's late March!

Our weeks have been flying by. The weather has heated up and humidity has increased since the dry, dusty harmattan season seems to be done. That doesn't make it easier to work, that's for sure. The occasional rain breaks the heat and humidity for a bit of relief - but then it comes right back!

Everything is turning green again now that the rains have
returned. I was told we were 84 days without rain.

Just yesterday we were given an awesome storm. The sky darkened, the clouds rolled as the winds picked up, giving some very impressive skies! Then the raindrops started to fall, slowly at first. But you just could feel that so many more were coming! We could watch the wall of rain closing in on us, allowing us to judge it's arrival and beat a very hasty and barely dry retreat to the shelter of home.

Standing outside watching the show the clouds were
putting on.

"He loads the thick cloud with moisture: the clouds scatter his lightning.

They turn around and around by his guidance, to accomplish all that he

commands them on the face of the habitable world."

Job 37:11-12

Right side of the picture, no rain.
Left side of the picture, a wall of rain!

A Change of Plans

We have had a change of plans as far as our time here and our future serving at HBB. We'll be coming home earlier than planned. Our initial plan was to be here in southern Togo for 18 months. We're cutting that short, down to 12 months, meaning we'll be home this summer. We have a couple of reasons for this change.

First, Christine feels she could be (and clearly would be) more effective in the hospital's surgery department with some additional training as an anaesthesia assistant. She's been accepted to the program at Fanshawe College in London for a one year course to earn this accreditation on top of her existing. That likely means more (more frequent? for longer time?) trips to Togo, to put this training into practice. We're taking baby steps here, but trusting, knowing that God will open and close doors as we look to follow His direction for us as we go forward.

Second, Logan, our oldest of the three boys, is college aged, as well. He's planning on getting an apprenticeship as a millwright, meaning he'll need to be back in Canada to find a company to sponsor him for the program offered through Fanshawe. We want to be there, as his parents, to make sure he is launched into this next phase of his life in a way that gives him support yet freedom to make choices for his future. We're certainly not the first parents to go through this, but it's our first time.

So, that's the biggest news. If you think of us, pray that we'll see God's guidance in all of our lives; that we'll not put our desires to the forefront; that we'll be examples of God's love.

A Team Is Coming...

Our teens from all three team locations in Togo (South, Central and North) are gearing up for a retreat put on by a team coming from Stoney Creek Baptist Church in London. This will be a five day invasion of 34 teens onto the campus here in Tsiko! There will be games, food, activities, study sessions, food, a little sleep and of course, more food!

The excitement is starting to build as the date of the team's arrival gets closer, and the start of the retreat closes in. This will be a great way to spend spring break here in country and build friendships between the kids from different teams. This will be the first event of this sort for the youth. We're hoping it could become a regular occurrence for them to look forward to.

Pictures definitely coming!

Mobile Medical Clinic

Finally, after being shut down due to Covid restrictions (yes, they had a few here), the hospital has been able to restart the mobile clinic program, heading into needy, underserviced villages.

I was able to drive one of the vehicles loaded with some medical staff, chaplains and supplies to the village of Gladjoe. Now, there is no direct route to this village. In fact, there isn't even a real road for the last couple of kilometres, just a lumpy, bumpy path through fields! In the rainy season vehicles can't get through the fields to the village because they'd get stuck. It was an adventurous five hour trip one way - on some not-very-good to non-existent roads - to cover 250km. Check out the GPS route for the trip.

The red pin, that's where the village is located.
No road goes there.

Gladjoe was the village that had a new well installed recently by a missionary couple with our team. I was able to check it out near the end of the day as the patients were winding down. I asked some village folks if they were getting good use from it. They were overjoyed, as it saved them close to six kilometres in travel to get to the next nearest water source.

We set up in the three room school building, the doctors seeing patients and sending them out with any prescriptions they might need filled. So, I became a worker in the open-air dispensary, handing out medications as prescribed and finding a translator if the patient couldn't understand (my) French.

Teens packing medication into smaller packets
a couple of days before the clinic

The makeshift triage under the thatched roof
of an outdoor schoolroom.

Lee explaining the dosage of
medication to a chaplain acting
as a translator.

The pharmacy, with boxes of pre-packed
bags of different medications.

It was so good to see another aspect of the hospital's activities into the villages.

1000 Words... or just pictures

As usual, here are some pictures that show a little bit more of our life here in Togo.

Whether visiting patients in small villages, looking for great views to photograph or just wandering around exploring the mountains behind the hospital these are the kinds of roads we will travel.

The big, white Land Cruiser in both pictures... that's us!

More natural beauty for us to enjoy!

Husband and wife teaming up to repair one of the OR gas machines.

A tight fit for adult hands!

Macro photography?

This is Gary. He hangs out on the back tire of
Hudson's moto when it's parked. Only on Hudson's moto.

A trailer broke due to the weight of the container
and poor maintenance on the way out of the port in Lome. Not many regulations
for vehicle safety here...