Google Maps, You Failed Us!

Washing Machine Blues

John and I had a fun time working on a big industrial hospital washing machine last week. It wasn't working through the cycles properly and stayed full of water. After messing around with a bunch of parts and following the manual's instructions for resetting it, we figured out that it was an improperly functioning drain actuator that was causing the problem. Since the drum had lots of water in it there was only one way to get it out. John opened the floodgate as I headed for higher ground!

John magically waved his hands over the drain actuator and it was back working properly. We put the machine through the paces and found it to be working flawlessly. No time to celebrate, we had more work to do.

Like fix the autoclave machine...

This is a bad level of steam pressure.

Much better!

 

While we were working on the autoclave...

The autoclave is an essential part of the hospital's infrastructure. It sanitizes all of the OR tools and many of the reusable glass containers we have here at HBB. Without it working properly, no one could be sure of proper sterilization of the equipment – and that's bad for infection control!

We had to adjust the steam pressure for the sterilization chamber and the surrounding jacket. Once that was done we tested the autoclave. We soon discovered, through a cloud of steam, that the seal on the door was not working as it should. Time to replace a seal. John had one in storage so he pulled it out and we set to taking the old seal off and installing the new one. It must have been a few years since it was replaced because the bolts were seized in place. (Nothing is simple and straightforward here, I'm learning.)

New seal going on the door. 

After removing most of the bolts, snapping a couple off and having to drill and tap a couple of new holes, we were in business again. We stuck the new seal in place, fastened it and closed the door on another day! We managed to turn a 15 minute job into a 3 hour task! No time to celebrate, however. John received a call a couple of minutes before I received a text message from Christine as we were finishing up with the autoclave...

No water pressure in the houses or hospital.

John and I checked a few things that would be the easy fixes – pump switched off, circuit breaker, faulty float in the tank, leaks... Nope. It was going to be more involved than that. We switched to the secondary well pump and diverted water into the main tank for the hospital and compound instead of to the community tank. We finished in time to rush home, grab a shower and a quick bite to eat and head off to the Wednesday evening prayer meeting... both of us a few minutes late.

The next morning a good bunch of the maintenance department had the pleasure of pulling the pump (and all 145' of pipe it's attached to) out of the primary well. John figured the pump wasn't working. We had a lot of guys on hand for that job. With everything out of the well and laying on the ground in the yard, Agbessi discovered a broken wire about eight feet from the pump. Thankfully an inexpensive repair! With the wire fixed it was time to reinstall the pump and pipe and turn it on again. This job wasn't on the schedule - but it made the top of the priority list pretty quickly!

Inside The Hospital

Christine was training a couple of nurses to be more competent in the respiratory field. They were able to get into the OR to see what happens for a C-section, as well as get some experience on some more equipment. They are keen to learn more and have weekly training sessions scheduled now.

A three year old who needed heavy medication for a seizure caused by cerebral malaria wasn't breathing on her own. Christine and Dr. Kristi (and Keenan, who tagged along) worked with her for about an hour until the drugs wore off a bit and her drive to breathe came back. These are the happy stories.

A baby required an emergency C-section, and Christine was called to assist. The baby was not well at all. When the baby came out of the incision, she was covered in thick meconium. She required extensive resuscitation. A heart rate of 30b.p.m. isn't good for infants.... less than 100 is bad. She was suctioned a lot and assisted breathing via a breathing bag was given to her for 45 minutes. Dr. Ken and Christine were both praying for this little girl during this tense situation. After that time, she was taken to the nursery and put on one of the CPAP machines we brought from London. By the next morning she was miraculously off the CPAP machine and by that afternoon was nursing well with mom. Discharge from the hospital came a couple of days later.

Dr. Ken was doubtful of her survival during her early hours, but God, The Great Physician, had a hand in keeping her alive. Her survival is just one of many miracles we get to see here.

Lome Bound!

Dr. Bryant's mom was coming to visit for three weeks. He asked if our family would like to join his family for a couple of days down in Lome. We left Thursday morning with them headed for the capital city.

Lome is a port city on the coast of the Bay of Benin, in the Gulf of Guinea of the Atlantic Ocean. It's busy and crowded. It's dusty and dirty. It's like nowhere else I've been before. I'm starting to like the hustle and bustle of the city. It's not like Toronto with lanes and lanes of traffic, it's more 'pedestrian' than that.

The drive there was uneventful, except for being stopped at one point along the way for some logging operation that looked like it went a bit sideways. Normally, loggers like to drop trees in a certain spot. I'm sure 'across the second busiest road in the country' is not the ideal location! Once we got through that spot with minimal delay, it was smooth sailing to the city.

Once in Lome, we had a few destinations in mind: get money exchanged into CFAs; stop at a couple of grocery stores to restock; do NOT forget to stop at the airport to get the Mom! All three tasks got accomplished successfully. We also got to kill a couple of hours with Amy and Andrew and their kids, friends of Rachel and Bryant's from the US Embassy. We went to a beach and our boys got to play in the ocean surf for the first time.

The boys loved the sand and surf. Getting pounded by the crashing waves was fun – so fun that mom joined in as well! I stayed back and played lifeguard in case any of the kids got into trouble and to keep sand from getting all over. I know where sand should and should not be!

After picking up Bryant's mom from the airport, we went to the outdoor pizza / go kart track and met Amy and Andrew's family again. As is the norm here in Togo, things are loosely regulated. I mean, of course a 9 year old should be permitted to drive a 40mph go kart. Why not?? So, he did. Keenan (the 9 year old), Logan, Charlie and Greta all raced against Hudson and I. Well, Hudson couldn't drive his own kart after all... He couldn't reach the pedals, and didn't know which one did what! (And the fact that he's 7 years old made even me a bit nervous about sticking him in his own go kart!)

We spent the night in a cheap but clean little inn along the ocean. The Togolese don't go to the beach. They don't play in the water like we do, so the beach has no appeal for them. They don't learn to swim (Kokou says he swims like a rock). The ocean is cold and they don't like cold. Beachfront property isn't something they value. We thought it was pretty nice!

In the morning we met up with Amy and her kids and went out to a big phosphate mine on the oceanfront. The reason was to search for shark teeth in the dredged ocean dirt that they extracted the phosphate from. Once we got an instruction – yes, one... simply, watch out for the huge dump trucks – we were turned loose in the dirt to see what we could find. Sharks lose their teeth regularly and there was no shortage of them to be discovered. Some big, some little, intact or broken, we found dozens of them. It was pretty cool to collect them, and a bit unnerving to know these toothy creatures were in the water we were swimming in the day before!

Watch out for this, it might sneak up on you!

This one too!

A spur-winged lapwing kept a close eye on us as we
were scavenging.

Here it is again.

After the shark tooth adventure we loaded up to hit a couple of more shops, making a “navigational oversight” and driving through the Grande Marché – the hub of Lome's activity; the biggest, busiest, most crowded street market in the country - in our tall, skinny HiAce van. Apparently Google Maps doesn't realize that the Grande Marché is not actually a navigable part of the main highway running north! Realistically, Google Maps isn't that much help here at all! There are no street name signs or address numbers anywhere in the market, or anywhere period! I'm not sure exactly how you are to find a business or vendor.

Part of the road Google Maps failed at marking as
a shopping district.

Pretty little oriole-like birds for sale.  My mom would like
these little guys. 

 

The market was packed thick with people, easily thousands of stalls, large patio umbrellas shading the vendors, more people shouting for your attention, motos weaving in and out of the crowds, all kinds of goods to buy, more motos, vehicles being loaded and unloaded, even more people... Like nothing I've ever driven through before, but it was fun. The market definitely had its own pulse. Bryant drove through gaps, not with inches to spare, but millimeters on either side! I'm sure the mirrors bumped several people, but that's just part of being a pedestrian in the market. The speed of travel was somewhere between a slothful 'very slow' and flat-out 'stopped' so there were no injuries – to the van or the people. Gridlock happened a couple of times. We would idle for a few minutes waiting for a vehicle, moto or cart, or crowd of people to move along so everyone could navigate the throng toward their desired destinations.  A picture doesn't do it justice.

Five hundred yards took 20 minutes to travel along this section!

We accomplished everything that we set out to do so we turned the wheels north-east and headed back toward the hospital. The drive home was uneventful except for having to stop again, on the second busiest road in the country, for a large herd of cattle crossing the road. Again, nothing out of the ordinary for Togo! We made it home at dusk; a successful trip to the big city and back.

A Bit Sick

Christine is dealing with a really sore throat. Not quite strep throat, but not as mild as a little tickle, either. She's putting our stockpile of lozenges in serious risk of depletion – which is fine, as long as she gets better. No antibiotics yet, but if it worsens that is the next plan of action. Sadly, she has not lost her voice so the boys and I cannot plead ignorance for any of her requests! Keep her in your prayers that this will get better soon.

From The Cutting Room Floor

This week we have a few random pictures from Lome, vehicles we passed on the road, odd sights and typically 'Togo' things.

Overloaded with prayer mats, heading north from the port area.

Youthful vendors trying to get us to buy their goods

This is a road in Lome.  One of many similar seemingly randomly laid out
(which is more than likely the case), wide, undulating,
full of motos and people.

Christine's first store-bought coffee since the last Tim's cup
in the Toronto airport!  She was very happy.

And this row of pastries to go along with the coffee didn't hurt, either!

Some of our shark teeth, from under an inch to just about two inches
in length.

Hornbill!!

A tough looking lizard.

Heading into the big city

This moto rider was sitting on his gas tank with the load piled up
high behind him.

Singing this on Sunday morning almost brought me to tears.
How I miss our church services each Sunday!  We all do.

Dr. Hudson learning with some of the pediatric training aids
Christine uses.

Look at the gentle touch.

Keenan told me to take this picture.

Giant seed pod in the teak grove.

Run for cover, a storm is coming!

Made it in time!

Trying to catch some drops while the rain is falling

Hornbills!!  I will get a good shot of you yet!

Rachel and jasper checking out the shel necklaces

Little sand crab couldn't dig in fast enough!

These next few pictures are disappointing to me.  From the edge of the road we could see this beautiful beach, just across from the phosphate mine.  (Arguably not the best location ever, but looking out to the ocean was gorgeous.  Almost a tropical paradise!)

When we walked over the little berm, this is what we were treated to.

Small plastic bags and other floating debris from Lome, washed up on the beach.  How much garbage washed up on shore was saddening.  If we had some lawn rakes and half a day we could have created a great looking beach area for people to enjoy.  But instead... we had this.

Thanks again for reading and sifting through all of the photos.  If you want to contact us, you can email us at penny.missions@gmail.com

Be sure to check out my sister's blog, too.  They're getting geared up to come back to Northern Togo! Exciting times are ahead for them, I'm sure.  (The good kind of exciting... not the nasty-infections, broken-bones, scalped-by-a-ceiling-fan kind of exciting. Those are icky.)

You can find it here:  Erin & Nate Weston's Blog

A short time lapse of a starry night.

And that same night, this is the Milky Way.
You could look up and see every little star.
Click on it to see it larger...

Isn't The Creator awesome?

Beetle-Mania Hits Tsiko!

A baby praying mantis on a petal

Departures

Several short term medical people have left over the past week. Jonny Five Bells left after 7 weeks, and that stinks for me (and the rest of the family, too).  also, Dr. Greg and his son, Isaac have left for home after putting in three packed weeks of surgeries! Dr. John and his family have also recently departed after two weeks here, too. Now we have a few less people here. A fact of life at this hospital is that people come and go regularly. It has been mentioned here before, but comes up time and time again.

Isaac and Dr Greg, plus most of Dr John's family on the
waterfall hike. 

Dr Greg and Expedit, the tour guide, enjoying the refreshing
pool

Jonny Five Bells acting as an animal porter
for Dr John's wife.

Without Jonathan around I'll be taking fewer hikes up the mountain - since it's not as much fun to do it alone. I mean, I can talk to myself and carry on a reasonable conversation but it's not the same as suffering with someone else at a ridiculous hour of the morning!

We thank all of our short term helpers for the great work they put in here to keep things running smoothly. They jump in with both feet, work hard and then go home for a rest! Blessings on every last one of them!

The Toothless Wonder

We were at the Ward's for dinner the other night. As a party trick, Hudson pulled out a loose tooth. The poor kid has now got a huge gap across the top of his mouth. Five teeth are missing from his smile; three on the top and two on the bottom. He talks with a bit of a lisp now because he can't form some sounds properly without teeth there! However, he can suck in a spaghetti noodle through that gap in record time. Tonight at dinner he stuck kernels of corn in his mouth to look like replacement teeth!

It won't be long before he has big buck-teeth growing in the holes left by baby teeth, but for now he looks like a hockey player - missing teeth and all.

Canada Day

We celebrated Canada Day here on the compound. We have Dr. Kiong, Dr. Ken and his wife Terry (dual citizens, actually) as short term help, and the five of us all as a calming Canadian influence here amid a bunch of Americans. We had a big pizza party at the dining hall for everyone. The Americans even suggested that 'O Canada' be sung. We pulled out the old hymn books and everyone sang both verses of the anthem. It didn't sound too bad, either. Well, maybe a little bit bad...

Fourth Of July

Not to be outdone, the American celebration was a holiday for all of the ex-pats on the compound. Lunch was barbecued by yours truly and Logan, and burgers and hotdogs, salads and desserts were enjoyed by all. There were some games and socializing, and then dinner again at the dining hall.

The cooks!
(Not shown are the
Togolese kitchen staff who really
did all of the work!)

Some of the ladies at a mid-afternoon baby shower.

Kiong showing how to do it.

Slowly... slowly... eyes forward...

A few years ago they set off celebratory fireworks... once – but it scared the local people for miles around thinking that bombs were going off. And the Gendarmes paid a visit thinking there was an uprising beginning. So... no fireworks. Still, we were well fed - and weenies, marshmallows and s'mores around the little campfire at the end of the evening was a nice time.  It reminded us of camping at home.

Young Jasper didn't quite grasp the objective of the game.

Organization

As well as doing some training, working with patients, attending C-section deliveries and other tasks, Christine has been organizing much of the anesthesia and airway equipment in the OR storage room.  It was a mess, with no one really looking after it.  She's turned it from this...

into this....

My 'younger but more mature' sister
would be so pleased.

 

Beetle Mania!

Not the British Invasion Beatle-mania, some fifty-five years late!  This time of year seems to be when the rhinoceros beetle does it's breeding. We have a large collection of them at our house, and you can't help but almost trip over them in the mornings around the hospital and shop. They are big and clumsy. The males look fierce with their large front horns / pinchers, but they seem docile. Tonight as I type this, there is one bouncing off the fluorescent light and roof of our porch. It has hit the window a couple of times and that's fairly loud! Like a stone being thrown at a window.

The boys have had fun learning about them and their behaviour. That's an added bonus of living in a lush environment. We get to see some pretty strange (and usually large-sized) bugs and insects.

Actually, Sunday night just after church we were called to come to Judy and Sharon's duplex to see a big scorpion. They had spotted it in their yard while walking home from our church service and asked us to come down and see it. I had three boys hot on my heels as I headed out the door!

That's my hand under the bowl.  I wasn't going to try
to pick it up!

It's around 6" or 7" long.

We found them in the front yard with flashlights trained on a spot in the ground. Sure enough, a large black scorpion was slowly moving across the lawn. I brought a large plastic bowl, so I was able to scoop it up. I showed a few people who were still hanging around the guest house dining hall. We got a lot of pictures of it before it met an untimely demise by way of direct impact from a bamboo walking stick. No point in having more of those around than necessary.

A big, nasty, aggressive beetle going after
a rhino beetle.  

Here it is up close.  It's got big mandibles.  (That's a fancy
word for chompers.)

A big dragonfly I caught outside our porch one night.

And something pretty after all of those bugs!  A palette cleanser, of sorts.

Halfway Home

Just this past week we reached the half-way point of our time here in West Africa. To us, it is amazing that we have got to this point so quickly. We know it will all go by very fast, but it has been such a good experience overall to this point.

We have learned a lot about living in a very different culture. Shopping, preparing meals, working with limited resources both in the hospital and in maintenance, driving, language barriers... And we still smile and laugh about it. I guess we haven't quite got to the point where things annoy us!

Buying produce from 'The Veggie Lady'...

... or in the markets

We need to thank so many people for the encouragement, support and prayers to get us out here. Truly we couldn't no, wouldn't have done it without you. To know we have so many at home that care about us and what we feel called to do at this time, it's quite amazing. With people that care enough to financially partner with us while we are working at this hospital is humbling. We never asked for support but people stepped up and offered it. Thank you for that sacrifice. Know that we are doing our best to give good results for your contributions.

In the end, we could not get here, live here and be useful without the prayer support of so many. Our home church, Stoney Creek in London and the Ross family's church at Open Bible in LaSalle have been great supporters. Keep it up, please! And to so many who faithfully keep us in your prayers, again... thank you so much. It means a lot to know that you have our backs in this. A couple of messages sent home and we know within a couple of days a whole network of people will be interceding on our behalf. We thank God for all of you.

We've made it half-way. Keep us in your prayers continually.

From The Cutting Room Floor...

More snippets of life from our little corner of Togo.  

Cute little seed pods on a bush

Mmmm.  Orange popsicle without the stick.  Just rip a corner
off the bag and eat.

Pressure gauge on the autoclave machine.  It's important to have
sterile equipment in a hospital.  We fixed it.

A view of the Kpalime market.

The boys had fun disassembling a bunch of broken
and / or obsolete medical equipment.

No paint shaker, so you mix it by hand.  This will be white soon...

This is one where you have to look closely.  This is the front of a very tiny shop.  They have a light, but it's running across the top of the entrance and wedged against the metal roof.
And the red numbers - they're the phone numbers of the proprietors, in case you want to buy something and they are closed or away from the shop.

The intricate wiring layout, and a spare bulb - just in case.

Mama, showing the boys how it's done.  She's slowly turning
Togolese on us...

I think this is a tortoise shell beetle.  Judy said there were about
13 varieties of this cute little bug, if I recall correctly.

Nature's camouflage!