This month I (Sue) have been let loose to write the BLOG. Since the end of June we have been living in
our new home at the hospital, which has taken quite a bit of adjusting to. I am
still trying to get use to not being in walking distance of a decent size shop
or being able to nip to the market for fresh veg when needed. We go into town
about twice a week when we have to make sure we get enough food to last. At the moment we are in the middle of Ramadan
so the small shop outside the hospital is closed during the day which means I
can’t get bread so more often than not its crackers and marmite for lunch much
to Malcolm's dismay. The house is situated close to the hospital wards so we
are in sight of patients and visitors with our every move observed. We have been trying to get the house sorted
but are having a constant battle at the moment with leaking windows as the
rains have arrived and at times are so heavy we have pools of water
particularly in our lounge. We keep coming up with new ideas of how to
alleviate the problem and I am sure one of the ideas will work!
Since moving to the hospital I have also started full time
work, my day starts at 6.30 with the usual question of "is there water for
a shower?", we then start the day with a time of worship at 7.30 followed
by a short staff meeting with the work day commencing at 8. I have spent my
first few weeks getting use to the flow of the work on the wards, attending the
ward rounds and helping where I can, during the quiet time those of you who
know me won’t be surprised to know I spend my time cleaning and organising
hoping that some of this will rub off on the other nurses. I am not sure what
the other nurses make of me but they seem to have accepted me and my strange
and limited French language. I pray each day that the language and
understanding will improve. The hospital has been quiet since the start of
Ramadan but those who do come tend to be really sick.
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| Mother encouraging her child to drink the enriched milk |
There are three children at the moment with
malnutrition who are struggling to put on weight. Before coming to Chad I would
see children with malnutrition on the television and naively thought that if
you gave them nutritional food they would start to gain weight, how wrong was I,
these children are unable to swallow even the smallest amounts of milk and each
hour it's a struggle to get the fluid into them. Unfortunately the mothers tend to tip the
children upside down and pour the milk into them which as expected causes a lot
of spluttering so there is a constant need for education. Thanks to Rebecca
there is an up and running malnutrition program along with the pastor's wife
who helps monitor the outpatient children and delivers the education program
along with cooking advice, all in Arabic.
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| Scared by an acid ant ! |
In addition to struggling with starting work, I have also
had to cope with the many insects and creatures that live here with us. A few
weeks ago I resembled Harry Potter with a red mark across my forehead and eye lid which we think was caused by an insect that excretes acid, it
must have walked across my face as I slept, luckily I was able to cover it with
my fringe. I have since had one on my knee so they are obviously attracted to
me.
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| Malc putting the lawn mower together |
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| Adjit happy in his work |
Due to the rains, which have now arrived in force, the grass
has started to grow which brings a welcome relief from the dust but creates a
good hiding place for snakes. We have already seen people with snake bites so
it was with great excitement that we unloaded a new petrol driven lawn mower
from the container which arrived last November. Normally the grass is manually
cut with a machete which is very time consuming and back breaking work for our
grounds men. Malcolm assembled the mower, had a quick practice run then handed
over to Adjit with some simple training, who then did a good job of cutting the
grass in front of the wards and outpatient clinic rooms. As you can imagine it
generated a lot of interested with all the male workers wanting a go, so I
don't think there will be any shortage of volunteers. It reminded Malcolm of
his time spent cutting the grass at Bluntisham Baptist Church, and how time
spent in Gods presence while cutting the grass whether in Bluntisham or Chad is
exactly the same.
We hope that through our work and by making small changes or
by introducing new methods we can in some small way help with the running of
this much needed hospital.
Blessings Malc & Sue