Yesterday, Monday, June 9, 2014 was just another normal day.
As GIA closed last Friday, Monday was the first day of our Summer break.Darla decided to make a better use of her day by going to
volunteer at the Shammah Medical Clinic, a newly opened Burundi Youth for
Christ clinic whose directors are fellow Canadians Josh and Nadine. Josh and
Nadine were not available as they had just been sending off Josh’s parents back
to Canada. So, Darla’s help was much needed and timely.
Note from Darla:
It was so amazing to finally be able to work at Shammah for a day! It was great to see how things have come so far in such a short time. I had the pleasure to meet Mathias who came in to the clinic with foot ulcers that he has had for 2 months. My heart broke and I had to leave the room as I got tears in my eyes. Before any treatment could occur, the discussion of money and ability to pay had to be decided. Mathias really needs surgery, his one toe has already fallen off independently and he has 5 ulcers in his foot that are all interconnected under the top layers of skin! We don't realize how privileged we are in Canada to be able to receive health care, irregardless of what our financial status is, and we are never asked "can you pay". Unfortunately, third world countries don't have the privilege of having any government support. I witnessed people who were very sick with worms and malaria, have to go into debt for as low as 1200 FBU (approx 85 cents CDN) in order to get the help they needed. Many that come to Shammah have to come back a week later, or a few weeks later to be able to pay off their debt. Back to Matthias, as we removed the old dressing, we could smell the strong odor of dead tissue. Hannah, one of the volunteer nurses that is at Shammah for only a few months, started the task of debriding all the dead and infected tissue from this gentleman's foot.....all done with no anesthetic! It is amazing how strong people can be.
Note from Darla:
It was so amazing to finally be able to work at Shammah for a day! It was great to see how things have come so far in such a short time. I had the pleasure to meet Mathias who came in to the clinic with foot ulcers that he has had for 2 months. My heart broke and I had to leave the room as I got tears in my eyes. Before any treatment could occur, the discussion of money and ability to pay had to be decided. Mathias really needs surgery, his one toe has already fallen off independently and he has 5 ulcers in his foot that are all interconnected under the top layers of skin! We don't realize how privileged we are in Canada to be able to receive health care, irregardless of what our financial status is, and we are never asked "can you pay". Unfortunately, third world countries don't have the privilege of having any government support. I witnessed people who were very sick with worms and malaria, have to go into debt for as low as 1200 FBU (approx 85 cents CDN) in order to get the help they needed. Many that come to Shammah have to come back a week later, or a few weeks later to be able to pay off their debt. Back to Matthias, as we removed the old dressing, we could smell the strong odor of dead tissue. Hannah, one of the volunteer nurses that is at Shammah for only a few months, started the task of debriding all the dead and infected tissue from this gentleman's foot.....all done with no anesthetic! It is amazing how strong people can be.
As Darla went to volunteer at Shammah Medical Centre, I
stayed home with Joshua, our last born. We had a great day together. We played
Soccer, went for a walk, and did different things together. When Darla came
back late afternoon, we went as a family to take more passport pictures. It
seems in Burundi, you constantly need passport pictures. To open a Bank
account, a joint account, we (Darla and I) need to give each 2 photo passport.
To get an exit visa, or any visa, you need to give a passport picture. Often your
application gets lost, so you need to give another passport picture. To get the
2 years visas, you need to give a passport picture. To get a mail box key, you
need to give a photo passport. And the list goes on. So we had to get some more
passport photos as we will be applying for our exit visas next week. Please
pray for us on that because if there is any place you don’t want to be in is
the immigration office. Last time we were there to apply for the 2 years visas,
we cannot even explain how extremely challenging the process was.
After taking our passport pictures, as we were turning to go
back home, we were hit by a motorbike. Now I was at fault because I didn’t see
him as I was turning. Second after the accident, we were surrounded by a sea of
people. Everyone was talking in Kirundi and no coordination whatsoever on what
needed to be done. The injured biker wanted to go to the hospital (he had a
pretty good gash over his eye) and I wanted to take him to the hospital. But some
people from the crowd were more worried about the bike than the injured biker.
It taught us about perspective on things here.
Having a Muzungu wife and wazungu children (again our kids
are also considered Wazungu even though half Black half White) didn’t help as
that could only attract an unbelievably huge crowd. The kids were terrified…..Joshua
saw the biker with a cut on his head and now calls him “the blood guy”. Mama
Savana (as Darla is known here) went to sit with the kids at the back and the
biker got in the front. Thank God for Swahili as quite a number of people spoke
Swahili and I was able to talk/discuss with them in Swahili. Finally there was
another great gentleman who came to help. His name is Deo. He is a former biker
himself and had worked with the injured biker also called Dio. Deo, spoke
English and that really helped Mama Savana to be able at least to communicate
as well. Deo willingly volunteered to accompany us to the hospital. So, I had
to push my way out to take injured Diomede to the hospital.
The first hospital we went to was a disaster, to say the
least. The nurses cared to do nothing. A Nurse Assistant came to tell us that
it would be a while before Diomede will be seen. But thank God again, both Deo
and Diomede knew of a better hospital, the Bettany Hospital, a Catholic Nuns
hospital. They suggested we go there. So we decided to go there. It is about 7
kilometers from Gitega. So we dropped Mama Savana and the kids and off we went.
Bettany was really as good as Deo and Diomede had told me. The Nurses didn’t
waste any time, cleaned the wound and stiched it. She was very kind and
efficient. The hospital was clean and welcoming. I was impressed. Soon after the
treatment, we were given a prescription and we went to get medication for
Diomede. After that I went to drop Diomede and Deo to their respective homes.
During our drive together we talked with Diodeme and Deo
about their lives and work. They also wanted to know what I do and why are we
here in Burundi. They were glad to hear that we were volunteering at Gitega
International Academy. Deo said, “He is a pastor!” They were both Christians.
So I prayed for Diomede’s healing and they then went home.
Now today, we will be busy gettings quotes for the repair of
the Bike and also our van. Our van has only one back door. This back door was
the only damaged part and now it does not close. While driving
Diomede to the
hospital, Deo had to hold the door closed. There was no other way to take Dio
to the Hospital. We had to use our damaged van. Thank God for Deo who was a
great help. Through this all, we know God was with us. Right after the
accident, our van side door closed but the next time we opened it, it would not
close. We thank God that the door closed at the scene or it may have been
another reason for the crowd to hold us up. Now, the door is tied closed with a
skipping rope until we can get it fixed.
Please pray that Diomede will heal completely and that the
Bike will be repaired quickly. The Bike was not Diomede’s moto, he was just a
hired driver to be a taxi with the moto. Please pray that our van will be fixed
in time for us to go to the wedding in Bujumbura this weekend and to also go apply for our exit
visas. Please pray for God’s wisdom for us to know how to go about this whole
process as the more time goes on, the more people get involved and the more
complicated the process gets. Please pray for our kids who were really shaken
by the whole experience.
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| Experimenting with new styles on Savana's hair |
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| Savana & Joshua playing with rocks from Mt Songa |
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| Elijah eating cookies cooked on a traditional stove |
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