Recap of my Thursday–plus thoughts on healthcare, motherhood, and marriage

My sister was born 25 years ago today!! Happy Birthday Erica! I love you and miss you and I can’t wait to celebrate your birthday when I get home.

This morning, Jenny (the lab technician at the clinic) picked us up to go to the clinic.  Alice and Jenny are good friends and their kids had a play date this morning so it was nice that she could take us to the clinic.  We spent most of the day back in the lab with her and Nikodem.  I got to look for malaria parasites in several blood slides.  The slides are so cool to look at under the microscope…some of them start looking kind of pretty—and then I have to realize that the “pretty structures” are causing millions of children to die.  We also saw the blood smear of an old woman who has a form of leukemia.  It was interesting because all stages of development of red blood cells are present in the blood because they are being over produced.  We learned a ton about red and white blood cells today.  We also got to look through a couple of stool sample slides—looking for giardia bacteria.  Well, we didn’t find any, but we did have confirmation that one of the patients ate meat recently.  There are a few things, like meat fibers, that can be seen as far as the person’s diet, in their stool.  Jenny also had a book of Tropical diseases…it was incredible!  It is the kind of book that gives you nightmares because the pictures are so horrific—but I couldn’t help but be fascinated by it!  I want to be seeing the strange cases like that—I realize that every doctor needs to put up with the day to day complaints of patients…but I want to be helping people that are dealing with diseases that are like the ones in this book…its hard to think though that treatment might not always be easily accessible…even if I could just make the quality of life better.  It would be so rewarding to help someone get rid a disease that has probably caused them to be shunned by their community because it is so grotesque—to improve not only someone’s physical health, but their self esteem, and their ability to live and interact with the people of their community.

An interesting thing that Jenny brought up while we were in lab was that she is still adjusting to the idea that we can’t save everyone.  The lady with the leukemia…isn’t going to get treatment because it is too expensive and difficult to get.  Supportive treatment can be given to help her suffering to be less.  The need is so great here…it can be overwhelming.  To think that someone can be diagnosed with a problem, but that the problem can’t be treated (even though treatments exist) because of availability or expense, is hard to swallow at times.  I was talking with my parents and sister tonight over skype…because we will be donating some money to the clinic that I am working at…and they asked about where it should go at the clinic…to help pay for the medicine of patients that can’t afford any…or elsewhere.  The clinic has wanted to build a maternity ward (the clinic has a big mother/child focus) and I think that I would like the money to go there.  It is one of those things though…do you help patients buy their medicine so that they don’t die of malaria or do you build a place that provide a place for mothers to stay before and after the birth of their children…a facility that will hopefully have better technology to make the birthing process safer and save the lives of mothers and babies.  I can’t save everyone…and I’m learning that…but I still want to.  I think that one of the hardest things to deal with as a doctor in this type of environment would be…who do you choose to save? No human should be in a position like that…but in deciding where to use money here…sometimes you are choosing which lives to prolong.  How often can/should the clinic help pay for a test or a treatment?

After doing lab work, Kirsten, and I went outside.  We saw some of the workers cutting away grass with machetes.  So we asked if we could try.  I went first…the men just laughed and laughed at me.  Kirsten and Julia did a better job of cutting the grass…but it was really fun!  Then we went outside the gate and helped Pashcal lay some bricks for the new parking strip being built outside the clinic.  We talked with him and laid lots of rows of bricks.  He was the first Burkinabe to let me help with construction without helping out himself.  He just sat and watched us.  It was nice to help him with that and talk to him about his work.  He is a Samo (they speak Jula).  Samos are known as being much better administrators whereas the Mossi are known for their hard work.  I was told that you can tell them apart by how they work—not by any physical feature.  A Mossi will work really hard but not always efficiently.  A Samo will work less but work smart.  So it wasn’t surprising when Paschal told us that he was a Samo.

Jenny drove us over to Alice’s for lunch.  We had a delicious chicken casserole dish.  After lunch, Kirsten and I went back to the Cap for a nice nap.  I was up really late last night…I just couldn’t sleep.  I found out at lunch today that the coffee served at last night’s goodbye party was not decaf.  I haven’t had much caffeine (no soda, no chocolate, no coffee) so that one cup of coffee went really far!!

The Walking Park Crew

Jess, Kirsten and I took Charity and Sammy to the walking park.  It is a beautiful forest in the city…it has lots of trails, ponds, benches, etc.  Crocodiles can be seen walking around sometimes…I saw one in one of the ponds.  It is also the city’s hot spot for meeting one’s significant other.  There were couples walking or sitting all over the place!  Sammy and Charity rode their bikes while Jess, Kirsten and I ran.  Yes, I went running.  I did pretty well…I was in charge of carrying the water bottles…so I had little weights to run with too.  We saw a tree FULL of bats!!

BATS!

It was unreal! They looked like the leaves of the tree—there were so many!  Most of the paths were blocked with water so we didn’t get very far but the grounds were beautiful.  We took some cute pictures on a log that had fallen over a small pond.

Playing around

Sammy took a spill.  There were three different reactions from the 3 of us…

Jess: Whoa Sammy!  Way to go. That was so extreme.  Great fall!

Kirsten: (concern—I can’t remember if she said something…but it would have been…) Sammy are you okay?

Jenny: (without even looking at his face) Sammy, sit here and let me wash the dirt off your knees (and then pouring some of my water bottle on to his knees and hands and wiping them off with my shirt to check for deep cuts)

You can tell a bit about each of our personalities based on that!  This trip is probably the first time I have been around the same young kids consistently for an extended period of time.  Being the youngest child (in my own family and on both sides of my extended family)…I’ve never dealt with little ones.  It has caused me to question my mothering capabilities.  It is so much work!  I enjoy my time with them…they are great kids…but these 6 weeks have showed me just how time consuming a family is.  I am only around them a few hours a day…but a mom has very little time apart from kids…there never seems a moment to spare for oneself when kids are around.  Just the idea that my first instinct when Sammy fell was to fix his knee…not to even ask how he was or give him a hug of comfort…might make me a good doctor (although lacking a bit in compassion)…but is that the way that a mother reacts?  Family life is so important here.  I’ve probably been asked when I am going to get married and how many kids I want to have—every other day.  It is at the forefront of everyone’s mind here…so I have been thinking about it a lot…

Kirsten and I ate left overs before going over to EAC for youth night.  The night began with worship—which I always enjoy.  The power went out near the end of the singing.  It was really neat because the last 2 songs were done in the dark to an acoustic guitar and a jimbae drum.  As soon as the lights went out, about 8 or 9 children came running in to find Kirsten and me.  They figured if the lights were out, the youth wouldn’t be able to see them.  One of the kids plopped herself right on my lap. The kids left after a little while and when the lights came on, I noticed the imprint of 2 little butt cheeks on my white skirt.

Then a student presented a fairly formal presentation about the effects of “modernity” on relationships.  He talked about how people aren’t confiding in their friends and there is always a hint of mistrust present in relationships.  Individualism is seeping into the culture here—especially in the city.  After this presentation, one of the youth asked me if I would like for him to translate for me.  I was soo happy!!!

The next part was an interview with a pastor that has been studying at Trinity in the States (Chicago) He talked about his life in the US and his impressions of the American church.  It was hard to listen to because his views of the US church weren’t super positive in my perspective—which didn’t surprise me much because the church in Burkina is so vibrant and lively.  He described the services as very professional—ahh that makes me want to cry!  When asked about the presence of the youth in the church—he said that they were not very present in the church body…the main thing that they do is go out on missions trips during their summer vacations.  The youth here are the main body of the church—they lead worship, Sunday school, etc.

They had a little skit presentation as well—Francis was one of the main characters.  It was evangelism and how sometimes it is hard but you have to rely on God and not worry about what others say about you. (this skit wasn’t translated as much…so I gathered a lot of it with my limited French…)

Most of the meeting was a new type of forum for them called Coeur to (don’t know the French for to)Coeur –Heart to Heart.  The youth got the chance to ask the main pastor—Pastor Thomas and his board—questions about the church.  It was very interesting to listen to.  The elders also got to ask the youth some questions.  I think that it went very well—but it made evident where some of the tensions in the church exist.

Jonas and Abe's Fender

The youth president, Jonas, presented Abe’s Fender guitar (Abe was a member of the Appleton team) to the worship group at EAC.  I got a picture and some video of Jonas Kabore playing it at the end of the meeting.

After the meeting, we hung out with some of the youth.  They gave us little bags of beesap (which we aren’t allowed to drink because we can’t know if the water is safe) and beef sandwiches.  I think it is cool that they all share a small meal together after meeting.  My friend John asked to take a picture with me and Kirsten.  After taking the picture, he asked me to send it to him…along with a picture of just me.  It made me laugh.  Adama, John, Francis, Kirsten, and I prayed together for Jackie Reich and my sister because of their birthdays being today.  I thought that was really cool.  We stood in a circle and prayed outloud together for them.

Adama and Francis took Kirsten and me home from Central on their motos.  I rode with Francis this time.  We had a great conversation on the way home.  He asked me more about my promise to remain pure until marriage.  He asked me why I wanted to do that.  I explained to him that I thought that intimate relationships before marriage cause you to give pieces of your heart away.  I told him that I wanted to be able to give all of my heart to my future husband and that I thought that there is a special relationship between a husband and a wife that I don’t want to share with anyone but my husband.  He then asked me if I was ever planning to get married (last time he asked me I told him that I wasn’t sure if I would or not).  I told him that I felt like it is easier to carry out work for God’s kingdom as a single person—because you are not preoccupied by family life (which is super time consuming and draining) and you are able to more easily move to where you are needed, but that having a husband has its advantages as well.  The companionship and someone to share all of your time, ideas, and dreams with is something really special.  So I ended up saying that I would be content in either situation…so I am just waiting for God to make it clear what I should do.  He asked me to pray for him to find a wife.  He is 28 and would like to be married soon.  He explained that it is important to him that his wife be in love with God first and then him.  He also asked me about my sister…what she did, how old she turned today (25) and about our relationship.  It was fun to talk with him about my family life.  As we were driving, I saw this white boy on a moto next to us.  Andrew Burg was riding his moto home when he saw us.  He said that he saw this girl with long red hair on the back of the moto and was surprised to see that it wasn’t fake…and then he noticed that I was white and realized that he knew exactly who it was.  So he joked around with Francis as we moto’ed back to the Hub.  Francis and Adama dropped us off and walked us up to the front door.

When we got to the door—I saw that Pete and Lorinda were over.  They came over because Snickers, our dog was hit by a car tonight.  He is living, but two of his legs are broken.  The vet will come over to the house in the morning.  Andrew, Pete, Francis, Adama, Jess, Kirsten, Sarah, and I all talked together for a while before saying goodnight.

I skyped with the family to wish Erica a happy happy birthday and talked with Kirsten for a bit in the Cap.  It has been a long day…and I am a bit drained…little sleep, lots of running, and sitting through a 2.5 hour youth meeting in French on a hard bench.  I’m ready to go to sleep…but I am not ready for the days to keep passing by…

-JK

Advertisement