July 29, 2011

Yesterday I went with mobile clinic to the city of Badou to do a blood pressure clinic. It was a 3.5 hour drive and we traveled a tiny tiny distance on the map.  Most of the drive was on a dirt road like the ones on our farm that go alongside the ditch between two fields.  It was a beautiful drive through the mountains! Saw quite a bit of farmland: coffee, cocoa, rice, corn, bananas… There didn’t seem to be a lot of people or villages along the way, and I think the people that own those farms are pretty well off (well by Togo economy standards, at least).  The clinic started with a 30 minute teaching session on blood pressure to about 50 patients and then Pastor Jeremy (Togolese- he is a really cool guy, I enjoyed visiting with him on the drive there and back!) gave a message.  Before the patients saw a doctor their blood pressure was taken, a bit of their medical history was jotted down (that is never a simple thing to do here!), and we asked them what their religion was.  Mostly muslim, catholic, and ‘global’ church (which is similar doctrine to a baptist church) but every now and then a fetish or animist. Most of the patients visited with someone from the team about Christianity and taught them about this pretty cool guy called Jesus Christ. Last time they came to this village there were 33 decisions (to accept Christ as their savior) made! I don’t know how yesterday went, but they gave out a lot of Bibles.  We saw a total of 190 patients and were turning people away towards the end of the day because we ran out of medications.  My hand is sore from doing manual blood pressures all day.  Some of the patients were repeats from the last clinic they did there (pretty big deal for someone to actually make a follow-up so we can adjust and keep them on their medication!), a lot of new ones with symptoms of high blood pressure, and a lot of people came for other problems.  Unfortunately there is no way we can serve as a real clinic 3.5 hours away without the proper equipment or medications, so a lot of people weren’t able to be helped much more than giving Tylenol.  Everywhere I go, I see such a huge need for healthcare in this country.  I can’t imagine not having access to a dentist, eye doctor, chiropractor, family doctor, etc. 

After the clinic we drove to the property that ABWE has purchased to build a church and met with the man that will be the pastor. Pretty neat stuff happening in Togo J

This morning I watched Dr. Briggs do a pretty cool procedure on a little girl.  About a month ago she had surgery at a different hospital on both of her legs, and they had become infected and very painful.  So they opened everything up and hopefully got the bones cleaned out properly.  This case was unique in that the parents were outwardly affectionate and worried for their daughter.  The dad even teared up as they gave her the sleeping meds and took her back to the OR.  This is the first, and probably the only, time I have seen someone cry tears in my time here.  Because of this outward behavior of love between family members it was much easier for me to be emotionally invested in this case.  I feel like a horrible person (let alone a good nurse) for this because so many other cases have been so much worse.  It was good for me to be made aware of this because I want to have as much compassion for every child that comes in the door and not just the ones whose family shows their sorrow in a way I can relate with. 

Some more Togolese tidbits:

-The people here love Obama.  About 50% of the time I introduce myself as an American the first response back has something to do with our president being African.  Most of the OR staff has brought up Obama and it’s evident they are proud that someone from Kenya is America’s President.  It’s pretty interesting to listen to the way they almost idolize him.  In Tsiko church the other day the message was about children being gifts from God (it was a special baby dedication service for one of the hospital employees, and lately they have been translating the message into English which I have been very thankful for!) and President Obama was brought up as an example, saying you never know what your child is going to become or do in their life- maybe President of the United States someday.  Obama’s face is on shirts, duffel bags, flashlights, crackers, even underwear.

-Hardly anyone has a toothbrush here. Instead they chew on these twigs (no idea if it’s from a certain kind of tree or just any regular old twig) for awhile in the morning. It’s pretty distracting to talk to someone who has one of these in their mouth with little bits of wood all over their lips haha. The participants in a competition during soccer halftime got a toothbrush and travel size of toothpaste for their prize.

-Fabric. There are some pretty crazy prints on fabric: Cell phones, planets, trees, robots, fans.  Some materials and super bright and colorful, some fairly simple and plain.  It seems like it’s all or none with fabric: Either every article of clothing matches (skirt, top, baby wrap, and hat) or every one is different.

-There is no public display of affection (and for all I know, no private display of affection either). Between husband and wife, parent and child, anyone.  I have not seen anyone kiss or hold hands in the 6 weeks that I’ve been here except in the movie The Notebook that a few of us watched a while back.  I have not even seen two Togolese hug.  It is still a strange observation to me that mothers do not cuddle their newborn babies, husbands do not touch their wives (if they even come into the hospital at all), parents do not comfort their children through touch, etc.  The other night Dr. Petersen said it was refreshing for him to see a husband move across the room to his wife and make a small embrace when they saw the ultrasound of their unborn baby.

-You are putting your life in danger by going on a road here- whether you are a passenger in a moving vehicle, the driver, or a pedestrian.  Enough said.

-Despite the beautiful mountains and vegetation here, it is almost always overcast and I have only seen one good sunrise since I’ve been here.  It is dark from 7:30pm to 5:30am, and it’s about like that all year long. I miss my long summer days and big blue skies!