I had a pretty emotional 12 hours. Haha- Me? Emotional? No way… ;) Last night when I got back from Mango I just wanted to vent to a couple of close friends, but as God’s timing would have it of course the internet connection was down (first time it’s been down since I’ve been here, and I don’t know how many days til we get it back) so no skype to make a phone call through, no Facebook to chat or send a message, not even an email to send. So I went to see if Samuel (pretty sure I have mentioned him in my blog- he’s a CPA helping out with some of the financial stuff here, pretty funny and adventurous, can hold a decent conversation now and again if he’s not being real A.D.D. haha, he’s one of the good friends I have made and I’m happy we are serving here at the same time) was home but nope, he wasn’t. (I think God was protecting my friends from yet another episode of my going on and on ranting nonsense until I feel a little better and have some of my thoughts sorted out.) So I wrote all my feelings out instead, and here they are for all of you to see. I thought about editing what I wrote last night since I knew I was pretty upset then, but I decided that maybe it would mean a little more to each of you if I left it as is:
I had been thinking of the children of Mango off and on during the drive home. The statistics that 1 in 5 kids don’t live past the age of five was a little unnerving, and I was thinking of the kids that we saw in the hospital. It wasn’t until about two hours before we got back to Tsiko compound when Dr. Miller mentioned something that it all really hit me: We- Dr. Miller and I- had walked into the pediatric building of the government public hospital, saw a dozen sick children on beds with their families receiving minimal to no medical care (I don’t think that even one of them had a running IV, no vital signs being taken, no patient charts, etc.), met one man in a white coat who was not a doctor or nurse just some sort of tech guy in charge of all of those patients trying his hardest to do what he could, were introduced to the people as a doctor and a nurse ‘visiting’, and then we turned around and walked out and headed back here. Not to mention the countless women and men we walked by in the main hospital building and didn’t see a single health care professional. When the government heard ABWE was coming to build a hospital here, they asked ABWE to just take over their building at no cost because that is how bad these people need health care. Dr. Miller has traveled around the world doing medical missions for 11 years and he said this is the worst hospital he has ever been to (and several of his hospitals you could only get to by plane or were in makeshift tent buildings). I did not want to come back here; I do not want to be here right now. I want to be in Mango helping those children and their families. It would have been easier if this was one of those hospitals where people just go to die. But it wasn’t- those parents still had hope in their faces, and when Dr. Miller was introduced as a doctor they got up again and took his hand in both of theirs and bowed as they shook hands. I am only one new grad, but I know how to start IV’s and give drugs. Dr. Miller said the same thing as I was thinking- what are we coming back here for when there is so much more need there? Then he said that even if we spent one or two weeks there it wouldn’t solve the big problem. Well it would sure solve a lot of little ones if you ask me. It would save lives. I feel so small and helpless right now, I don’t know what to do. Part of me is furious with ABWE. How can they see such a need for so many completely helpless people, yet make sure that they have a super nice pool in the first 3 things being built at the new compound when they haven’t even started building the new hospital? How can they wait 3 years to open when there are so many people here that could go up there to help? They don’t even need a real building to be serving the health needs of these beautiful people. Ok I am being completely unfair- ABWE is doing lots of great things around the world, including Mango. And maybe the hospital there hasn’t always been quite this bad (although even at it’s best I’m sure it’s still terrible, the entire country of Togo U.S. Togo
Oh my goodness, please please pray for the people in the ‘forgotten’ city of Mango
On a lighter note…
The traveling to Mango was quite interesting. The car was plenty tight and the majority of the road was horrible. Lots of big potholes- I don’t know how we didn’t break an axle or pop a tire- and our driver did his best to stay out of them which meant plenty of swerving, speeding up then slamming on breaks, driving on the side of the road, etc. So thankful that I don’t get carsick easily! We played chicken with plenty of vehicles, passed big trucks that were barely crawling up hills without really being able to see who might be coming the other way, passed plenty of broken down trucks and two trucks that were tipped over. The trip was 10 hours with a couple short stops to stretch our legs. About 3 hours north of Tsiko the climate got much different- drier, hotter. A lot less mountains and trees and a lot more flat grassland. Lots of little farms and even quite a few cows being herded across the land. It seemed like there were more kids out working. The cement buildings and tin roofs became more sparse and the round mud huts with grass roofs more plentiful. The biggest city near Mango that we drove through is Kara, about a 5 hour drive from Mango.
Mango is a lot different than all the other cities I have been to so far. Most of the structures are made out of mud bricks. There are very few bigger homes (I think ABWE missionaries are in the only ‘real’ houses aside from the muslim leaders with their mini palaces). A lot more muslim culture- I was awaken at 3:45am and 4:45am by their prayer call (or something like that, not sure exactly what all the noise was about haha). Not a lot of fresh fruit for sale or even people selling things along the road in general. Most of the kids shout out when they see white people, and just about every person waves back at you.
I stayed at Tim and Esther Neufelds’ house. They are really a fantastic missionary couple. Lots of stories of how they have seen God at work, and adventures from their travels. It is quite an inspiration how hard they have worked to glorify God and spread the gospel. But it is evident that after so many years they are both finally getting ‘tired’ and retire in one year. They have lived quite the story I’d say!
The new compound is going to be amazing. It is absolutely enormous. They have started two houses, the guesthouse, swimming pool, and maintenance shop. About 25 Togolese work every day and short term teams rotate through every two weeks. It is quite the project. Kevin is overseeing all the construction- he and his wife Emily who runs the guesthouse are wonderful people with a pretty huge task. I am excited to be a part of the new hospital (hopefully things will work out with ABWE- it can be quite an intense endeavor to work with them).
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