Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Fwd: wahoo!

Morokeni muholi! (Good morning friend!)
Ngapi? (How are you?) Nawa tupu!!!! (I am very fine!!) Mufu unene!! (moo-foo oo-neh-neh = literal- cold much, translation- it is very cold!!) Things here are going pretty good for the most part. There have been some rough moments, but overall we are doing well!
I'm staying!!!
My work permit has been approved!!! Wahoo!! It is only valid until May 2008, but I wanted to tell you all thank you for your prayers! Next year of course we will go through this again!
It was a good month of meetings at Home Affairs because the Johnson's (the family whose dogs I am keeping) also got theirs! They will be flying out on July 4th and will arrive in Windhoek on the 6th. They were supposed to come in February so I know that they are excited to come back!
The Weather
So speaking of cold, winter has come! It is these few months of freezing temperatures (ok, so it's not literally freezing here in Rundu, but it does get down in the single digits of Celsius in June and July. The Canadian girls of course feel right at home, but I have been here long enough to be quite uncomfortable! It is cold enough that I have brought out my fleece, my scarves, my big terry cloth robe, my big fuzzy blanket and my long pajamas!!! I know, I know, why did I complain about the heat if I am also going to complain about the cold!?!?! It's just the extremes that I don't like. At least right now it is still warming up during the day. There will come a time in the following weeks that it will just stay cold all day. That's when it gets really miserable, right now we are just at the uncomfortable phase!! :-)
Work
This has been a little bit of an emotional month at work for Sarah and I, though I must admit that she has had it much worse than I have. In the last 2 1/2 weeks we have had 11 children pass away. Some of them were chronically ill and malnourished patients that we knew were really sick, but some of them were 'out of the blue.' Unfortunately Sarah has been working during most of those and has had to deal with it each time. Please pray for her as she has been taking it really hard.
In other work related news, there is talk of another strike. I am not really impressed as nothing ever materialized last time, but there is more talk. This time they have said that they would prevent volunteers like Sarah and me from entering the hospitals. They didn't say this last time, which bothers me. Having worked through my planned actions during the last talks, I think that I would chose to continue to work. Of course they could prevent us working by physically restraining us, but I don't think that it would come to that. Please pray that God would work in the Ministry of Health to respond to the nurse's complaints so that it doesn't come to something as drastic as a strike.
T.I.A.
One of the phrases that helps us cope with difficult situations is T.I.A. It stands for 'This is Africa' or 'That's Africa'. Sometimes that is the only explanation you can give and allows you to release the burden of responsibility of taking care of everything that we often feel as Westerners, especially Westerners trying to live in rural Africa. Well, this week we had a T.I.A. situation that I want to share with you, just to let you know of some of the things we face while living here.
On Sundays they frequently cut off the power here in Rundu. I am not sure exactly why but it seems like when they do it is off for about 12 hours, usually from 7am to 7pm. This last Sunday was one of those days. Unfortunately the water is run off electrical pumps, so a little less than an hour after the power goes out the water goes out too. That means you have to shower, do any dishes, fill pots of water and make sure you have lots of water bottles full shortly after the power goes.
Normally at the hospital the only thing that is effected is the water as the hospital has a backup generator. However, this week was different as the generator ran out of diesel! In the words of our Ukrainian medical director, "It's a disaster!!!" The power went out in the town around 7am. The generator lasted until about 2pm and then it quit. So when Sarah left work at 6pm, the whole hospital was in total darkness! She carries her head lamp when she walks to work, so thankfully she had that and they were using it to admit patients, give medications and even start IVs!!! After work (I had met her in town) we went to the grocery store and bought candles so that they wouldn't be in complete darkness, for which they were very grateful! The power came on in the town at around 11pm, which is much later than it ever has before, but for some reason it never came on in the hospital! So our nurses worked all night with nothing but candle light to guide them! (we are still cleaning up wax from various surfaces.) To make matters even worse, right before Sarah got off work there was a patient that passed away. Because of the darkness they weren't able, or willing, to take the body to the mortuary, so it sat in a side room overnight in the ward. It wasn't until we arrived at work the next morning (and the sun came up a little) that we were able to take it...
It wasn't until about 2pm on Monday that they were able to restore power to the hospital, but even at that it was going on and off. When I left at 6 I told the night nurses that if the power went out again to call me and I would get them more candles! Thankfully it stayed on after that, but that didn't ease the problem we had had the day/night before!
Those Crazy Canadians
Rob, Alisa and all the children, including Rachel, are doing well. Right now they are spending a month traveling as Rob's parents and brother are here! Please pray for their safety as they travel around seeing the beautiful sights of Namibia.
It is hard to believe that the ladies have been here for 2 months already! The ladies are doing well, and Amy has finally recovered from the shingles. They have been enjoying working with children at the OVC (Orphans and Vulnerable Children) project based out of Kaisosi (ki-so-see) Church as well as working with the young ladies at the Ndama (nn-dah-mah) church. Amy and Sally have also started coming to the hospital 3 mornings a week to play with the children. They come to our ward, get the healthiest kids, and take them to play! Sometimes they play outside with the ball, sometimes they have 'dance therapy', where they just put on music and dance around like crazy people. :-) They are really enjoying it!
One of the ladies, Karissa, is not staying the full time that the other two are. She leaves for Windhoek tomorrow night! Please pray for her as she spends these last few days of her time traveling to Windhoek, debriefing with Mick, then traveling home!
Congratulations!!
And in news from home, I am going to be an auntie again! I just found out that my brother and his wife, Reed & Trish, are expecting their second child! Wahoo! Also expecting their firstborns are my friends Erin & Jeff and my college roommate Helen & Matt. And if that wasn't enough, my friends Joy and John David got married on Saturday! Though I am sad to miss these wonderful events, I am glad that each of them has kept me involved from a distance! Congratulations to all of you! (and are there any others that I need to know about?!)
In more news from the home front, my sister and her husband, Val & Jim, have decided to come visit me! I can't tell you how excited I am! It is great seeing the visitors that others get, but it always makes me a little homesick. I am very close to my sister and I can't wait to see her!
I hope that you are all doing well and enjoying your summer weather! I would love to hear from you all and know what you are up to!
Much love and hugs!
kapande
Praises:
  • My work permit has been approved!
  • The Johnson's work permit has been approved!
  • Rob's parents and brother made it in safely with all but 1 piece of luggage.
  • For the new nieces and nephews that I will be having!
  • My sister and brother-in-law are coming!
Prayer requests:
  • For the pregnancies for Trish, Erin and Helen, that they would have an easy time and that they would deliver healthy babies.
  • For Karissa as she is finishing her time here.
  • For Sarah as she is trying to cope emotionally with the stresses of work.
  • For the potential strike situation at work.
  • For Rob, Alisa and tribe as they travel this month.
P.S. you might notice, if you are really observant, that the location of my online journal, or blog, has changed. Due to some technical difficulties, my friend has created a new site for me and is helping me to maintain it (THANKS HEATHER!!!!). So the new link is below. :-)

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