All about Angola!

There is so much to tell you! I have been working at the hospital from Monday to Friday. We start about 8:30 am (or so). First we do rounds around the 40 bed hospital. We visit patients to see how they are fairing, check on patients who were just operated on, make sure that no one has a fever, vomiting and that they're eating, drinking and having bowel movements. The patients I enjoy visiting the most are those who have had vaginal fistula repairs and the pediatric patients.
After rounds we either do consultas or surgery. On Monday and Thursday we do consultations we see patients who haven't seen a doctor, some have problems seeing, some have large abdominal masses, and some have broken bones that haven't healed over that past years or maybe several months. I have been learning a lot and working at the hospital has been very interesting. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday I assistant with operations that means- I hold gauze or forceps that help stop bleeding or allow Dr. Foster to see what needs to be done. Sometimes I'm on light duty- making sure those who need to see during operations (like the surgeon) can see. We've done lots of laparotomies (abdominal), hernia repairs and orthopedic surgeries (bone), some fistula repairs as well as a smattering of other types of surgeries.
Last week- Thurs-Sat.- Dr. Foster, Stacy (my housemate), Hamilton (a university student from Southern Ontario), Tchicuma (an anesthetist from Lubango) and I went to Kalekembe. Kalekembe is a small town with a 200 bed mission hospital, which does not have a doctor but it does have a three year nursing program. We did 44 surgeries in the three days we were there. I saw my first Caesarian section, which was done by the nurses at the hospital; the baby was alive! The mission station at Kalekembe is beautiful, lots of trees-banana, eukalyptus and pine- red roads, and happy people. The running water was only running in the buckets from the well to the house but we did have electricity on occasion. We flew to Kalekembe in an MAF plane, which seats up to 10 people. It was very exciting- I sat directly behind the cockpit!
Thank-you so much for your prayers. I have been healthy for most of my time here. I was not feeling well for a few days this week but I seem to be better. I don't know what was wrong with me. I hope to start teaching English at the hospital soon. Please pray that I would continue to learn to communicate in Portugeuse and that I would be able to build relationships with people at the hospital both staff and patients. Please pray that the fistula patients at the hospital would heal quickly. I have gotten to know some of the women who are in the process of healing from vaginal fistulas. They are so excited at the possibility of being healed and having a life again! It's wonderful to get to know them.
Thank-you to all of you who prayed for me as I wrote the MCAT last month. I have recieved my marks and I did not pass. Please pray for wisdom as I consider the future.
A few things I have learned: Sozinha means alone- I thought perhaps it worked as the word only to. However, I ended up indicating to a patient that I was single instead of asking him if it was only his left leg that hurt.
Sozinho is a nurse at the hospital but he's not alone- he's married.
People laughing in Portugeuse sound like they're laughing in English.

I'm Here

Hello, Hello,
I have arrived in Lubango, Angola and I am doing well. I am still healthy- praise the Lord! I have met many missionaries and spent a day at the hospital. I am living at the guest house with Stacy- a 4th year medical student from Arkansas. Our flat is quite nice- kitchen, living room, dining room, 3 bedrooms. Electricity works either when the city power is one or when we turn on the generator. The guest house is only about three blocks from Dr. Stephen and Peggy Fosters home. Becky Loewen- long term missionary- picked me up from the airport; we dropped off my stuff and picked up Stacy for a grocery shopping excursion. Money here in Angola is very different than in Canada- they use the kwanza but eggs are like 25 K each, bananas 3 for 50 K. 1 USD is equal to 75 K- the value of the K is going up because there will be an election in the next couple of years. Dry goods we bought at the store and fruits and vegetables we bought off the street. When we bought food off the street Becky bartered for us.
The last couple of nights we’ve had electricity from 6:00 pm until midnight and this morning we had also had electricity. We have a hot water heater that has the potential to work- sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t.
Yesterday I walked in between operating rooms and observed the happenings here at the Lubango Evangelical Medical Centre. There were people waiting all day. There were line ups when we arrived in the morning and when we closed down in the evening. Some people travel a long way to get medical care here; one boy that was operated on was from Luanda, the capital city in Northern Angola.
I’ve begun reading through Matthew and in Mt. 5 the first beatitude says: Blessed are those who know of their need for God. Since leaving Saskatchewan I have definitely come to know more of my need for God. His faithfulness is evident though through His work in my life. All of my luggage arrived in Angola with me- I was shocked and thankful- 4 flights and 3 airlines and it still got here! I didn’t have too much trouble with airport security in any location and I had no trouble recognizing Becky in Lubango. Thank-you for all of your prayers! God bless.

Flying out Tomorrow

This weekend has been exciting. My life is just one adventure after another! Yesterday I went with my friend from Trois-Pistoles, Quebec, to a quilt show, "Winter Wheat" and to Villa Cornelia, all in the city of London, ON. The quilt show was very beautiful, I do have some pictures, there were many different kinds of quilts. My favorite quilts were of more classic patterns with material that was reprinted from the civil war and the 1920's. Another quilt that was very interesting was made of men's striped shirts! Winter Wheat is a rustic craft shop about 40 minutes outside of London, definitely an escape from city life! Villa Cornelia is an old Victorian house converted into a restaurant.
Today I was able to go to Cynthia's church, an Anglican church close by, and to Sarah's (friend from PRBI) church. It was great to meet many new people and see a bit more of London. What a blessing it is to be able to share with other people what God is doing and to have other people partner with me in prayer! I was able to go to Sarah's soccer game, and here I walked around a park and found a snake, which I fled from. I do not like snakes!!!! We went out for ice cream at "Marble Slab", it was very good. I probably won't be having many of those for a while! We also attended a Bible study with people from Sarah's church and had a campfire and went through the last part of Phil 4:10-end. Such a reminder that being content is a learned emotional state that requires time and energy to develop. The Christian Life is definitely a process.
I watched the BBC news with Cynthia and was saddened to hear of the tornados in Kansas and the riots in France. Please pray for Ariane, my roommate for orientation, as she is flying tonight through Paris on her way to Africa.

I'm almost oriented!

Well I suppose I should be oriented because orientation is almost over. This week has been a huge blessing. There are 7 other girls here who are all heading out on short-term missions trips to the ends of the earth. Tonight we had a prayer meeting with retired missionaries, current missionaries, and short-term missionaries. It was great to be able to share with these missionaries, to be prayed for and to hear some of their stories. Some of these people in the SIM office remember my mom as Dorothy Dyck, from ages ago!
I have good news. One of the girls from orientation, Danielle, will be flying with me from Toronto on Monday until London. We will have a lay over together in London, England. It's wonderful that God has provided somebody to travel with for the first part of my journey.
Today we were able to go to a mosque in Toronto. We were able to hear about Islam and observe their prayer time. It was very hard to see how lost these people are. Please pray for these muslim people, as God loves them very much! Yesterday we went out for Ethiopian food- it was great! The main food in Ethiopia is Injera, which is bread/pancake type of food that is used as a spoon to scoop up different kinds of stew type dishes. It was very good; I would definitely recommend it to anyone!
Through this week we have had lots of time to pray together as a group and share our burdens and joys with one another. Please continue to pray for me: that I would be flexible and that I would remember as much Portugeuse as I can! Love you all!