Ready for Vacation

Things have been especially busy this past week at the hospital and we are happy that vacation time is here!  We are going to Kribi, Cameroon for a beach week and then going to Kenya for a week.  The Youngs are joining us for the week at the beach.  Other than the 8 hour drive to the coast, we are looking forward to the much needed break.

 While we are gone, the residents will be carrying more of the workload.  Francine (a recent residency graduate) has been functioning as an attending on the female ward for the past couple months.  This is her rounding with her team. She will continue this as well as lead morning report and deliver the weekly quiz over the reading from Harrison's internal medicine textbook.

This is Angela giving a lecture on malnutrition to the residents and other trainees.  While we are gone, there are volunteers coming to help with the teaching and patient care.  They will be giving lectures, rounding on the wards, seeing clinic patients, and generally trying to cover any gaps that we leave while we are gone.  We are thankful for them coming and allowing us to take a break.

 

This past Sunday was the end of the Spiritual Emphasis Week for the CBC (Cameroonian Baptist Convention) in Cameroon.  There were special services during chapel each morning this past week and on Sunday the Mbingo missionaries all went to different churches in the villages around Mbingo.  We went to the CBC Church at Lih, a small village church that you can see in this picture.  Their building is actually quite large, but it is just an open room with dirt floors, mud brick walls, and a metal roof.  It was great to get out and see some of the areas that our patients come from and worship and pray with them during church.

 Marching ants are a problem here.  They are interesting to watch, but deliver a stinging bite if they get on you.  They march in lines with soldier ants to the sides guiding them.  They travel in such numbers that they carve a path into the red clay as you can see in this picture.  They have even been known to pass through a house, but we are thankful that they have not chosen our house yet.

This is Isaac with his friend Godlove.  Godlove had rheumatic heart disease and was very sick with mitral valve disease.  He was able to have a heart surgery at another hospital in Cameroon (Shisong) that specializes in pediatric cardiology.  Now he has a mechanical mitral valve and is living a much healthier life.  He does have to take blood thinners (warfarin), but is blessed to be alive. Isaac loves when he comes to visit and they like taking turns riding on the scooter.

Gigi and Dodad had a great visit with us and now they are safely back home.   The trip was uneventful, but they are missing a few bags, which has become the norm.  They should get them soon.  I guess if you travel to or from Africa, you should pack anything you don't want to lose in your carry-on!

Thanks for following us here on the blog.  We look forward to coming back to Mbingo after vacation energized and refreshed to continue serving God here at the hospital.