The Magic of Medicine

Since contrcting malaria, I've had the dubious honor of experiencing its many additional features. If I thought the first night of fever, aches, and shakes was all there was, I was sadly mistaken. Most mornings I've felt pretty good, only to have some different new symptom arrive by the afternoon - diarrhea one day, upset stomach the next, and so on.
Yesterday afternoon I suddenly found it increasingly painful to breathe, a form of pleurisy I suppose. By early evening, I was very uncomfortable indeed. Fortunately for me, I'm living amongst a team of nurses armed with medical journals, the internet, and lots of medications. Plus, they all seem to want to help me get better, which is a good thing.

But as I lay in bed last night, heavily drugged up, I began to think about all the people living here in Africa who don't have access to these same things. They suffer too, and many of them with no hope of relief.

It was humbling.

Today I accompanied Lynn Lagore as she visited the home of Bero, a young man who was badly burned as a child during the civil war.

Large flaps of skin had joined Bero's lower left arm to his upper arm, making it impossible for him to extend it. But after coming to the attention of SAM Ministries, travel funds were raised by donors, and a plasitc surgeon in South Africa donated his time to try and correct Bero's conditon as best he could.

Lynn's job today was to change the dressings and assess the healing process.

The whole family turns out to watch.

The medical work out of the way, it's now time for a quick math lesson to help Bero with his studies...

Bero is very active in his local church, and also very industrious, even with his disablilties. He makes and then plays these musical shakers in his church choir.

Pray for people like Bero and his family. And find a way to give to good causes like this if you can.

Even from our side of the world, we can make a difference.

Initiated Part 2

Here are a few more photos for your enjoyment...

Mushrooms (or is it toadstools?) that pop out of the ground whenever it rains...

The 2 kilometre driveway leading in from the main road

The local shops on the main road

Tiny anthills that appear after every rain

The kitchen in the campground where the short-termers stay

Nurse Keren's tent

The woodworking shop

The foundation for the future training centre

The primary school located behind the shops on the road

That's all for now...time to hit the sack and sleep off this illness. Cheers!

Fully Initiated...

I'm all for experiencing local culture, but last night I received more than I wanted...I came down with malaria!

There has been a lot of it going around here these days, so I'm not alone. But I can tell you that it's not an experience I'd recommend to anyone. But with the proper medication I should be recovered in a few days.

So today I'll just post a few hotos to show everyone what things look like here on the ASAM farm. Enjoy!

Dwight and Lynn Lagore's house, where I've had the priviledge of occupying the spare bedroom.

Mercy Air's garage, where I've been doing most of my work.

The foundation for the future Mercy Air living quarters. Mercy Air is a partnering mission with ASAM here on the farm.

Bricks to build the house.

The 4 ton Hino truck that we haul sand and stone and bricks with.

Lychee trees

Mango trees.

Pineapple plants.

(come back soon and I'll add more...)

Heading into the home stretch...

It's Sunday evening, and it hits me that Laura and I are about to start our final week here in Mozambique. For my part, although I've been able to make good progress on a number of vehicles already, there is still a lot of work to do - all those parts Dwight and Lynn brought back from South Africa still have to go somewhere!

Over the weekend I took advantage of having no staff around to putter on a few projects that seem to work better when there are no interruptions - things like rebuilding a carburetor.

I also fixed their washing machine, but I have an ulterior motive - I need to do my laundry.

But it wasn't all work and no play. On Sunday morning, after listening to one of Pastor Larry's sermons from the Summerland Baptist Church website, the girls and I made plans to walk through the community in the afternoon. Of course, it involved riding motorcycles first to get there...

But once we arrived at the village, it was off on foot down the paths through the grass.

Here is a typical house for this area...

And one not so typical.

We had the opportunity to stop and visit with one of the local pastors and his wife, who is one of the midwives that Keren works with.

Of course, when the camera comes out, so do the local kids...

But walking in the African sun is hot work, so we headed over to the local shops for a Coke.

Yes, they still serve it in a bottle here, just like when I was a kid.

Back at the motorcycles, we found a crowd of women and chilren sharing gossip around the local water pump. The woman standing between Keren and Laura is Eunice, the key leader for the women's ministry started here by the mission.

So that was how we spent our weekend.

Do have a good day.

The Little Things That Could...

Do you ever ask yourself, "What is the main thing here? When it's all said and done, what really matters?"

Maybe you haven't put it into those exact words, but deep within us our hearts long to know that we really made a difference, somehow, somewhere - to somebody.

Well, the good news is God wants you to make a difference, too. And sometimes the steps we have to take are just little ones...

Jeremiah the prophet was giving one of Israel's kings a talking to, letting him know that God wasn't too happy with his performance to date. He reminded this king that his father, King Josiah, had done a lot better job in his day of pleasing God. Here is what he said:

"Did not your father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him.

He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well.

Was not this knowing Me?" says the Lord. (Jeremiah 22:15, 16)

"Was not this knowing Me?" Are the poor and needy really the big thing with God?

The Lord places a lot of importance on helping the poor and needy. It's right up there with justice and righteousness.

In the end, it's the little things that really matter. A word of encouragement to someone losing hope; a hot meal to someone lacking resources and self-respect; a pair of new shoes to someone who has worn theirs out trying to survive the daily grind of life.

Sometime little things don't seem to go very far...at first.

This fellow was perched on a large rock outside my window yesterday morning. I took a lot of photos, and it was easy because he didn't move much.

But when I looked out the window an hour later, he was gone.

Try a simple act of kindness; sacrifice something even if you don't think it will make a huge difference to the cosmos as a whole. The truth is, you just don't know how far it will go. The truth is, God does.

Even just a cup of cold water matters...because it's like He says: "This is knowing Me."

The elephant in the room...

Ever hear that expression, about the elephant in the room that we never talk about? It refers to a problem or an issue that is really obvious to all, but somehow we just never deal with it. Perhaps we hope that if we ignore it long enough it will go away.

Nice thought...

In keeping with the theme of this blog, maybe God has been speaking to you about some elephants that need attention; personal pacaderms that you've been blissfully shutting an eye to.

Perhaps He's been telling you that your shoes have been a little too clean lately...or maybe that they've never even been taken out of the box.

There are many ways to dirty your shoes...from visiting someone in the  hospital (even though you've got a really busy day already), to serving the underpriviledged in another part of the world.

You see, it's not really how far you go; it's that you go at all.

Those elephants will play on your mind.

They drive you crazy with nagging thoughts that your life could be much more than it currently is; that the great adventure is happening without you and that it's really nobody's fault but your own...

Take a hint from a fellow traveler...elephants only leave when you stare them in the eye. Just give them "the look", bend down and lace up your shoes...and then go.

I guarantee that something in the room will change.

And don't forget to check your rearview mirror...

I think you'll like what you see.