Monday, October 15, 2007

We’ve had power outages for several hours at a time most days during the past week and low power or flickering power often. The internet access has been unreliable and nonexistent. That has made it hard to keep the blog updated.

Monday, we returned to our various tasks. Larry “the taller” and Andy worked on digging the second hole for the perc test Glen has asked us to conduct. The two Larrys had dug the first hole Friday. Later in the day, Larry started some of the steps of the tests while Andy provided some computer training on spreadsheets to some of the hospital staff so they can track some of their supply inventory.

Larry “the shorter” and missionary Joan made another supply trip to Livingstone that turned into a nearly all day adventure. Bud and Ray made good progress running wire and conduit from the portable generator to the new operating room and fixing a number of other electrical problems. They’ve been doing real yeomen’s service, but they have been learning how truly blessed we are at home with the easy availability of both the right parts you need and the quantity you need. Within a 5-mile radius of First Wes, you can easily get almost any tool or almost any part you need and then can move on to do the job. Here it is a struggle to find the part (frequently what you want isn’t available) or the quantity you need and you have to go to Livingstone (40 miles) or Lusaka (250 miles) to get it. Lots of solutions to problems have to be creatively invented.

The medical team had a mixed day. Ann and Dianna spent more time organizing supplies but also were able to spend time praying with patients—this was an especially important result for Ann. Dianna discovered that the pharmacy has a storage room for supplies that we knew nothing about. She also found out that there is a person in charge, Delorent, who has a computer to use and has been keeping an active inventory of what they have on hand. He is also the person who orders supplies monthly. Andy was able to work with him later in the day to help him learn how to use a spreadsheet on the computer. Delorent seemed to learn how to manipulate the spreadsheet very quickly and seemed very interested in learning more.

Dianna and Ann also had conversations with Timba in the operating room and Delorent in the pharmacy about not just doing or saying what they think we want just to be nice and gracious. We’ve become increasingly concerned about not trying to impose our views, solutions, and methods on them without even being asked. Ann and Dianna think they made some headway in getting at least these two men to tell us when what we try to do violates or is outside their usual protocol. It is a struggle to be sensitive to the cultural differences, the status differences, and to remember who is the host and who is the guest. We tend to be very task focused and efficiency oriented but we have to be constantly reminded about the importance of relationships and partnering.

Drs. Kari and Dan and nurse anesthetist Barbara spent a portion of the morning trying to save a small boy who came in critically ill the day before, probably with meningitis and probably with other things. In the end the boy died. There was much more grieving than we have seen for other children. There are many children who die.