|
|
On Call in Gabon(Dave & Becki Thompson are medical missionaries serving with the Alliance at the Bongolo Hospital in Gabon, Central Africa) September 16, 2005 Dear Friends, The last some of you heard, Dave was stuck in the village of Agricole between Bongolo and Libreville, held up by angry population that wanted to send a message to its leaders that it needed clean water. Thanks to your prayers, cool heads, and a negotiated agreement with police officials who came from the nearest town, the demonstrators cleared the barricades after three hours. During the hour that followed, Dave had a front row seat to a special competition where 100 drivers redefined the known rules of motoring. The contestants began by creating four lanes where previously only two had existed. Once all cars were deadlocked in two lines facing each other, the drivers advanced towards each other in short, hair-raising, swerving bursts of speed, missing each other by mere millimeters. This extraordinary display of driving skill was accompanied by colorful and culturally-appropriate shouting, bared teeth, arm waving out all windows of the vehicles, and poorly-synchronized horn playing. Until they reached the outskirts of the village, all vehicles advanced at the speed of 1/4 mile per hour. Amazed by all that he was learning about human nature, Dave sang hymns through it all, kept his teeth covered and his arms inside the car, and drove at a moderate speed the rest of the way to Libreville... :D The next day Dave flew to Cameroon and the following day rode buses and taxis for 12 hours, arriving at the Banso Baptist Hospital in northwest Cameroon after dark. The difficult situation he encountered with the PAACS training program there will have to wait for another time. All that we can say at the moment is that the problem is not yet resolved, but Dave was able to encourage the PAACS team there. He arrived back in Bongolo ten days after he left. While Dave was gone, Dr. Wayne Fricke, an orthopedic surgeon who was in Bongolo for his FIFTH visit did a superb job of teaching and supervising our residents, as they dealt with more than twenty surgical emergencies, many of them fractures. Pray that God will give Dr. & Mrs. Cleek strength and wisdom and will reassure the five worried surgery residents in training at Banso Baptist Hospital that He is still very much in charge.
VISITING WORK TEAMSLast week C&MA missionaries Dr. Jeff Amstutz and Dr. Dan Nesselroade arrived from Mali. for a two week visit. The same day, a six member laparoscopy team arrived from Redding, California, led by Dr. Tom & Betty Perry. With eight visitors now working in their areas of special ability at the hospital, five of them doctors, the place is a beehive! Early this week we inaugurated our new, fully-equipped, laparoscopic operating room by performing a cholecystectomy. Apart from discovering that the American vaporizor on our new anesthesia machine would not accept the anesthetic Halothane from a French bottle without a last-minute, jerry-rigged a connector, things went rather smoothly for this part of the world. Our staff took turns ogling at the TV monitors through the glass windows of the operating room, and we all rejoiced that the patient did well. This coming week we’re planning to do more laparoscopic procedures and with the help of our visiting anesthesiologist set up in two adjacent operating rooms the other two new anesthesia machines that were shipped from Syracuse. During the first two weeks of this month we’ve done 50 major surgical procedures, a quarter of them emergencies. Had we not received two containers of medicines, supplies and equipment from friends and churches in Syracuse and Upstate New York last March and April, we would not have had what we needed to treat many of these people. Thank you, all of you who gave and helped ship these supplies!
NURSING SCHOOL RESTARTS, PAACS ADDITIONThis week Becki and our two other missionary nurses began classes again at the nursing school, with eight, second-year students. Becki has also been busy preparing the medical guest house for our visitors, buying food for them, and preparing some meals for them. During Dave’s absence she spent long hours at the computer answering e-mails. Since Dr. Kakalo’s graduation from our surgical training program and return to Kisangani, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, we have only had three residents. Dr. Roseline, our senior resident is currently finishing up six months of surgical rotations at Kijabe and Tenwek mission hospitals in Kenya, and a month of vacation in Madagascar with her four adopted children. When she returns in late October we will again have four residents. Our most recent addition to our PAACS family is Jacqueline, Dr. Jean Faya Yaradouno’s young wife. She arrived three weeks ago, much to Dr. Yaradouno’s joy. The couple got married four months ago, just one day before he left Guinea to begin his residency in Bongolo. Dr. Yaradouno, who is from the Alliance church in Guinea, is in his first year of training. Dr. Yali Bin Ramazani from Kinshasa, Congo joined our staff as a first year resident on August 1. We are rejoicing that during this past month both he and Jacqueline, Dr. Yaradouno’s wife were able to get their long-term visas to Gabon without delay.
DR STEL TO LEAVE, SPRONKS AND THELANDERS TO COMEDr. Wayne and Suzanne Spronk have received all of their support and have made plane reservations to arrive in Gabon on November 2. This is a wonderful answer to prayer! They will be coming with their three children and staying until next June to take care of adult medical patients and our many AIDS patients. Thank you for praying and for helping them with their support! Dr. Karen Stel, who has served for most of the past two years as a “missionary intern” from the Canadian C&MA, will be leaving us next week to return to Canada. She has so wonderfully cared for our adult medical patients and trained our staff that she will leave with a part of Bongolo’s heart. Our medical staff will be holding an “Agape Meal” for her on Tuesday evening, September 20, so that all of us can express our gratitude and love to her. Karen is engaged to be married to Pastor Ndoutoum Coulibali next March, in Toronto. The two are planning to serve as missionaries with the Canadian C&MA somewhere in West Africa, and we wish them our very best! Dr. Keir and Joanna Thelander, who have been appointed by the Alliance to serve as IFAP missionaries to Bongolo Hospital to help Dave train African surgeons with PAACS, continue to hope and plan to leave for France in January, 2007 to begin French language study. Dr. Thelander is a young surgeon working at Cleveland Clinic. They reported in their most recent newsletter that they have 45% of their needed support, and 45% of what they will need to buy a sturdy, four-wheel drive vehicle. Continue to pray that God will provide all that they need and that they will not have to delay. If all goes as planned, they will arrive in Bongolo to help us in either late June or late September, depending on how well their language skills progress. Dr. Thelander has also requested that we pray for him as he will be prepares for his oral board examination in surgery next month. Pray that he will do well and will pass. It is the last hurdle for certification in general surgery by the American Board of Surgery. If you would like to help them with their support or with their vehicle, you can contact them at <jklthelander@sbcglobal.net>.
REQUESTS FOR PRAYER
Until Jesus Comes, Dave & Becki Thompson |
