Life continues here in Togo. Rhythms are established - waking, devotionals, rounding, operating, clinic, lunch, clinic, dinner, tucking patients in for the night, reading, and sleeping. Of course, there are the occasional emergent cases and wrenches thrown in the schedule, but there is a beautiful simplicity to it all. Yes, life is busy, but I am happier that way: I go to sleep feeling that I've earned a night's rest. And less than a week until I leave. One of the difficult parts of life as a medical student is that once you learn to function in a given setting are whisked away.
A brief photo essay: Snippets from Togo.
Doughnuts. Every Saturday we play basketball in Mango with the Togolese and it is followed by fresh-from-the-oil doughnuts made by the Wegner sisters. Sumptuous.
I gave a small piano concert for the folks who work here. First half: Debussy and Chopin. Second half: Rachmaninoff and Beethoven.
Community:
One thing that has struck me, both in Kenya and Togo, has been the warmth with which I have been received. The depth of relationship between people who work here at the hospital is astounding: they have truly been through it all.
After spending any length of time in Africa one finds that things simply run at a different pace. Accomplishing a task is much different in Mango than it is in the States. Everything that has been a part of the hospital was shipped 10 hours north from Lome on a dirt road on massive containers filled to the brim by volunteers in Michigan. Then, teams of construction workers have come out to construct the hospital. Finally, there are volunteers from the US ranging from laboratory to pharmacy to nurses to physicians to landscapers to administrators. This common purpose, building a hospital in Mango and all of its associated frustrations, has forged a truly unique bond. I cannot begin to imagine how painstaking it must have been to build the hospital; it truly has been a dream over a decade in realization.
Despite being such a tight-knit group I have been welcomed with open arms. The surgery department is headed up by Todd DeKryger, who does everything from Orthopedics to Gynecology to General Surgery to Family Practice. Dr. Nate Huber (from the picture above) has stepped in to help out Todd during the opening of the hospital with coverage of the surgical service. Every other night for two months they have been on call. And then there is me, the fourth year medical student. Over my month here I've found a role - making rounds more efficient, seeing patients in clinic, lending an extra set of hands in the OR, sewing up lacerations in reanimation. At work I have been very much included as a part of the team.
And I have been welcomed outside of work as well. From doughnuts to the Weighers to basketball on Saturday to board games with the DeKryger children to movie nights on Saturdays to church on Sunday nights I have become a part of the life here at HOH. Yes, I am very excited to go home, but at the same time, a part of me will remain here.
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What is it that forms connections between people? What is the basis upon which humans relate?
There is utility: people benefit each other. There is pleasure: people enjoy each other's company. There is virtue: shared value. The first two fall short - utility and pleasure soon fade. Even virtue falls short: people are not virtuous at all times and all places and often fades.
And finally, there is a person that forms connections: Christ as Mediator. That Christ does not just pave the way for us to be in right relationship with God, but also paves the way for right relationship with others, means that there is something eternal at the root; an unchanging Person forming the foundation of Christian fellowship. Christ means that we can forgive each other and be able to love the other person as ourself, something that is so essential when working closely together with the sick and dying in the 105 degree heat. It also means that a complete stranger can arrive knowing nobody and yet, somehow, feel entirely at home.
L'Éternel te bénisse et te garde!
L'Éternel fasse luire sa face sur toi et te fasse grâce!
L'Éternel tourne sa face vers toi et te donne la paix!
-John
Precious Nephew,
ReplyDeleteYour blog posts are like a gift (beautifully wrapped, of course). I can hardly wait to open them! Last night Grandma and Grandpa told me you had a new post. I am going to print all of your posts for them as they want to share it with their friends. Aunt Lynne and Uncle Kevin have been reading your blog to their bible study group. We feel as if we are there with you (minus the heat��). Thank you SO much, John, for taking the time as it's obvious you are so busy.
I can just picture you playing board games with the kids, eating definitely MORE than one doughnut on a Saturday morning, offering hope to a hurting patient. Your love for Jesus simply SHINES in your life, John. May you be encouraged in your final days at this hospital. Thanks for letting us walk along side you, so to speak.
Uncle Kev and I pray for you. We thank God for you, John! We pray for safety. We pray for you to sense God's hands guiding your hands ~ from the surgical room to the piano. We thank God for the difference you are making.
You end your posts with a blessing. I would love to do that for you. "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him. May you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Can't recall the reference. Romans?)
LOVE YOU, John. I just found out that we will see you on Mother's Day. Yay! Will you play some Rachmaninov and Beethoven for me?
God bless you.