Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Mango anyone?
So a couple days ago we had another rain storm... this is unusual for April. Usually this is the middle of hot, dry season. Well Jeff did a video about it that you can watch at our family blog. But my job was and is... what to do with all the mangos that our tree dropped in one day. Hundreds of mangos... I will give some away, let some ripen, and cut up and freeze a lot to use in cooking. Stop by for some mango sauce, mango cake or mango crisp if you can!
Friday, April 22, 2011
Ups and Downs
OK... it's not that bad... But we have hit a wall. It is the four month wall I think... and it happened to coincide with hot season. Jeff and I have both been feeling stuck and unproductive in the last few weeks. I know it will get better.
A few frustrating things...
- It's hard to learn a new language in the midst of life...
- There is no where to 'get away' (Like the mall, coffee shop, grocery store, dollar store... )
- It is HOT - kids have heat rash
- There are no pools in our town
- We don't have friends or family to really talk to
- Whenever the kids want a snack... I have to cook something (crackers, cookies, bagels)
- Bugs and dirt
A few good things...
- Our kids are awesome
- Fans... and air conditioning when we want to splurge for an hour
- Mangos!!! lots of them (the one snack that is ready and waiting)
- Internet to connect with family and friends
- A rain storm to chase away the heat
So yea... it's not that bad, it's just been hard, and we are trusting God that He will bring us through and soaring on the other side of this valley. We do look forward to spending Easter with our new Church family here in Kadiolo. I'm praying for a good time of fellowship, and for our young friend Kadiatu who is a muslim girl going with us to Easter. She says she wants to be a Christian, but it may be more likely that she wants to go to America. Pray for her to really understand the gospel and want to be a Christian because Christs has spoken to her!
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Birth Number 2
I was called to another birth on Friday. It was 4pm, not even the middle of the night. So I thought I better jump on the opportunity to go help out. When I arrived I found out this was an 18 year old girl delivering her first baby. She was outside walking around and had been found to be 8cm dilated.
She wanted to have a rest and came back inside to sit down. They checked her again and had me check her. Again I am no good at this part. I must need much more practice. Aparantly she was 9 centimeters. Shortly after this she expressed a desire to eat something so her friend went off to find some food. When it arrived she sat down to have a snack.
After that she was tired again and wanted to go in and lie down. She was told she need to walk to get her contractions going. They were coming, but not real close together. Like any first time mother, she did not want them closer together or to feel any more pain. But she was very brave.
Here sit the three midwives/nurses waiting for things to progress... When she got so tired she had to lie down, they hooked her up to an IV and gave her some pitocin to make the contractions come along faster.
Here came the difficult part of the delivery for me. As we had checked her the nurse commented on her circumcision. It is very common practice here in Mali for a girl to be circumcised in her childhood. Unfortunately for this girl, she was sewn up too small to allow for this baby to be born. As the baby began to crown the midwifes had to perform an episiotomy to allow the baby through. This makes me so sad. It is a very traumatic experience when a girl gets circumcised, and now in childbirth it becomes more traumatic again because of this. There was no anisthetic used to aid in pain relief either.
A healthy girl was born around 6:30pm. I asked them what the sex was so that the mom could hear. Then after the baby was weighed and left on the scale, I asked if I could hold her. I took her over the the mom and showed her beautiful baby to her. That part gave me great joy.
Pray for me as I plan to talk to the midwives about working on educating their patients about the negative effects of female circumcision.
She wanted to have a rest and came back inside to sit down. They checked her again and had me check her. Again I am no good at this part. I must need much more practice. Aparantly she was 9 centimeters. Shortly after this she expressed a desire to eat something so her friend went off to find some food. When it arrived she sat down to have a snack.
After that she was tired again and wanted to go in and lie down. She was told she need to walk to get her contractions going. They were coming, but not real close together. Like any first time mother, she did not want them closer together or to feel any more pain. But she was very brave.
Here sit the three midwives/nurses waiting for things to progress... When she got so tired she had to lie down, they hooked her up to an IV and gave her some pitocin to make the contractions come along faster.
Here came the difficult part of the delivery for me. As we had checked her the nurse commented on her circumcision. It is very common practice here in Mali for a girl to be circumcised in her childhood. Unfortunately for this girl, she was sewn up too small to allow for this baby to be born. As the baby began to crown the midwifes had to perform an episiotomy to allow the baby through. This makes me so sad. It is a very traumatic experience when a girl gets circumcised, and now in childbirth it becomes more traumatic again because of this. There was no anisthetic used to aid in pain relief either.
A healthy girl was born around 6:30pm. I asked them what the sex was so that the mom could hear. Then after the baby was weighed and left on the scale, I asked if I could hold her. I took her over the the mom and showed her beautiful baby to her. That part gave me great joy.
Pray for me as I plan to talk to the midwives about working on educating their patients about the negative effects of female circumcision.
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