As promised, the EMI team arrived in full force on Saturday afternoon. They have been everywhere for the last week gathering information and changing that into workable designs and plans. They have had me running every second just to keep up with them! But, I wouldn't have it any other way. They are extending the Master Planning for the hospital in just one week in ways that we couldn't accomplish in a year. They have been working on: Mortuary, front end parking and landscaping including sidewalks, new Theater (surgical wing) expansion, physiotherapy space, New Outpatient Department, New TB clinic, New Emergency Department, Remodel of the clinic space, Storm water design, and Oxygen plant design (in a new space) with a program to change over. Its a good thing there are 15 of them! They have their final presentation on Tues morning and after that they will be gone (and I can breathe)! I will gather them all together (that will be a feat in itself) sometime before they leave and get a picture. It has been a real blessing having them here and seeing the work that they are doing. This will enable us to build more buildings for the next 10 years! (Don't worry Mom, we are still coming home July of 2014)!
How did you wake up this morning? By the dog wanting to go out? That was me, but she was wanting to go out to chase the monkeys that were running across the roof! It is a tile roof and they sure make some noise. Here are a few pictures of them. They are the little Sykes monkeys.
This is a picture I pulled from the Internet so that you can see what they really look like
This week there was the first annual World Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Day. Here is one link to information:
http://www.worldspinabifidahydrocephalusday.com/#!world-sb/h-day
Spina Bifida is a genital defect where the spine is not fully formed. Sometimes these patients have hydrocephalus also which is where fluid is trapped in the brain cavity making it expand. One of the causes is lack of folic acid in the mother at the very beginning of conception. The Dr that gave a presentation on Wed. said that by day 26 of pregnancy if the defect is there, it can not be restored. These kids can have the defects closed but they will always live with a disability. Some can walk with crutches or help, some are in a wheelchair. The neurosurgeon that is a missionary here says that in the west he may do 5 cases a year, but here they do 20 a month! The kids come to get surgery but that is not the end of the story. The mothers and the babies (or children) must be trained to live with the problem in their home towns. I met another lady who, with the help of IF (International Federation of Hydrocephalus and Spina Bifida), wants to build a guest house near the hospital to support the parents in their journey. We are actively looking for a piece of land and then get a design and costing, etc, etc. So that one day when the parents are released from the hospital, they can stay there for a time to be trained and gain knowledge from the other parents that have lived with it for a long time. They are networking! So, I can see another project on our event horizon!
We did a devotional this week on 1 Cor 12:12-27:
12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body — whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free — and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15 If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
NIV
This is something we see all the time. We work as engineers here surrounded by some amazing doctors. But, we still have a role to play. Not all of us have the same gifts, rather we are all made to serve Him in one way or another, but definitely not in the same capacity. This passage give us encouragement that who you are is who God made you to be. All you have to do is follow His plan for you!
We had a coo on Monday night too. We have a weekly meet and greet on Monday nights for short termers who come here for 2 weeks to 6 months. Usually, we are surrounded by doctors and nurses, but this past week we engineers outnumbered the doctors! It was a good feeling not to be the square peg in that round hole!
Here are a few pictures I took this week of the crazy cat that lives outside:
The kids had an event last Saturday called Carnival. They got dressed up with their big brother or big sister (they are paired with a High School kid) and played games in the gym. Timothy went as Flame and his big brothers were the firemen and Sallie went as an Olympic bike rider. I was just able to get pictures of them at the end so did not get them with their high school counterparts - Sorry:
Jim has been kind of elusive this week as he has been tied up with Bethany Kids issues. He is running like crazy to deal with all the issues that come up in a project. One of these was the fact that the water pipes that are buried are joined together by rubber. As they are uncovered, the rubber is failing (it was being held together by the pressure of the ground around it)! This causes water to be spayed everywhere and now we need to buy new pipe in order to complete the connections. This is just one of about a million issues.
As I said before, the team leaves on Tuesday. I will be glad (so that I can breathe) but will be sad because there will be a whole lot of work for us that are "left behind" to do. Please keep them in your prayers as they work all weekend to finish up the plans and get the presentation together and they travel home.
In His Hands,
Jullie T.
