Collision with corruption

I took a short trip last weekend with several friends to Buchanan, another coastal city about 70km south of Monrovia. Saturday was great - we enjoyed a beautiful albeit bumpy and cramped 3.5 hour ride there, a nice walk along the beach and a nice dinner. Sunday however was less than relaxing and more than adventurous.

The problems began Sunday morning when we tried to pay for our night spent in the hostel. We had to be out by 10am, but at 10am the owner was nowhere to be found. We took our $30 (3 rooms at $10 per room), placed it on the caretaker's desk, and left to walk along the beach. When we returned to the hostel later that afternoon to meet our taxi the owner was quite concerned. Apparently he had been searching for us all morning because, as he claimed, he never received our payment. We explained in detail where we had left the money, and he maintained that it was never there. Before we knew it, the 6 of us foreigners (probably the only white people in town) were surrounded by about 30 Liberians and two "officers" of questionable authority. It was quite a scene. We explained and argued for about an hour, but it was to no avail. Things were escalating and it was evident that we were gonna be traveling after dark, so we ultimately decided to pay again.

We were quite unhappy about the situation. Not because we each had to fork over an extra $5, but because we had fed right into one of Liberia's evils: corruption. We'll never know if the hostel owner was being honest about not having received the money. If he never got it then it was because someone else went into his home and took $30 off of his desk in the 10 minutes that it was left unattended. Both situations are disheartening. Corruption plagues this poor, hurting nation, and it is one of the biggest blockades to recovery. It seems that everything operates by the ten dollar handshake, and this stagnates progress.

Getting ripped off made me sad about the state of Liberia, but there is plenty of room here to hope. There are pastors here that urge members of their church to walk as Jesus walked - with integrity and fear of God. It is my prayer that these seeds of integrity may be scattered in good soil. Soil that is fertile and far from the cares of this world that threaten to choke life.

Betty update

I've realized that I never gave an update on my last adopt-a-patient Betty. She is the 21-year-old who came in for a VVF repair. As I said in my first posting about her, the surgery was unsuccessful, and so she is still leaking urine uncontrollably. The strength of this woman amazes me. She gave birth when she was 17, and she was in labor for 7 days to deliver her stillborn child. She has never been married, and, from what I can gather, her family sent her away to live with her aunt in Monrovia after "the problem" started. (That's how she refers to her incontinence - it's "the problem.") Betty told me that she doesn't have any friends, which I find hard to believe because she has such a spunky, congenial personality. In addition to causing social isolation, the problem also prevents her from going to school. As she describes it, to be in school she needs to be able to sit and stay dry for five hours, and this isn't possible in her current state. But she is still hopeful. Betty told me that she is praying to God to heal her so that she can go to school. During the war the Liberians schools shut down for about 7 years, which means that Betty probably has the education of and 11-year-old. I told Betty that I would join her in prayer for her healing. She was told that she could get another surgery when the ship returns. We exchanged phone numbers because she wants to call me once she's healed so that we can say "praise God!" together.

Betty and I had a lot of good times together while she was here. I would usually go and visit her in the evening after work and spend about an hour chatting, braiding hair, painting nails, etc. One night when I came in she had her short hair unbraided and standing on end, and she had a pick stuck in it. She said that she had been waiting for me and wanted me to comb out and braid her hair. I was so touched that she wanted me, the white gal will little to no African hairstyling experience, to experiment on her head. Betty patiently taught me how to work the comb against her scalp one section at a time to loosen the "dirt" (dandruff) and choose sections for each braid. The finished product was... well, let's just say that the braids were probably removed promptly after I left. Regardless, it was a sweet time of sisterhood.

Here is a picture of Betty and me:
(hmmm more technical difficulties. stay tuned)

Phebe waterfall - biomeds at play

Saturday evening some of our other friends from the ship joined us in Phebe so that they could see the hospital and we could all go to a nearby waterfall together on Sunday.

The waterfall trip was totally an adventure! The hospital kindly arranged to take us to and from the waterfall in one of their Land Rovers. This initially seemed way more ideal than hiring a taxi, but as it turned out our Land Rover was experiencing some technical difficulties and it kept dying. Apparently it had too much oil and the engine constantly overheated. I think we had to push-start it 7 times in total. On the return leg it died in the middle of a mud puddle so deep that mud crept in through the door. We thought we were sunk both figuratively and literally until about 8 men emerged from the bush (machetes in hand, mind you, because they had been tending their sugarcane) and helped us push the vehicle out. Really, the sense of community among these people continues to amaze me.

The waterfall was beautiful, and what was even more fun than looking at it was climbing it! It was actually a cascade, not a waterfall, so there were rocks and roots going up that allowed us to make our way to the top. The task required a lot of teamwork and determination, but we made it up and back down again with minimal injury and maximal excitement. It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime, unforgettable days.

Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Phebe Hospital - biomeds at work

I spent this past weekend at Phebe Hospital, the second biggest hospital in Liberia which is about four hours northeast of Monrovia. They had a bunch of unusable medical equipment and a broken oxygen compressor, and so the hospital administrator invited up a few of the Mercy Ships engineers up for the weekend to see what we could do. I went up with Carlos, the head biomedical man, and Alan, a mechanical/electrical engineer.

We stayed at the hospital administrator's home and had an absolutely lovely time in fellowship with him over the weekend. His name is Rev John Lunn; he is a Lutheran missionary from the United States and is currently the only non-Liberian living in Phebe. It was really cool to learn about his past. He has spent years serving the Lord in a homeless shelter in the Bronx, in Hawaii, in India, and now here in Liberia. Out of all of the places this man has been, he told us that this has been his toughest assignment. The lack of infrastructure in the country makes everything a challenge. John told us that the two biggest concerns of the hospital are 1) electricity and 2) running water. In the age of gene therapy and remotely performed telesurgeries how can a hospital's biggest concerns be electricity and running water?? Apparently nothing is easy at the hospital. If one thing goes right it's almost guaranteed that two things will go wrong. Yet in spite of these frustrations and his cultural isolation, John exudes peace and hospitality. He has such a sweet, sincere and peaceful demeanor. It's amazing what one can accomplish with Christ as his foundation.

Fixing the medical equipment wasn't quite as enriching as sharing stories with John. We repaired two machines and ended up throwing a lot of stuff away. Such is the life of a biomedical technician, I suppose! Still, I think the hospital appreciated the help. The staff gave us a big box of locally grown fruit as a thank you. From those who have little, such a gift means a lot.

One of the highlights of our day working on the equipment: we got to meet Liberia's Minister of Health! He used to work at Phebe hospital, so he comes for a few days each month to perform some surgeries. It was really neat to talk with him and hear some of his thoughts about the country's current need for biomedical technicians. Apart from Carlos and myself, there are none.

Shadowing the public health team

Last week I got to spend a day shadowing the Africa Mercy public health team as they went into the field. They have been going to a local village named Soss Town to teach about public health to leaders of the community. The idea is that these students will go back to their respective villages and implement the recommendations and teachings they learned in class. It was a good experience. We opened the day with prayer and some worship singing, and then the educators talked about safe village practices. They stressed the importance of hanging clothes on lines instead of the ground, wearing shoes, clearing brush and weeds, keeping animals in pens, building latrines, etc. The students were such avid learners and were engaged by the lesson. It's amazing how such simple changes can have such an impact on the health of the community. After class we all got to enjoy lunch together. We had one of my favorite African dishes - cassava leaves and rice.