Sup Chief

I seriously cannot get over how cute these kids are here. I want one.

High: first surgery today with Dr. Morris!! What an honor that was. Bryn, as usual, helped me prep and set things up and then Dr. Morris walked me through patiently and thoroughly. He has primarily been fixing hernias here because that is such a problem here because of their strenuous lifestyle, so I have observed several. This is the IDEAL way to learn hands on. I got to stick my finger through the weakness in the muscle and then got to feel how strong it was after we repaired it. It makes so much more sense now. Dad- I thought of you a lot today during this procedure. All your lectures and nogan thumps about using my head and thinking ahead were very useful.

High I just remembered- Women carry their babies in cloth wrapped to their backs and it’s the cutest thing you’ve ever seen. Bryn and I decided we need to burrow a baby and try this maneuver sometime. Today was our chance!! And it just so happened to be one of THE prettiest, happiest babies I have seen yet. The mother thought it was hilarious we wanted to try this so she helped us tie the baby on and take pictures. It made me so happy. The pictures are so great. I’ll put them up later. You must see them.

Low: I saw two emaciated children today going on rounds with Dr. Young this morning. Basically, everyone here has malaria, typhoid or both and that causes a multitude of secondary problems.

Most Amazing: It is proper to make yourself known in this culture to the local chiefs. Our visits today served as a farewell for Dr. Nick and Bryn and my arrival. I am not really sure how all this works considering there are a billion people with rank and special titles, but today we went to see two top dogs. The first of which is Jonah’s chief, so we got to go to his village (literally down the road from where I’m living). I will never get over how cute I think this kids are!! Which by the way, I think I will start posting on facebook though I tried to avoid that by using my blog. It’s so much quicker and more efficient to use good ol’ fb. I’ll get to that later though…

Anyway- so back to my story. Jonah had to go in and announce that we were there (Dr. Young, Dr. Morris, Bryn and I) and they set up chairs for us where we sat and waited for the chief to make his grand entrance and sit on his special chair. His interpreter told us how glad he was that we are here, so thankful for all Dr. Nick and Bryn have done (almost 70 surgeries in a month’s time!!) and how glad he is I am here. They brought us “minerals” (pop in glass bottles lol- so awesome). The last time Dr. Nick and Bryn did this the chief tried to marry off one of the med students here, so I was warned. I escaped with only a request for my phone number. He was strong and handsome though!;)

We went to a different chief who is a personal friend of the Young’s as well. He was very kind to us and welcomed us to his palace aka round hut larger than all the round huts. He said he was so grateful for the work done by Dr. Nick and Bryn because of how much it helps Dr. Young.

Both chiefs sent us with God’s blessings to us and our family and prayers that we will return. Very cool.

I did have to pinch myself though. As the sun was setting on the African horizon, I had to pinch myself. I just met two African tribal chiefs and sat outside their palaces. Just another day in the office I guess...

For my dear brother Galen’s sake, I will stop;) I agree they are a little long, but there’s just so much that happens in a day here!!

More surgeries tomorrow and I will get to scrub in for some of these as well. You can expect a photo op:) Also, PARTY tomorrow!! We will celebrate Dr. Nick and Bryn’s time here.

P.S. My nurse friend Jacob informed me as soon as he saw me this morning that the little boy from yesterday died shortly after I left yesterday evening. He is with Jesus now.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.