Saboba Snapshot: A day in the life of...

We have hardly done anything today… so….. hot. I did rounds this morning with Dr. Jean, and we came straight back to the house.

Bob is running around without his shirt on. Jean is laying under the fan and I just took a glass bottle of orange Fanta and am holding it to my neck. 102 degrees in the shade today... We were discussing the temperature and Jean cuts in and says, “It’s just too darn hot. After a certain point, there are no numbers. It’s just too darn hot.”

I concur, Doctor.

I wish I could take the ol’ Nikon for a walk, but there is NO WAY white girl is going outside right now. I started reading but was too distracted by the layer of sweat that is permanently coating my body. I’m glistening, people. Glistening!!

Now that my daily complaining session is over, I am hoping to distract myself by writing.

I have written mostly descriptions of events since I have been here, but I have not described to you what it is like to actually live in Saboba- what it’s like to wake up in Africa and what it looks like out my front door. The new buzz word of this trip is ADAPT! Just goooo with the flow…

-I wake up every morning to voices or singing or Bob hacking up a lung (poor guy has a chronic case of asthmatic bronchitis) about 6:30 every morning. When Dr. Nick and Bryn were here, we would usually go for a walk in the mornings, but it’s too hot now. Yesterday I also woke up to a lizard in my sandal and I didn’t freak out. I was shocked I wasn’t shocked.

-I sleep under a mosquito net they have over my bed, which oddly enough makes me feel like I have a princess bed, and I love it. It’s the canopy bed I always wanted, Dad!

-I never go barefoot. I just can’t. I hate when my feet are dirty. It drives me crazy and I give then a bucket bath every night, regardless if the rest of me is clean. I have designated a very strict pair of house shoes which are to remain NOT dirty for 3 months. Yes, these were the ones the lizard was in. Of course that would happen.

-Bob does all the cooking. The menu varies and now that is just the 3 of us, I usually  just have toast with jelly or crack toast (thank you Bryn Parker) for breakfast. Crack toast is ground nut paste aka peanut butter made by Aggie, Pastor Jonah’s wonderful wife, and it is delicious. Bryn would sprinkle sugar on top, which she thought looked like crack. I found this particularly amusing so I crack myself up every time I have it.

(I’ll say it- bad joke:)

-Getting ready in the morning is really awesome. It takes about 5 minutes (believe it, Dad, Gavin and Galen). I usually shower in the evenings so it’s just a given that my hair is out of control. It air dries just as fast than it does at home with a blow dryer! I don’t wear make-up though I must confess to the occasional cover-up. It’s so freeing.

-I have to wear fairly modest clothing so lots of skirts and capris and scrubs on surgery days. But I have bought fabric and draw things out for the seamstresses who can make ANYTHING. They are unbelievably good. I might start my own line… ;)

-I walk to the hospital every morning, which is about a quarter of a mile. In that short distance I encounter more goats, pigs, lizards and guinea hens than are on most farms. There is garbage everywhere, all plastic of course. Black plastic bags they use at every store or market place and sachets, which are plastic bags we drink water from. Though it’s the only way to get clean water, it’s an ecological disaster. For the record, that is the ONLY water I have drank, washed my mouth out with or rinsed off my toothbrush with since I have been here. I think the sachet water and my digestive system are friends, which is awesome. Keep the peace!!!

-I walk ONLY on pathways and roads because my heart WILL stop if I see a snake.

-The 48 cliff bars (2 Costco boxes) that lined the bottom of both suitcases are saving my life.

-Everything here is dirty. I’m thinking of my “I love NOT camping” friends and I’m laughing.

-The “if it’s yellow, let it mellow, if it’s brown, flush it down” policy is STRICTLY enforced here and under no circumstances are you to throw your toilet paper in the toilet. You MUST put it in the garbage next to the toilet. That’s going to be a hilarious habit to break when I get home:)

-My shower is a trickle of warm water… warmed from the 100+ degree heat wave we have every day. Oh what I would give for cold ANYTING! You turn it on. Turn it off and lather up. Turn it back on to rinse of and then turn it off. Just like that. I’ve got it down now.  

-I meet with my friend Pastor Jonah every night at 8 to learn Likpaapaaln, the language of the Konkomba tribe. When in Rome right?! I kind of suck at it, but he is the world’s nicest, most patient, wonderful man so I don’t feel so bad. I’d write you my favorite phrase “Don’t laugh at me. I’m doing the best I can” but they have letters that are not on my computer ha.

-Pop in glass bottles are called “minerals” and the only other thing I will drink beside the sachet water.

-Today I found the best bread EVER. This was a monumental finding in my life. Maybe my cliff bars will last…

-Dr. Jean has a beautiful voice, and I love when she sings.

- Almost every patient in the hospital has typhoid or malaria on top of other things so I am never without hand sanitizer.

-The hospital has 3 buildings: the Children and Male ward, which had to be combined because the Children’s ward floods in the rainy season. There is the Operating Theater (it has an AC!!!), and there is the maternity ward. They are so dirty and stuffy… It’s just hard to imagine. That is not at all a derogatory statement, but an observation from the perspective of a spoiled American. They get the job done though and that’s the important thing.

-Dr. Young is really an amazing women and has learned to make the best of what she has. Facilities and equipment are soooo limited here. Example- the osteo case we had yesterday. That guy has a HOLE in his bone his tibia that you could fit maybe three fat baby carrots in. She packed it with gauze and will redress it tomorrow. She’ll use things like diluted bleach and hydrogen peroxide when funds are low and sugar. The dilute bleach solution obviously kills germs but the sugar will nurture new tissue but also creates a hypertonic environment and the bacteria cells burst and die. Brilliant.  

Well, there you have it. Life in Saboba. You should come visit my place of luxury! The people are so great it makes all this so worth it.

Thank you for your prayers. Pray of course for the sick kids… the little girl with typhoid I told you about earlier is killing me. Actually it’s her dad that hasn’t moved from her side that is killing me. She has tubes down her nose, she’s so swollen and every breath is a struggle. I pray with her every time I go in, asking God to heal her. Pray for opportunities to invest and impact and direction on how to make the most of my time here. We gotta spread the love, right?!

Much love to you all.

P.S. I have 23 followers… get out! You’re too kindJ