i'm back at Tembo beach in Musoma. I wrote this a few days ago but did not have adequate internet speed to update the blog at that time. Now I even have wifi from the beach restaurant and am sitting in the shade with a nice lake breeze. What a life. Fr Conard is still on home leave so I’m trying to manage
the mission while he’s gone and getting a few projects done. Between projects
I’m trying to keep the accounting books up to date, distribute mosquito nets,
photo’s and rosaries. I’ve been dragging my feet on getting our new website for
the hospital up and running, so today I reviewed what is still remaining to be
done. Mostly the web builder needs more details on each service offered at the
hospital and some photo’s of each service with a patient and doctor doing that
service.
So Thursday I was walking around looking for our
American physician’s assistant, Kathy, to help me with some descriptions. I was
unsuccessful in finding her so I asked for the doctor and the head nurse said
he was just starting his fourth surgery. I asked her if there was any
possibility of getting a photo of him in surgery for the website. She looked at
me a little strange and then said she would ask him. I followed her to the door
and waited. In a minute the doctor stuck his head out and asked for more info.
I showed him my list of needs, one being a photo during surgery. He thought a
minute and then told one of the nurses to get me ready. I was
flabbergasted. They were just preparing
for a c-section.
I got my gown on, my sandals, and mask and followed the
nurse in. The doctor was just starting to apply the sterilizing lotion to the
young ladies stomach. As I had heard from Kathy, he was saying prayers over the
patient the whole time he applied the sterilizing lotion. All I had was my smart phone because I was
not expecting to take photo’s today. He then covered the naked body with a
sheet, with a slit over the lower abdomen. I started shooting photo’s as he
started cutting. Soon the dead embryo was removed and laid in a stainless tray.
That was enough for me to take my exit. What an experience. I went back an hour
later to see the doctor but he was in surgery doing his fifth of the day. What
a man. So gentle, spiritual and humble. We are so lucky.
Our carpenter, mason, mechanic and day laborers have just
been doing small projects since we finished the three big ones last week. Those
included a chain link fence around the convent, two toilets and a septic tank
outside the hospital lab, an 8’ pit for disposal of hospital incinerator ashes
and a washing station with 4 sinks and 4 clothes lines for the patient’s families.
This week we demolished the old incinerator, enlarged the
new incinerator door, cleaned all three store rooms at the carpenter’s shop,
cleaned the plumber’s shop, hailed off or burned the trash from each, and
replaced the window screen and rotten wood around my front door. Today they
started adding 300 bricks (4 rows) to the wall surrounding my back yard. The
mechanic and helper took the diesel pump of our single cab pickup in town for
repair and they finished installing it today. The helper could not find a front
tire for our tractor so he will take the bus to Kenya tomorrow, since there are
many more tractors there. We paid for a new tractor radiator weeks ago but the
first one was the wrong size, so we are hoping the vendor can find the right
size in Kenya. He refuses to refund the
money, of course.
Cleaning the shops has turned up a wealth of items that
were buried for so long that no one knew they were there. Were found 6 buckets
of pipe fitting for steel, plastic, IPS and PVC pipe. That alone is now worth a
fortune due to inflation. The last 12 months it has averaged 17 %; just a
little above the 15% of previous years.
Kathy our visiting PA is departing for home on July 21st.
She has been so busy at the hospital that the only site seeing has been two
local towns which don’t have much to offer, except the beach on Lake Victoria
in Musoma. Since it was the 4th of July week-end we decided to drive
down to Mwanza, the big city, where there are 7 Maryknoll Lay Missioners
working and several sisters and a priest and brother. We learned they had
planned a little beach party on Friday evening, so we invited ourselves and Liz,
the local MKLM from Musoma. It was a 4 hour drive but well worth it. Saturday
Liz and Kathy got a cut and color at Liz’s favorite shop while I made the
rounds of my favorite hardware stores. When they finished at noon they both
look great so we finished the day in a fabric store that is a big weakness for
Kathy. I must admit I spent as much as anyone for family gifts. But I was
particularly pleased with the hardware items I found which are not available in
our small towns up North.
About 3 pm we headed north for our last, but not least,
stop; a nice hotel (Ndabaka Lodge) at the west gate of the Serengeti Park.
Kathy had never been to the park and Liz and I always love to make at least one
visit a year or more. The rooms (cabins)
were very nice and the meals were as well. We got in the park about 8 am and
took our time stopping many places for pictures. If you know Liz or me you
probably saw 10 or more of Liz’s favorite shots on her Facebook page Sunday
evening. We were very fortunate to get some nice views of zebras, wildebeests,
lions, hippos and crocks, plus a smattering of impalas, giraffes, gazelles, ostriches, and a nice eagle. No elephants this time but still a very nice
quick trip (6 hours). It was right on the way home so we got back to the
village by 6 pm. Next week Kathy and I will head up to Kitale, Kenya to visit
more lay missioners that Kathy has worked with and I know most very well. After
a 5 day week-end I’ll head home and Kathy will fly to Nairobi.
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