Plastic Surgeries

We finished our 5 weeks of plastic surgery last weekend and said goodbye to Dr Tertius Venter, the plastic surgeon, who gives of his time and talents to Mercy Ships twice a year for 5 weeks at a time.  These surgeries were a great success and we've already sent so many of our patients out healed and ready for a new life. We still have a full ward of patients recovering and receiving daily or every other day dressing changes, but we are slowly sending them home or to the Hope Center.  Countless people in third world countries are burned in fires every year. Lack of electricity means more fires for cooking and light and poor water supply leads to boiling water....  At least half of our burn patients here on the Africa Mercy are children who fell into a fire or were burned with scalding water years ago. These people are often unable to seek medical attention and as their bodies healed, their skin contracted and left them unable to use an extremity or other body part.

I'd like to introduce you to Afi, one of my sweet B ward patients. She's an epileptic and years ago had a seizure, fell into a bonfire and was badly burned. She came to us with a severe neck contracture and burns all over her face and chest. Her cheek was touching her shoulder when she came to us, she was quiet, withdrawn, and never smiled. We did skin grafts on her neck, eye lids, lip and chin 3 weeks ago, and although she still has a long way to go, her grafts are healing well and she smiles all the time! This beautiful woman is so courageous. She has been through so much in her life and now stands a little taller and hopeful for the future.

He gives beauty for ashes

Strength for fear

Gladness for mourning

Peace for despair

"Beauty for Ashes" by Crystal Lewis

A few photos from the hospital wards

 

Elmina Castle

I got to spend a little more time in Ghana recently. In contrast to most surrounding countries, Ghana is considered stable, advanced ad prosperous. It is one of the largest cocoa producers in the world and is also home to Lake Volta, the largest artificial lake in the world by surface area. The coastline is amazing with lush green palm trees swaying in the wind and the blue ocean crashing against the white beaches. Sadly, some of the biggest tourist attractions in Ghana are the remnants of slavery along the coastline in the form of slave castles.

We spent one night on the beach in Elmina, a small fishing village with a population of around 20,000 and visited St George's Castle while we were there. Fishing boats were being made on the beaches as we watched, carved out by hand and then painted. Inside the Castle, I found myself standing at "the door of no return." The gate where hundreds of thousands of slaves fates were sealed. I stood on the stones where the slaves were brought the 30 meters from the dungeon in the castle to the ship that carried them to the plantations in America. As the tour continued I found myself locked up in a small ventilated cell, inside the rooms where slaves were held in inhumane conditions, in court where the governor pointed out his concubines, and I also enjoyed an incredible view from the top of the castle. The contrasts were great! That such a fantastic place could have such a terrible story...

The slaves were kept at the castle in order to determine who would bear the voyage across the Atlantic. The castle has been used by the Portuguese, Dutch and Brits for various things over the last 500 years, but slave trade was the most prevalent. Toward the end of the guided tour was a Nigerian word. He gave a monologue and there was silence. Reverently we all listened to this man who drew up the historic lines and spoke of forgiveness. That Africans today would free themselves from the past if they could forgive. It was an emotional moment, and all Africans said "amen" in the end.

Togo Facts

"One of the greatest stumbling blocks to understanding other peoples within or without a particular culture is the tendency to judge others’ behaviors by our own standards."

– James Downs

Below is some information I found interesting from the Human Development Report 2011. This report “argues that the urgent global challenges of sustainability and equity must be addressed together…”

Togo's Human Development Indicator is 0.435, which gives the country a rank of 162 out of 187 countries with comparable data, leaving it in the bottom 30 of member nations.  And can anyone guess which country is ranked #1?? I’ll give you a hint…it’s not the US.   Actually, Norway is ranked 1 out of 187. (For those of you dying to know where the US ranks, go to http://hdr.undp.org/en and check it out. So, I’m going to compare Togo and Norway a bit.

• Life expectancy at birth in Norway: 81 years; Togo: 57 years (WHO)
• The average daily wage in Norway is $170 per person per day; in Togo it is $2.31 per person per day (and 38.7% live on less than $1.25 per person per day.
• In Norway: there are 4,445 dentists for 5 million people (1 dentist for every 1,125); in Togo: there are 18 dentists for 6 million people (1 dentist for every 333,333)
• In Norway: 20,000 doctors for 5 million people (1doc per 250 people); in Togo: 318 doctors for 6 million people (1 doc per 18,868 people).

The West African worldview is intensely religious; people’s thoughts and actions are inspired or influenced by a religious point of view. Religion can not be isolated or separated from the worldview or life of the African.

Togo religion consists of:

African Traditional Religions: 51%

Christianity: 29%

Islam: 20%  

(US Dept of State)

African Traditional Religion (ATR): is an umbrella term that encompasses many different expressions of indigenous religious beliefs and practices. It is comparable to the variety of different expressions/denominations/doctrines that co-exist under the umbrella of Christianity. A few of these include animism, voodoo/voudon, idol worship, witchcraft, magic/ju-ju. It is the belief in a Supreme/Creator God; divinities (lesser gods who act as intermediaries); spirits; ancestors (intermediaries); the practice of magic and medicine. The ATR central point is that the Supreme God is distant and controls the universe through lesser gods and the ancestors. The goal is to minimize suffering/harm and maximize prosperity/success.