A day in the life...

Saw this post on my friend's blog.. jerniganblog.blogspot.com and thought I'd share it with everyone. Please continue in prayer for them.

Sunday, May 27, 2007
Sunday on Call
9:28amIt's Sunday morning, and the four of us were watching a kids DVD together. I heard the phone ringing (odd since we don't have a cell signal much at all in the house). It showed 11 missed calls and I was not able to catch that one either. I decided to call this unknown number and a man speaking Twi answered, I could understand that he was calling me using the word for Pastor in Twi, I understood the word boat and emergency, but I could not get the name of the village where they needed the boat to go.
Praise God they got through, what kind of emergency is it? Can we help? I got Sammy, our accountant, to call back in a minute and get the village name and tell them the boat is coming. Ju quickly said she must go along in case it needs to be referred to a different hospital due to our lack of supplies and equipment currently. Just at that point they yelled up to the porch where we were talking of the situation and said that a patient had just arrived in a tro-tro (van) and needed the doctor.
It's now 9:41am and I'm with Lucas and Luiza...where is Ju now - in the boat? in the clinic? taking the patient to Kumasi via taxi? We are without transport since the clinic is in need of a truck or ambulance, our Nissan Patrol is still out of commission from the accident 5 weeks ago and no news on when it will be back to us. A rental will be back tomorrow morning that a partner has given us for temporary use.
I do hope that the patients that are here will get what they need, that we can help, that Ju will have the strength and joy, the compassion and energy for this day of work that we hoped would be a family day together.
It was just a few days ago when I wrote the words of Jesus in a blog entry 'cure the sick that are there', but it rings in my ears again today, he continued after that telling them "say to them 'The Kingdom of God has come near to you'."
10:08am Luiza tells me the phone is ringing. I went to answer and it was a man from the earlier call. Where is the boat? I told him it's coming. Alarmed I left Lucas and Luiza alone, went down to clinic to find Ju with two ward assistants and the midwife. They were all sullen, a four year old child had just died of malaria. I checked the storage room and there was the fuel tank for the boat and the life vests. I grabbed them, gave them to a child, and Ju followed walking down the road to catch the boat now to see what the emergency was across the lake.
12:21pm
Ju came back home. I wish I could recount the experiences over the last three hours as she encountered them. We both stood in tears mourning the loss of the child, realizing how selfish we had been as we wanted a Sunday morning as 'family time' when the hope of quite a few patients and their families was that Ju could help them today. I'm glad we are here.
01:02 PM in Lake Bosumtwe Methodist Clinic Permalink Comments (0) TrackBack (0)
Saturday, May 26, 2007