Anyway, we were met by Dr. Tongai Chitsamanta who gave us a tour of the hospital. He and his wife (who is also a doctor) came to the hospital to serve for a year – and that was five years ago. The hospital has quite an elaborate maternity ward – they do an average of 10 caesareans each week. Those patients stay for four days. The mothers who don’t need the caesarean only stay 24 hours. There is also a hostel for at-risk pregnant women – the women can come to the mission early in their pregnancy so that they are sure of getting the help they need when it comes time to deliver. There is also a "Kangaroo Unit" for premature babies. The hospital has no incubators so the babies are placed on their mother’s stomach, right next to the skin and then wrapped tight – hence the kangaroo image.
They have a men’s unit, a women’s unit, a pediatric unit with a wing for children suffering from malnutrition. The units have wards with four to six beds. There are also a variety of outpatient clinics – eye, dental and so on.
The mission station also has a large school complex with 900 kids in the high school and about 500 kids in the primary school. They have a program for deaf and for blind children. School starts in January so we are coming to the end of the school year. The national exams are taking place right now – "O" levels and "A" levels – and the local or school exams will start in two weeks. We had the opportunity to visit several classes where the students were revising for their exams – unsupervised and exhibiting enormous self-discipline. And we met several teachers who are AU graduates.
After lunch we headed back to LaRochelle. One of the gardeners was scheduled to take us on a tour of the grounds. The Courtaulds collected seeds from trees all over the world and then propagated and planted them at LaRochelle. There is one place where you can stand and be surrounded by trees from all of the continents! They originally had 36 gardeners and now the National Trust only employs 6. But what amazing work they do. Bougainvillea, jacarunda, frangipangi, Brazillian rain tree, and many others are currently in bloom. There are these wonderful storm lilies that only bloom after a rain – and we had just enough of a rain on Saturday to bring them up (sort of like the resurrection lilies). This area is classified as "moist savanna" so it rarely gets cold enough for the trees we are used to seeing in Indiana. But there was a sweet gum and a couple of maples. We ran out of daylight before we ran out of things the see. The gardener is dividing and repotting orchids so we will look in the orchid house later this week.
Dinner was great fun tonight. That long drive in the heat had everyone just a little silly. Not sure about this but Patricia loaned Jerry some ice cream and then took it back?? Well, let’s just say is was hysterical at the time ....
After dinner we had an opportunity to learn about the work that Hazvinei is doing in Darfur. She was an Indiana scholarship student at AU back in 2000 and has corresponded with Bonnie over the years (they had not met until this weekend). She received a degree in public health from AU is working in Darfur for the UN doing AIDS/HIV and gender issues education – as a volunteer! She is working as a sort of case worker in the camps for internally displaced persons and also leading education classes for the UN troops who serve in the area. The volunteers receive a stipend and housing (a converted shipping container) in return for their work, and are contracted for 6 months at a time. And, yes, she admits that sometimes it is a scary place to be!
We have covered a lot of ground today. Learned a lot and stand in awe of what is being done by AU graduates in Africa! And here us picture of Hazvinei with Gene and Bonnie.
Just a message for Jerry Jo thru her sister (me), thru her dad, from her daughter!!
ReplyDelete" Mary E would like her mother to know that Alex bumped his head , had a concussion, to ER, out of school two days.
Austin had some pneumonia but evidently OK.\
All are going trick or treating tonight.
I don't know how to get this message to Jerry J."
And besides all that: we love the Jerrys! and we're praying for good health and safety for all.~Jerry Jo's Lil' Sis~