A Thank You

This is another great God story that I wanted to share. After working in the hospital for some time, I finally had a chance to go to a local village with Ben and the dental team. The journey out the the village was along a rocky, dusty road that our Toyota truck could hardly handle. Along the way we saw dozens of villages filled with children and community members, waving as we passed by.

Then, about half way through the drive, I saw an younger man wearing a royal blue robe running toward the car, waving as if to trying to stop us. I turned to look and instantly recognized him. I excitedly yelled to the driver "oh my gosh, stop the car!" I'm sure with the driver and other passengers confused, I jumped out and ran to hug this man in the blue robe. He had come to the hospital last week with his son, who was very ill, and with some supportive hospital care, God healed his son and we were able to send him home only a few days prior.

We could not not speak each other's languages, but we both seemed to communicate without any words. The man called his son, who was playing nearby in the village, to show me his son was doing well. It was as if the man wanted to say 'thank you'. I nearly cried. After driving through hundreds of people and dozens of villages, how did this man happen to come out to our car.

Thank you God, for healing this young boy and for once again showing Ben and I that You are near.

Children In the Villages

These are photos from the local villages where Ben spent most of his time playing with the children. Their faces tell more of the story than words ;)

Learning to Walk Again

This is Abdul. He had necrotizing fasciitis to his right foot extending up to his knee, requiring skin grafting. After days of recovering from the surgery and wound care, we finally got him a set of crutches to get onto his feet again for the first time. He was smiling from ear to ear as slowly gained the confidence to bear weight on his previously wounded leg. After several minutes, he wanted to walk all the way around the hospital with his new crutches, smiling and laughing, as he was so happy to walk again. It was hard for me to even get him back inside again. I have so many great stories like this, as I watched many of our burn and wound patients go through extensive surgeries, painful dressing changes, but eventually an enormous smile as they were given their set of crutches to start to walk again.

I was Abdul last week for a follow up appointment. He was still smiling ear to ear, so greatful to be healed. He was walking without his crutches and his wound was healing incredibly well. Praise God for these great healing stories and Abdul's beautiful heart.

Mugisu

This little baby stole my heart the moment I started my work in the hospital. Mugisu walked through a fire in his local village and had deep thickness burns to his feet up to his calves. When I arrived at BMC, he already had two skin grafts to his feet. Every day, Majeed cried and cried as we had to undress and re-dress his bandages; No pain medication except tylenol, as this was the case for all of our patients.

His mother (pictured) was very strong, but some days during dressing changes, she too cried, as it was so difficult for her to watch her little baby go through so much pain. Finally, one day during dressing changes, I could see how the mother's spirits were incredibly wounded by her injured little baby. She needed to get out the hospital and back home to be with her family. I discharged Mugisu and his wife to home, knowing a lift in spirits would be the best medicine for them. When Mugisu returned to the clinic on my last day in Nalerigu for a follow up, his wounds were healing incredibly well. We decided the child needed no more skin grafts and could continue daily wound cares from home. I had never seen his mother smile so much. She told us that Mugisu will now start to learn how to walk again.

Colored Pencils

These are the boys living in the local village around the hospital. They came to our house every day and frequently wanted to play games. Ben gave eac of them the colored pencils donated from our church and family. One day they came to our home to show us all the colorful pictures they had drawn. We'll have to show you them when we come home, as they are not well photographed in the picture. But we can tell you they are amazing artists! They had pictures of a guitar, scarecrow, soccerballs and famous people in Ghana. Most of them had written "For Ben" at the top, to thank him for giving them the new colored pencils to practice their drawing.

Ben at the Nutrition Center

Ben has been spending time at the Children's Nutrition Center outside our hospital. This is a great shot of how tall Ben must look to these little babies!

Lydia

I thought I would tell you about this amazing story Ben and I were apart of recently. The woman in this picture brought her young boy, Majeed, into the hospital because he was unresponsive and limp. We later found that he had meningococcal meningitis. He was admitted to my ward about two weeks ago, and I was very unsure if he would survive. Earlier this week, we started seeing some improvement. He finally could sit up, and was able to eat small amounts of porage. He started responding when you called his name and even began squeezing my hand when I held it every day on rounds.

His mother called me to his bedside one afternoon and said she wanted to accept Jesus and become a Christian, because she knew God was watching over her son. Ben was fortunately with me, and together we prayed, as the nurse translated English into her tribal language. After our prayer, she asked for a new name. Ben and I looked at each other and were confused. The nurse then explained that when a person becomes a Christian, they are given a new name. I decided to give her the name, Lydia, the name of my younger sister, as she is one of the most godly women I know. I wrote out her new name on a piece of torn off notebook paper and she smiled, delighted. As my nurse Mary said that morning, the angels were singing in heaven.

Abraham (on the left), is Majeed's brother. He is at the bedside all day and night to help his brother. Abraham has been going to his local village church with Majeed, and both of the brothers are Christians. Now their whole family will attend church together.