back home

I’m writing this in the midst of my travels back to America. It takes me over 30 hours to get home with all the layovers, but this extra time gives me room to take in the changes and get used to seeing so many white people! The first thing I did in America after calling home was buy and apple and a smoothie. I really missed those things. Leaving Burkina was difficult for me, especially saying goodbye to the girls and Felix and Nema. I may never get to come back to a six year old girl yelling my name upon arrival and demanding I give her a kiss while she clings to my leg making it impossible to walk.

Friday, my last day at the clinic was a rainy day, which I thought appropriate for the feelings of grey I was experiencing. The day did not go without laughter, however, as many of the workers hung around outside singing French songs and teaching some dance moves.
The week at the clinic was relatively busy, and the Navigator team came by a couple days to tour the facilities and help out. It was wonderful to get to stand and pray with some of the girls by the 3 bricks stacked on top of each other marking where Felix hopes the maternity will be built in the near future. There is plenty of extra land, and he is just waiting for God to bring the funds.

I took care of a woman with a severe pelvic infection (something not uncommon here) for several days. Here the patients have to pay for everything before they receive the treatment, so it was surprising to see how much medicine was going to go into her for the three days of hospital treatment (4 different antibiotics around the clock for the different kinds of infection it could be). A boy fell in a fire and had to have his wounds dressed several times during the week. I was impressed with his strength (he was probably 3 or 4) to stand there as his raw skin was cleansed all over his back, legs, and buttocks.

The past six weeks have certainly been an adventure for me, and I thank you for going on it with me. It feels strange to be able to communicate with people so easily and know that I really am getting my point across to them correctly. I have learned so many things, I’m still sorting it all out, so once I have some succinct way of explaining it, I’ll let you know! God has been so good to me in every way during the past weeks, he has really been my provider.

Hopefully now that I have better internet connection I’ll get to post some pictures for you to see! Thank you so much!!