by Fenton Rees
October 22, 2015
Mad Dogs and Englishmen: There used to be a saying, “Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid-day sun”, probably from the British colonial days in India. I agree that going out in the mid-day sun on the equator is kind of crazy and to be avoided, if possible. For this last half of October, we are averaging about 1” of rain a day, mostly late afternoon or at nite-time. Then in the morning it is cooler and misty. Now cooler is still relative, it is still near 80F in the morning (and of course quite humid). Then around lunchtime the sun comes out and it gets even warmer. I’ve now somewhat transitioned away from the eye-clinic and to figuring out the (electrical) grounding issues on the whole campus, which involves walking around and trying to find if buildings have anything in the way of a ground. The answer is mostly no, and so then the job is to figure out the least bad place to put in a series of ground rods. So this is all outside, as opposed to being under-cover for my work at the eye-clinic. So I try and do all this during the morning mist and do other things during the heat of the day when the sun is at full strength. Even before I had a skin cancer thing chopped out of my leg (in May) I had decided it was OK to die without being tanned, so this is more in the same vein.
Minor Celebration: Today (Oct22) there was a minor celebration because Paul & Melodie Davis returned, after he had to be hastily sent back to the US two months ago for an urgent medical problem. He was a mill-wright at GM until 7 years ago, when he took early retirement and came out here to Bongolo, and has since been the chief maintenance man. They had previously done many short term trips, and this seemed like the next step for them. The amazing thing is that before they came out he was already a cancer survivor (colon), and has since had to deal with dozens of kidney stones. And yet here they are serving the Lord in this remote jungle outpost. Because he is responsible to keep everything running, he is VERY much appreciated. He is definitely a “jack of all trades” and willing to have a go at anything;- definitely a useful person to have around.
Seeing and believing? The photo below is of Dr. Wendy Hofman (the Ophthalmologist) and her crew, in the operating room having a team meeting and training session. I was trying to find out when I could kill the power to the eye clinic and make one last minor adjustment to my electrical work, and thought this was a good picture. These guys (and gals) are at the business end of providing eye care to a fair sized chunk of Gabon, perhaps as many as ½ million people. What I have been doing was helping to ensure that the tools they need to do their job are available when they need them and not “dead” because of issues with the electrical supply. Without their specialized tools and equipment, (and training obviously), they are pretty much dead in the water;- it’s hard to do eye surgery with a flashlight and pocket knife!
Previously Dr. Wendy told me that here in Gabon people in their old age (maybe over 60, as 60 is their life expectancy), are just resigned to going blind from cataracts, and kind of expect the last few years or decade of their life to be blind. Wow! Every day I’m down at the eye clinic, they just have boat loads of patients there, (that's at least 50), all sitting in the shade waiting their turn to be seen. And as they are sitting there, they get preached to. Way to go!
Well enough ramblings for one day,
Blessings,
Fenton & Pat