by Fenton Rees
We have now passed the half way mark of our scheduled time here, but have been thrown a bit of a curve ball. The surgeon who was going to relieve Pat will not make it. They would like us, especially Pat, to stay another six weeks. Pray with us as we try and figure out what makes the most sense, as I have clients that expected me back on August 12th.
Pat lost quite a bit of weight due to the need for anti-retroviral drugs after her time in Gabon in April. Before we left for Burundi, we heard from Jerry and Lilly Ann Rusher that the typical dinner meal here is very light on any kind of meat or chicken. To help build Pat back up again we brought with us four pounds of dehydrated chicken and turkey. (Thank you Lee & Pat Bryson for acquainting us with this “Thrive” food, as it has been a real lifesaver).
This week, to our surprise we received some fresh chicken. Ezekiel turned up one night around 8pm with a gift of a live rooster. We had to share tea and banana bread with him and find out how he and his family (five kids) were doing. Ezekiel has been working at Kibuye for the last 25 years at least, through both good times and bad. He is a man of many talents, from welding to cooking. Ezekiel cooked for us the first time we were here in 2011. Fortunately, we didn’t have to kill and fix our gift. Our house help, Amon, did all that. Amon got to keep all the “best” parts like the head, feet, wings and innards, which, for some reason, he liked. Your typical Burundian does not have the option of chicken, so most are undernourished as well as being low on protein. One of the side effects of malnutrition is that Pat sees far more Osteomyelitis here than anywhere else she has been. Osteomyelitis is where the bones are infected and more susceptible to break. It can get to be a real mess.
Ezekiel has a big coat on, because Burundis think it is VERY cold at maybe around 60F.
Pat has had an influx of patients with incarcerated hernias, where a loop of the bowel gets trapped inside the hernia. If these incarcerated hernias are not operated on within a few hours, the bowel dies. Additionally, if the affected area is not repaired, the hernia’s damage almost always leads to death. These immediate challenges make it hard for Pat to contemplate leaving here without a replacement.
Isadore, mentioned a week or two ago looking like she might die, is amazingly doing fine.
On Tuesday, Tony, a civil engineer from England, supervised about 150 men, who mixed and poured 50 cubic meters (65 cubic yards) of concrete for the floor of the 2nd story of the new 50 bed addition to the hospital. They started at 6am, as the sun rose to light the worksite with mountains of sand, gravel and 500 bags of cement. They were not done until 9pm, after working with the new lights for the last three hours. It was quite a sight to see.
Just before the pour I was discussing the project with Tony and it quickly became obvious that concrete is a lot more complicated than it appears. The conversation turned to the amount of rebar for when the concrete is in tension or compression, the extra issues with the cantilevered portions, and the concrete’s strength vs curing time. Wow, good thing I wasn’t responsible for this. It is easy to see how well-meaning, but improperly-skilled people can volunteer to help in these projects, but get it wrong, with potentially deadly consequences.
In the same way, I have now discovered that the apartment block (Quad-plex) that we are living in is a huge fire trap. It was one of the first of the newer buildings to be built in the latest building phase, about four years ago, and apparently most, if not all, of the internal wiring was done with copper-coated steel wire, (probably Chinese). Electrical wire that should be rated for 20+ amps is maybe good for 5A, and as lots of appliances use more than 5A, we are treading on thin ice. Some of you are aware that from time to time missionaries get burnt OUT (just like the rest of us) from the sometimes unlimited demands of the task, from family issues and, of course, from the schemes of the enemy. But we sure don’t need the ones here getting burned UP! Ha!
I serendipitously found the steel wire because about a week ago when our house-help, Amon, was cooking in the kitchen one of the outlets just went “poof”, and blew one of the prongs off the kettle’s plug. Tuesday, I investigated what caused it, and I found it hard to cut the end off of one of the wires which I thought was quite strange. Finally, I figured it wasn’t me getting weak, but that the wire was made of steel. Ah Ha! That explains a lot of the weird things I had measured in this building. So to completely rewire the place goes to the top of the priority list. Any electricians out there who want an African adventure? I guess God must dispense special grace onto mission compounds, as I have no idea how this place hasn’t burned down.
Well that’s about all for now,