by Fenton Rees

When something weird happens at the hospital, Pat has a saying that it is just “TIA”, as in “This is Africa”. I have some of those too! Some of my work is bigger picture planning kind of stuff, and some is just plain fixing stuff that doesn’t work. One of the first things on my list was to figure out where and how to install a new power conditioner that will protect the sensitive hospital equipment from electrical surges. It arrived 6 weeks ago, and has since sat on a pallet covered in plastic. Caleb and I opened it up to see where the input/output cables would connect to and found rat droppings everywhere and a nest way up inside. What a mess. “TIA”. Good thing they have a Shop Vac.

Then there was a brand new concrete mixer from the US that could not be used as its emergency stop button (to kill the engine) was not working. Some disassembly revealed that a mouse or rat had chewed all the way through a critical power cable. “TIA”. On their next container they need to ship in 500 LBs of d-Con ! Actually the rat problem might be this bad as they have a food manufacturing plant on site. They make a grain based high protein product called “Busoma”, (Burundi, Sorghum, Soy and Maize), to help counter the malnourishment that is widespread. In a more normal place a few cats would be the solution to the rat problem, but here with the lack of meat, they would almost certainly be eaten!

And I have heard from two people that occasionally rats nibble on the feet of newborn babies in what passes for their Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Yikes!

And then finally there was this new 100 meter roll of insulated copper wire used for wiring up lights and outlets in the new 45 bed building. The Burundian “electrician” who is overseeing that work thought there was something strange with the wire, but wasn’t sure what. Upon closer inspection we discovered that it was actually copper coated steel wire, probably from China. (The worst quality Chinese junk often gets sold cheap in the poorest African countries). What should have been rated at 22 amps was probably good for no more than 5 amps, and if it had of been used, would almost certainly have caused a fire. “TIA”.

Now I don’t want you to think that life is all crazy and bad here. The photo is of us in front of our apartment; one quarter of what they call the “Quad-plex”, which was built about 4 years ago specifically for short term visitors. Perfectly adequate, with most of the things we need except for the less than consistent electricity. If the power has been off for most of the day they will run the back-up generator at night to help keep cool down the fridges.

Burundi is just a few degrees south of the equator, so you would think it would be quite hot and sticky; like Gabon where we were last year for 2+ months. But here we are at about 6,000 ft. up in the mountains, so it is actually quite pleasant; about 50F early in the morning, and then by mid-afternoon it gets to about 80F, with low humidity as it is dry season. So far it has been sunny every day, and at mid-day, even though the temp is not excessive, you can sure feel the power of that equatorial sun. And very few bugs is a bonus.

I (Fenton) work primarily with Caleb, a young civil engineer, who with his family is here for the long-term. Then there is Tony from England, (again a civil engineer), here for about 18 months to help Caleb get up to speed on building larger buildings in third world countries. Tony spent 5 years in India overseeing the construction of a 2,000 bed mission hospital. Wow.

New 45 bed building surgery ward with roof of ground floor.

They are working on a good sized 2 story building that will add an additional 45 beds to the existing 100. You would not believe how crowded some of the existing wards are, so that the nominal 100 bed count actually translates into 180 patients.

That new 45 bed building will mostly be surgery wards, and will cost about $550k, with half being provided by a Canadian donor, and the other half hopefully from some matching funds. So if any of you have a spare $275k just lying around doing nothing, it can do a lot of good here! The picture shows the roof of the ground floor about to be poured with concrete in a few days.

And yes we did have July 4th here, (it is the day between the 3rd and 5th, Ha)! There was a potluck at one of the doctor's houses, but definitely international in flavor with Tony from England and a doctor from Canada. Obviously no fireworks, given the political instability over the last year.

Pat is a bit overwhelmed with the number of patients on the surgical service; it was 40 a few days ago. Sometimes she realizes that even though she might not have the perfect solution to a problem, there are no other options, so "less than perfect" is okay.

So please pray that:

1. I choose the correct problems to solve--the ones with the greatest long term impact. There are way too many problems for me to solve them all in 6 weeks.

2. The surgeon that Pat is substituting for is rumored to have worked at least 80 hours per week, such is the demand for surgery. Unfortunately Pat appears well on her way to imitating that; so pray Pat doesn’t either burn out or get sick.

3. One of Pat’s patients has 7 children and a disabled husband. At a rural clinic she gave birth to a baby who died and then had surgery for a hysterectomy and an injured bowel and is not doing well due partly to her poor state of nutrition. Pray for a miracle recovery for this patient.

4. And there are 39 more similar needs to pray for!

Well, maybe I have rambled way too long. With no TV, radio or newspapers, there is just too much time to write!