News!

So I arrived in Rochester at the end of March and never quite got around to posting at that time.  Now that I am preparing to return, I thought it was time for an update.  Besides there is so much to share!

I knew that leaving Shisong would be difficult, but it is not easy to describe that in a blog post.   The last week there was busy.  We operated on six patients, all of whom were doing well at last report.  One woman came from Nigeria after having been refused surgery in Dubai.  Moving back home and into my job here went fairly smoothly, but processing my time in Shisong was a little more challenging.  My thanks to all who are so supportive both while I am there and while I am here.

Sister Jethro and Doctor Sister Helen were in the US for 3 weeks in July and August to attend the Cameroonian Professional Society annual meeting in Houston on August 1-2.  They spent time in Lacrosse, WI on July 20, spend 2 days in Rochester on July 28 and 29 where they visited the University of Rochester Medical Center and spoke at my home parish of St. Marianne Cope in Rush, NY, then on to Houston and Dallas, and finally to Washington, DC.  Please pray that the many contacts that they made lead to collaborators in advancing cardiac care in Africa and serving the poor.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures of them speaking in Rochester but here they are at Niagara Falls where we made a brief stop:

In October, I will spend about 2.5 weeks in Shisong giving anesthesia for cardiac surgery.  Fr. Herald Brock, CFR, from the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, will also visit the Cardiac Centre during this time.  We are hoping that Franciscan Mission Outreach will be able to assist us in fundraising to improve the access of cardiac surgery to the poor in Cameroon and the surrounding area.  Fr. Herald has done much work with the poor in Honduras and in what is now South Sudan, and we are very grateful for his support of this work in Shisong.  You can visit him on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/franciscanmissionoutreach.

Thanksgiving

Several people were concerned that I might miss out on Thanksgiving, or at least on turkey.  To be honest, I can do without the turkey, but I did not have to do without either.  As it turns out, there are a  number of Americans in Kumbo for various reasons, and we had a gathering for Thanksgiving, complete with football.  As at home, it is easy to be thankful in Shisong, so I thought I would take a cue from Eric Horne’s blog and include some of the things for which I am thankful.

The Tertiary Sisters of St. Francis:  I am grateful for their spirituality, hospitality, and generosity.  In the face of many challenges, they support hospitals in a poor region of the world that provide dignified and professional medical and nursing care.  They also work with volunteers and missions from many cultures and witness great love to all of us, as well as allow us to witness to them.

The Hornes: It has been wonderful to have people from my own culture with whom to share and process, as well as spend some time with.  I am grateful for their generosity and their witness, not to mention sharing their home and food!  Their blog is here: http://hornefamilymission.blogspot.com.

My supportive department and department chair.  I am blessed to have both a department and a mission willing to work on creative solutions.

Friends and family, both at home and in Cameroon, including Mission Doctors Association and especially my dad, for whom this venture is very challenging and who is going out of his way to be prayerful and supportive. 

Running water, a water heater, and the people who cook for me at the hospital canteen.  Every time I go out walking I see people carrying water for their homes, carrying firewood, or carrying materials for their farm.  This way of living is difficult and time-consuming, yet carried out with joy and gratitude.  It is a constant lesson to me.

Religious freedom.  There are many Muslims and Christians here that live peacefully and as good neighbors.  Worldwide, many Christians and Christian missionaries live with great difficulty and persecution in worship and in living their faith.

There are two teams at St. Elizabeth’s from Belgium.  I will write about them soon.