"What manner of man is Jesus? Alleluia. He made the blind to see. Alleluia."
This morning we started our day at the land that Jericho Road was
given in Koidu and upon which the clinic will be built. It is a
beautiful site on a hill overlooking a lush valley, various houses, a
soccer field and in the distance the mountains. It is plenty big for
the clinic. Today we had a groundbreaking ceremony and Phebian , Paul,
myself and the Chief each laid a ceremonial block and Paul and I each
planted a fruit tree. The most moving part of the ceremony for me was
having about 30 kids from the nearby School for the Blind sing a song
about Jesus healing the blind. The faith of these people of Kono
district who have suffered so much is incredibly inspiring to me.
Kwashiorkor malnutrition. The children mostly are eating rice and very
little meat or other sources of protein. We saw less of this in the 4
outlying villages because in those villages the people are farmers and
so can raise peanuts and beans and catch fish and other sources of
protein but here in Koidu the kids are mostly eating rice. It is
painful to see. The last time I saw this type of malnourished little
children was in 2004 in Buffalo when the Somali Bantu refugees started
to arrive from the refugee camps. Improving the nutrition status of
these children will need to be a big priority for us. I know never to
take the WIC program for granted again.
Today an elderly woman was carried in to see me by her two sons. She
had a stroke paralyzing her right side and rendering her unable to
speak one month ago but the family did not take her to the hospital.
Instead they tried various treatments on their own. Today was the
first she had seen a medical person. Her BP was 300/130! What do you
do about that?? We started her on BP medication and thankfully Phebian
will be here when we leave and will be able to follow up.
So we have seen over 300 people this week in 4 villages and in Koidu.
Our medications have been more than sufficient. We have seen and
learned so much. We have kept good records by keeping a list of each
person seen with their diagnosis and age (no addresses here, no HIPAA
forms to sign, no medicaid insurance cards to copy) and also writing a
brief medical note on each person. Now Phebian can f/u up with folks
who need it in each village and this will give her a wonderful
opportunity to build relationships.
Tomorrow we leave Koidu. (if Joyce and kids were here I would be
tempted to stay. Jericho Road in Buffalo has 11 other providers. This
whole entire part of country has 2 doctors. There is so much more to
do). We will travel about 8 hrs (132 miles ) tomorrow to visit the
Wesleyan Mission Hospital in northern part of country. We intend to
see if this hospital can help Phebian in any way and just continue to
ask alot of questions about medical care and resources in this
country. Then on Monday we will have another 8 hr trip back to
Freetown. In Freetown we hope to meet with the President of Sierra
Leone and visit the government hospital in Freetown. Then on Wednesday
we leave for home in Buffalo.
.JPG)
Our team is doing well. Keep us in your prayers. I trust all of you
are well. I am praying for our Jericho Road team in Buffalo. Thanks to
all of you for letting Paul and I have this chance to come and for
covering in our absence. Your support of Phebian and this mission has
made a huge difference. Because of all of our faithfulness and Gods
faithfulness Jericho Road has now been planted in the Kono District of
Sierra Leone. That is pretty amazing.
God Bless. Myron
This morning we started our day at the land that Jericho Road was
given in Koidu and upon which the clinic will be built. It is a
beautiful site on a hill overlooking a lush valley, various houses, a
soccer field and in the distance the mountains. It is plenty big for
the clinic. Today we had a groundbreaking ceremony and Phebian , Paul,
myself and the Chief each laid a ceremonial block and Paul and I each
planted a fruit tree. The most moving part of the ceremony for me was
having about 30 kids from the nearby School for the Blind sing a song
about Jesus healing the blind. The faith of these people of Kono
district who have suffered so much is incredibly inspiring to me.
Today we completed our final of 6 clinics. This clinic was right here
in Koidu where Phebian lives and we set up in the Blind School. We saw
60 people.
So many of the children I saw today were suffering from malnutrition.
Orange tinted hair and pot bellies are classic medical signs ofKwashiorkor malnutrition. The children mostly are eating rice and very
little meat or other sources of protein. We saw less of this in the 4
outlying villages because in those villages the people are farmers and
so can raise peanuts and beans and catch fish and other sources of
protein but here in Koidu the kids are mostly eating rice. It is
painful to see. The last time I saw this type of malnourished little
children was in 2004 in Buffalo when the Somali Bantu refugees started
to arrive from the refugee camps. Improving the nutrition status of
these children will need to be a big priority for us. I know never to
take the WIC program for granted again.
Today an elderly woman was carried in to see me by her two sons. She
had a stroke paralyzing her right side and rendering her unable to
speak one month ago but the family did not take her to the hospital.
Instead they tried various treatments on their own. Today was the
first she had seen a medical person. Her BP was 300/130! What do you
do about that?? We started her on BP medication and thankfully Phebian
will be here when we leave and will be able to follow up.
So we have seen over 300 people this week in 4 villages and in Koidu.
Our medications have been more than sufficient. We have seen and
learned so much. We have kept good records by keeping a list of each
person seen with their diagnosis and age (no addresses here, no HIPAA
forms to sign, no medicaid insurance cards to copy) and also writing a
brief medical note on each person. Now Phebian can f/u up with folks
who need it in each village and this will give her a wonderful
opportunity to build relationships.
Tomorrow we leave Koidu. (if Joyce and kids were here I would be
tempted to stay. Jericho Road in Buffalo has 11 other providers. This
whole entire part of country has 2 doctors. There is so much more to
do). We will travel about 8 hrs (132 miles ) tomorrow to visit the
Wesleyan Mission Hospital in northern part of country. We intend to
see if this hospital can help Phebian in any way and just continue to
ask alot of questions about medical care and resources in this
country. Then on Monday we will have another 8 hr trip back to
Freetown. In Freetown we hope to meet with the President of Sierra
Leone and visit the government hospital in Freetown. Then on Wednesday
we leave for home in Buffalo.
Our team is doing well. Keep us in your prayers. I trust all of you
are well. I am praying for our Jericho Road team in Buffalo. Thanks to
all of you for letting Paul and I have this chance to come and for
covering in our absence. Your support of Phebian and this mission has
made a huge difference. Because of all of our faithfulness and Gods
faithfulness Jericho Road has now been planted in the Kono District of
Sierra Leone. That is pretty amazing.
God Bless. Myron
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