September 7

House in Kikori

Well it’s been one week since I’ve been here and it feels like a very long time. Thank goodness the hospital hasn’t been too busy which helps. I can practice on certain things. Like today I tried to put a cast on this little 4 month old because he has a talipes foot (crooked foot). All the cast don’t work once humidity gets to it so I had to try 3-4 different times before we found one that was working (meaning one that would actually harden into a cast). I had to give away about 8 different cast thing (for kids to play with) as they don’t work anymore. The humidity is incredible. I don’t have to use body lotion at all as it’s so humid. My backpack was covered with mold in less than one week. The clothes smells damp. Not very nice. Nothing stays white. It just looks dirty even if it’s not that dirty.

I don’t know how I’m going to last until December. It is definitely harder than I anticipated. It’s one thing if I was doing just clinics which I can handle but hospital is another thing. Yesterday Dr. Valerie had to do incision and drainage on a guy and about 50ml of pus drained out. We had to fix a fracture of an 8 year old girl. There haven’t been many obstetric cases. I am told there are about 20-30 deliveries per month.

Language is more of a problem than I thought. I guess about 50% of people understand basic English. But the other 50% don’t really understand English. They speak their own language and Pigin. I am learning to use different Pigin words like urine is pis pis, stool is pek pek, diarrhoea is pek pek wara, stomach is bel, see you later is lookin behind you…etc….. there are a lot of English words in Pigin which makes it easier but I was not anticipating to learning a different language at all.

This week every plane or boat that came by, I was wishing so hard that I could get on it and get away. I am missing Ingo more than I anticipated. I suppose that is what marriage does to you, you do become one. I do feel incomplete without Ingo. I am sleeping better only because I am tired. Eating a lot of brown rice with tinned fish and bread—so fairly healthy I suppose. There are lots of crabs too if you can get to the market. At the market, it’s not a bargaining culture (which is nice) so what the price is fixed by the seller. Things are not cheap, i.e. one carrot is about 30pence (60cents USD). Crabs are cheap, one small crab cost the same as a carrot. Cabbage comes from the highlands and it’s more expensive, about £2 ($4 USD). So it’s a real treat.

The neck stiffness baby is finally improving after one week here, and only 4 days of TB drugs. The neck is not as stiff. Yesterday I admitted two patients from clinic again for TB treatment. There is a chaplain at the hospital and he comes in to preach to the patients on the ward at times. There is a fellowship meeting twice a week and they sing beautifully. Most of the nurses are quite good here. They run the clinics and in fact I don’t see much malaria as they are treated from there most of the time.

Please continue to pray for me as I have been quite homesick (which is very unlike me—perhaps I’m getting older) and it’s only been one week here. As usual, pray that I won’t get any difficult deliveries, difficult fractures or difficult medical cases. Pray that I will be able to pick up the language faster so that I can communicate with patients better.

Please send emails as I look forward to them.

*Lidka, I tried to email you but it won’t let me. Sorry! But thinking of you and your family.