I never thought of myself as a pen snob before. But the times have brought me face to face with reality, and I have to wonder if maybe I am. Packing a brand new pack of pens in my bag, I had thought I was overly prepared despite knowing I would be paper charting these four months. I had not taken into account that in addition to paper charting I am simultaneously maintaining two different journals and completing quite a bit of French homework. I have gone through pens at an alarming rate. I've looked to other missionaries for spare pens hoping they share the same preference in their pens as I do. I've been disappointed. Today I finally broke down. Head down, I dragged my feet to the magasin (the hospital store room) and checked out three pens, two black and one blue. Yes, such a low point I have reached; I am now using "hospital pens." And there you have it, reality hitting me square in the face. Pen snob. Ouch!
In February 2023, L'Hôpital de l'Espérance saw it's 8th anniversary. In March 2023, it registered it's 100,000th patient.
Meet Bagoum. The toughest patient I've ever met. I told him how brave he had been, and he smiled. It was a quick half smile that he immediately hid, but not before I caught it. At heart, he's still just a 14 year old boy.
The town of Mango water company had all three of their water pumps simultaneously "fried" by the intense power surges we daily experience. The entire town had to resort to gathering water directly from the Oti. We as well filled our now empty super tanks with water from the Oti, and after allowing it to sit a day ran it through our own filtration system prior to use. The priority was the hospital, and the remainder of the compound had water cut off to preserve every last drop for the hospital. It was approximately 8 days, almost 9 that we went without water. Very thankful to report, the water company has finally installed a new pump as well as a new transformer and a trickle of water started flowing in last night. Now to just treat the influx of Giardia and Typhoid patients that are presenting to the hospital.
Much Love.