karate kid...

 There were a few branches along the main road through town that were too close to the electric lines so the mayor decided that ALL of the trees along the main road should be cut down.  Not trimmed, cut down.  All the way down to the ground.  Every one of them.  We were told that we could have whatever we came and got.  Personally, I think it was a trick to get us to clean up...

In any event, we are now the proud owners of some enormous tree trunks.  This was clearly a 'win-win' situation.

refugee camp...

 In case you are a blog reader but not a Facebook friend, allow me to start at the beginning.  There has been some fighting between the Fulani and another tribe.  The Fulani people were forced to flee - some with only the clothes on their back.  Their homes and crops have been burned and their cattle sold.  The government set up a refugee camp just 3.5km from our house which is on the hospital property.  This camp has over 400 people in it and their is another camp with over 1000 people south of Mango in the village of Gando.

 Erin, Anna and I went to the camp to greet the people this past Sunday.  After our visit we really felt like we wanted to do something.  But what in the world could the 3 of us do for more than 400 people who have lost everything?  Honestly, not much.  In the end we must have decided that something small was better than nothing at all because we drove back into town and bought some items to make each family a care package.  We put them together and headed back to the camp the next morning to give them out.    

The distribution went well and the people seemed very thankful.  We explained to the mayor that the packages weren't much but that we were also praying for them and just wanted the people to know that we care.  At the end of our time there Anna gave the acting chief and 2 elders each a copy of the book of Luke in Arabic script but Fulfude words.  We are praying that there is someone in the camp who can read them.  Seeing this refugee camp in person has certainly left an impression on me.  These people are suffering in a way that I cannot understand. 

Thankfully, there is Someone who does understand.  Pray that these precious people will one day know the One who loves them and gave His life for them.  Pray that we, as a team, will know how to help in the days ahead. 

blue skies, trusses and gas tanks...

Well, the rains are coming less and less and the bright blue skies of Mango have returned.  The blue skies are beautiful but the sun is intense!  This last week has been the hottest one since we returned from furlough and I have been reminded of the fact that I love snow!  Okay, enough about the weather....in other news....they got the trusses up on the clinic/pharmacy/records building this week!   

And...the 10,000 liter fuel tank was delivered!  Now there's something I never thought I would be excited about.  This fuel tank will be very useful once it has fuel in it!  Many times, there is no diesel fuel in town and we have to wait (sometimes days) before the station has any so.....now we have our own tank (when I say "we" I don't mean me and Kevin - that would be odd and very 'doomsday prepper-ish' - I mean "we" as in the hospital project...).  The fuel truck will simply deliver diesel here and we will have our own supply for the trucks and equipment out here on the site! 

And...this is Kevin.  He was so sick this particular day that he couldn't even stand any longer as they were offloading the fuel tank.  Perhaps you think it was cruel of me to take a picture of him in this condition.  This is nothing.  You should see the next picture I took when he was actually on the ground.  :)

 

just wondering...

Where is this guy when you need him?  That's right....happily sitting on a bench somewhere in the USA, never once pausing to think about the people of Mango.  Ronald, I just want you to know that there are a lot of people here who could use a Happy Meal.

now that was some weekend...

I posted these pictures backwards but I am not about to waste time changing them around so I'll just tell the story backwards! This is Nanier and Yaya. Two employees who went to pick up a load of stone this past Saturday morning. On their way down the mountain the trucks brakes went out and when Nanier realized it he told Yaya to jump from the truck. Nanier knew that one of two things was about to happen....he was going to go over the side of the mountain or he was going to crash into another truck. As it turned out he actually crashed into 2 different trucks before stopping. It is a miracle that he survived this accident and for that we are praising the Lord!


This is the truck that we hired from Kara to tow our truck back to Mango. I was driving the van following the tow truck back to Mango and I thought it was going to be a painfully slow drive.....I was wrong! This crazy guy went so fast I was not able to keep up with him!! When we finally reached Mango the truck driver and his crew were pulled off on the side of the road eating lunch waiting for us! Bottom line, he went way too fast!

This is a picture from this past Sunday. Kevin and some of the workers spent a good part of the day trying to prepare the truck for towing and then welding a tow bar onto the trucks. As the sun was going down the "tow" truck pulled away and I thought we were home free.......for about 15 seconds. The weld broke and we were back at square one!

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Sorry my story is out of order but you get the gist, right? Please pray that God will use this for His glory and that some of our workers would be open to the truth as a result of this accident! He is able!

sideways rain...

Not exactly sure what's going on in this picture but it makes me laugh when I look at it. Maybe he was on the verge of heatstroke that day and temporarily lost his mind. It's hard to tell.

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We had a major wind/rain storm today that was incredible! Right before it started it was 104 degrees in the dining room. About 10 minutes into the storm it was 79 degrees in the house! Yay for rain! Now, I could live without the sideways rain that came in the windows and soaked the couch and floors but I do like the cooler temps!

presidential drive by...

Last Saturday we walked out our front gate to see our quiet 'residential' road lined with cars, trucks and vans! Come to find out the President of Togo was traveling north through Mango on his way to Dapaong for a meeting. The police and soldiers had blocked off the main road so that the President could pass without any delays. So I grabbed my camera and we walked to the end of our road to stand with all the others to watch the President drive by.

We were told that the road had already been blocked off for about an hour and that it could still be a while before he drove by. Before we knew of this 'event' we were on our way to the river to watch the ladies load our work truck with huge bowls of sand (now there's a sentence I have never written before). I mean, isn't that how you would spend your Saturday morning in Mango?

Finally his motorcade drove by at about 60mph. I snapped a shot and then cheered and clapped for Togo along with the rest of the gang. His motorcade included a BMW, a GMC, 2 Cadillac Escalades, a military vehicle with an enormous Russian machine gun mounted on top and then another police vehicle.

The instant that the last car in the motorcade drove by people took off running back to their vehicles to see who could get to the road first - regardless of which position they were in while waiting. Watching about 25 people climb into that blue colored van in the picture above was way more interesting than the President's drive by!

I tried to get this man's attention to tell him that he accidentally left something on top of his van but he drove away before I could get my message to him. Hopefully he realized it before he got too far down the road....

And then you have this truck....I was going to climb on and go with them but I was wearing my best skirt and didn't want to risk getting it dirty so I decided not to. Besides that, I wasn't sure if they were even going to the sand pit...