This is Tchad

So I got to go into my first surgery!! There was a lady who was rushed
into the bloc because she had a molar pregnancy and was bleeding out
into her abdomen. You could tell that she had lost a lot of blood
already and was super weak, so we helped her onto the table and they
started giving her the drugs she needed that they had. For some reason
when I heard that she was bleeding out, I just thought that it was
though her vagina and not into her abdomen, so here I am watching them
cut her open, and as they cut through one of the deeper layers of skin,
blood just started gushing out! I started to freak out thinking that I
was going to watch this lady die on the table right in front of me.
There was so much blood coming out of her that the table couldn't hold
anymore of it, and it fell onto the floor in big puddles. It took them
a while to stop the bleeding and get everything that they needed to get
out, but the surgery was so cool, but scary, and it was so amazing that
God helped the doctors know what to do. It's crazy all the stuff that
happens in hospitals; all the death, life, sickness, and health. I
simply can't wait for Jesus to come. Other than that I got to watch a
few more procedures that weren't as adrenalin rushing, and I stayed with
a women for 3 hours while she was in labor, only to find out that an
hour and a half after I left she gave birth! I was a little upset at
myself for leaving, but hopefully I'll be able to see one soon. This
has nothing to do with anything hospitalish, but I ate salad for the
first time at my house! I was so excited! I'm not gonna talk about how
much oil was on there, but the fact that I got fresh salad was amazing!
All you people in America need to be super thankful that you have good
fresh stuff all the time, whenever you want it, because there are little
Asians in Africa right now that don't have it! So back to hospitalish
things, there's also a little boy who's 3 in pediatrics who got burned.
All of his back and butt, his stomach, arms, and part of his chest and
face. His older brother got burned too, and it's so hard seeing them in
pain. Yesterday I helped clean him off, and we had to peel some gauze
off of his back, and he was in so much pain he was just shaking and
crying while his dad held him, and the Tylenol that he's on isn't enough
for the pain. Another baby came in yesterday who had a really high
fever and had stopped eating, drinking, and talking 3 days earlier. He
had a bad case of malaria, and the nurses were doing what they could,
but it was too late. The dad's hand was on the baby's heart when he
died, and the parent's kept asking if he was just tired and sleeping.
It was so sad! I hate it when little kids die and they didn't have to.
If only his parents had brought him in a little earlier. But there
are kids here who are getting better, and are leaving for home again, so
that's some good news.

Some other news is that I have officially had malaria! Last week I
wasn't feeling very good, and I got tested but it was negative, so I
went back to my hut and went straight to bed. It felt like all of my
joints were burning, and all my skin was sensitive to touch, so every
time I moved it hurt all over. I had a fever, and didn't sleep good all
night. I woke up at 8pm feeling like I needed to pee a bit, so I tried
getting up so I could go. I stood up but almost fell cause I was so
weak, and as I went to put a skirt on I just started to pee. I tried to
stop and was running out of my hut at the same time, but it just kept
coming and I peed all over myself. I can't believe that I'm 20 and I
peep myself! The joys of Tchad! This actually happens to lots of
people here, so as weird as it sounds to you, pooping and peeing
yourself is a little more normal sounding here in Tchad. One of the SMs
had amoebas and pooped himself in the middle of the night while he was
sleeping, and when it woke him up he had to walk a ways in the cold
night to wash himself. While he was showering it happened again, and he
had no control over it. Another girl got stung by a scorpion and while
she was at the hospital getting the meds she peed herself...see, this is
pretty normal here. One SM here gave me malerone though, so I didn't
have to take quinine for the malaria. That just means that the next day
I was fine and was at work without nasty effects, and I went to Mondou 2
days later too. It's the 2nd biggest city in Tchad, and it was so
overwhelming. There were cars and motos everywhere, and they even had
paved roads! The biggest building in the city is this bank for all
banks, or something like that. It's 5 or 6 stories high, and it would
even be considered nice in the states. I don't know why they have it
though. There are never people in it, and that money could have been
used to better the people, but whatever, it looks nice. The shops there
have everything! There were things there that still had shine to them,
and we found cheese and chocolate. It did almost cost $6, but hey, we
found it. We found a place where we could get ice cream, and we had
sandwiches and smoothies...it was amazing! We were all sick over the
weekend because of our amazing finds, but hey, it was totally worth it!
In the part of the market where you could buy veggies, I saw carrots
and potatoes, and really nice looking peppers. It was so overwhelming,
it made my so tired! You know in the movie "Slumdog Millionaire" they
have those kids who are beggars, but they all work for one man? Well,
it was the same type of thing in Mondou. Kids would be at every corner
all carrying the same silver bowl begging for money. They weren't very
smart though cause 5 kids would walk past at the same time, all with the
same type of bowl begging for money, and they all had nicer clothes than
the kids in the village where I live. I don't know if I'm gonna be able
to handle going back to the states if I'm overwhelmed by this city. The
fact that there were watermelons for sale overwhelmed me...isn't that
sad?!?!

Well, that's been a quick read of my life over the last couple of weeks.
Lots more has happened, like I went dancing at some river for a
baptism, and the dad of my local family came home and I got to meet him.
I wish I had time to tell you everything that happens to me, but I
only have time for the important things like wetting yourself and such.
I hope that you all have an amazing Christmas, and that this year you
are reminded of the real reason why we celebrate the birth of Christ.
This year I pray that you are able to share the gifts that God has given
you, and that you are able to tell others about His love for them!
Merry almost Christmas, and I happy New Year!

What are we celebrating?

Yesterday was a celebration...I'm just not sure what they were
celebrating. There was a horse race, and I'm pretty sure everyone in
Tchad was there. Some of the horses and men riding were drunk, so of
course I thought it would be a bit entertaining . I could hear the
beating of drums as I walked closer, and there was a cloud of dust that
covered the people. I was surprised at how fast some of the horses were
running...even some of the drunk ones! The horses had these mettle
plates on their foreheads that the riders would hit with an ax...it was
kinda weird, but hey, I'm in Tchad. Anyways, the horses would run
around this lap place, and the people could stand on the outside of the
circle or on the inside...but to get to the inside people had to run
through the horses and try not to get hit. It wouldn't be so bad if the
dust wasn't so thick that you could barely see 10ft in front of you. At
first I was not about to go, but after a while I realized that the party
was happenin on the inner part of the circle. I finally got brave
enough and ran to the inner circle...wow, that kinda sounds exotic or
something. I watched from the side for a while, and Lenden (one of the
SM's here from Cali!!) even rode a few laps on a friend's horse. I
could tell he had fun because when he got off the horse there was dirt
all across his teeth! Hahahaha! After he finished we decided to check
out the dancing and drumming. It was packed! It was bad enough that
all you could smell was alcohol and dust...but than you add in some bad
body odor and hundreds of dancing drunk people...so basically I had an
awesome time! No, I'm just kidding, I was only in there for 5 minutes
and than I needed room to breathe. We walked to a different part of the
circle where you could watch the horses from another point. It was hard
to see because of all the dust, and a girl who was probably 2 or 3 ran
across the road. She didn't make it all the way, but the first horseman
saw her and stopped the horse, but that sent him flying and the horse
spooked and ran off. Unfortunately, the next 3 riders didn't see her,
and she got trampled. A man ran out and grabbed her, bu it might have
been too late. I wanted to go and check, but if we went to help and she
died while we were helping, the people would get angry as us and say it
was our fault...so we walked away. (They could have killed us if she
died while we helped her). We walked to a different part and ran back
to the outer part of the circle where Tammy and Brichelle were. I
thought that all the fun and excitement was finished at that point, but
I was completely wrong! I went to a part where I could see the horses
again, and there was a drunk man standing beside me holding his horse.
The fact that he was drunk didn't really make this an awesome situation,
but anyways, I was standing there watching the horses, and he started to
sing and dance, but whatever, that's what everyone was doing, drunk or
not. Then he reached over and groped my chest and grabbed my waist
trying to dance with me. I wanted to slap him or something, but then
thought that would be stupid to make a drunk man with a horse angry...no
one would have helped me. Whenever people are being attacked, it's
pretty rare that someone will step in to help, especially for a woman.
So I pushed him away and walked back to the white people crowd. He came
again and grabbed my arm trying to get me on his horse, but Cory told
him off. Wow, I'm super safe here in Tchad! We decided to leave after
that, but as we walked away all I heard shouting, drumming, horses
running...basically craziness. I was walking in a cloud of dust...but
even in that mess the sun was so beautiful. As I was walking away I
felt as though I was walking towards peace. That's how it is with God.
We need to have the mess of this world behind us, and the peace of the
Son in front.