I know I mentioned the high infant mortality rate in another e-mail. There was a case the other night, however, of a little baby born at 27 weeks that is still hanging in there. Josh was on call and went to the hospital for this woman who was in labor. Him and the other doctor were talking close to the bed when they looked over and the baby had delivered on its own, with the sac and placenta still intact. I guess this is a pretty crazy thing. This is the picture they took directly after. You can see the baby's face smashed up against the sac. (Ben wanted me to add that the big "meaty looking thing" in the picture is the placenta.) Pray for this little one. Premies don't usually make it around here. (We were remembering the many times when Caleb was in the NICU and would have apneas. His moniters would all go off and a nurse would come and shake him, tap his feet, etc. to get him breathing again. The sad thing is that sometimes, babies here die because there are no oximiters or moniters that go off in the night when they stop breathing- so no one knows to stimulate them.)
On another note, we went to the market yesterday. I got my first taste of PNG crime when my wallet was lifted. It didn't have tons of money in it, but it did carry my visa bank card. The missionary told me that this is the best country to lose that in because they won't be able to figure out a way to use it. So we are on the look out for a little PNG boy with a red shirt- probably coming out of a store with LOTS of candy. :)
Tomorrow is Sarah and Josh's last day here with us. We will be sad to see them go. Time is truly flying here, but we are learning alot. I guess we feel like we have to take in as much as possible, and learn as much as we can- otherwise we have been horrible stewards of thousands of dollars. One thing I want to mention to all of you is the new hospital that is being built here. It is mostly funded by the Australian government and PNG people, but will carry the Nazarene name. The building project is in danger, however, because they don't have the funds to complete the sewer system. The missionaries use their furlows in the US to raise funds, but there are only so many people they can reach. All over the U.S. we build million dollar buidlings to improve upon the already adequate buildings we have, yet our Christian brothers across the world are happy to have a roof. The least we can do is remember to pray for them. God knows how this building will be completed.
I hope I don't strike any cords with the things I write, but this trip has just been so eye-opening. I have been a Nazarene all of my life, but knew nothing about this ministry here. This is the only Nazarene hospital in the world. Can we all who call ourselves Nazarenes just remember to pray for it?
On another note, we went to the market yesterday. I got my first taste of PNG crime when my wallet was lifted. It didn't have tons of money in it, but it did carry my visa bank card. The missionary told me that this is the best country to lose that in because they won't be able to figure out a way to use it. So we are on the look out for a little PNG boy with a red shirt- probably coming out of a store with LOTS of candy. :)
Tomorrow is Sarah and Josh's last day here with us. We will be sad to see them go. Time is truly flying here, but we are learning alot. I guess we feel like we have to take in as much as possible, and learn as much as we can- otherwise we have been horrible stewards of thousands of dollars. One thing I want to mention to all of you is the new hospital that is being built here. It is mostly funded by the Australian government and PNG people, but will carry the Nazarene name. The building project is in danger, however, because they don't have the funds to complete the sewer system. The missionaries use their furlows in the US to raise funds, but there are only so many people they can reach. All over the U.S. we build million dollar buidlings to improve upon the already adequate buildings we have, yet our Christian brothers across the world are happy to have a roof. The least we can do is remember to pray for them. God knows how this building will be completed.
I hope I don't strike any cords with the things I write, but this trip has just been so eye-opening. I have been a Nazarene all of my life, but knew nothing about this ministry here. This is the only Nazarene hospital in the world. Can we all who call ourselves Nazarenes just remember to pray for it?
No comments:
Post a Comment