A Time For Celebration

I am always interested in seeing how different cultures celebrate. Unfortunately there are very little celebrations in Catel. Because of the poverty, most people cannot afford weddings. Birthdays are not recognized or celebrated. (I mostly get laughs when I ask how old people are in the clinic) Funerals are the main events in Guinea Bissau.

Easter was a time of celebration for the church in Guinea Bissau. It started Thursday evening when Beryl led a “Last Supper.” We took communion while thanking God for his sacrifice on the Cross. Each person had a chance to share what Jesus’ death meant to them. The insights into what Christ’s death means for a person in Catel were truly inspiring. I wish you could have been there.

Saturday, the church women spent all afternoon cooking up a special dish made of rice, bananas, sugar, peanuts and peanut butter. Not my favorite but Jon enjoyed it and they love it.

Sunday morning the excitement was contagious. Beryl started the service with a film from the Gospel of John depicting the resurrection.  We watched the film THREE times. Each time it played you would see men, women and children sitting on hard wooden benches leaning forward with excitement. We then spent over an hour singing about every praise song we know. I’m sure Jesus was just smiling at the exuberant faces singing to him oh so loudly. When you have many people in a small space, with 100+ degrees, singing with arms raised to Jesus…  the aroma is horrific... BUT the atmosphere if sacred.

Coming out of incredible spiritual bondage, the Church of Catel truly understands and appreciates the freedom in Christ. I have learned so much from them.

The rest of the day was spent “ junbia” (Kiriol for hang out) at different compounds and roasting cashews. Which then led to a small episode of red, swollen face, itchy, angry skin reaction to the cashew smoke….. not fun… but a couple prednisone later and all is well again. (Benefits of having a pharmacy right in your bedroom)

I hope all of you had a blessed Easter. My prayer was that you would all be able to truly celebrate the incredible freedom we have in the cross. 

May this freedom never be taken for granted!

Help From a Distant Land

Cashew season has begun. Cashews are the main crop for GB and most people here have large cashew orchards. Cashew season is full of long days in the orchard collecting the nuts. Americans do not know what they are missing when it comes to cashews. Attached to every nut is a delicious juicy amazing cashew apple. They are only good for about a day once picked, so they are quickly eaten or made into a delicious sweet, tart juice.

Clinic in Bisseral

The last four weeks have been very busy with different medical teams visiting. We had two Doctors, Ron and Troy, and two Nurse practitioner students Jamie and Danielle, here for one week. This was spent traveling to different far out villages to have clinic days. We developed a pretty efficient system with Jon handing out numbers, getting vitals and main complaint and then we had three different patient care areas and a pharmacy. With this system in place we were able to see up to 60 patients a day. We were overwhelmed at most villages with many patients and sadly had to send people away at the end of the day.

This child was much more
cooperative than others

The second team was Dr. Ron and five of his medical students. They spent two weeks doing physical surveys in Catel and other villages. Measuring malnutrition, malaria and many other health indicators, we hope to take this data to the village officials, presenting the problems and helping to implement change.

With the coming of the teams came many much needed supplies! Jon and I’s bedroom is now also the most well stocked pharmacy in GB. We have everything from cough medicine to Malaria treatment.  The clinic is now also able to test for HIV, Syphilis, Malaria, TB and Typhoid fever.  Before this I was only able to advice them to travel to larger villages to be tested. Lack of finances to travel and then pay for a consultation and tests often kept people from seeking further care.

However, with the ability to test for HIV, I also have the hard task of telling individuals that they have HIV. Two weeks ago we diagnosed my friend and her five year old daughter with HIV/AIDS. The hopelessness these people feel upon hearing this diagnosis is right there with a death sentence. I cried. In one weeks time we diagnosed three people and a possible fourth with HIV/AIDS. 

Theoretically AIDS treatment is available in Guinea Bissau. This being said, no one in Catel or the surrounding area knew anything about this. So last week we took my friend and her daughter to Bissau (capital city of GB) to hunt out a treatment center. What we found was better than I even hoped for!  A very well run Aids clinic offering the latest in testing and medication. Thank God!  Even with free medication, testing and consultations, the patient dropout rate is very high. Patients get tired of taking medication and turn to traditional medicines, or they don’t have the money to pay for the trip to Bissau every month. 

Some days it is hard for me to keep going. I look at these people with real sickness, real problems, real suffering….. my heart breaks. I know they deserve so much better than a simple nurse with a cupboard and a bench. Please join me in prayer that God would raise up more medical doctors and nurses for Guinea Bissau. 

A Funeral In Guinea Bissau

Several weeks ago there was a death in Catel. No one knew the exact age, but I was assured she was “very old and needed to die.” In Guinea Bissau, when there is a death of an older person, the funeral is a celebration as opposed to the mourning of a younger death.

                The woman was the grandmother of a youth in the church. Jon and I were invited to the funeral so I grabbed my camera and we set out. Once again my eyes were opened to the extreme bondage gripping Catel. Upon arrival at the funeral, the spiritual darkness was thick enough to slice. I immediately felt extreme heaviness. The drums, the dancing, the chanting, many rituals to worship the dead…. people continued to pour in. A little after we arrived, young men placed the body on a sort of bush stretcher and took of running down a dirt path. Hundreds of people ran after them chanting, drumming and dancing.

                It is believed in the that the spirits of the ancestors live at the door of each house. They ran with the body to each relatives house and lifted the stretcher up, holding it at the top of each door so that the deceased can communicate with the ancestors to see if there was any foul play (curses) related to her death. The deceased is also supposed to communicate her coming and see who should take care of the family now that she is gone. After several hours of running from hut to hut, the procession arrived at the house of the witch doctor. He told them what sacrifices needed to be done and how they should proceed. After many more rituals, they laid the body to rest right outside the front door. Jon and I walked home, however the constant drumming and chanting over the next five days continually reminded us of the surrounding darkness. Later that night, a woman came to the clinic with a gash on her head from a large beam in the house falling on her. Over the next several days, many animals were killed, many people were drunk on palm wine and many fights broke out.

                According to the animistic belief, it is so important to give your ancestors a proper funeral because the belief is that they have much power over your life. This often causes the family to go into great debt. So many animals are slaughtered and fed to the 1000 people, when it is all over the family goes hungry.

                Please pray that there would be freedom from this darkness in Catel.