Final Post

This is most likely the last blog entry from Project Mercy  2019. 

We are back in the United States and our hearts are filled with countless memories of a beautiful people and a land that God has made so glorious. As a team we have grown close and strong and are filled with renewed sense of Gods grace and power and love for those whose lives we touched and who touched our hearts.  Some of the local flowers to share with you our faithful followers and we thank you!

Makiya’s Story

Makiya’s Story - by Meg

She is 11, her mother works for Project Mercy in the kitchen.  Mikaya was brought to Dr Mike in hopes that her life could be changed. She was born with an extra thumb on her right hand.

She is so ashamed and introverted that when we talked with her she would tuck her head down like a turtle and make no eye contact. When we asked her a question her answers were a mere whisper. Her mother knew her life had been and would be effected by her deformity. 

Our team decided to adopt her case and Mike approached Dr Ketema the surgeon at the hospital to add her onto the OR board our last day.  Her over night cost to spend the night in the surgical ward (room and board) was one dollar.   The medications and surgical costs would be pro bono.

Her mother was consented, her xrays reviewed and she was dressed in a thin over sized OR gown to sit and wait for the “free letter” that was required before surgery.  I found her shivering and scared in a small pre-op room and wrapped her in blankets and gave her my phone to watch a David Attenborough documentary on the ocean. She stopped shaking and gave me a tiny shy smile of thanks.

We waited together for an hour. I stepped out to try and find her mother and when I went back to her room she was bent over my phone trying to find her way back in.  She peeked up at me with a smile and said: “Games?”.  I laughed and shook my head no and thought to myself “This girl will be Ok”!

So Makiya was bravely led to the OR table a few minutes later and stoically waited to fall asleep under anesthesia. I held her hand with her extra useless thumb and wiped a few tears off her face. 

 

 

 

 

Dr Mike and Dr Ketema did a super job and after her incision was closed, I went to the bench outside the OR to bring her mother in so the two surgeons could update her.  Her mother kissed my cheek 3 times in gratitude.

 

The last morning in Yetebon I went to find Makiya to check on her recovery. She was back in school, It took an hour to discover which class she was in. A small boy led me to her during morning recess. Dr Mike was able to check out the incision and make treatment recommendations.   She was doing well and already writing with her surgical hand.  I asked her via translator if her classmates were treating her differently and she said no.  I noticed she did not duck her head and she smiled at me with direct eye contact.   She told me quietly  "I will never forget you”.   I replied the same and hugged her good bye.

Pray for this sweet girl named Mikaya: that her surgical site will continue to heal, that her insecurity will disappear, that she will grow into a strong woman who remembers that Christ changed her life.

Its a Long Road Home

Fuel check.
Oil check.
Flaps check.
Cow check.

OK let’s go....So you may be wondering at this point what this blog is going to be about . Here goes : it is a day of miracles, a day of exhaustion a day of God’s riches and love: a day of safety despite nature and politics. 

As we write, we are in Addis airport waiting for our flight to Dubai ...safe and sound now that the runway is clear of a cow! But we are getting ahead of ourselves... we’ve been traveling 12 hours now and will start at the beginning.

Continuing from yesterday....Emotions were undoubtedly running high, but to look at the group, you would never know it. Everyone maintained such positive attitudes, and the Lord filled us with his peace through prayer and faith that he is a God that keeps His promises: and he goes before us, he goes behind us, and he hems us in, wherever we find ourselves.And the icing on this cake is the short time we enjoyed with colleagues from Switzerland and Germany who were stranded en route to Addis and just “happened” to meet our group yesterday afternoon in Butajira. What a warm, vibrant group with quite the mission themselves, training others about trauma informed care and caring for individuals with disabilities.
 

Our luggage was loaded last night before we turned in for the evening and everyone – yes, even the Turts – arrived on time at 3:45 AM for our anticipated departure at 4 AM. With our newly and found European com padres arriving shortly there after, we were all on the road by 415...

After Bete shared a prayer for safety as well as a “memorable” adventure. A six hour ride ahead of us, we rested, we talked, and we enjoyed a glorious sunrise over the mountaintops and scenic fields of teff, maize, banana trees, and bright flowers.
 

Driving through towns small and large – most notably Wolaita Sodo, we saw all sorts of activity. School children dressed in royal blue uniforms dotted the busy highway, while boys from elementary through perhaps college age drove two wheeled wagons pulled by burros. How they balance on those precarious contraptions is quite a feat! Our bus came to halt over and over to allow the cows and goats to pass.

 

Our time in our Arba Minch was brief and surreal. We quickly unloaded the bus, aided by local attendants, while Bete confirmed the manifesto for our 24-person strong group. We enjoyed a quick time of refreshment, from kaz kaza (cold) ambo and colas to stimulating macchiatos. We then quickly went through a second security line before walking on the airstrip to the Ethiopian Airline prop plane awaiting us.

 

 

 
As we walked across the hot tarmac to our Prop plane accompanied by Bete, the open door of the plane wafted air cool air onto our sweat laden skin. The Ethiopian airline flight attendant welcomed us and told us to “sit “ where we wanted . Empty seats surrounded us.

Each of us reveled in the cool air as the plane started to take off from Arba Minch. Just as we started to lift off from the tarmac, the plane came to screeching halt. Our pilot announced over head with apologies that due to an animal on the runway we would turn around and try again. Obviously the men who monitor the strip had missed a stay cow. Thanks to God we did not hit the poor creature.
Nothing is by chance and we cannot underestimate nor overstate our great appreciation and respect for our project Mercy family who clearly has the right connections to make such details align and in such short order. We asked Bete how this miracle was possible: chartering an Ethiopian airlines plane that seats 50 and his response was “God is good , and I know people who know
People.”.

We praise the Lord for caring about details big and small. And we continue to pray for peace within this country.

(This last paragraph was written after the group arrived in Dubai)

So it's Saturday.  We all slept a few hours in Dubai and are recollecting and remembering the details of the last ten days.  Our hearts are filled with mixed emotions: excitement to see family and sadness to not be with our Ethiopian family.  The beauty of this land the people profoundly effects each of us. 

The Trip Home

Here is a brief update from Meg 

We woke up bright and early to one of the most beautiful days. The sun was warm and a gentle breeze already present at 8 AM. We packed and some did one last visit to the hospital while others joined in an early morning hike.

The breakfast news brought by Bete, Marta and Demi’s son, was that the roads to Addis were blocked. We are stuck, but Bete has arranged an alternate route out. We leave at 5 am to drive to Arba Minch. The whole group of Americans and Ethiopians will then fly to Addis on a chartered flight . We have to make it to Addis airport by 2.

We ran into a Swedish group of doctors in the local hotel also stranded.  The hotels are full. We are taking them back to the Yetebon grounds to sleep tonight. They will likely join us.

My sister had asked me to get her two Ethiopian football jerseys in Addis for her sons, who are adopted from Ethiopia.  I realized this delay would not allow me time to find this for them.  When two of the Ethiopian Health Officers found out about this, they drove their motorcycles into the local town and found me two jerseys to bring home.   This kindness is so typical of our time here. 

It’s a sweet day of waiting for clearance, waiting for the next step, waiting for God to provide. We slept, we played volley ball, we talked, and we played games.  God is good.

(Note we have heard that the team did make it to Addis in time to catch their flight to Dubai.  Once home, another blog post will go up to share the story of the long road home.)

Playing games to pass time.

Waiting in prayer and with song.

A map showing the long road home.  Instead of driving north to Addis Ababa, they had to drive south to Sodo and then to Arba Minch.  Then they would catch a flight to Addis Ababa

Chasing Waterfalls

This is written by

Jan McClintock, OR Charge nurse

What an honor and a privilege to be back in Ethiopia among these beautiful people and to work with such a dedicated team. I thank God for our safe arrival and his faithfulness in allowing us to do this work here.  My job on our team is to coordinate the operating room. Every year we are presented with new and challenging cases. We’ve learned to not assume that we know what our time here will be like. The case load is lighter this year which enabled me to take a Saturday off and “hike to the falls”. I’ve heard about this hike over the years and have never had the time to participate but with only one case on the schedule, I joined a team of other adventurers and we were off to an early start. Let me just say that Ethiopia’s has too many rocks! If you’re not climbing over them or around them, you’re slipping on them as they cover the paths up and down the steep inclines! We crossed many streams, traversed up and down hills for hours, passed through yards full of cows, chickens, dogs and children. The falls were beautiful, as is most of this country, but all too soon it was time to head home. By the time we got home, we had hiked 7 miles, climbed a 700 ft incline, covered 18,000 steps and fallen down several times, especially me!! I found it necessary to humble my independent spirit and accept the help of 2 teenage boys that were very willing to help me by offering their hands over the most difficult areas of the climb. I think they were worried about me! I thanked them and they graciously said, “my pleasure”. Not bad for 14 year old boys!!

By Monday it was back to work in the OR. We always bring our own scrub attire, that way we can be sure we have what we need. But imagine my surprise when we received our first patient of the day and she was wearing my OR hat! I must have left it out when I changed clothes earlier.  Everything here gets reused and my hat was no exception. I’m more than happy to leave it behind and I hope to see someone else using it when I come next time.

 My OR hat on me.

 My OR hat on patient.

Waterfall Pictures

Rest stop half way up.

Our valiant heros!

Surrounding us at the falls.

Meg at the falls.

To the falls past the honeycomb farm.

Jan, Laura and Meg.

 

On the way to the falls. 

Jan at the summit.