I servied with Brenda for 3 weeks in Haiti, a wonderful friend, woman and nurse. She just spent 4 weeks in Africa and has been sending me her journals. I so can relate to the feelings she describes especially in the last paragraph.. Thank you Brenda for your service and dedication.
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Wednesday, May 5, 2009
I have been home now for a couple of days, and I must be honest and say it is good but strange to be home! Only a few days ago I was in a very distant location with completely different realities. Harsh realities that few of us living here in North America can even imagine. Realities of fleeing rebel soldiers coming through your town, shooting and killing people, looting and burning homes. Running with what family you could find with only the clothes on your back, walking for many miles over rough terrain until you reach the border of the neighboring country with thousands of others fleeing. Then being trucked like cattle for more miles to a resettlement village, being given a ration card, a portion of tarp, a jerry can to carry water, a hoe, mosquito net, and maybe a blanket. Finally, you are assigned a small plot of brushy land that you must clear before you can erect a shelter and start to plant a small crop that will not yield anything for 3-4 months.
We met many of these people in our 4 weeks of working in the Medical Teams International Clinic at the Juru-Nakivale Refugee Settlement. Some of these are refugees from Rwanda since 1994. Others are from the Congo arriving last December and January of this year. Ann and Steve heard more of the current stories from their patients, some too graphic and horrifying to share with you. I heard the stories from our interpreters and Ugandan workers. Very few in this part of the world go unscathed from violence. Yet there is little if any complaining heard and great evidence of hard work and endurance seen. The Africans I have encountered are hard working people, they do things in order to survive that I am positive I could not. They are resilient people and lovely people.
There are so many stories I wanted to share with you, and things I wanted to tell you about, but there is never enough time. My purpose in sharing all of these stories and pictures with you is so that you will realize that in this large world that we live in over two-thirds of the population lives in these similar conditions, stark poverty. That we are a blessed people with so much more available to us and so many more opportunities present for us than anywhere else in the world. We are blessed! Be thankful for all that you have and remember those that are less fortunate than you are. In your thankfulness reach out and help someone, become a volunteer!
There are a couple of books I would like to recommend: Me to We (Finding Meaning in a Material World) by Craig and Marc Keilburger, an awesome book for everyone, especially families. A Long Way Gone (Memoirs of a Boy Soldier) by Ishmael Beah, a true and very graphic story of a boy in Sierra Leone, it is the same story for thousands and thousands of children across the world.
Some last pictures to share with you:
1) A group picture of our clinic team, missing only 3 interpreters. It was a wonderful group to work with!
2) Young children having to haul heavy jugs of water from long distances, for drinking, cooking, and washing.
3) A ration card issued by the UNHR and the World Food Program. (by Steve Boyer)
4) A woman and her baby sit inside their shelter with all their worldly possessions. (by Steve)
5) A family portrait. (by Steve)
6) A family in front of their home. (by Steve)
I was thankful for the time spent with Steve and Ann, that is one of the perks of doing these short humanitarian stints that I do, spending time with amazing people that have been to the toughest places of the world. Steve asked me a couple of days before we left, "What do you think that coming on these trips and experiencing what we are, is doing to us?" I told him that I am not sure. It's possible that we suffer a bit of post-traumatic stress from seeing and hearing all that we do, and it certainly does change us, each and every time. But whatever it is doing to us, I don't want to do anything different. I am ever so grateful for the chance to rub shoulders and exchange smiles with these people that I can't even converse with. I am thankful to be able to learn from them how to be gracious and persevering in hellish circumstances. I am thankful for the chance to be reminded of what my priorities are: people not things.
Slowly reintegrating into life here, Brenda
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