MEDICINE DAY!!

Karen Writes . . .

Yesterday, PHC had a wonderful Medicine Day!

We asked all 500 of our kids to come to the center this Saturday for medical treatment. They came by foot and by bus and by the dozens. I love the idea that one of our kids may feel a little better inside, be a little healthier, because we were able to supply them with some medical attention!

First Ginger gave each child his or her carnet, or medical record notebook. This was quite the chore because it is hard to keep track of 500 kids, some of whom have more than one name or no name at all!

Then each child waited for Laura to record their new weights. The older kids were delighted with Laura’s, “Guess your weight” before they stepped on the scale! Ginger says only about six of all the children had lost weight since last weighed. The daily food at the center is showing its effect!

Doctor Dibona examined them (here he is saying, "Jephte, open wide!"). Diane Ohlin gave them all Malaria medicine and gave some fungus medicine, and then recorded everything in their carnets.

Finally, they came to KB and me (Karen) for worm medicine and vitamins. I explained how to take each medicine, KB recorded it in their carnets, and we sent them to return their carnets and to go play! Here I'm saying, "Take one of these in the morning, one at night. It's written in French if you forget. The red vitamins you just take one in the morning for ten days. Don't forget to take them with water!"

All in all we saw about 400 of our kids and had a wonderful day. We so enjoyed seeing every kid individually as they passed through. Here are a few of the children we helped! It is because of child sponsorships that money is available to treat these children. Chancella and Ornella, Caleb and Florida, Dieu-Beni whose name means - God Bless (!), and Adorable Dielle with her bag of Vermox, malaria medicine, and vitamins!

It's Official! Here She Comes!

Barb writes:

It's official! Madame Alexandrine Zokoe, PHC's Africa-based Director, is coming to America! We hope that you will be able to meet her during her busy itinerary. I will have the joy of traveling with her, serving as her translator and traveling companion.

Below is our itinerary. If you are a sponsor of a Project Hope & Charité orphan, or if you are interested in learning more about PHC's widow care branch of ministry, Madame Zokoe (pronounced Zo-Kway, second syllable rhymes with "way") is directing both of those branches of our ministry.

We arrive back from Africa to the USA on July 11th, and will be traveling to key sponsorship churches in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana. We'll also be spending five days at National Conference in Tampa, Florida.

Please pray that God will help Madame Zokoe really connect with people while she is here. She is a wonderful lady with so much in her heart to share. Pray that language and culture will not be significant barriers.

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ITINERARY

7/11 Arrives in Chicago 1520

7/12 Meet the Sponsors Event @ Norton

7/12 Norton North Campus Service 1830
7/13 Ashland GBC – first service

Norton South Campus Service

7/20 Winona Lake GBC

- 0900 Elective ABF Hour

- 1030 Worship Service 2 minute introduction

7/23 Penn Valley GBC

7/25 Penn Valley Coffee House

7/27 Lititz GBC

8/3 AM Powell GBC
8/3 PM ESGBC

Chalene’s Smile

Karen writes:

Chalene Seregaza is a child with another one of those melt-your-heart smiles! A month ago, however, her smile would not be the first thing to grab one’s attention. Eight year old Chalene had a tumor growing in her nose (Picture 1).

On the way to Bible Class one morning, it was noticed that Chalene had an extra piece of skin protruding from her nose and was only breathing properly through her mouth. She was immediately sent to Doctor Dibona, who works at the center. He took her straight to the hospital. When Chalene had surgery to remove the tumor, a second tumor was discovered in the other nostril, and also removed.

Chalene was in the hospital for two consecutive days and then returned to the hospital every day for a week. Doctor Dibona visited her each day to assist her with medication. Chalene has now recovered and is back in school, showing off her healthy smile! (Picture 2)

Chalene and her five siblings live with their aunt and uncle. She is in level one at the PHC Welcome Center School.

Rainy Season Upon Us!

Karen Writes . . .

I thought I would share a quick pictorial example of dry season/rainy season, from the view beside our Welcome Center! Normally living in the Maryland, I find the contrast between seasons here fascinating! Dry season was so very dry, no rain, much dust, everything I would expect in a movie about the Sahara. This first picture was from the end of November; dry season was just beginning. By February, there was no green left on the hill.




The other day it struck me how green and beautiful everything has become again. Rainy season has arrived and all the plants I thought were surely dead for good, have flourished back to life!




By the looks of this second picture, we live in the tropics! This was a beautiful morning! Dozens of kids were surrounding us when we got out of the truck and humidity was making the morning misty and enchanting.

May you enjoy the seasons that come and go where you are living!

Meet the Teachers

Laura writes

Today I was able to sit and talk with some of our teachers. I don’t really know who they are. It was a good time to get to know them and just hang out. They play such an important role in the lives of these children.

Then I realized that you don’t know them either. And I thought to myself that this is not good. So I asked each one a little bit about themselves and will now introduce them to you.

I will start with the Hand and Hand church of Yembi 3. It is the partner church of the Ashland, OH Grace Brethren Church. The school here started last year and has two classroom levels. Saturne and Ami teach at a PHC Hand-in-Hand (village) school just outside Bangui city limits.

Mr. Aime Mpogo teaches the higher level, level two. He shares the way he started working with PHC, “After I finished my schooling at the university, I started working with children. My pastor recommended me when Barb Wooler asked him if there was anybody he would suggest as a teacher.” This is his second year teaching and he has 30 students. His wife is going to school to be a teacher. She is studying in a different city and Mr. Aime is watching their two children here in Bangui. One of Mr. Amie’s favorite Bible verses is Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Mr. Saturnin Befio is in level one. He has 63 students and knows most of them if not all by name. I saw this first hand and am still greatly impressed! This is his first year with PHC. Some of his thoughts: “I really like my work teaching the orphans. As they grow up, God will bless them. Then He will look on me and say ‘Well done my good and faithful servant.’” Mr. Saturnin is also very active in the True Love Waits program. He is not married yet and is a positive example to the young people. One of his favorite verses is 1 Cor 15:58, “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

Stay tuned for more teachers…

'Quiet Desperation' Thoreau Couldn't Have Imagined

Barb writes:

I heard a story last week that broke my heart. It comes out of Bangui, Central African Republic.

A gal came to my friend in Bangui for help with a medical problem. Her leg really hurt and she needed help. Going into the house the woman removed her wrap around skirt revealed, well, the cause of this poor woman's unimaginable pain. Multiple open sores ran down her leg. My friend wondered how this poor woman could still walk at all.

My friend started asking questions which eventually led to the Big Question: have you been tested for HIV. Yes, she had, but she didn't know the results. "Why," my friend asked? "Because I don't know how to read the paper with the results, and I don't have anyone I can trust enough to read it to me.

This story is too painful on so many levels. Here is a woman...

- living in unspeakable pain for months

- unable to read a paper containing life-changing medical information

- with no one she can trust enough to read the medical report

- living each day in fear of what the contents of that envelope mean for her life


This gal is now being cared for: medical examines, injections, medicines, and tests. Yes, she tested positive for HIV.

Sometimes we missionaries wonder what kind of difference we are making. One need only ask this poor woman what a difference my missionary friend is making for her. So far the medical bills in just two weeks has passed $100 and continues to mount. Eventually her costs for anti-retroviral drugs will cost just $5 per month.

All this has brought up the discussion, again, of what if anything God would have Project Hope & Charité do for HIV positive widow care providers of our orphans. It is impossible for us to do nothing, which is how we've gotten into this in the first place, but it is unnerving to think of starting something.

"Unnerving?" You ask. "Why?"

Well, imagine yourself standing next to a door at the bottom of a very tall dam. The noise of "many waters" are passing through the wall from the other side where millions of tons of water are pressing against the door. Over the door is a sign that says, "Open this door." This is, um, unnerving.

We WILL open this door, in God's good time, and after much prayer, preparation and research. But we already know that as soon as we touch the door knob and turn it just slightly, the door will burst open, and we will be flooded. Almost instantly we will be floating in a sea of needy people living in impossibly difficult and sad circumstances, people looking to us for help.

Please PRAY with us as we set up an initiative to help HIV-positive widow care-providers on a broader scale.

Love The Lord With All Your ... Chest

Karen writes . . .

I teach the kids Bible at the center, once a week in every class. I love it. Sango is a new language to me but I hope a few of my more notable mistakes have at least made the kids laugh with me! I realized half way through one week that I was telling them to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your strength, and all your chest (or ears depending on intonation!). Apparently âme is a French word! I also learned one story to memorization until I realized I was saying that the Good Samaritan took the injured man and kept him in jail, instead of an inn!

Friday, I was talking with some kids at recess. When I got here I was almost terrified by 500 nameless kids I couldn’t speak to all trying to touch my hair and arm. Now that they have names and what they say makes sense, I can’t help but be thankful for the privilege of knowing and being with them. I was leaning against the white wall, and I began to hear a woman’s frantic voice over the kids but I didn’t pay attention. Then I realized the voice was calling my name. I looked back to see Madam Zokoe looking at me. I thought she was just greeting me and I waved and smiled and turned back to the boy I was talking to. But she continued to call out and I couldn’t hear her over the kids. Finally the boy I was talking to, who is continually getting me out of scrapes, said, “Karen! She’s telling you not to lean on the wall! Don’t lean on the wall.” How embarrassing!

Laura and I enjoy sitting with the widows sometimes while we’re at the center when they’re cooking the porridge for the kids. They remind me of grandmotherly ladies you read about in books when they say, “Eat another fritter child, eat another! You’ve haven’t grown enough yet child!” I might have been an adult when I left the States, but if they continue to fill me up with delicious fried bread, I’m fine with being called a child!