May 3, 2020
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| Kid in the bucket! |
A Miraculous Recovery
Yesterday I saw a woman in the clinic named Dora. She had a terrible dental infection that she had been hoping would get better. It did not and by the time she came she had a large abscess under the chin. It was pushing up her tongue and she was very ill. We did an emergency drainage of the abscess and she seemed to be much better.
I was called to the hospital several hours later to see her. She had been having more and more difficulty breathing. I think that she may have had bleeding into the abscess cavity and her tongue was obstructing her airway. We had an inexperienced doctor on call who did not appreciate the extent of her symptoms. By the time I arrived, she had stopped breathing and her pupils were dilated. This is a sign of profound anoxic brain injury. We rushed her into the OR hallway and I went to the supply room. In front of me I found a cricothyroidostomy kit. It was 4 years expired, but I had been keeping it around just in case. There was no need for anesthesia as the patient was virtually dead. I got the tube in her trachea and we began ventilating her. Her oxygen saturation came up with ventilation but she was making no spontaneous respirations. After bagging her for an hour or so, I was about to give up. I remembered that we had received two old ventilators on a container from WMM. I hooked her up to one of them and it worked fine. It was an old and very basic ventilator, but it did the trick.
At midnight, the power went out and the ventilator stopped. The nurses bagged her for a while and then she started breathing spontaneously. This was about 6 hours after she stopped breathing. I had fully expected her to die, but she basically woke up, started breathing and responded appropriately.
This morning, I found her breathing on her own, communicating and asking for food and water. I had utterly given up hope, but here she was alive and neurologically intact. She may have lost a few brain cells, but she seems ok.
The airway kit and the ventilator were both gifts from Samaritan's Purse, stored on a shelf. They were procured, packed and shipped by people who care. The ventilator was checked out by the biomed team. Even the OR is here because of Samaritan’s Purse.
This morning Dora and her husband are praising God for his mercy. Her four children will hear the story of how her life was spared. She is by no means out of the woods, but she has come back to life. In the days to come we will continue to speak with her and her family about God's goodness.
Few Photographs of Life
We want to share a few photographs depicting life in Congo. This is an agricultural society. People's ability to provide for their families depends on what they are able to grow with their own two hands. Here are some photos showing a traditional wheelbarrow, hoe, and a mix of soybeans/corn going to the mill. We mill our own soybeans and corn to make nutritional porridge for our outpatient malnutrition programs.
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| Corn and soy mix prior to milling |
There is nothing quite like freshly ground peanut butter! It is a process to harvest, shell, decorticate, and roast peanuts. Then you pass it through this mill to make peanut butter...or you grind it by hand. The natural oils are pressed out of the nut giving the peanut butter a very smooth texture. There is no need to add sugar or any preservatives!
We have been growing Arabica coffee for a few years now and have had several harvests. The berries turn pinkish/red on the vine indicating that it is time to pick them. Then you float the berries in water to determine which ones are good and which ones are not. Then either you can de-pulp them by hand or run them through a manual mill like this one. Next you are left with the bean covered in parchment to be dried in the sun and then stored. The parchment protects the bean until it is ready to be removed and beans roasted.
There is not a Home Depot around the corner to purchase tree and shrub seedlings. We start our trees from grafts. This takes a bit of time. Here is a pomegranate tree which was started from a graft years ago. Now it is producing beautiful fruit!
This is a vanilla vine growing up a tree seedling. We planted 4 vanilla vines within 2 meters (social distancing) of each other. This is the way it is done in the forest. Eventually, the vines will cover the trees and cross-pollinate one to another. It takes years to harvest vanilla pods and at least initially cross-pollination is done by hand. I have no idea what this involves, but it is fun to learn these things!
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| Vanilla vine |
The rainy season has begun! Rain is a blessing and waters the plants to provide food we desperately need. It is my prayer that we will feel more connected to creation as we tend and water the fields and animals around us.
Psalm 104:13-15 says, "You send rain on the mountains from your heavenly home, and you fill the earth with the fruit of your labor. You cause grass to grow for the livestock and plants for people to use. You allow them to produce food from the earth-wine to make them glad, olive oil to soothe their skin, and bread to give them strength."
Blessings and love,
Lindsey and Warren Cooper
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| A traditional hoe |
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