Going, going...

No, not me, not yet! I had been wondering how on earth I was going to manage all of my heavy luggage on my own when I fly to Nairobi. One massive very heavy suitcase, a big travel bagpack, a smaller suitcase, a big laptop backpack, not to mention 30+ kg of health books/supplies. Did I mention I have back problems? Anyway, an opportunity has been provided for me to send all of the aforementioned health resources on to Nairobi next week with a couple of guys from the UK who are going out to South Sudan to help with the clinic renovations. British Airways gave them an extra 60 kg of luggage allowance when they explained that they had these resources to take to a clinic in South Sudan. Praise the Lord! When I found out I thought of Matthew 6:8, which reminds me that my Father knows what I need before I ask Him. So I'm very glad to hand all my heaviest stuff over into somebody else's hands. Please pray for the safety of these 2 guys as they travel next week and for a smooth transition through customs. It also makes my own departure feel a bit more imminent and real since some of my stuff is going over! Exciting! I'm going to have to work on plan B in regard to my studying. You might recall that I've been using all those health resources for my review! Well, I found out that I can use the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine library as a visitor for reference so that will be a great quiet place to study with endless resources at my fingertips.

I am with you always...

Every once in a while someone posts an amazing quote on my church's e-group and this morning there was one such quote, written by Charles Spurgeon. Enjoy!

"I am with you alway."
-- Matthew 28:20

It is well there is One who is ever the same, and who is ever with us.
It is well there is one stable rock amidst the billows of the sea of
life. O my soul, set not thine affections upon rusting, moth-eaten,
decaying treasures, but set thine heart upon him who abides for ever
faithful to thee. Build not thine house upon the moving quicksands of a
deceitful world, but found thy hopes upon this rock, which, amid
descending rain and roaring floods, shall stand immovably secure. My
soul, I charge thee, lay up thy treasure in the only secure cabinet;
store thy jewels where thou canst never lose them. Put thine all in
Christ; set all thine affections on his person, all thy hope in his
merit, all thy trust in his efficacious blood, all thy joy in his
presence, and so thou mayest laugh at loss, and defy destruction.
Remember that all the flowers in the world's garden fade by turns, and
the day cometh when nothing will be left but the black, cold earth.
Death's black extinguisher must soon put out thy candle. Oh! how sweet
to have sunlight when the candle is gone! The dark flood must soon roll
between thee and all thou hast; then wed thine heart to him who will
never leave thee; trust thyself with him who will go with thee through
the black and surging current of death's stream, and who will land thee
safely on the celestial shore, and make thee sit with him in heavenly
places for ever. Go, sorrowing son of affliction, tell thy secrets to
the Friend who sticketh closer than a brother. Trust all thy concerns
with him who never can be taken from thee, who will never leave thee,
and who will never let thee leave him, even "Jesus Christ, the same
yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." "Lo, I am with you alway," is
enough for my soul to live upon, let who will forsake me.

Child to Child

I've decided to keep a little journal of the topics I'm studying in my tropical nursing stuff. It will help me to keep track of what I've covered and hopefully also give you a flavour of the sort of work I hope to be involved in when I get to Sudan.

Today it was the Child-to-Child approach to health education. This is an approach developed by the Child-to-Child Trust, whereby children begin to take responsibility for their own health and the health of their communities through experiential learning. It recognizes the important role that older siblings play in caring for younger siblings in the developing world and how they can be agents of change in their communities. I came across the Child-to-Child resources when shopping from the TALC (Teaching Aids at Low Cost) website when I was doing my Diploma in Tropical Nursing. The resources include a number of books outlining this approach to health education as well as giving lots of creative and practical ideas for implimenting it with children. There is also a series of readers, written especially for school children in Africa, with stories that highlight import health topics. I'm pleased to have most of these key texts in my possession, so I can take them to Sudan with me. Some of my books on training health workers also have an emphasis on Child-to-Child. It's all connected! This is exciting stuff.

Today I also ordered the Rosetta Stone Arabic language learning software and as soon as that arrives, I hope to start learning Arabic! Arabic is one of the two languages I will need to learn in Sudan, in addition to the Mabaan tribal language.

So I have plenty of work to fill my days as I wait here in London...

Vision

These past couple weeks have been a time of renewed dreaming and vision for me, oddly enough inspired by reading about pneumonia, diarrhea, and severe malnutrition. Umm, let me explain...
You see the last couple weeks here in England I've been able to focus on studying and reviewing my tropical/child health resources before I go to Sudan. I decided to start with the 5 major causes of morbidity and mortality among the under 5 age group in the developing world -- pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, and measles, with malnutrition playing a major role in them all, as well as causing many deaths itself. I started here because this used to be a big part of my job, my children's nursing job in Accident and Emergency -- that is, the under 5 age group and their carers were a major chunk of our patient load and respiratory and diarrheal disease were what we children's nurses call "the bread and butter" of paediatric nursing. In addition, not surprisingly, the above health issues (excluding measles) made up the majority of the illnesses among the children in Sierra Leone that I helped to care for during my times there. During my Diploma in Tropical Nursing course here in London a year and a half ago, these paediatric issues became part of the heartbeat of my "Africa dream" as I realized how preventable and/or treatable they are at the community level as part of a community-based health care program. My excitement grew...

Then for a whole year, last year as I spent time back in Canada and went through my application and training with SIM, I had to leave my nursing and tropical health behind for a while and focus on other things. I missed it terribly but had a great experience doing the Perspectives missions course through distance learning and had the chance to really study and think through many issues regarding cross-cultural mission, evangelism, and development work. I got really excited about living with a people group, learning their language and way of life, and sharing the Living Water with them. I wanted to do this as a children's nurse, to use the skills I'd been working on for the past 5 years, to carry on the mission of Jesus.

However, with time memories fade and excitement wanes, even within a year. Yes, as my year of joining SIM progressed, I was gaining new vision for mission in South Sudan, which was great, but my nursing skills were lying unused and I was beginning to forget my passion for working with children and families. I was steadily moving towards this goal of joining my team in South Sudan to do primary health care work but often wondering "Have I forgotten too much? Can I still do this?"

That's when I picked up some of my notes a couple weeks ago to begin reviewing "Acute Respiratory Infections in Children", which cause ~19% of under-5 deaths in the developing world each year. It didn't take me long to realize once again, "I absolutely love this! This is my passion and this is how I want to serve God in Sudan." I want to work with mothers and children and with village health workers caring for children in order to improve health and quality of life for them in this war-torn area of South Sudan.

I want to do this in order to live out the gospel of Jesus Christ who said...

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18-19)

and

"I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." (Matt. 25:40)

and

"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (Matt. 19:14)