Well Baby Clinic... a simple solution to a huge problem

Children (with moms support) wait for a life saving check-up.   

Encouraging and paving the way for Dr. Palmer to come to the United States to observe Well Baby Clinics in the Chicago, Indianapolis, and Michigan was just an extension of the commitment Bob and Carol Stoner made to Kissy Clinic after taking a mission trip to Sierra Leone in 2004.   In the subsequent trips back to the Freetown area a deep relationship had developed with the medical team and support staff for the Clinic. Dr. Palmer is a young and bright pediatrician who in less than 4 months of her visit to the US implemented a Well Baby Clinic in conjuntion with the health care services at Kissy to address the immediate needs of women and children.    Dr. Palmer writes: 

A concerned mother who learned about the clinic brought in her month old infant who was born at 32 weeks (8 weeks premature), weighing 1.9 kg (or 4.18 pounds) at time of first visit. She had a host of questions concerning her child's slow weight gain, and wide open fontanelle's (“soft spots”). We have been monitoring the head circumference and its rate of growth and are reassured that the child is not developing hydrocephalus. So far he has caught up on his social and motor development and the mother is happy with his developmental progress.

When the statistics indicated  Sierra Leone has the world's highest rate of mortality for children under the age of 5, Kissy Clinic and those close to the project came together to  create a plan for addressing a huge problem in the country.   Connections with people like Carol and Bob Stoner, Dr. Leland, and other medical professions in the US, Dr. Palmer was given a glimpse into the world of what might be if a mother had the option to get health consultations for her newborn child for five years.   One child at a time...these children now have a chance to celebrate their 6th birthday. Thanks to all who have supported our yearly mission trips whether it be in going with the team, being a prayer support, or a financial supporter. Valparaiso 1st is making a difference.  

She's what???? Teaching conversational English!

One of the great pieces of student art at UBL

Well...I know you are all chuckling. Margie is teaching conversational English! I'm just exhausted thinking about that one. Oh what fun for everyone.

Just today I have added (on my own initiative) the teaching a conversational English class to whatever UBL students want to try that one on for size--and it went great! I thought I would have two students, and 6 showed up--I thought we would meet maybe two afternoons a week for an hour each time--no...they want it EVERY afternoon Mon-Fri until I leave! FUN for me, and I think for them, too! Seemed like it!! They are all really just beginners in the conversation and listening comprehension of English! God is good. All the time, Love, Margie

Rebecca... Individual Volunteer

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Final instructions before boarding the bus.

The newest kind of missionary in the Methodist Church is an Individual Volunteer.   They serve under the umbrella of the General Board of Global Mininstries for the United Methodist Church and have agreed to serve for more than 2 months and usually less than 2 years. There are only 3 Individual Volunteers in Indiana and 1st UMC Valparaiso claims two of them.  Rebecca explains a bit more about her work there. Keep in mind Rebecca was a high school Spanish teacher so she is using her Spanish language skills most of the time in a much different way.  

        Thanks be to God that things have been really busy around Carillos, Costa Rica working with Strong Missions.  I've spent the last few days greeting a team from Champaign UMC, Illinois, translating church service, which lasts 2 hours, going immediately after lunch to the volcano Poas with the group, spending all day yesterday making and pouring concrete on the headers of the feeding center building, translating for the group, and then today doing office work (preparing for future groups, writing feeding and education center donors. While a group is out visiting a teenage mothers’ home and our feeding center in Los Guido with another UMVIM who volunteers here. I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t get to go with today as that I love seeing the children and interacting with them. Tomorrow it is right back to concrete. I love making concrete. It makes me feel strong. It’s amazing how someone that is 70 years plus is able to lift 5 gallon buckets of rocks with so much more ease than I. I guess I need to lay off the rice and beans. 

           Valparaiso 1st UMC has sent mission teams to work with this Strong Missions since 2005.   Charlie Strong works with the Methodist Church of Costa Rica and gets his "projects" via the Bishop in that area.  

           Rebecca will be "home" in April/May sometime (all depends on the price of the airline ticket).   Please greet her warmly and ask her some questions about being this new kind of "missionary". 

Another filled week...would we expect anything else?

Margie with a group from UM McKendree College, Illinois 

In Margie style, she completely filled this past week with activities. No surprise there!! She spent the week greeting new teams, translating for a youth team from Texas while they traveled to the National Park again (someone had to do it),  attending lectures, translating for the President and Vice President papers that were presented to the students and occasionally working in the library.  Margie writes...

Let me tell you, it's quite easy to translate a sermon or a conversation from a guide or a busdriver to a congregation or group of travelers--I have been blessed to have BOTH of those experiences! However, this translating for professors (actually, the President and V-P of UBL who are professors)  was not only a blessing but a real CHALLENGE for me. I loved it!!!  I had to study and prepare for several hours in order to then know WHAT they were going to say, some of the technical vocab, and do my best at conveying THEIR thoughts and ideas.

I am hoping that I'll have another such opportunity (to translate for the professors), but I'm thinking that this may be my one and only while here this time.Of course, on a daily basis I am able to connect people because of the two languages. Hallelujah! I am so grateful for that gift.

Also another really wonderful serendipity for me was to meet and talk with a gentleman from Guatemala who is here on the UBL campus with a group of Bible translators from the American Bible Society.  This gentleman, such an modest, humble person, is really an accomplished linguist and grammarian who has written a complete grammar and dictionary for at least ONE of the Mayan languages in Guatemala; he knows four of those languages, and imagine that only 35,000 people actually speak one of these languages, for whom he as created a dictionary, grammar text, and the Bible is now translated into their language after MANY years of study and work.  How wonderful!  Love to all,   Margie 

All this took place during the week of the anniversary of Lloyd's birth.   A week where memories of old times met memories of not so long ago in the natural beauty of Costa Rica.  Thanks for sharing this special time.  We're missing you, Margie.       

I can hear my Savior calling ... I'll go with him all the way.

Dr. Leland with one of the nurses at Kissy Clinic

Our closing hymn at church today may be the theme song for this blog..if it had one.  Listen to the words, hum the tune...."I can hear my Savior calling .. Take the cross and follow me" with the chorus "where He leads me I will follow ... I'll go with him, with him all the way."  I guess that's really what this blog is about ... people who hear the call and follow wherever led...all the way. 

     Dr. Michael Leland is just one of the many from 1st church who has heard the call to respond in Sierra Leone.  After the  initial shock of seeing first hand the medical facilities and the dedication of the doctors and medical staff at Kissy Clinic, he has sought ways to "follow all the way."  His January 2012 trip was to "Analyze the physical Operating Room from the prospective of what is needed to perform safe orthopedic surgery, make suggestions, and start working toward accomplishing the changes".   Working with the medical staff at Kissy, a plan of action was made. An anesthetic machine is very much needed there so he's looking for a way to find and/or fund the acquisition of this much needed piece of equipment.  Anyone up to leading a big fundraiser! 

     Another part of the trip in 2012 was to work on the guest house where visiting doctors and medical teams stay during their time there.   Tony Bertig accompanied Dr.Leland and worked to make the renovations and improvements on this facility.  The heat, humidity and air quality all compromise the ability to do surgeries so improvements in the guest house are critical.  

     Operation Doctor and Operation Classroom have given leadership over the past 20 years by working with African leadership to realize the goals they have for their own people at Kissy Clinic and the schools throughout Sierra Leone and Liberia.  In the future, I hope to bring more stories about Valparaiso 1st UMC's involvement there.   

Let's not forget the last stanza of that hymn... "He will give me grace and glory and go with me all the way."    Where is it you are being called?  

Oh where oh where has that Margie gone?

Do you think she would be on a zipline?   HUMM

Margie writes: 

"This past weekend the three volunteer girlfriends, Lois, Judy, and Margie, had a wonderful get-away Sat/Sun going by bus to the Pacific Ocean beaches of Manuel Antonio, with the National Park there, as well. The exquisite blue/green colors of the ocean waters, the warm, warm waters of the Pacific, the sunny breezes, the beauty of the lush forests, and the tropical birds and other animals in their natural habitats made it all truly unforgettable to me--God's amazing creation--WOW!!

Or maybe she was surfing the waves?

  Now this weeke the work in the library has been somewhat less, giving me the opportunity to visit some of the seminary classes--IMPRESSIVE!  The professors are top-notch and the students hard-working, bright, and participatory.  I am welcome to visit any and all classes that I might choose, so I'm doing just that when library work is light.
  Today (Wed 11:30 a.m.) was the weekly chapel service, and I was grateful to be asked to read one of the Scripture lessons.  Chapel services have been very meaningful to me. 
  This coming weekend I will be happy to attend the birthday party for a 95 year old mother of a dear, long-term friend who lives in Alajuela, north of San Jose. So, you can see that I am daily blessed many times over again.

  PS Just to let you know that my dearest daughter Rachel Lynne Oppman will be having emergency back surgery tomorrow (March 8) in South Bend.  Now is the ONLY time since I arrived here in CR that I really WISH I were close to home and could be there with my Rachel Lynne.  I will skype her and Bob tomorrow to check out how the surgery goes and what her recovery time will be.  Actually, RL has been having increasing back pain for the past several months, but just this week something drastic changed in the back and the pain was unbearable, so...in she goes tomorrow a.m. for surgery. Love to all,  Margie"

Winding down ... but the importance of UMCOR continues

As the team was winding down their 3rd day of volunteer duties, the news came that southern Indiana had been hit by tornados.  Henryville was on that list ... Troy, Gene and Bonnie's oldest son, is the principal of the high school which has been severely damaged by the tornado today.  The team once again gathers to wait for news.   MMDC and UMCOR are ready to send cleaning buckets, personal dignity kits, and funds to help address any disaster when requested.   Our presence at MMDC at this time makes all of us realize more than ever before that the work of UMCOR is so critical to people we know and love.  

Bev and Phyllis iron but don't count!

Della and Karen are cutting it up!

For our final day the bean counters have some reports.   The desk crew reported that they completed 22 desks.  The Personal Dignity Kits (PDK) team reported assembling 991 kits and preparing 1020 towel/wash cloth sets ready to be packed into kits.  The bucket group (not to be confused with the bucket list) cleaned 174 buckets and 135 lids.   The cutters did their magic on lots of fabric and cut out 378 one handled school bags while the ironing team ironed for 2 1/2 days but counting was not their thing.  They just pressed on!   

Betty prepares linens to pack in PDK .

Lois is packing a PDK.

Dean packs shipping box, Sandy stuffs a PDK. 

   

Volunteers or apprentices???

Mary picking up new skills.

 Volunteers do it all at MMDC.   Just because you have never done it before is no excuse for not giving it a try.  Mary is part of the desk building team this week.   School desks are cut, painted, put together, marked  and taken apart (which really blew Mary away) to be packed, shrink wrapped and ready for shipment.  

Dean and Gene on quality control

  

Joyce numbers joints, Mike supervises/learns

Joyce numbers the joints to make it easier for those who reassemble them after delivery.  Mike is supervising Joyce or some may say she was teaching him! 

MMDC has a request for 150 desks. Our team has finished, assembled, and disassembled 12 desks over the past two days. They plan to really step up the pace for tomorrow.

Shrink-wrapped ready for shipment