Reestablishing Relationships

Our Sunday afternoon arrival at LJS gave us just enough time to drop bags in our rooms before our 6 pm dinner. The food at LJS is simple and ample, served family style. Conversation flows as we review our day and visit with other occupants at LJS. There is one other group here from North Carolina, led by a former team member, Emily Norris, who are working on repairs and facelifts here at LJS. There are also a group of students here in their initial week of their Swahili Language study.

After dinner the team can usually be found in the common room for our daily meeting, where we organize and plan for the next day. This year, we are fortunate to have Pastor Sally Houck with us and she ended our meeting with the Lutheran liturgy, Night Prayer. With our personal organizing and unpacking not yet done, we knocked off early.

Morning dawned on our first full day in Morogoro. In the US, our day might be viewed as one where we did not accomplish anything. We might have a tendency to count the number of days available for the team to work and wonder how we could be in Morogoro and not have seen any patients yet. But in Tanzania, the most important consideration is the relationship, and our Monday was spent re-establishing relationships.

We were formally welcomed by Bishop Mameo at the diocese office and the team members who are here for the first time were introduced to the diocese staff. We were given the grand tour of the huge, multi-storied concrete church that has been under construction for more than five years. The team has enjoyed seeing the progress from year to year. Mjympia is the largest congregation in Morogoro and welcomes more than a thousand worshipers each Sunday.

Bishop Mameo was proud to show us another construction project, which is sponsored by a congregation in Finland. The women’s center is a short drive from the diocese office and the first of a planned 8 houses is near completion. Each house will have 8 rooms and the center is designed as a shelter for victims of domestic violence.

Our last stop was at Mazimbu hospital, the site of our work for the rest of our stay. It was so good to see our colleagues with whom we have worked side by side in past years. A very routine chore was accomplished—unpacking our gear and organizing your gifts of medical supplies, including those donated by the women of the Ar-Ok synod. But we want to close this post with news we received of two of our past patients—

Last year God gave us the opportunity to help a man who was suffering from extreme pressure sores. The team worked with Ben and the hospital staff and his caregivers daily on treatment of his wounds and longer term solutions to help with his comfort. We heard today that Ben is home with his family and doing well. One of the Mazimbu doctors to this day visits Ben twice daily to dress his wounds, and has invited one of our team members to join him on his daily visit.

Another remarkable event last year was our “chance” occurrence when the staff was struggling to start a life-saving transfusion on a very sick baby, Raina. Our surgeon, Doug Treptow, and other team members, worked for hours to insert the IV while the rest of the team prayed. Close to despair, the final attempt was successful. Dr. Swai, a Mazimbu surgeon that works closely with the team, has recently seen her and reports that Baby Raina is a lively, thriving toddler,