Dear friends and family,

I apologize for my lack of posts. As I’ve said many times, internet communication is difficult up in Bembéréké and working at the hospital is quite busy, but I have let it go a little too long. I will try to be more consistent from now on- I know that I certainly need your prayers and so will work on updating you more frequently to keep you informed.

What is new with me?

It is mango season in Benin! Mangos are everywhere- several varieties, and all plentiful to the point that they go bad quicker than people can eat them. Unfortunately this also means for the surgical ward that the season of the “Chute d’arbre” has started. Children climb the big mango trees searching for the fruit and fall, often with compound fractures and serious head injuries. In April alone we had more than 26 cases.

One such case was Assana, who fell and fractured her leg and became my patient on the surgical ward for 3 weeks while the leg was in traction. For a 5 year old, 3 weeks of bed rest is no fun! The little cutie would wait expectantly until she caught my eye whenever I came in the room, at which point she would break into a beaming smile and giggles. Before long I was stopping in to see her every time I would pass the salle, doing ridiculous things like making balloon dolls for her out of plastic gloves, and before long my colleagues were referring to her as “ma copine”. 

Assana is Peulh, and didn’t speak any French at all, so our whole relationship was smiles and gestures. But what a special gift it was to me, and what an encouragement!

For some reason, especially among the Peulh, many patients are against the use of casts for fixing broken bones and prefer to use their own traditional medicine once the traction is finished (or sometimes even before). Assana was one such case, and so we said goodbye after her mother signed a release against medical advice form. 

But I took this photo with her before she left. Isn’t that a great smile?

We celebrated my 24th birthday on the 30th of April, with many friends from the hospital coming for a dinner in the Paillot next to our house. We had a huge rain in the afternoon, an so the evening was pleasantly cool. It was a wonderful birthday, I was very happy.  

Another happy occurrence for the month of April was the birth of Eli Nathan AKPO, the first son of Pastor Caleb and Aïssa (our Beninois family away from home). Amy and I asked the surgical team permission to follow the cesarean and were able to be with Aïssa through the whole thing! He was born April 15th in the newly finished Maternity ward, named “Eli Nathan” meaning “Dieu a donné”, “God given”. I just love him. He is only 3 weeks old, but I have already carried him on my back like the Africans do! 

Prayer Requests:

Canada Day celebrations:

I am trying to organize a party for Canada Day for the Africans to celebrate a bit of our culture and just have some fun. Pray that I would be able to find time with my complicated work schedule to teach the songs to the choir and make the arrangements.

That I would be bold in evangelism and walk in the Spirit:

Something difficult I have realized in being here is that my power over the physical healing of patients is incredibly limited, despite my best efforts. I often cannot change the course of someone’s disease or stop someone from dying. God alone is in control. While this is often sobering and difficult to accept, I have been profoundly touched that a far more important work than my nursing skills and treating the physical body is doing the work of an evangelist, bringing healing to spiritual sickness. The body will die, and as much as I try and as hard as I work I am often unable to stop it. But our bodies are here for but a moment- what of the state of their eternal soul?

I try to engage my patients in discussions about faith during care, for example if I have a patient who needs a dressing change. I can start by saying, “Are you Christian or Muslim?” and then go from there, because the vast majority is one or the other. It seems to me, from what I’ve observed, that many identify with a religion because it is culturally accepted (and a very community-oriented culture) and not because their hearts have been touched or that God is something very real to them. Please pray that the message of the gospel and the person of Jesus Christ would become real and that the Holy Spirit would move in hearts. Pray that He would move in my heart as I seek the right words to say and the right bible stories to share.

Holiday in Niger: Amy and I are heading up to Niger for our holiday starting May 29 and will have two weeks to see Niamey and Galmi, where we would like to visit the missonary hospital there. Pray for safety and for a restful break, and that we would be a blessing and encouragement to the missionaries we spend time with.

As I’ve said, I will be working at posting more often. I appreciate your love and prayers and miss you dearly!

With love, Charity