I am going to write something I should have written a long time ago... and it starts with an apology. One year ago, I went to Burkina Faso, West Africa with a medical team. I was graciously supported by so many amazing people... backed by my incredible church back home, the congregation at Okotoks E Free church, and also by my church family at the Miz here in Lethbridge. I intended to write, to share our adventures, to allow people into what my heart was experiencing, and yet I never followed through. I want to start off by apologizing for my immaturity in not sharing this with the very people who blew me away by coming alongside me to make it possible. I am hoping you will find this better late than never!
Just under a year ago, I was part of an 8 nurse, 3 translator team that went to Burkina Faso to do some health teaching, and to seek to understand. Over our 12 days under the scorching African sun (seriously, 49 degrees!!), we were able to attend the 10th anniversary of the BOH Boura Children's Centre, bring rice and oranges to the local prison, hold a 2 day nursing conference in Leo, visit both the hospital and the clinic in Leo, celebrate International Women's Day, and finally, attend local churches. There was so much to take in and process in such a short amount of time!
Even as I go to write, I struggle for the words. First of all, I just have to express how absolutely amazing the people of Burkina are. We were part of an even bigger team when you factored in my pastor and his family, two couples, and a small media team who were also there at the same time! We were served by those with the most joyful servant hearts I have ever encountered. There is a special kind of love you experience on Burkina soil!
One of our first days was spent at the jail. Again, words are lost to express this experience... as we walked through the small rooms where fifty men crowded to sleep each night, my heart felt so heavy. There, we met a man, twenty three years of age, who was sick with malaria to the point that he could no longer walk out of the tiny room he stayed in. His crime, they told us, was forging his birth certificate to join the army. Can you imagine? And we just looked on, because that's all we could do. We couldn't drop to our knees and tell him He was a beloved child of God, because the prison system is corrupt and we were fortunate enough to be behind the walls at all. Or maybe I could have... but I guess now, I will never know.
We walked outside the walls of the jail where they have been assisted to set up gardens to grow food for the prison. Evidently, most of the crop goes to the guards. We saw wells dug, and other projects that were built by well meaning people, but that are now either run down or in disrepair. They are projects that cannot be sustained without consistent, long term involvement.
We celebrated with Bridges of Hope and the amazing work they have done for ten years in and around the community of Boura with the work of the Children's Centre! I saw the man that leads our little Lethbridge church, a Burkinabe himself, honored for his visionary work and investment into the future of his country. I saw firsthand the amazing work that the Centre provides on our last day in Boura while every clinic staff member was present to take care of sick children.
We held a nursing conference for two days with nurses and community workers. It was an amazing exchange of learning for us as we did teaching but also learning from these amazing people who see these disease processes and rise to the occasion of meeting these needs daily.
We roamed the hospital in Leo. Privacy is not a priority in other cultures as we make it here. Rooms are shared between patients, and only medical care is provided by the nurses. Patients families are responsible to provide food, company etc. The very first encounter we had was with a man who was likely dead before we got there. We were quickly shooed away and the last thing I remember seeing as I left that room was the head nurse beginning CPR. We crossed the hallway and entered a maternity unit. A sixteen year old mother breastfeeding. A woman with tiny little twins. A ten step contrast between life and death, separated by a mere hallway. We entered the building for pediatric care, and encountered a little boy in respiratory distress. So exhausted by the effort of his breathing, he would fall asleep only to start awake when his little lungs became oxygen deprived. We watched his young parents, brows furrowed with concern, and yet so helpless. His father's face will forever be etched into my mind... I watched him reach out for his son with every labored breath. And we did the only thing we could do... we reached into our pockets and gathered some money to quietly give this family so they could transport their son to a big city in hopes that he would receive the care he needed.
We attended church, once in Leo (a smaller town), and once in Ouagadougou (the capital!). Both were the most lively services I have ever attended. I loved the dancing and the joy and the carefree harmony! In Leo, we were recruited as a team to pray for people, and I had the honor of praying with a woman who desired to receive Christ into her life!
So many things packed into twelve days. My heart could hardly process each moment. And though I saw so much and learned so much, I struggled much. I wrestled heartily with the idea of short term missions or perhaps missions at all, with what I had seen of unsustainable projects and the clash of culture with knowledge. In regards to nursing... how do we apply the knowledge that we have access to in regards to culturally appropriate care?
I struggled because it was hard to build relationship in such a short amount of time, especially in the midst of such a big team. I struggled because I felt out of my element and uncomfortable and I couldn't express myself in the language that these people knew. I struggled because the things that we sometimes think need fixing are actually working realities for people, so what changes are really beneficial, and what just doesn't matter??
I struggled, because there was so much I just didn't understand.
And it has taken me an entire year to be honest about it. To not be ashamed that I left with questions, that I left confused.
But the beautiful part of it is, God was present in every single second of it; in every single question I have asked, and in every single answer I don't have.
I got sick midway through our trip, the first day of the nursing conference. I had tried to put on such a good face, to stay so positive when I was hot and tired and processing... and when my body finally gave way to sickness, it felt like my heart threw in the towel too, and you know what God reminded me?
MY FLESH AND MY HEART MAY FAIL
BUT GOD IS THE STRENGTH OF MY HEART
AND MY PORTION FOREVER.Psalm 73:26
I think I have used enough words now... but above all, more than anything, I just want to say again how incredibly blessed I felt when you guys believed in me, prayed for me, and invested in me. It's a powerful thing, to have a family as big as the church of Christ stand behind you as you fumble your way into unknown and uncomfortable territory... I am so thankful! I pray you know every bit of Christ's love, freedom and grace wherever He finds you today!
