Chad #1 2019
Hello family and friends,
I am doing a volunteer month in Chad and will be writing “shanksteps” emails again. This originally started as our “shanks steps of faith”. As I usually do, I will attempt to send out emails about what I’m doing and seeing. This does two things: First, it helps me process that things I’m seeing and going through, Second, I get to keep a connection to you and help you to see aspects of other cultures and environments that stretch you and me.
I am really excited this time to be bringing an X-ray machine with me to Bere Hospital. I first came to this hospital around 15 years ago when Dr. James and Sarah Appel were here. From that time till now there has been no X-ray. Ultrasound has been available that last number of times I’ve come. So I’m excited to get this functional here.
As I packed for this trip, I was concerned about how to get the digital Xray plate safely to the hospital. It takes about 3 days of travel (I left home Tuesday evening and arrived here Friday evening) and includes multiple long flights (Portland, Chicago, Addis, Ndjamena), then a 8 hour bus ride, then a 2 hour truck ride (or motorcycle) to reach here.
I’m often concerned about how my luggage will be treated or searched and what big commotion will be made in the airport of entry. Will anything be confiscated or taxed excessively? As I descend to the final airport I feel a bit apprehensive. I walk out into the 110 degree heat of the Chadian hot season, then down the stairs to the waiting bus that will take all the passengers to the terminal. We all got off the bus and walked into the terminal, through passport checking police, the health guy, looking for our yellow fever vaccination cards, and then to our baggage. A porter walks up to me and offers his services. I want a porter, it seems easier to get through the customs area with a porter and I have three 70lb bags plus my carry on to transport. All my pieces arrive and I’m grateful! Next we go through customs and my bags are all x-rayed. They pull the one with the digital plate aside for inspection. I explain that I’m a physician going to Bere Hospital and I have donated equipment to help the people there. They seem unimpressed. I pull out my donation paperwork and hand it to them. I’m pretty sure that they the guy taking the papers cant read English but he glances them over and demands that case be opened. I stall some more and tell them what I’m doing and how important my luggage is to the hospital. Eventually I’ve stalled all I can and open the case. They immediately point to the digital plate and want to know what it is. I’m fortunate at this time that Sarah Appel has made it into this area of the airport and says some things in Arabic and French about how I need it to work at the hospital and they let me close the case and move on. I’m relieved and walk out with the porter. I sweat profusely just walking outside on the black top getting to the RAV 4 she and James are driving. We cram all my bags and us inside and head to where they are staying as they are leaving the country the next day- for good. Chad will not be the same without them. They have done a lot and spent many years serving here. We spend the evening talking with some other people we are staying with and to sleep I do my usual “ritual” in the hot season. I brush my teeth, then jump in the “cold” shower. The water isn’t at all cold, but is likely about 90 degrees. I get cleaned up after my long trip and don’t dry at all, and drip to bed. I lay there not touching any body part to another. Fortunately I fall asleep before I evaporate. I wake up about 4 hours later, wide awake. Jet lag! I’m tired, but cant sleep anymore. I lay there till 4:30 AM and then get up to get ready to go to the bus station. A doc at the hospital we stayed at, picks me up and takes me to the bus station at 5. There are buses loading, honking, and people milling about. I get my luggage in the compartment down below, with the porters and then get my ticket and sit and wait till the bus is full, then we leave. It’s an 8 hour bus ride to Kelo. At one stop in Bongor, our bus is leaking diesel at the engine and it takes them about an hour to find a used piece of tubing in the town to make a solution. We stop about 4 times after that to re-arrange the repair. Though the bus is air-conditioned, as the heat of the day progresses, I just sit there sweating, as the AC cannot keep up with the outside temperatures. I’d guess it got up to 110 – 115 deg. Either way, for a coastal Oregonian, it is unbearably hot.
I arrive at the bus station in Kelo and a truck and driver is there to get me, I’m grateful to no have to take motos to Bere with all my X-ray luggage. After arriving in Bere, I meet missionary friends and meet a number of new people as well. After supper the missionaries gather together for a worship on Friday nights. We sang songs and read a story of answered prayer. Then I go to the room they have arranged for me, do my ritual brush teeth and shower- then to bed dripping wet. I brought a thermometer out of interest, and it’s 92deg in my room as I hit the sack, under the mosquito net, and with a fan on me.
PS: If I’ve sent this while in Africa, that means that I’ve gone out during the afternoon (which I’m almost always in the OR), to that special tree between Bere and Lai where one can get a 3G signal. Then if all airwaves line up correctly, things will go out. Otherwise my phone says 3G and nothing happens.