Shanksteps – What’s in a name?
I found out the other day that Koza was actually named by a Westerner. The area all around Koza is mountainous and rocky. As the story goes, a white man came to this area and pointed to a stone and asked what the Mafa people called it. They responded, “Kwa.” Then he pointed to a different stone and asked what that was called. The response was, “Kwa za’a.” meaning another stone. Thus the name Koza was born; simple yet descriptive.
The Muslims here have a few names that are used over and over, such as Aissatou, Fadimatou, or Djaratou for girls; and Amadou or Ibrahim for boys. I have asked what these names mean, but most just say they are names that they like, are Biblical, or have family members with those names.
If you are a female Christian, most likely your name is Marie. Most of the male Christians have a Mafa name, and a given Christian name like Esaie (Isaiah), Jacques (James), or Jean (John). Unlike other African countries, we don’t see many with names like Joy, Peace, and Patience.
Traditional names almost always have a story behind them. Usually a child is named for what the mother experienced during pregnancy or childbirth. Often the family will wait for a week or longer before giving a child a name – in case they don’t survive. One of our nurses tells the story of his name. Apparently when he was born, he was very small and his father didn’t really want to keep him. His grandmother rescued him from neglect, and he was given the name Kaotem, meaning “neglected”. Or perhaps
you would like the name Tchougui, which means “irritates the home”. When I first saw a number of children with the name Bonné, I thought, “That’s nice, they named him/her beautiful.” Then I found out one day that Bonné in Mafa means “suffering”; possibly named for the experience of childbirth. Or you could be named Guymatakon meaning “the one who causes suffering”. In fact, the Mafa tribe used to be called Matakon, which in their language means sickness or suffering. There are in fact many men
here named Matakon. The name Kaldoussa means “thrown out”. Dougdje is the name of one of our cleaners; his name means “garbage”. I think that ZaÏna is a pretty name, but I wouldn’t want to name my child “lost”. I definitely wouldn’t want to go through life with the name Viché, which means “enter into the ground”.
I guess all of these people are in good company though. A man in the Bible named Jabez, which means “Child of my pain”, found favor with God. Jabez called out to God in prayer, asking God to bless him, enlarge his territory, and keep him from pain. “And God granted his request.” (1Chron 4:9, 10).
May we never forget that despite the situation we grew up with, or the name we were given, that God can bless us, and do so abundantly.
In His Mighty Grasp, Audrey
106c
106c
A final update on Fanta, the girl with the tracheostomy. I took out her
tracheostomy tube a few days ago and she is breathing well and I praise God
for her healing. Greg
#110 Shanksteps
#110 Shanksteps
Today started out as most. Worship at 7:30; nursing sign-out after that. I then started rounds as usual. We were down from 65 to 50 patients. I rounded quickly and was in the office to see outpatients by 10AM. I saw about 13 in clinic (including one bitten by a rabid dog) then got called by a place we purchase saline in Maroua. Ours had come in and they had saved it for me, but they would not any longer. I had to go to Maroua NOW. So I left for the three hour drive. The first segment
is along the “staircase” of rocks between here and Mokolo, then on the “paved road” from Mokolo to Maroua. I often wonder what the (dollar) toll on the road goes toward. Well, I don’t really have to wonder, I’m sure there is someone making a killing from it. I got 52 boxes of glucose saline and returned to Koza. I got a call from Audrey along the way wondering where I was. She had two patients waiting for me. It was 7PM: We unloaded the truck and put all the items in the stock. Then on to
the patients.
His abdomen was very distended; eyes were sunken in; he appeared like a starvation victim. Fluid was dripping into his veins, slowly replenishing days, or weeks of slow dehydration. I had operated on him two years ago for a mass in his upper abdomen. He was young, 25ish. And had a scar from top to bottom along his abdomen and another in his right lower quadrant. He hadn’t made stool for a day nor gas. He as very tender all over his abdomen and I felt a fluid wave. I called Allison and we went
to the operating room. Opening along the midline we entered the abdomen and found a HUUUGE stomach. It filled his entire abdomen. The area where I had attached his intestine to his stomach before had scarred with a band across the area kinking off the outlet of the stomach. While releasing this band I got into the bowel. A nasogastric tube was placed removing 5 liters of fluid. I needed to revise this anastomosis. Opening the stomach, it was filled with remnants of food days old. After re-evaluating
the area we revised the anastomosis between small intestine and stomach and re-sutured the opening. We closed the fascia and skin.
Next was a woman who had swallowed a fish bone. We gave her medication to make her sleep and took a look. Her throat had a faint laceration where the bone had passed leaving its mark. The scope was withdrawn, the procedure done. Midnight had arrived. I went home to my favorite meal here in Cameroon, Spaghetti. I ate and crashed. Morning would soon be here. But not before another call by the hospital for the next to last patient who was bleeding through his nasogastric tube.
We see a variety of issues from mundane to exotic. God helps us with them all, knowing what is best to do with what we have. We praise Him for His Love and compassion towards us! In His Care and Embrace, Greg
#109 Shanksteps of Faith
#109 Shanksteps of Faith
There was one nurse off, and the student nurses were off to another village for the weekend. That left two nurses to cover the 55 patients in the hospital. Audrey was caught in the ER seeing outpatients coming in who needed to be admitted. I went to make rounds on maternity/surgical ward. I had just seen 8 patients when we passed a woman on the veranda of the maternity who was in labor. She had already broken her “water” and had been in labor for about 12 hours. She went to a dispensary where
they promptly (very irregular) referred her to the hospital. I performed a vaginal exam and found the presenting part the face. She had a very small pelvis and there was meconium (a sign of fetal distress). It was decided that she should have a C-section. The husband wanted to wait for his older brother, who was “on his way”. After some discussion we were able to take her to the OR (operating room). I called Audrey to do the surgery with me. The one remaining student missionary we called in
to do anesthesia.
IV’s started, urine catheter placed, then spinal placed. We vigorously scrubbed. Opened the abdomen, and with much effort disengaged the child’s face from the pelvis of the mother. The baby was floppy and had no heart beat. After removing the child Audrey went to attend to her. CPR was performed many minutes and then finally the heartbeat came back. The child’s face was grossly edematous, purple, and disfigured after being squeezed for so long. I realized that the uterus had torn into the
vagina and bladder. I repaired both and closed up the abdomen. Audrey sat with the child in her lap bagging her for more than an hour. There were no respirations and we could not get a normal saturation during that period. So we decided to stop CPR because it appeared futile and we needed to attend to the other patients that needed our help.
I continued rounding. I saw the woman with the snakebite and a necrotic leg; another woman with a uterine mass and bleeding that needs a hysterectomy; three that had delivered in the last 24 hours; two children with malaria; the man we did a gastrojejunostomy on last night; the little girl with a tracheostomy; and the two teenage girls with breast abscesses that are slowly healing. Then on to clinic.
Clinic was filled with patients with malaria, typhoid, pneumonia, a hemorrhoid, and amoeba. I took things out of the stock to resupply the pharmacy, calculated the day’s entry from the cashier to ensure its correctness, then saw a few others in the ER on oxygen or getting transfusions. Then home to drink fresh made lemonade and eat lunch/supper.
It’s now Sabbath and I long for the rest that God has for me and the time with Him and Audrey.
In His Service, Greg