The Medicine of Jesus

To be perfectly honest (like I've been anything but honest in this blog- I wrote about my diarrhea 2 blogs ago... for someone who doesn't do “poo talk”, that's some brutal honesty!), our outreach phase of our DTS was not what I expected. In fact, it wasn't even what I wanted. Nor was any of it what I would have chosen. Generally speaking, I hated our outreach. Couldn't wait for it to be over. Longed for the end to come.

But I wouldn't have changed anything about it for the world.

When Sitara told me she was leaving 3 weeks into the outreach, I had this momentary sense of panic and maybe even some slight feelings of abandonment. We weren't great friends, but she was the closest to me on the team in terms of age and culture, so we understood one another, we related to one another and we leaned on one another. The panic and abandonment didn't last long- thank God- because out of that fleeting moment of dread, He put things into perspective for me really quickly:

“Did you come to Fiji for Sitara or for Me?”

Darn, that God is good... fixed me right away. I didn't even have to go back to my first blog to know the answer to this. I came to Fiji for God and for no one else. For my relationship with Him, to help my relationship with others. To be stretched, pushed and challenged. To grow. To be challenged some more. And that's precisely what outreach did to me. I didn't ask for easy and that's not what I got. I may not have always enjoyed it, I may not have always loved the stretching, the pushing (I may have even pushed back a little... you're shocked, I know.) or the challenge, but God took that outreach and made something of it, maybe even made something of me... and for that, I wouldn't have changed our outreach for the world.

And, it wasn't all bad. There were definitely highlights: walking into a shop in Sigatoka and having a frank discussion about Christianity with the devote Muslim shopkeeper. Praying with Farmer Joe and his family as they accepted Jesus as their Saviour. 

Remember Farmer Joe?

Shopping for groceries and watching love come to life through giving (and seeing the true meaning of gratitude from those that received). Watching team members, who I doubted so often, come to life with purpose and love by serving others. And, of course, the biggest and most impacting highlight for me was our medical outreach.

I still remember having a conversation with my sister many years ago about what she was going to do after high school. She told me she was thinking about becoming an Emergency Medical Technician. Truth be told, I had to ask her what that was. When she told me, I literally felt something “click” inside. I knew, without a doubt, that was what I was suppose to be. Now, as a paramedic, I know even more that I am doing what God designed me to do. I love what I do. There has never been a day in my career where I thought, “I need to get a new career”. And, in a sense, that is how I feel when I do a medical outreach. This was my 3^rd medical outreach and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Our large team- 29 people from 12 different countries- provided free medical, dental and optometry services to 2 different communities, Vatakoula and Nadarivatu. Vatakoula is a gold mining town about an hour away from Lautoka. The gold mine has a doctor for the miners and there is a hospital in nearby Tavua. However, there is still a great need in this area with many who have very little and have poor access to transport. Nadarivatu, on the other hand, is a remote village in the mountains that is a 2 hour drive (on bad roads) away from a hospital or a doctor. There is a nursing station in Nadarivatu, but they've been unable to find a doctor for their clinic for a long time, so seeing a doctor is difficult for most people in the area who cannot afford to travel down the mountain. Generally speaking, healthcare in Fiji is light years behind that in first world countries and there is a lack of public health education, making the medical need in Fiji great.

The primary health care area had one doctor and one nurse. Our dental area had 2 dentists. Our optometry area was set up for visual acuity tests, evaluations for cataract surgery (to be done by another team later this year) and reading glasses dispensary. Our team was made up of more non-medical people than medical, but as in all medical outreaches, you learn to do by doing (I just realized that is also the 4H motto- I was a 4Her for many years when I was younger... ). Jobs ranged from eye examiners, sterilizers, educators, translators (thanks Tikiko, you were an awesome help!), registration, pharmacy assistant and, of course, prayer people. I was put in primary health care registry, so every patient for the nurse and the doctor had to go through me or my partner first. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed I wasn't able to help with the actual medicine, but that soon changed as I started registration. I soon found my niche in this outreach as I played “detective” with every patient, trying to get a solid history for the doctor or the nurse. Being a good detective is all a part of being a good paramedic, so I am thankful to say that, even after being away from the job for 4 months, I got back into the groove of things quickly. I also had the opportunity to sit and learn from our doctor, Mispa, after registration closed. Thanks Mispa for all the teaching- it was great!

We saw patients with all kinds of problems- everything from back and knee pain to breathing problems to heart problems to skin problems- in fact, I now think I'm a bit of an expert in spotting scabies and ringworm... I also took some of the highest blood pressures I have ever seen- 260/170 was one of the higher ones that I recall and the patient had no symptoms! Hypertension (fancy word for high blood pressure) is a huge problem in both the Indo-Fijian and Fijian populations- as is medication compliance. Most of our hypertension patients did have some sort of prescription at one time, but once the medication was finished, they assumed the hypertension was gone. Or they could not afford to refill the prescription. Or there is an inability to access a chemist. So many people were literally walking miracles as they had not had a stroke or heart attack yet.

On our last night in Nadarivatu, we even had an emergency case. A man was brought in with severe shortness of breath. Of course, it was late at night and we had already packed up our medications and equipment. Mispa and a couple of others saw him first and I was woken up by Stephanie, a Manitoba girl who was on the New Zealand DTS team. She had run up the hill to where I was staying and breathlessly told me that someone was having a bad asthma attack and Mispa wanted some help. As we made our way down the hill, I did what every paramedic does: start planning for the worst case scenario. Unfortunately, since we were only a primary healthcare clinic, I wasn't even certain if we had the medications and equipment needed for the worst case scenario (and unsure if we could even do a “plan B”). However, when I got to the clinic and saw the patient, my worst case scenario was downgraded. The patient was resting comfortably after Mispa's treatment. An ambulance was on it way up the mountain as there was still concern. We spent the next couple of hours waiting for the ambulance, trying to figure out what could be wrong with this man. I always laugh when people say things like “glad we have a paramedic with us”, because of course, I do not have my meds or equipment with me, so really, all I am is a glorified first aider. This was really apparent as we were trying to figure out this man's condition. There was probably half a dozen test we would have ran, if we had the means. But the nursing station was under-equipped and so were we for emergency patients. Fortunately, this man did well and was transported to the hospital in Tavua.

We spent 6½ days in clinic, a total of 4 days in Vatakoula and 2½ days in Nadarivatu. This is a breakdown of the patients we saw over those 6½ days:

595 Optometry patients:

• 403 reading glasses given away

• 91 sunglasses given away
• 23 people referred for cataract surgery

517 patients seen by the nurse, the doctor or both

• 45 physiotherapy treatments performed
• 257 people received physiotherapy education

365 patients seen by the dentists

• 73 teeth restored (fillings)
• 828 teeth extracted (yes, you read that correctly!!!)
• over 300 people received dental education

As you can see, we all worked hard during our short time in clinic, and everyday I was amazed at the hard work, dedication and extraordinary attitudes of everyone on the team. Despite some long hours, some undesirable tasks and a whole lot of fatigue, our team happily persevered to serve those around us. It really was an inspiration to watch such a large group, from so many cultures and backgrounds, come together in unity to serve others for God in such an impacting way. Our DTS team returned to Vatakoula later on and people were still talking about our medical outreach, the services we provided and the attitudes of love and joy we showed while we were there.

It was an amazing time, with some amazing people- thank you to everyone on our large team for all the fun times and hard work. And, of course, vinaka vaka levu to the communities in Vatakoula and Nadarivatu for hosting us and making us feel so welcome!

Here are a few pictures of all that we did, please check my Facebook album HERE for more pictures.

 The Vatakoula Primary School- our clinic and residence for the week

Our doctor with a patient 

Our pharmacist with one of the cutest patients 

Praying 

Normally this is a classroom, but we turned it into a dental clinic 

Most often seen by our dentists... which explains the high number of extractions 

 The Mercy Truck full of medical equipment, heading up the mountain to Nadarivatu

The Nadarivatu Health Centre 

 Can you read this with your new reading glasses?

 The busy doctor

 Any cavities?

 Physiotherapy class

 Getting the patients registered

Optometry

Thanks for reading,

Christy

The $100 Challenge

Before I left Canada, a friend handed me $100 to take to Fiji (which, given the exchange rate, nearly doubled her money in Fiji dollars) and said, “do something good with this”. Despite the fact that she is a very sweet and thoughtful friend, I was still taken aback by her generosity and not really too sure what I was going to do with her money. Her challenge was wide open and I really had no clue what I was going to do, so I just tucked that money into my brassiere...

I'm totally kidding. I'm not 80 years old. 


At least not yet.

As I was attending DTS, I starting praying about how to use the money. I asked around, trying to find the best way possible to use her money to be a blessing. There were some good suggestions and ideas, but nothing was jumping out at me. I really wanted to find just the right thing, something tangible and meaningful, as well as something that could involve the entire DTS team. Some thing that meant something. Something spectacular. And something that oozed love.

Gotta live a life of love, right?

As we went on outreach, visiting with people in their homes, sharing our stories and the love of Jesus, I kept looking around for that spectacular idea. And one idea kept coming to me over and over and over again. It wasn't spectacular, yet it was everything to them. And it was something that meant everything to Jesus:

“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer Him saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’”
(Matthew 25.35-40 ESV)

So this is the story of our $100 Challenge- or, what I referred to as Random Acts of Food. Read on, meet the families, the widows, the sick and the children that we met and gave and loved.

Ben and Kaba (pronounced Kum-ba) helped me do the shopping for our grocery packs, as I had no idea what to buy. It was a bit of a challenge for me, as I had to remember that very few people have refrigerators or freezers, so things like a frozen chicken were out. And although I had already been in Fiji for 3 months, I really still had little idea what foods were staples. Ben and Kaba helped me pick things that were not only needed, but would also last a long time. So, thank you Ben and Kaba for all of your help!

Lotsa flour, milk, sugar, rice, tea, canned meat plus a few treats! 

 Thank you Ben & Kaba for your help!

Let's spend some money!

1. We gave one package to an older widow who is on welfare. The welfare system in Fiji is very new and is honestly hardly any help at all. This woman receives only $50/month for housing and other expenses and $30/month for groceries, which does not even come close to covering her living expenses. She is all alone and no one is helping her, even though she has a son who lives near by. Her eyesight is very poor and she has a really bad cataract in one of her eyes. She really had nothing and is lonely. She was in tears when the team delivered her package.

2. Another package went to a family that we met at one of our medical outreaches. The father had recently had a stroke and was now wheelchair bound in a rural area that definitely was not made for wheelchairs. His son, who had been living on a different island with a good job, moved back to his parents' house to help care for his dad. He and his mother were looking for jobs to support the family, but they haven't been able to find anything yet.

3. We left another parcel with one of the nurses at the nursing station at our second medical outreach in Nadarivatu for a single mom. According to the nurses, this young mom may possibly be slightly mentally challenged and has no source of income. She has been taken advantage of by different men who have left her with children but no support. She comes to the nursing station once a month so the nurses can check on her children and give her milk for her malnourished children.

4. We gave a package to an elderly man who had multiple boils for 2 months. He had come to the village we were in to see the local doctor and was being taken care of by some local women. He died 4 days later.

These are just a few of the stories that were made possible by my friend's $100 challenge. If you'd like to read a bit more and see a few more families whose lives were changed by my friend's $100 challenge, click HERE to see the Facebook album.

And thank you, my Friend, for being a blessing, for blessing our team, blessing these people and giving us this challenge.

Thanks for reading,

Christy

Outreach Week 3: A BAd Week

How's this for honesty: this is going to be a disappointing post about a disappointing week.

According to our team leader, Lusi, weeks 1 & 2 of outreach is the “honeymoon phase” (can't remember the highlights of outreach weeks 1 & 2? Click HERE to read the post or HERE to see the Facebook pics), while week 3 is where it all falls apart. Our group was no exception and it all started and ended in a town called Ba.

Things just went BAd.

BA hum bug.

BAaaaaa.

We were never suppose to go to Ba in Week 3. We were suppose to go to the town of Vatukoula, where we were going to help out the local pastor and advertise for the upcoming free medical clinic. Well, things don't usually go as planned in Fiji, and this outreach location was no exception. Our accommodation fell through, so we were sent to Ba, which is halfway between Lautoka and Vatukoula. We didn't have much of a plan, but we did have a roof over our head and a chicken to shower with.

Yup, that's what I said- a chicken to shower with. This little bird brain made her home in our shower and never, ever left.

And yes, it was creepy. And weird.

Thank you for asking.

We stayed with Pastor Saki, who literally moved into his home that week, and we took over his house- all 10 of us. The week was long (really, it seemed never ending), extremely hot and nothing was going our way. Towards the end of the week we hadn't accomplished much, we still weren't sure if the medical outreach was even going to happen and we were starting to wondering if we were ever going to leave Ba. And then Sitara decided to leave. Yup, only week 3 of outreach and she quit and left. So then we were nine. We made the best of things and, literally the day after Sitara left, things started going our way again and we really got into the swing of things with this outreach. But more of that in an upcoming post (hey, I gotta do something to keep you coming back).

But here's some pictures for you to feast your eyes on...

Loading up the Mercy Truck in Lautoka to go to Ba

Inside Pastor Saki's house

A local church

The oldest bus in the world (well, that's my guess)

For more pics of Ba, go to my Facebook album by clicking HERE.

I hope I didn't disappoint with my disappointing post about a disappointing week.

Thanks for reading,

Christy

Back in the Saddle Again

Wow, it's been nearly 2 months since I've posted for you. I've missed the blog, which kind of surprised me- especially considering how I feel about “journalling”. It's hard to believe that DTS is over already and that I've left Fiji. Our outreach ended on Sunday, May 29 when we returned to Lautoka. I had 4 days there to debrief with the rest of the team, get organized, buy a few souvenirs, say goodbye to some good friends and pack for the next adventure. I also graduated from DTS that week...

Vinaka vaka levu Fiji for the most amazing 5 months... and thank you God for being there with me every step of the way.

Well, I haven't made it home yet. I'm in Ballarat, Australia, a small city about 1½ hours from Melbourne, where I am staying with some old friends- Angela and Leigh. I've known Angela for a long time- we met in church one day and bonded over a mutual annoyance of a certain somebody... and we've been friends ever since. We have had a lot of good times together and, despite the fact that we've spent the majority of our friendship in different cities, provinces and now, in different countries, our friendship continues. Angela went off to do her DTS shortly after we met and ended up as a missionary for YWAM Vancouver... and that is where she met her fabulous hubby, Leigh the Australian.

They're pretty cute, eh?!

They've been in Australia for 3 years now so, when I got to Fiji and finally clued in that I was ¾ of the way to Australia, I jumped at the chance to come and see them. And, now that I am here, I am so thankful to be here- this was the best thing I could have done after DTS. I'm just not ready to go home- at least not now. I've needed some time to process, get myself well (see below), ease myself back into western culture and just relax. As former DTS students and YWAMers, Angela and Leigh knew I was going to need some “decompression” time after DTS before heading back into my real life, so they have welcomed me with open arms. Thank you Angela and Leigh for welcoming me into your home- for making me feel as if I am home- you have been perfect, understanding and gracious hosts.

This is what I had waiting for me in my room when I arrived at Angela & Leigh's- hospitality at its finest!

As I alluded to above, I haven't been feeling 100%. I came back to Lautoka with vomiting, diarrhea and a nasty cough. I actually feel very fortunate because I have heard of many horror stories of traveller sicknesses and this is honestly the first time I've ever experienced anything. In fact, I am usually bragging about how I strong my stomach is... won't be doing that anymore! Truth be told, it hasn't been nearly as bad as some people experience and, even more gratefully, I didn't get sick until the last few days of outreach, so I've always had good “facilities”. However, I have had this cough for nearly 3 weeks now and while the vomiting has ceased, the other “problem” has not. I think it may be time to take advantage of my travellers insurance.

It's winter here in Australia, which means temperatures less than 15 celcius, wind and rain. The leaves have turned colours and are falling off of the trees- by the time I get back to summer in Canada, my body is not going to know what season it is! Needless to say, I arrived with no warm clothes- all I brought to Fiji was hot weather clothes and most of those clothes stayed in Fiji (mostly because there are people there who need them more than I do, but also because I've lost 17 pounds... woot woot! Here's hoping western convenience and my lack of will power will not call those pounds back... ). Angela has lent me a lot of clothes, but she also introduced me to a little department store called Target...

That's me, 100% happy.

... and I am now in love. I've never been to a Target before and I am impressed. And, more importantly, I am warm and stylish (as stylish as I can get, anyway)... especially after my hair cut today! I haven't had my hair cut since I left Canada and it was the longest it has been since I was a kid. And I looked like a mangy mutt...

But now...

cute as a button!

So, I just wanted to write a quick post to say “hi, remember me?” and let you know that I haven't forgotten about you. I've just needed some time to feel better, to process things and to motivate myself. I'm getting there, slowly, so over the next few days you will be seeing more posts and pictures about our outreach and other little thoughts and musings I've been having. And I will do my best to respond to the emails and Facebook messages you've been sending (thank you for your patience). So, keep your eyes open for more on my outreach adventures and more!

Thanks for reading,

Christy