SORRY FOR THE DELAY- INTERNET ON THE ISLAND HAS NOT BEEN GOOD.
(Pictures: Megan & kids tired and waiting at the airport on our way back to the island; Grace reconnecting with neighbor friends; Amy (teammate) saying an initial hello to Peter)
We have been back in our island home for almost a week and so far the two things that have struck us most has been the encouraging stories of how people are doing spiritually and the concerning stories of health.
We live on a tropical island where many illnesses breed and medical care is not the best. On our return we heard tales of “the tournament”. They call it a tournament because it was an illness where everyone took their turn against the opponent. Some people ending up taking multiple turns. The island has been hit (during its normal malaria season) with an outbreak of dengue fever and now there are stories that cases of another illness are being reported on neighboring islands and are headed this way.
For most here, malaria and dengue means a bad week of pain and sickness but it has been aggravated by the hospital turning people away with no more room for patients and pharmacies turning
people away with no more medicine. It has been a rough time for lots of islanders.
But the main health scare this week came from a very different and unexpected corner. The day after we arrived was the island’s second annual marathon & half-marathon. Our team leader, Chris, was going to be running the half-marathon and most of the team waited for him at the finish line. We were at home still recovering from our travels when we got a call from Beka (Chris’ wife) that Chris was in the hospital and not doing well.
The combination of a hot morning, and previous days of little sleep and not ideal eating caused Chris to become severely dehydrated. He crossed the finish line and collapsed; delirious and eventually unresponsive. Chris ended up being in the hospital for over 7 hours. It was an extremely scary experience with Chris at one point to telling Beka goodbye and apologizing to her because he was sure he was dying, leaving her and their four boys. The good news is that we still have Chris with us. His body eventually cooled and stopped cramping and his blood pressure rose to a more normal level.
Not the welcome back experience we were expecting, but we were glad we were back. The rest of the team was blocked from the hospital by the marathon route, so Tom was able to get to the hospital to support Beka hours before anyone else could. Tom witnessed enough to know he would never want to have to be admitted into the local hospital (where the patient’s family has to supply even the most simple things like water and medicines) and extremely thankful for the health we have had so far.
PRAYERS ANSWERED
We made it! The travels were long (especially with two little ones) but everything went well. All of our neighbors have come by to say hello and see Peter- we have felt very well received without feeling overwhelmed. Our team made sure that we came home to a clean house with food in the kitchen. We have been especially excited to hear the stories of personal growth and life changes among islanders since we were away. We have three new friends to cheer about!!! Peter continues to do well- over 3 weeks old now.
PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for the health of our family and the rest of the island. Tom is jumping back into teaching and meeting with islanders. Pray for us settling into our new schedule and routines. We usually walked or taxied everywhere together but this is hard with two kids. Pray also for our language study- that we would continue to push forward. Pray that the momentum of personal change would continue on the island.
