Togo Road- Trip Part 4

People are always coming and going at Hôpital Baptiste Biblique. There are a number of long term missionaries and also short term missionaries that work with Association of Baptists for World Evangelism (ABWE) the governing mission body connected with Hôpital Baptiste Biblique. We have all gathered over meals and it has been incredible to hear the stories of the people here. The ABWE has other missionaries working throughout Togo with projects such as church planting and building another hospital in Northern Togo. I met some incredible people and I believe it was no coincidence that I was able to connect with a missionary couple from Mango, Togo, a town about 9 hours north, but only 250 miles away from Kpalime. The couple was leaving the morning after we arrived, but I was able to have a brief conversation with them about searching for VVF patients. I told them it wouldn’t be easy, but I believe there are women in their community suffering alone. This assessment was more accurate that I thought because I later found out that Hôpital Baptiste Biblique is the closest hospital to their location in Togo and it is 250 miles away. The majority of patients with VVF have no access to health care and if the closest hospital to the Mango villagers is 250 miles away, I can guarantee there are potential surgical candidates in that community. The majority of people living in Mango are Muslims. The missionaries working there are eager and willing to help Mercy Ships locate VVF patients. It will also be very beneficial for this missionary couple to have conversation starters with the people in their community and the VVF patients will greatly benefit from having friends in their community that can help them with their reintegration to society. The missionary’s wife is also pregnant and expecting a baby! I believe this is no small coincidence either. It will be natural for her to talk about birthing and through that she can discuss VVF and hopefully locate those in her community that need help! Awesome! The second night we were in Togo another missionary couple stopped by coincidently (I do not believe in coincidences) they were in need of medical care themselves and they just happened to be at the hospital the same time we were. This missionary couple is from another remote village in Togo by the name of Kara, located about six hours northeast from Kpalime and they have agreed to help locate VVF ladies as well. This is so encouraging. Having contacts up country will ensure follow-up for our VVF patients which is a luxury we don’t often have. It will also be great to have people to encourage and spiritually care for the women after our anchor is pulled up and we sail away. The wife in this missionary couple is a nurse and she also happens to be pregnant… not a mistake… some people call these instances “coincidences”… I call them “God-incidences”. Doctor Russ also introduced me to a local nurse midwife and another midwife working with the government. I am so encouraged that there are trained midwifes in the area of Kpalime and Tsiko. This gives me hope that we won’t find too many VVF patients in that area. If women have received proper care when they are laboring, obstetric VVF are 100% preventable. But, even if a midwife is present at the birth, complications can still arise, and if an emergency c-section is not available, a VVF will most likely occur along with the death of the baby. The midwifes I met will help spread the word about the free VVF surgeries Mercy Ships offers. One of the midwifes already told me about a surgical candidate she knows. I have also been working on developing creative ways to advertise the free surgeries available for these VVF women. It isn’t hard to advertise for the other surgeries Mercy Ships offers on the ship because we can take pictures of cleft lips, facial tumors, distorted limbs, cataracts, and the like, but because of the private nature of VVF surgeries, creativity is required to get the word out. Also many of the people we are here to help cannot read, so it isn’t like I can just design a poster for them to read. Often many of us from western cultures come up with a slogan or phrase that we think is perfect, but it may be culturally inappropriate and we may ruin any chance of making a difference because we offend the people we came to serve. With this knowledge in the back of my mind, I decided to ask the nurses at Hôpital Baptiste Biblique how I should best get the word out about Mercy Ships’ VVF Program. The conversation was hilarious at times, but after about one and a half hours we came up with a 2 lined slogan for my posters. We also translated the phrase into a few of the local Togolese languages. I guess the words on the poster will be hand written because I am certain my computer has never attempted to type any of the letters/figures I have on my notepad! I will be the first to admit I seriously lack graphic arts and computer design capabilities, but I feel confident that they idea and slogan my new African friends and I came up with will help locate some women suffering alone and that’s what counts! Yup…you guessed it… more to come!!!