blessings in "crappy" situations

     An article on mayoclinic.com/health/cholera suggests the last major outbreak of cholera in the United States occurred in 1911… Cholera, a bacterial disease usually spread by contaminated water often leads to severe, rapid, dehydration related to diarrhea that can cause one to toilet up to (as much as a quart or .95 liters and hour). In my tropical disease course in London, I learned that NO ONE EVER needs to die from cholera, even in the most remote areas of the world, if those who have the disease are given enough fluids and a simple, easy to make rehydration solution; NO ONE EVER needs to die from cholera.
      My instructor talked about a cholera camp she worked at in Ethiopia a few years back. There were thousands of people infected with the bacteria, her team dug a pit for the waste a fair distance from the camp, and worked non-stop to keep the spread of infection down. Just when the staff thought they were getting on top of the outbreak, the heavens unleashed gallons of rain and the sewage pit that had been dug, flooded the camp. The patients were literally lying in crap and the nurses were wading through it to treat the patients, but because the medical team ensured clean water and simple rehydration salts were given to all the patients, no one, no matter how young, old, or mal-nourished, died…NO ONE EVER needs to die from cholera…
     A disease that was last in outbreak stage more than 100 years ago in the USA has been raging through Guinea and since February of this year, 1463 cases of cholera and 50 deaths were reported in the area surrounding Conakry, Guinea! With rainy season and the almost non-existent sewage system here (observed once again today by one of my co-workers when she happened to be at one of the hospitals in town where Mercy Ships is doing some renovations. She observed a few “plumbers” taking care of the sewage at the hospital, by pulling bucket after bucket of human waste, out of the ground, in buckets, like one would use to get water out of a well. The waste was then poured into another bucket, and carried by another man to a truck. None of the workers had gloves on or any protective clothing, or masks) the waterborne disease is on the rise.
     Doctors without Borders or Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) has a white, emergency treatment, outbreak, tent set up at the local hospital that is just down the road from where I am living. I have only ever seen those types of tents in news reports on refugee situations around the world, or in movies, not in my own backyard. And even though I saw it with my own eyes, it is hard for me to comprehend, that people in this city around me are currently dying from this disease that is SO preventable and SO treatable and this is the situation in the capital city where there is “access” to at least some sort of healthcare…the situation in the interior is much worse…it is too much…
     Last week when I was curled up in a ball on my mattress on the floor between every time I was running to the bathroom myself, I cried related to the pain and nausea I was experiencing and for those around me who are needlessly dying…Since I have recovered and am feeling much better…I cried again...But this time I cried because I am so blessed…not blessed because I had diarrhea….that is never a blessing…but blessed to have shelter even though it is in a 3 bed-room house with 11 other people…blessed to have a mattress even though it isn’t very comfortable and it is on the floor… blessed that I have a toilet in my house that flushes (most the time)… blessed that I have water to wash my hands with… blessed that I have soap to use with the water…blessed that I have toilet paper… blessed that I have nausea medicine…I cried because God is so good and I am so blessed…
     As the cholera outbreak continues to claim lives of those around me, my prayer is that those who are currently fighting cholera will be strengthened and recover…that those who have lost loved ones related to cholera will be comforted… my prayer is that I never forget that I am blessed…that I will have the chance to bless others…and that those around the world currently in “crappy” situations will KNOW God’s blessings in a new way and feel his hand of blessing upon them in this very moment… Be blessed…