(Photo from timcooke.com)
As I am typing this out, I am sitting at a table in a guest
house in Malawi. What am I doing in
Malawi? Well I have volunteered to come
over and work in a hospital for three weeks.
First I will give you some background information.
For a long time now I have been looking for an opportunity
to utilize my skills as a Respiratory Care Professional in the mission
field. Most mission agencies are only
looking for physicians or nurses, figuring the respiratory issues can be handled
by those two groups. I happened to come
across an agency within my church (Adventist Health International) and sent
them an e-mail asking if I would be of use to them. They said that I could and that they have a
hospital in Malawi that could use my skills and was looking for a
Respiratory Therapist. So I started
e-mailing back and forth with them, and so, here I am.
It was definitely a God thing that I was even able to get
out here. When I initially put in for
the time off from my employer, the director called me into her office and
stating that she didn’t want to discourage me from doing activities like this,
but that she didn’t believe I would have the PTO time to take off for such a
long trip (I am a newer employee and was also taking a week off in June for
vacation). I did the math and was
accruing a little bit more PTO per pay period than she thought I was and I
would have just enough to take the three weeks off for this tip, even with the
week vacation in June! I was very
excited to inform her of that and she stated that since I have the hours, they
would be willing to work with me! PTL!!!
The way I figured that this would probably work best would
to post once a week and each post divided into daily sections, or reflections
on each day. That way you won’t get
bombarded by posts. Though just for an
FYI, these posts are delayed for when I get back (mainly just for the
protection of my family).
Stats about Malawi
Here are just a few statistics about Malawi that I had heard
when I got out here: Malawi is the ninth
poorest nation in the world. Malawians
have the SLOWEST walking pace in the world. This one is definitely true. Malawians have no sense of urgency at all. They move at their own time and pace. Malawi has the most expensive cell phone plans in the world.
The Flight
Needless to say the flight was a very LOOOOONNNNNNGGGGG
one. But I already saw God working while
flying out here. I flew from my home
airport to Washington D.C. then to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, then on to Blantyre,
Malawi, through Lilongwe, Malawi. The
flight from D.C. to Addis Ababa was a long 13 hours, but God was good. It was a Boeing 777 and I had a window seat,
there was an older lady that had some mobility difficulties in the aisle
seat. Naturally on a flight that long my
biggest concern is developing a DVT, and if she’s not able to get up much, I’m
not going to be able to get up and walk around.
We were blessed, however, that there was nobody sitting in the middle
seat between us so I was able to stretch out my legs and do heal pumps, kicks
and other things to try and keep the blood flowing. And, of course, whenever she got up to use
the restroom, I got up as well. So it
all worked out and I was able to get to Malawi safely.
