so just to inform you all, its official i will be going to Tanzania for six months, then our team will split and the group i'm in will be heading to Bangladesh!!!!
just the heads up for ya!
Monday, August 23, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
week seven
well past the halfway of lectures... funny to think its been almost two months but it has. i feel at home here but also feel like me being at home was not far away as well.
anywho.... this week was a good one, lecture wise we had a man named Dr. Martin Panter. he has been involved in health care in East Timor for over 25 years and has many other works he’s done. he’s a very kind gentlemen, would be a lovely grandfather! (just to help you picture him a little better!) he arrived monday evening so lectures with him didn’t start till tuesday. so monday we learnt about fistula’s. which is where if a women is in labour for too long the pressure of the baby can cut off the blood supply to the bladder and the tissue dies creating a hole between the bladder (can also happen between the rectum as well) and the vagina resulting in constant leaking of urine out of the vagina. we watched a video based on the book ‘Hospital by the River’ where this couple has opened up a clinic (in Ethiopia) specially to offer surgery and help for women dealing with this problem. its a very common problem for the women there because of; the lack of skilled help during births/hospitals too far away/lack of money to go to a hospital/women not be educated on a ‘normal’ length of labour so then by the time they realize there is an issue, there baby has died and they are left with this fistula for life unless operated on. it was sad to hear there stories, many of the women were rejected from there villages, there husbands left them and they were shunned in public because of the constant leaking. they had no hope, no knowledge of this place that could help them unless they heard of it from a friend. one lady mentioned that it was either get this surgery or kill herself because she could not go on living this type of life alone from her friends and family. there was hope for the women in the movie though, two were healed through surgery, one had no fistula but because of prolonged labour her muscles that controlled her bladder were very weak resulting in no control of the urine. she was given exercises to practice to help build up the strength. for one lady (she was only 17 yrs old through, as lots of these girls are given in marriage at the age of 7 and pregnant by 13) her issue was that her bladder had for some reason become much smaller and had to have a ‘plug’ placed in her urethra (tube that urine goes down from bladder to outside your body) to help control the leaking. all very interesting and mind opening, bringing more importance to the job we as a school will be doing in Africa.
our lecture topic was health in developing nations. he spoke on HIV/Aids, STI’s, malaria, tuberculosis, and the need for people to not just go in, drop off meds and then leave but for people to be aware of the need in the area they are in, to observe how the culture does things, and from there assess what can be done to make life better for the people. an example, having the toilets dug away from the local well where everyone gets there water. because of course we would think that bacteria from the toilet can seep through the ground into there clean drinking water creating not so clean water therefore resulting in many illness in the village. but these things are just not thought of sometimes in a developing nation. also to have compassion on the people and see them as Christ would see them. to treat them as humans, part of our world, created by our creator just as we are too. with the corruption in governments and the ‘class’ systems in place most people are just seen as a something taking up space and have no value. but these people do have value. they were not created just to ‘take up space’. i am very excited to go and show value to the women that we will meet as well as the men.
other than lectures its been a good week, small groups monday night, an evening lecture tuesday night with Dr. Panter to make up for our missed monday lecture. wednesday is a free evening so i finished my homework and then wednesday got to make a few phone calls home and thursday was evangelism and then friday was our friday night meeting (church basically) and laundry!
we find out hopefully next week exactly where i’ll be for the second part of outreach as our team is splitting up. we were supposed to do a car wash this weekend to help raise money for outreach but miscommunication happened with the place who hosts us and so its been post poned, but our BAS is going to get together and go to the park for a bbq instead! i’m sorry i have to miss it cuz i have work duties.... but hopefully i’ll be able to go for a bit! (i couldn’t find anyone to cover my shift) i said i’d bring pickles! i haven't had them since home and every bbq needs a jar of pickles!
whoa longest one yet! hopefully you made it to the end! till next week!
anywho.... this week was a good one, lecture wise we had a man named Dr. Martin Panter. he has been involved in health care in East Timor for over 25 years and has many other works he’s done. he’s a very kind gentlemen, would be a lovely grandfather! (just to help you picture him a little better!) he arrived monday evening so lectures with him didn’t start till tuesday. so monday we learnt about fistula’s. which is where if a women is in labour for too long the pressure of the baby can cut off the blood supply to the bladder and the tissue dies creating a hole between the bladder (can also happen between the rectum as well) and the vagina resulting in constant leaking of urine out of the vagina. we watched a video based on the book ‘Hospital by the River’ where this couple has opened up a clinic (in Ethiopia) specially to offer surgery and help for women dealing with this problem. its a very common problem for the women there because of; the lack of skilled help during births/hospitals too far away/lack of money to go to a hospital/women not be educated on a ‘normal’ length of labour so then by the time they realize there is an issue, there baby has died and they are left with this fistula for life unless operated on. it was sad to hear there stories, many of the women were rejected from there villages, there husbands left them and they were shunned in public because of the constant leaking. they had no hope, no knowledge of this place that could help them unless they heard of it from a friend. one lady mentioned that it was either get this surgery or kill herself because she could not go on living this type of life alone from her friends and family. there was hope for the women in the movie though, two were healed through surgery, one had no fistula but because of prolonged labour her muscles that controlled her bladder were very weak resulting in no control of the urine. she was given exercises to practice to help build up the strength. for one lady (she was only 17 yrs old through, as lots of these girls are given in marriage at the age of 7 and pregnant by 13) her issue was that her bladder had for some reason become much smaller and had to have a ‘plug’ placed in her urethra (tube that urine goes down from bladder to outside your body) to help control the leaking. all very interesting and mind opening, bringing more importance to the job we as a school will be doing in Africa.
our lecture topic was health in developing nations. he spoke on HIV/Aids, STI’s, malaria, tuberculosis, and the need for people to not just go in, drop off meds and then leave but for people to be aware of the need in the area they are in, to observe how the culture does things, and from there assess what can be done to make life better for the people. an example, having the toilets dug away from the local well where everyone gets there water. because of course we would think that bacteria from the toilet can seep through the ground into there clean drinking water creating not so clean water therefore resulting in many illness in the village. but these things are just not thought of sometimes in a developing nation. also to have compassion on the people and see them as Christ would see them. to treat them as humans, part of our world, created by our creator just as we are too. with the corruption in governments and the ‘class’ systems in place most people are just seen as a something taking up space and have no value. but these people do have value. they were not created just to ‘take up space’. i am very excited to go and show value to the women that we will meet as well as the men.
other than lectures its been a good week, small groups monday night, an evening lecture tuesday night with Dr. Panter to make up for our missed monday lecture. wednesday is a free evening so i finished my homework and then wednesday got to make a few phone calls home and thursday was evangelism and then friday was our friday night meeting (church basically) and laundry!
we find out hopefully next week exactly where i’ll be for the second part of outreach as our team is splitting up. we were supposed to do a car wash this weekend to help raise money for outreach but miscommunication happened with the place who hosts us and so its been post poned, but our BAS is going to get together and go to the park for a bbq instead! i’m sorry i have to miss it cuz i have work duties.... but hopefully i’ll be able to go for a bit! (i couldn’t find anyone to cover my shift) i said i’d bring pickles! i haven't had them since home and every bbq needs a jar of pickles!
whoa longest one yet! hopefully you made it to the end! till next week!
Sunday, August 15, 2010
weekend fun!
well since i was late in getting that post up here, internet is bad and i usually write them friday night and post them saturday mornings but this week couldn't!
but i wanted to share about my weekend! short and brief as i have only 15 mins till work duties! but it was lovely!!!! friday night after the meeting (church) Naomi's parents picked us up and took us out for a cuppa!! so lovely! then saturday, slept in (which never happens) and me and Naomi decided we needed a change in scenery so we went to a mall! it was so weird to be in a mall, i felt a little bit more at home, apart from the different stores that sold various Aussie merchandise! haha! but it was really nice to get out! then in the evening a group of us BAS girls went to a cafe called Greens, it was so nice! such a neat environment (kinda an Osbourne neighbourhood feel for those of you who are winnipegers!)
then sunday i decided i needed an Amy day! so i got on the train and went to Subi's to go to the market to buy some fruit! which on sunday is all on sale! so i got some strawberries and kiwi's! then i wanted to go to City Beach. i wasn't sure how to get there as i've never been there before so i looked on a map and talked to a bus driver who directed me in an odd way.. so i thought to myself, well if i could do it in europe i can do it here! so i looked at the map again and decided if i start walking in a certain direction i'm sure to run into a bus or sumthing to take me there! and sure enough thats what happened! i only had to walk for 20 mins then found a bus stop that had a bus to City Beach! it was a beautiful beach, all the sand here is like grand beach at home, white and so fine and soft you just wanna let your feet sink way down! i sat and pondered life, read, journaled and talked to Jesus! great day! then found the bus stop and met a guy (Leah he has the same birthday as you!) from Hong Kong and waited for the bus. he was here on vacation with some friends and thought it was strange i came to the beach on my own! haha! but ya got back home fine and there was Naomi, Ash and Emily (BASer's) walking up the sidewalk on there way to a sunday night service and Naomi's church, so i of course went along! it was a neat sermon, more like story telling about this man's healing ministry, then ppl were getting healed!
pretty neat! i'm still waiting for my healing, which has got to happen before outreach, cuz my feet won't be able to take standing in the hospitals all day long otherwise. but it's coming! (please be praying!!)
but ya its a lovely sunny day and i got a wonderful package! thanks mom! the girls started laughing cuz all i talked about last week was how i just wanted a cheeze whiz sandwhich and now i CAN!!!!!!! hahaha! so thank you! and for the cards! so lovely!!!! its so nice to get mail here! highlight of my day!
well thats all for now! till next time! (ps everytime i say that i feel like i should add 'keep fit and have fun' ahahahahha!)
but i wanted to share about my weekend! short and brief as i have only 15 mins till work duties! but it was lovely!!!! friday night after the meeting (church) Naomi's parents picked us up and took us out for a cuppa!! so lovely! then saturday, slept in (which never happens) and me and Naomi decided we needed a change in scenery so we went to a mall! it was so weird to be in a mall, i felt a little bit more at home, apart from the different stores that sold various Aussie merchandise! haha! but it was really nice to get out! then in the evening a group of us BAS girls went to a cafe called Greens, it was so nice! such a neat environment (kinda an Osbourne neighbourhood feel for those of you who are winnipegers!)
then sunday i decided i needed an Amy day! so i got on the train and went to Subi's to go to the market to buy some fruit! which on sunday is all on sale! so i got some strawberries and kiwi's! then i wanted to go to City Beach. i wasn't sure how to get there as i've never been there before so i looked on a map and talked to a bus driver who directed me in an odd way.. so i thought to myself, well if i could do it in europe i can do it here! so i looked at the map again and decided if i start walking in a certain direction i'm sure to run into a bus or sumthing to take me there! and sure enough thats what happened! i only had to walk for 20 mins then found a bus stop that had a bus to City Beach! it was a beautiful beach, all the sand here is like grand beach at home, white and so fine and soft you just wanna let your feet sink way down! i sat and pondered life, read, journaled and talked to Jesus! great day! then found the bus stop and met a guy (Leah he has the same birthday as you!) from Hong Kong and waited for the bus. he was here on vacation with some friends and thought it was strange i came to the beach on my own! haha! but ya got back home fine and there was Naomi, Ash and Emily (BASer's) walking up the sidewalk on there way to a sunday night service and Naomi's church, so i of course went along! it was a neat sermon, more like story telling about this man's healing ministry, then ppl were getting healed!
pretty neat! i'm still waiting for my healing, which has got to happen before outreach, cuz my feet won't be able to take standing in the hospitals all day long otherwise. but it's coming! (please be praying!!)
but ya its a lovely sunny day and i got a wonderful package! thanks mom! the girls started laughing cuz all i talked about last week was how i just wanted a cheeze whiz sandwhich and now i CAN!!!!!!! hahaha! so thank you! and for the cards! so lovely!!!! its so nice to get mail here! highlight of my day!
well thats all for now! till next time! (ps everytime i say that i feel like i should add 'keep fit and have fun' ahahahahha!)
week six
team unity.... need i say more? this week has by far been one of my most challenging weeks. and not because we have gone (as a school) from strictly text book information to a whole new level of being spiritually and emotionally challenged, but also God has been revealing so many things in my heart that need to change...
i’m not even sure how to put into words all that went down this week. our lectures were full of content doing with not only working as a team, but majority of what’s going on in our hearts thats preventing us from committing and being part of the team.
i think a main difference from DTS to this school is that in DTS you are so spiritually challenged and so ‘forced’ into relationships with your school mates that you have no choice but to open up and become a close knit family with the others in your school, and here in BAS we showed up and began classes and did some ‘get to know one another’ things but in comparison to DTS not nearly enough. i think it left a lot of our school feeling a little distant from each other. not saying we don’t get along, we all get along actually really well. there has been no drama or interference in personality's, and we have a lot of fun together, but because this is YWAM i was expecting (in my opinion) to be on a deeper level with each other by now.
i realized for myself i have a lot of past hurts that have impacted the way i make my relationships now and i need to be able to let that all go in order to become committed to each member of my team. which is especially important since we will be spending 8 months together!
okay so apart from the emtionalness of this week we have learnt another fact about our school. so when we were told of our outreach locations we were also told that there was a possibility that there would be a third option in which after the six months in Africa our team will split. we just recently were told what that would look like, in which ten of us (and two leaders) will head to India and the six others (one staff) will be going to Bangladesh. we have been told to pray about it and report to our leader what we feel God’s direction is... i am torn.... not yet sure what to think. but i’m sure we’ll be finding out in the up coming week or so exactly where it is i will be heading. it makes me a little sad that our school will be splitting up after spending nine full months together, but i also think its neat that we get to expand our work and train and help even more women!
well thats all i got for now! not much planned for the weekend, last weekend we ended up not going to kangaroo island (times didn’t work out) but instead a group of us went to a beach on sunday, where it was very windy and quit chilly, but very beautiful none the less! i think this weekend calls for a little R&R so thats what i’m gonna do!
till next time....
i’m not even sure how to put into words all that went down this week. our lectures were full of content doing with not only working as a team, but majority of what’s going on in our hearts thats preventing us from committing and being part of the team.
i think a main difference from DTS to this school is that in DTS you are so spiritually challenged and so ‘forced’ into relationships with your school mates that you have no choice but to open up and become a close knit family with the others in your school, and here in BAS we showed up and began classes and did some ‘get to know one another’ things but in comparison to DTS not nearly enough. i think it left a lot of our school feeling a little distant from each other. not saying we don’t get along, we all get along actually really well. there has been no drama or interference in personality's, and we have a lot of fun together, but because this is YWAM i was expecting (in my opinion) to be on a deeper level with each other by now.
i realized for myself i have a lot of past hurts that have impacted the way i make my relationships now and i need to be able to let that all go in order to become committed to each member of my team. which is especially important since we will be spending 8 months together!
okay so apart from the emtionalness of this week we have learnt another fact about our school. so when we were told of our outreach locations we were also told that there was a possibility that there would be a third option in which after the six months in Africa our team will split. we just recently were told what that would look like, in which ten of us (and two leaders) will head to India and the six others (one staff) will be going to Bangladesh. we have been told to pray about it and report to our leader what we feel God’s direction is... i am torn.... not yet sure what to think. but i’m sure we’ll be finding out in the up coming week or so exactly where it is i will be heading. it makes me a little sad that our school will be splitting up after spending nine full months together, but i also think its neat that we get to expand our work and train and help even more women!
well thats all i got for now! not much planned for the weekend, last weekend we ended up not going to kangaroo island (times didn’t work out) but instead a group of us went to a beach on sunday, where it was very windy and quit chilly, but very beautiful none the less! i think this weekend calls for a little R&R so thats what i’m gonna do!
till next time....
Friday, August 6, 2010
week five
hmm i’m thinking of a work to describe this last week.... eye opening, intriguing, exciting, challenging, and very interesting! so our topic of lectures was ‘labour’ yes we’ve finally made our way through anatomy, prenatal care and into the nitty gritty of the most beautiful miracle there is, the labour and birth of the baby! our speaker was amazing, her passion for this topic was so contagious that it got me so excited to be going out and actually being able to help these women in what is one of the most memorable moments in life, either good or bad. we watched a many video’s of the whole labour process dividing it up into the three stages, and being able to see how every women will labour differently and every women will have a completely different need and experience through the entire process. something also that stood out to me is just how amazing God created a women's body to give birth. so intriguing also that even just as the pelvis gets more relaxed to shift and stretch to allow the baby to move through also the babies head itself is able to squish without damage to fit through. and how most of the time the baby will rotate itself to allow the largest diameters of the head and shoulders to fit through the largest opening of the mothers pelvis.
not only have i been learning lots and being challenged mentally, but spiritually as well. God has been revealing so much to me about the works that he’s doing in my life and change that needs to come about in many different area’s. kinda reminds me of that song.... ‘he’s just not finished with me yet’. but he is good and he is gentle and i am thankful that he is slowly guiding me through it all!
this weekend we’re heading to ‘kangaroo island’! i’m pretty excited, apparently there pretty docile and you can go and pet them. theres this little island (we are right on the river, like Winnipeg, Perth sits on 2 rivers) that is walkable to there are just a bunch of kangaroo’s chillin there! other than that the weekend is looking pretty chill, our base if having a ‘swing dance party’ on saturday. so we’ll see how that goes! haha! sunday will be a day to relax as i’ve been so terribly busy sometimes i feel my head is just non stop going. i have dinner dishes duty but other than that i plan to sleep in and relax!
the weather has been amazing this week, and there have been a few days where its so warm i could FINALLY pull out my shorts! woo hoo! its a shame we’re so busy and i can’t spend more time outside, but most afternoon’s i’m able to go to the park across from my house and just sit in the grass, finish homework and read. at least for an hour!
well again, i have made this probably too long.. but what can i say! its a whole week’s writing in one statement! i hope your having a great week, next week our topic is on team unity... which we’re joining another school on, so should be interesting..... i feel like our team is already very unified so i’m interested to see what God’s gonna do through this next week.
bye till then!
not only have i been learning lots and being challenged mentally, but spiritually as well. God has been revealing so much to me about the works that he’s doing in my life and change that needs to come about in many different area’s. kinda reminds me of that song.... ‘he’s just not finished with me yet’. but he is good and he is gentle and i am thankful that he is slowly guiding me through it all!
this weekend we’re heading to ‘kangaroo island’! i’m pretty excited, apparently there pretty docile and you can go and pet them. theres this little island (we are right on the river, like Winnipeg, Perth sits on 2 rivers) that is walkable to there are just a bunch of kangaroo’s chillin there! other than that the weekend is looking pretty chill, our base if having a ‘swing dance party’ on saturday. so we’ll see how that goes! haha! sunday will be a day to relax as i’ve been so terribly busy sometimes i feel my head is just non stop going. i have dinner dishes duty but other than that i plan to sleep in and relax!
the weather has been amazing this week, and there have been a few days where its so warm i could FINALLY pull out my shorts! woo hoo! its a shame we’re so busy and i can’t spend more time outside, but most afternoon’s i’m able to go to the park across from my house and just sit in the grass, finish homework and read. at least for an hour!
well again, i have made this probably too long.. but what can i say! its a whole week’s writing in one statement! i hope your having a great week, next week our topic is on team unity... which we’re joining another school on, so should be interesting..... i feel like our team is already very unified so i’m interested to see what God’s gonna do through this next week.
bye till then!
Friday, July 30, 2010
week four
one month. my how this time has flown by! this past week was a great week! the week started with being able to go with Naomi to her church and then just hang out at her house for the afternoon. so nice to be off base and experience some ‘normality’ haha! then right back to it monday, with this week’s topic in prenatal care. (Australians call it antenatal care) our speaker was a lady named Consuelo and she is from Texas. she did her BAS in 2003 (?) and then went back to the states to get her certificate to practice there. she primarily works with Mexicans who come over the border or live around the town she works from and spending lots of time oversea’s as well. in fact last year she was able to visit the BAS on outreach while they were in India, and may be joining us as well when we go on outreach!
so this weeks lectures consisted of learning all the different ways the baby is positioned in its mother. (i won’t get into detail as there are many ways!) how to palpate the stomach to feel where the baby is and where to hear its fetal heartbeat. (which because one of our staff is 26 weeks pregnant we were given the chance to learn first hand and hear the babies heartbeat via a doppler! so neat!) also spending a lot of time learning how to go about the women's first check up, and so on. what questions to ask and what to look for in making sure the women is healthy and the pregnancy is going normally. we did a mock check up friday with our staff pretending to be pregnant... it was a little intimidating not gonna lie! haha! but i really enjoy getting to learn more about each women as each pregnancy is different.
our school as a whole is going very well, we were able to spend our ‘small groups’ at the park this week, and even though it was quite chilly it was a really nice afternoon just to hang out and have tea and scones together! God has been blessing our school immensely, our car wash went wonderful last weekend, bringing in just over $700!!! which goes towards outreach fee’s for those who don’t have enough (which is the majority in our school at this moment) he has also blessed us in unity, we all get along really well and have been able to just enjoy hanging out together and sharing with each other. you’d think with 16 women together there’d be some form of drama but nope, we’ve got none! praise the Lord!
well i realize this is terribly long, and i’m sure some have stopped reading by now, so i’ll wrap it up! i’m not sure which is better, one long on at the end of each week, or two shorter ones? oh well! this works for me! i hope you all at home are enjoying your summers, spend some time at the beach for me!!!!
so this weeks lectures consisted of learning all the different ways the baby is positioned in its mother. (i won’t get into detail as there are many ways!) how to palpate the stomach to feel where the baby is and where to hear its fetal heartbeat. (which because one of our staff is 26 weeks pregnant we were given the chance to learn first hand and hear the babies heartbeat via a doppler! so neat!) also spending a lot of time learning how to go about the women's first check up, and so on. what questions to ask and what to look for in making sure the women is healthy and the pregnancy is going normally. we did a mock check up friday with our staff pretending to be pregnant... it was a little intimidating not gonna lie! haha! but i really enjoy getting to learn more about each women as each pregnancy is different.
our school as a whole is going very well, we were able to spend our ‘small groups’ at the park this week, and even though it was quite chilly it was a really nice afternoon just to hang out and have tea and scones together! God has been blessing our school immensely, our car wash went wonderful last weekend, bringing in just over $700!!! which goes towards outreach fee’s for those who don’t have enough (which is the majority in our school at this moment) he has also blessed us in unity, we all get along really well and have been able to just enjoy hanging out together and sharing with each other. you’d think with 16 women together there’d be some form of drama but nope, we’ve got none! praise the Lord!
well i realize this is terribly long, and i’m sure some have stopped reading by now, so i’ll wrap it up! i’m not sure which is better, one long on at the end of each week, or two shorter ones? oh well! this works for me! i hope you all at home are enjoying your summers, spend some time at the beach for me!!!!
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