Mondele, White Person

Hello family and friends,

     Happy first week of June! I hope that graduations, parties and the beginning of summer plans has everyone in good spirits. The last week and a half in Congo has brought joy back to me and I think I have begun to feel at home here. The Lord used the beginning of my time here to strip me of all the comfort and security of home in order to show me what really is important and where I find my value. I expected to learn this lesson while in Africa, but I didn’t realize how painful and difficult it would be. I am thankful for all the prayers and encouragement I received, it really meant so much to me.

The river that follows the road I bike to the hospital

    As I was thinking about a title for this post, lots of ideas came to mind. I could title it “Mice” for my 3 mice/rat encounters I had this week or “Bike Rides” for the fun biking I have gotten to do, but I settled on mundele. Mondele is the Lingala word for “white person” and it is a word that I hear a lot! Just today while doing vitals signs with Mama Emma the patients were joking with me about my “white person hair.” They would point at me and say “suki na mondele, hair of a white person” and then point at theirs and say “suki na mwindo, hair of a black person” and then crack up. It brought a lot of good laughter. I also had the opportunity this last Monday to move to the mission compound, which is 3 miles from the hospital. I am now sharing a room with Sarah and I am in the same house as Dr. Laura and Kate. I have enjoyed being with the other girls and having a sense of community around me. A perk of being at the mission center is that it feels more like I “go home” each day. I either drive to the hospital in the truck or bike there. I absolutely love biking when I have time. The ride is right along the river and I enjoy seeing all the people, stores, schools and homes along the way. I have gotten acquainted to the shouts of “mundele” and stares as I bike by. 

Dr. Henri performing the eye surgery 

   During the last week and a half here, I have begun to find my way and discover how I can be of help and learn about medicine while I am here. Every day is different but I usually can be found doing vitals, rounding or sitting in outpatient with Dr. Laura, babysitting the Samoutou kids, watching surgeries or giving physical therapy to 3 of the hospital patients. This past week I saw my first natural birth in maternity, which was neat to see. The African women are so strong and have such a high pain tolerance, they make child birth look not too hard. I also watched another C-section and saw an emergency eye surgery performed by Dr. Henri. On Saturday evening, a woman came in with blood coming out of her eye, complaining that her “eye had fell out.” It turned out that her left eye was very infected and a bad ulcer had caused her eye to come out of the globe. Dr. Henri removed her eye, but left the white globe until they can give her a fake eye in about 6 months. I have some pictures of the surgery below, but be warned they are a little graphic. I definetly have enjoyed continuing to learn about medicine here. It is confirming my desire to pursue the medical field for sure. I also have become very thankful for the medical system in America. We are so blessed at home and really take for granted our access to medicine, surgery and healthcare!

Baking with Serge 

    Being in Africa also comes with lots of fun and adventures. On Friday this week, I got to help our neighbor Serge bake enough dessert for 600-800 people. A local Christian pastor got married on Saturday and Serge was in charge of baking for the wedding. Using some special foods from the US, lots of flour, sugar, margarine (you cant get butter here) and man power we made about 200 power muffins, 230 bannana muffins, 58 slices of banana cake, 78 cinnamon rolls, over 100 pieces of vanilla cake and 2 main wedding cakes. We baked from around 7 am to 7 pm on Friday; Serge got up even earlier to start. I don’t think I have ever spent so much time baking, but it was a lot of fun and I loved the community effort it took to get everything done. Friday night we placed the 2 cakes in Laura’s oven and woke up Saturday to find a mouse had walked all over and eaten the vanilla cake. They didn’t need the cakes til 3 pm, so thankfully we were able to wip out another cake. The second turned out even better! It was a really fun two days of baking. Yesterday, I also was able to go on a long bike ride with Tom. We biked over 17 miles on a road that leads to the small pygmy villages outside of Impfondo. Once we turned right outside of the hospital, there was nothing but trees and a few villages during out ride. We biked a little past the Pigmy village of Bokota and then headed back. I enjoyed my conversation with Tom and my ice cold fanta that I bought in the market afterwards. While riding I took the advice of my Dad to really appreciate the beauty of Africa. Although there is so much poverty and suffering around, Congo is really a beautiful place. The jungle, luscious trees and luminous stars are breath taking, even in the 100+ degree heat and humidity. Hopefully next time, we bike ride I will be able to capture the beauty of Africa in pictures.

All of the baking helpers from the day 

As I transition into my 4^th week in Africa, I would love prayer for the following things:

- For safety as my good friend James Waterman travels from Wheaton to join me in Impfondo today

- That the Lord would work in the lives of the Congolese people here and bring them to a faith in you

- That I would be able to sleep soundly at night, I have been waking up a lot during the night

- That the Lord would continue to speak through me and grow me in the process

Sharing at Saturday Night live 

Last night I shared a little bit of my testimony at Sunday Night Live, which is a praise and prayer time for the missionaries and visitors at Pioneer Christian Hospital. I shared this verse from 1 Peter 5:6-7 “ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.” I believe that the Lord has humbled me during my time here and brought me to a place where I truly have to cast my fears on Him. I pray that the Lord would do the same in your life, wherever you may be.

Blessings and peace,

Lauren

Cinnamon rolls Africa style 

Baking, baking and more baking

Pouring the 400+ muffings 

The oven we used to cook things 

Another view of the homemade oven

Cake # 1 for the wedding 

Cake # 2 - Pre mouse attack 

Cake #2 after the mouse ate it 

The primary school next to the hospital 

The woman whose eye came out 

After her eye was out and just the globe was left