Sarah Cooper’s Blog

Warm again

So I know that many of you will be surprised considering my previous love of winter and snow, but I have definitely grown to love the dry heat here.  In a previous post, I made fun of the locals for being cold when the temps are in the 70’s, but now I am bundled up along with them.  Thankfully the weather is back into the 90’s today:-) I am sorry that I have not been able to keep everyone updated better, but the satellite has been down on the compound.  I continue to see many interesting things: leprosy, rabies, lots of snake bites, and fractured jaw, pelvis, and patella.  I also saw an extremely advanced case of breast cancer.  The breast was black and hard with lots of nodules.  The skin changes wrapped around to her back and her arm was swollen about three times larger from the lymphatic fluid that was blocked.  Because of the blocking, it had created an opening and was draining out.  I also have seen a softball sized skin cancer (squamous cell) and protein-calorie malnutrition known as Kwashiorkors.  These are only a small fraction of the wild cases that are here, and unfortunately I have seen a lot of death coupled with them.  Praise God that He brings healing to some.

My time at the mission is drawing to a close and I will soon be traveling to a couple of national parks for a few days afterward.  I am very tired from the physical and emotional drain of working at the hospital, but I am not ready to leave.  I feel like I have just begun to get used to the culture and the people.  I am able to take a history in the native language.  I am told that my pronunciation is pretty good too!  The locals get a big kick out of hearing me speak their language.  They often ignore me and just stare at the translator.  Apparently this is because they would never expect a white person to be speaking their language.  It is a very expressive language and you have to speak it very forcefully and loud.  There is no room for the soft-spoken in Mampruli!

 Thank you again for all of your thoughts, words,  and prayers of support.  I am healthy and very happy here.  As you think of me, please pray for my adjustment back into the States.  I know that it will be very difficult.  I hope to keep everyone posted on the rest of my experiences.