Health Ministry Boat Trip

post by~Brin 

Six weeks ago when I left Altamira, I had tender goodbye lunch with Pastor Clenildo and Angelita's family. Clenildo must have been feeling a little nostalgic as he commenced telling his earliest memory of me. Which would have been sweet had I not been such a brat. The details are foggy but as he remembered it we were on the Jari River on our way home from a 10 day survey trip when a swarm of famished mosquitoes descended upon our unsuspecting boat. Mostly unsuspecting, because as it turns out Clenildo was using his hammock that had a sewed-in mosquito net. I swatted and sprayed and said who knows what kind of words under my breath. The boy scouts of the group put up their ever-prepared nets and returned to sleep. I continued swatting and shifting noisily in my hammock until I was exhausted. And finally I started to cry quietly to myself. And that is how it became Clenildo's earliest memory. He took pity and insisted I take his hammock. The safety and comfort of his hammock felt what I would think a night at the White House would feel like.

So whether I like it or not, that was Clenildo's first significant memory of me. I pondered that this past week as I stepped on the Asas boat for the first time, acutely aware that I was making some "first time" memories. Here I was with my new teammates, I being an unplanned addition since the original RN backed out only days prior. With the exception of an hour long orientation I was given the day before, I knew little about the health ministry portion of Asas since Josh is involved with the aviation side. I was, however, pleased to be included and ready to learn. And I did. Here is the sort of stuff we did: we set up clinic with one MD, two dentists, two RN's and one nutritionist. One RN was learning to run the whole clinic and the other, that one being me,  relegated to the makeshift pharmacy. We gave talks on nutrition, breast cancer, and worms to the adults, and on dental hygiene to the elementary kids. A straightforward and heartfelt talk on human sexuality and STD's  was given to about 50 teens at the local school. After the sex talk, Sara (the other RN) told them, "I am gonna be here until tomorrow, come see me if you have a question about what we said or just want to talk." Sure enough a girl made a beeline for her after the talk. We dispensed meds, advice, and prayer prolifically. And for the majority of that stuff, by "we" I mean I watched and learned as my amazing teammates did what the love of Jesus compels them to do, and that is in-turn love other people.

I learned such much, I listened intently as my teammates encouraged a young, skinny, breastfeeding mom (and by young I mean 15) to manage her own health as they taught her the importance of calcium. "Find some egg shells, clean them, dry them on a rock, crush them into a powder with your mortar and pestle and then sprinkle a teaspoon on your beans every day," she was matter-of-factly informed. Other patients were given anti-inflammatory meds to manage chronic joint pain, and others were reminded to use leaves from a certain plant as tea that had the same effects. Another teen mom was encouraged to wait some time before having her next baby so she could gain weight and take care of her current child. This mom had gotten "married" at age 14. Two women showed up at the pharmacy after seeing the doctor, visibly emotional, and they just started sharing their own tragedies. We talked, advised and prayed and loved. I am not sure, but I wonder if being able to spend precious, unrushed minutes with a caring doctor primed those women to be able to share their deepest wounds.

I was honored to be apart of the team. I was honored that God chose to get me involved, since I was planning on sitting tight to help Josh get through these next few years of aviation training. And mostly I was just humbled to be guided by our father to show love to His other children. Looking at all the needs in this particular place, would get easily overwhelming, paralyzing even. It comforts me hugely to know God sees it all too, and directs me to meet even just a tiniest portion of that need.

 Asas' was invited to visit the schools and give various health related lectures.

The is the pharmacy I " built" and where I spent the vast majority of my 3 days. The plastic bags are various meds, which are transported in the blue bins. The bins were designed to also fit in the floats of the airplanes. The microscope was not mine, but the coconut was :)

The dentists saw the least amount of patients but were the busiest. By far the most difficult thing is to turn away people wanting desperately to get their teeth pulled but there just isn't enough time.

 

The Asas de Socorro ministry boat.

I haven't mentioned this yet but also traveling on the boat were 3 guys from Central Illinois! Brad, Marty and Chad are seen in this picture bringing down sheet metal for the church that they, along with the rest of the crew, built while the health team ran the clinic. Part II of this blog post will show pictures of the church and explain how teams from North American churches are involved in ministry alongside Asas missionaries.

I'm not sure what it is about me that doesn't like to get ripped off.  If I think someone is charging me more for something because I am an American I will find myself arguing over a few dollars, when clearly the person is in need.  I don't like this about myself.  I wish I was more like a wise missionary friend who once told me that he always errs on being too generous because he knows one day God will hold him accountable for the times he payed too little, not too much. 

The other day a lady showed up at our house, she said she had been asking for help and no one would help her.  She claimed her daughter had Hemorrhagic Dengue, a rare but lethal form of Dengue.  Her daughter needed to be transferred from one hospital to another and she needed $30 Reais (US$20).  She told us she had just moved to the Manaus, knew no one, and looked about 8 1/2 months pregnant.  We prayed with her and gave her the money.

About 3 days later she returned to our house.  Through tears, she told us how her daughter had died that morning.  She needed money to take the body to another city where her family lived.  We were crushed.  My mind races as I thought about how we needed to not only help her financially but emotionally.  She needed a family here, we told her.  We offered to call a pastor that could give her that support and  help her with arrangements.  Soon it became clear all she wanted was the money.  She only had a couple hours to come up with the money or the hospital would bury the body in a local cemetery (they don't embalm here so the burial usually takes place soon after death).  We decided to involve a neighbor who we trust.  The neighbor was very suspicious of the story.  We needed to make a decision, and soon.  Do we trust her and give her the money, or assume she was lying and not help?

My thoughts went to my friend who had encouraged me to always be generous.  The amount was only about $60 dollars.  As we tried to corroborate her story it seemed to have more and more holes, but I couldn't know for sure.  I finally gave her the money and sent her on her way, struggling with my mixed emotions. 

Later that night Brin said she hoped she was lying.  In that moment I realized I was more concerned about my money than whether or not she had lost her daughter.  I know we did the right thing in giving her the money.  I wish I could say my heart was right, but in reality I was more concerned about getting taken advantage of.  I really do hope she did not lose her daughter, and either way she needed the money more than me.  I'm not sure if being a Christ-follower means we have to be a doormat, but I know I need to hold on much less tightly to the things that I think are rightfully mine.

On a lighter note, here's a few pictures from the last couple of weeks...

I've been enjoying my first two weeks of working at the hangar.  Here Marcio, a pilot (far right), prepares to take a Brazilian missionary couple (purple and green shirts) to an Indian village where they have been living for two years.

Our friend Chelsea visited last week from Altamira (yellow shirt) and Brin took the everyone on a field trip to the local zoo.  Milena, a neighbor girl that the girls have befriended, acted as a guide.

Brin and Chelsea contemplating the excruciating pain inflicted by the candiru fish that swims "upstream", lodging itself with barbs, when an unfortunate person relieves themselves while swimming in the Amazon.

 

 

 

 

On the way home from the zoo the group gets caught in one of the many rain storms that we've experienced almost daily since arriving in Manaus.

 

Visiting a city park during Chelsea's visit. 

Mia riding her scooter in the park.

greener grass

Still unsettled in some ways, our life has began to take on somewhat of a perceptible routine. At least for me (Brin). I have started homeschooling in the mornings, which means I have also started all the explanations to my neighbors who don't know anything about the topic. Our mornings start with school, as best I can and then sports in the afternoon. Within days of arrival I met a neighbor who told me about a local community center (SESI) that has various lessons. So we looked over the list of classes; guitar, belly dancing, jiu-jitsu, theater, karate, until the girls settled on ballet and swimming. 

With a neighbor friend, Mônica, at their first day of ballet.

Ava reported that Mia cried during class and then later lied to her instructor about having a fever. And that is why I am glad to have someone else help me teach these girls. Ballet in Manaus, I have heard, can lose it's  " classicalness"  and instead take on more of a samba feel. I am hoping for the best but will keep my eye out, especially during Carnival.

Good grief, city living can be tedious. For one thing, the rules. People actually obey the law here, so there goes driving around with 10 friends in the back of pick-up. And swim class was quite a registration ordeal. The girls had to have a health check-up and have their skin checked by a nurse (I doubt I count) every 2 months. Sometimes city life is a real contrast; that is when Mia says, "  I want to go back to Brazil."    She means Altamira.

We still have not met many of our Asas de Socorro teammates, which is a bit discouraging to me. As it turns out none of them live in our borough, ours being a bit of a rougher crowd. But I really like it. The neighbors hang out in front of their homes, the kids play in the streets; the Brazilian version of  "kick the can" being interrupted only when a car comes. And my house borders reserved jungle owned by the Federal University and rumor has it there are monkeys in it. So I do have a little slice of jungle life, albeit hardly authentic. Being on the rivers and so close to nature was something that I thoroughly experienced in Altamira, I know I am going to miss it. I will try not to complain too much, but since I already am, perhaps some of you heard me mocking the mere 3 meters of grass that I will trim with Mia's Hello Kitty scissors?! Well, I complained too soon- a new well had to be dug this past week and now that pitiful patch of grass is mud.

Last weekend we were able to spend a few precious hours cruising the Rio Negro on our way to attend a inauguration for a new boat that will be used for ministry. It was lovely but the best part was meeting new friends. Some of them work for Asas, some work for other organizations and one family, working for Caterpillar in São Paulo, gave us an encouraging slice of home.

The girls on the boat getting to know their new friends. As always, Ava was the first to find her new best friend. Thankfully, it was a girl this time since all, seriously, all the kids who play on the streets are boys. Ava and Mia take them on ambitiously.

Chatting with Ligia about expat life.

 And on another note, our congratulations go out to our family's much loved Cleide! For those of you who have followed our family this past 4 years, Cleide is a familiar name to you all. She called a few days ago to let us know that she passed a very competitive college entrance exam. We are so proud of her! We all miss her tremendously, and with this good news, all the more. I cannot wait to see where God is taking her.

Cleide is on the left, Cleny is on the right. Have I told you all that Cleny is living with us in Manaus? I will write about her next! Actually, Josh will probably write about his routine next, which includes lots of frustrating phone calls about the internet.