November update

This update is coming to you from Ethiopia.

At the market

We made it through another month Ebola free!  The outbreak continues to spread in Western Africa, but has not come our way yet.  There have been no further cases in the DRC.  We received Personal Protective Equiment (PPE) from Samaritan’s Purse.

Stephen has been working with the employees to set up a response for potential Ebola cases, including training on how to use the PPE.  That brings some funny experiences, but at the same time the nurses and other employees are taking it seriously because they know it could be life saving.  Dr. Kiong Liao became involved in the preparation and training as soon as he returned, and Stephen was able to turn the program over to him before we left for Ethiopia.

Another good development was that the Tenpenny family and Harvey family were able to return about ten days before we left.  We had some overlap to let them settle in and get back in the swing of things.  We were really glad that worked out.  We also had a team developer visit us during that time to help us think of ways we can make our team stronger.   We will be trying to implement some of these new things over the next few months.

Lunch on Stephen's birthday

We left Impfondo Nov 1, celebrated Stephen’s birthday with our CMA teammates in Brazzaville on Nov 2, then continued to Ethiopia Nov 3.  We will be in Addis Ababa while Stephen is attending the African Conference on Emergency Medicine.  Nov 7, we will travel to Soddo Christian Hospital for the rest of the month.

Praises and Prayer requests:

1) We are so thankful that the other doctors were able to return before Stephen needed to leave for Ethiopia.  Continue to pray for them as they work in Impfondo.

2) We thank God that Ebola has stayed away from our country.  Pray that it will not come there, and also pray for those affected in West Africa.

3) We are also thanking God for smooth traveling and a safe arrival in Ethiopia, and a day of rest in Brazzaville in between flights.

4) Pray for the ongoing situation with repatriation of people between the two Congos.  Things remain uncertain for many people.

5) Pray for the nurses in Impfondo as they try to put into practice the things they have been learning from their training.

The streets of Addis Ababa

6) Pray for us as we travel to Soddo and settle in for our short time there.

7) A huge praise for me is that we were able to get quite a bit accomplished for school before we left for our trip.  Some things had to go the last week, but overall, we accomplished a lot.  We are taking our fall break this week, and then we’ll be back at it!

Thank you again for all your prayers, support, and many words of encouragement.  They help us keep going!