by Tina | Dec 1, 2014 | Ministry
I have a sad confession for you today. Until this year I wasn’t even aware that there was a World AIDS day. I decided today I would share with you a little part of my new world and things that I did not pay attention to because it didn’t personally affect my life. This affects so many lives!
Today is World AIDS Day. World AIDS Day is held on December 1 each year and is an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, show their support for people living with HIV and to commemorate people who have died. World AIDS Day was the first ever global health day and the first one was held in 1988.
HIV stands for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. It is a virus which attacks the body’s immune system — the body’s defense against diseases.
An estimated 2.1 million children worldwide (under 15 years of age) are infected with HIV, with 430,000 children becoming newly infected each year. Ninety percent of these children become infected with HIV by mother-to-child transmission (MTCT). Without intervention, the risk of MTCT among infants born to women who are HIV positive ranges from 15% to 45%. Without effective treatment, one third of infected infants will die before their first birthday, and half will die before two years of age.
The saddest part of this is that if the mother KNOWS she is HIV+, is treated, of the new born baby given the correct drugs, as well as not breast-feeding and the baby will stay HIV free. Unfortunately, in this area of the country, very few women have their babies in hospitals, and have no pre-natal exams, treatment, or information.
The number one means of new cases of AIDS in Nigeria would be reduced if women know that they need to visit a clinic and get an HIV test so that they know their HIV status. Do you know why this is such a challenge? Many women don’t know this can save their baby’s life and are afraid to know their status because of the prejudice and ignorance of the disease. People are dying because of lack of information!
Having first heard about AIDS in 1986, I used to think how could anyone not know how you get AIDS. I know now. Lack of information.
Today we marched from the clinic, chanting, “No more HIV”, handing out stickers that give information on HIV, and towels, and bracelets with this information. We marched 10 kilometers. Chanting, handing out thngs, talking about HIV. It was wonderful to see our staff, volunteers and others put their whole hearts into this to inform their countrymen. If they don’t know their HIV status, they now know where to find out now! That is one of the reasons we are here in Nigeria. To save lives. After lives are saved, then you can talk to them about their souls. God is good! He is making huge strides here on the Mambilla Plateau and Dan and I are humbled and over-whelmed at times that God can even use us in His work here in Nigeria!
My thought for today comes from Elizabeth Taylor, “It is bad enough that people are dying of AIDS, but no one should die of ignorance.” – I like that !
by Tina | Nov 18, 2014 | Devotional
It was a Saturday afternoon on July 13, 1985. I was taking care of Andrew, an 11 month old and getting ready for a garage sale. While I priced and folded clothes and things I had the T.V. on. While Andrew was taking a nap, God used that day and that time to rock my world!
I was 21 years old and had no idea that God had a message for me on that day. My small-town world would be shattered and I would have my heart broken and my eyes opened.
You see that was the day that Live Aid occurred and was broadcast simultaneously from London and Philadelphia. I was young, and to tell you the truth, I didn’t watch the news because typically it would depress me. That day, this young mom saw moms in Ethiopia watching their children die from starvation and there was not one thing they could do about it as they were dying as well. I had been told growing up as a child to “finish my food, there are starving children in China”. This really bothered me the first time my mom said that to me. I couldn’t believe that ANYONE in this world could be starving and how awful that would be. After all, I was a 100 pound 5 year old and this was totally out of my element!
On this day, I SAW it through the magic of television and I wondered how I, this small-town girl with a very soft heart protected with a very hard heart could have been born in America, blessed with so much and taking so much for granted. Health, food, shoes, family, and shelter.
This was the day I thought, “that mother watching her child die. Tina, that could have been you”. I realize that was just about 30 years ago, but that seed has been in my heart ever since that moment when God broke into my heart with truth.
What brings these thoughts up this week is that we have been looking for a lot of different auto parts and so I have been in the car watching people a lot. This, unfortunately, takes a lot of time, but I have been observing people and life in this Nigerian world. Tuesday I saw a pregnant young woman hawking food. “Hawking” is what some people do here. They have a large container of something that they carry, it could be bananas, rice, peanuts, olives, sunglasses, etc. and they carry it to cars and businesses trying to sell it.
Well, I thought, “this is her world”. She hasn’t been brought up being told that she can be anything she wants to be when she grows up. She is living day to day. She hopes to make enough today to survive another day. Soon she will have a baby to take care of as well. Frequently hawkers also have their baby tied to their back as they go about trying to scrape enough money for another day.
This is my thought for today: Are you counting your blessings today? How has God broken your heart and opened your eyes? Are you doing anything about it?
by Tina | Nov 13, 2014 | Devotional
I am sorry friends, we have not had much for internet the past two weeks. Here is what we’ve been up to:
On Friday we saw the doctor for Dan’s leg. He determined it was getting worse and there was nothing more they could do in Gembu. He called his brother-in-law, who is a doctor at the National Hospital, and set up a meeting for us Monday morning.
We left for Abuja early Saturday morning, October 25 after the nurse cleaned and wrapped up Dans leg. We had an uneventful trip and arrived in Abuja on Sunday. We got a few provisions and went to the house and rested and contacted the doctor we were meeting on Monday. During this time Dans leg is looking and feeling increasingly worse.
Monday morning we texted the doctor and met with him. He took one look at Dans’ leg and said you will need to be in the hospital for a week or two with your leg up to reduce the swelling, and then have a skin graft, then stay in the hospital a week or two or until it is healing. I do not need to tell you that both of us were discouraged. This would eliminate doing any work in Gembu before we have to go home in December.
I am ready to call and get plane tickets home as I really hate seeing Dan in pain and it has increasingly gotten worse with treating it here. Dan thought he should check with his doctor that is going to do his vein surgery in his legs in December to see if there were things we could do that we hadn’t been doing that would help or if their opinion was we should come home. We are still not sure why we didn’t do this before. They were wonderful and said that he probably had cellulitis around the ulcer and that was where a lot of the pain was coming from. Also the gauze he was using was not non-stick. That was irritating it every time he moved or changed dressings. We traveled to quite a few pharmacies and found the items we needed to wrap up Dan’s leg and he sat on the couch with his leg up Tuesday and Wednesday and he continued taking the antibiotic he had been on for two weeks.
God has blessed tremendously and this has reduced the pain, infection ,and drain on Dan’s body! Words cannot describe how very thankful we are for this.
While in Abuja we have had servicing done to the vehicle we are using, bought a new truck and the mechanic is currently working on that making sure everything is ready so that we can take it to Gembu. You see, when a vehicle breaks down on the road, that’s where it gets fixed here. Availability of parts and qualified people are very limited. It is always better to take care of it in a bigger city and be able to get the parts that are from the dealer. We have also spent this week getting the items on our “to do” list done. It totally amazes me how long it takes to do anything here! We can spend a whole day and not find the part we need or a decent copier, or an ace bandage!
On Sunday we got to go to an international church called “The Ark”. It was wonderful to sing songs we knew, a message that spoke to us and visit and connect with people of many different nationalities. This made me realize that I have had a lack in my life here and that is music. I seem to need good words and melodies going through my head This seems to encourage and motivate me. I was so surprised that I just soaked up the music and the whole experience like a sponge!
On Monday we went to Johnny Rockets. We visited with a missionary couple on Saturday that told us they had discovered it about a week ago and then and there Dan had decided that is where he would go for his birthday lunch. His birthday was actually on Tuesday, but we decided that day we would work around the house and get some more done there. The picture above is Dan enjoying his peanut butter chocolate shake and enjoying every second of it. Ice cream in Abuja is very expensive and does not taste good to us. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there talking and eating and listening to oldies from the jukebox!
We are still waiting to hear when we are supposed to meet with US AID for a close out meeting. We are anxious to get back to Gembu and get some work done before we have to leave in December. We are missing our friends and co-workers in Gembu and excited about what the future holds there at GECHAAN.
We also found out this week that my mom broke her leg and dislocated her hip. I am so thankful my sisters are there to be with her and advocate for her as she is in the re-hab. They really are much better at that than I and I am thankful for that!
This note is more informational than inspirational today. I do want to leave you with this one thought though. Wherever you go, whatever you do (especially if it’s not what you want to be doing) who are you reflecting? You do not need to be a missionary to reflect the One who sent you!
by Tina | Oct 30, 2014 | Devotional
Psalm 130:7 O Tina, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. This verse has spoken to me in so many different ways this week. Of course, the Bible says “O Israel”. But this verse is a personal one for me. I have found that with totally trusting the Lord, I have found unconditional love and total freedom to live and “be” as He made me.
The picture above is Dan addressing all of the staff at our meeting on October 29. It was a wonderful time for us to tell all of the staff a little more about us and what our vision for the future is and to also hear feedback from those that wished to speak. We also made sure each of them knew we are open to their ideas and opinions and stressed the “team approach” to ministry and celebrate the wonderful miracles God has already done through and in GECHAAN, and looking forward to the future!
This is pretty much on the same wave-length of what we have been doing all week. We have met with some of the FHI staff that are in the area doing training in hospitals, meeting each of our staff members every morning and most afternoons to touch base and see how things are going. Dan is also working on organizing offices and moving people around and we are continuing to clean and organize and figure out the resources that are here. Tina is also working on a Days for Girls project and getting an AWANA program going in the area churches. The thing that has encouraged me the most are the young adults we have encountered here.
We were blessed to have a conversation with a young woman who works for another NGO and she explained her discouragement that Nigeria is a country where people will die for their tribal group but not for their country. It seems to her that if Nigeria could all come together, regardless of tribe, and work toward a common goal, it would change their country and they could move forward. Another conversation that we had this week was with a young man who wants to work in the community as a volunteer helping youth with abstinence clubs because it has affected his life so positively.
You see, Dan and I have been blessed to be able to encourage and love a lot of young people in our lives and we are blessed and invigorated to see their energy and drive to make their communities a better place. They don’t understand and are annoyed with needless red tape and questioning. The part that needs great wisdom is encouraging them, yet remaining realistic. There are processes that seem needless, but are there for a reason, and to explain that in a way they understand.
We have been very surprised that the big “C” word here CHANGE is not as much an issue as we thought it might be. This is encouraging to us as we celebrate and realize the wonderful work Art and Dorothy have done that has changed this whole area of Nigeria and the possibilities for GECHAAN’s future.
My biggest prayer this week is healing for Dan’s leg. Please continue to pray that it will heal. We are traveling to Abuja on Saturday and Sunday and request prayer for travel there and safety as we pack up the Abuja house and start that process.
Todays’ point: Are you living the life God made you for? Do you have a venue to use the skills and talents God made you with? Do you realize the freedom of His unconditional love for you? I pray that you too can experience this in your life.
by Tina | Oct 23, 2014 | Devotional
Boaz passed away on Friday, he was not able to recover from whatever was making him sick. Thank you all for praying. I’m thankful we have the female guard dog, Ruthie left.
This week we had a new experience. We attended the funeral of Mama Jacinta. Mama Jacinta was a 53 year old mother and grandmother who worked at the Life Line Center. She was HIV+ and has done very well for a good many years with that status. We closed the clinic and the offices and all attended the funeral. John, our carpenter made the coffin. It was in a Catholic Church, so we got to experience a Nigerian Catholic Funeral. It was amazing how she had touched many of our staff, as she was a cleaner in the Life Line Center for many years. They called her, “Mommy”.
The life expectancy in Nigeria is 52. In the United States it is now 79. Mommy had beaten the odds here by a year. There have been staff gone to many different funerals this week. Just in one accident on the road, 18 people were killed two days ago. Death is just part of life here. They look at death differently. Maybe you do if you experience it as much as people do here. They seem to understand that REALLY we are not guaranteed tomorrow. I know in America we may say that, but it is a shock to us when someone we know passes away.
We love going to church here in Nigeria. Last week we went to a Pentecostal Nigerian Church. The Pastor’s message was wonderful, even though we were a tiny bit uncomfortable during prayer time. The thing I love about when people pray on Sunday mornings at church, they truly thank God for bringing them together again another week. They thank God for peace in their state currently. They thank God for travel safety and pray for those not with them who are traveling or sick.
In America we pray those things as well, but is it a heartfelt cry? Not very often. Here many times they pray to “Papa”, I love that! It gives me a wonderful mind picture of a great big God with great big arms wrapped around His children.
This week my greatest concern was Dan’s leg. Dan has vein problems which will be fixed when we are in the States in December and January of this year. Well, with all of the traveling we have done he has not been able to put his legs up at all. On Sunday Dan showed me the ulcer on his leg and it looked very infected. I googled what I should do to possibly help. We didn’t have peroxide, gauze, much of anything so I soaked it in hot water with salt. By Monday morning it looked horrendous! We talked to one of our doctors here. Dr. Ameka started treating it by cleaning it out twice a day and put Dan on a strong antibiotic. ALL of the staff has been very concerned about his leg since we got to Nigeria. Every day they check and see how it is looking and how Dan is feeling. Now I know why! They have seen people die from infections and seemingly harmless illnesses because care is “survival care” here. In America we have been blessed with “comfort care”.
I would love to personally send every 18 year old to a Third World Country for a year. I think it would give us all a totally different perspective on our lives and priorities if this were the case.
We took the picture of the praying mantis yesterday morning. We were walking around the clinic visiting with everyone and here is this guy hanging out on the step. I’m not sure why he was there instead of blending in to the leaves at the bottom of the step. I laughed because it made me think of us. Dan and I haven’t seen a white person for a month now. We kinda stick out here in Gembu. We aren’t hanging out, blending in with the crowd.
Here is my thought to share with you this week. How about you? Are you blending in? Do you look like the world around you? OR is there a light coming from deep inside of you that can only come from our “Papa”? Think about it.
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