Nov 21st and 22nd

Nov 21st and 22
Friday & Saturday - Took a tour of the city and the river at the edge of town before leaving. Still in many stages of repair as they had war here, at times, till 1993 so the roads have need of a lot of repair. We are off to the meeting, picking up people on the way. All of them going to the meeting also. John has seats for 3 and picked up 7, some in the back of the truck sitting with the gear to camp. On the way we stopped to see the Dorm Laveen Baptist helped fund. They have a church, rest rooms, cooking area and eating area. The 4 dorm rooms are about 10x12 and they sleep 15 people per room. Everything here is concrete mixed by hand and blocks are made using the sand on site and a hand block press. Cement is $14.00 US dollars per bag. When they build it must be concrete or the rainy season will start to erode the structures. We drove 8 hours to get there and set up tents in the dark as the locals laughed at us for using tents. They just lay on mats made of reeds. I didn’t know that till later as I don’t speak the language. To the right you will see a picture of the people at the Pastor's Conference. I am way in the back. Look closely. Dinner was fixed, a ball of corn meal or 2 with beans in the bottom. You break off the cornmeal and mix it with the beans and eat it. This is done with your fingers. After dinner they sang. They had about 60 youth there also from 9 to 16 years old. All singing till about midnight. Went to bed about 2 am it started to rain so I had only a screen on the top of the tent and had chosen not to bother with the rain fly so then I had to put it on in the rain and dark. Hard to hold the flash light and work at the same time. Got started and out came John his windows had no covering so we put his on as well. 30 minutes later the rain stopped. The next morning they started the meeting at 9am went till 4pm. I got to do a devotional and used John 12:26 as it fit what I’m doing and why I’m here. Loaded up everyone that came with us and headed back, made good time and got back at a little after 9pm. I will go to church tomorrow with John & Wanne at 7am then off to the airport to Johannesburg for another adventure. God is so good and I want again to thank you for praying for me and the people I have come in contact with.

Nov 18th - 20th

Nov. 18th Tuesday - I left the guest house in Johannesburg and headed to the airport - arrived 11:30. Check-in was smooth. I went to the gate, waited an hour and then they changed the gate to the other side of the terminal where I started. I guess long walks are good for me. There was no seats in this area so we stood for 45 minutes until boarding. Landed in Maputo and went through immigration and baggage claim. They were having people open there bags and checking through them then they pushed on the front of mine and said go, so I went. The flight to Quelimane was moved up 2 hours which I thought was great. We left in the rain and the ride is bumpy but the flight was not full so I had an empty seat to the side of me. That always helps to have elbow room. The gentleman sitting in the row with me is part of a group putting in power lines and equipment across Africa. He was from Canada. The Dina’s met me at the airport no immigration no passport check. This was the easiest stop yet.

Nov. 19th Wednesday - Nice place. I’m going with john to a meeting today about 120 miles away. It will be interesting because they speak Portuguese. We left at 6 am and picked up people along the way. The terrain changed 3 times in the drive from flood plan for rice fields to coconut palms to what they call forest. The place we went to is mud huts sitting on logs held up by branches that had the Y standing up. The meeting lasted 5 hours. No more complaining about padded pews. Lunch today was white rice and chicken. You eat with your fingers and that is messy and some what different. You wash your hands in a bowl with everyone else before and after the meal. Then the long ride back to the house and dropping off people on the way. We saw Baboons crossing the road ahead of us. We stopped but they ran off before I could take a picture. Back at the house we had spaghetti and salad there were some deep fried pastry with meat filling. I got on the internet an talked with Sharon and read my emails. It's nice to hear from people and know they care enough to send a word of encouragement and know that they are enjoying hearing some of the thing happening here.

Nov. 20th Thursday - No place to have to go so today, it was fix it day. The truck need some attention battery cable repair, lock repair, body work straightening some dents. Now we are ready for a long drive for a 2 day meeting - sleeping in a tent overnight. Here the rainy season starts in Dec. and lasts through March. That is mosquito season as all the low lands flood and causes a breading ground in the rice fields. John says they get so thick that you wipe them off not smash them. You can’t keep up. And at times you can hardly eat if you are outside. Hard to imagine. They are barbecuing tonight, wild game of different types. This will be interesting.

Nov 11th - 17th

Nov. 11th
Tuesday - Too much to do and not enough time. I was distributing the supplies to the medical team and Dr. Tomarken called and asked about getting some computers set up so I got 2 desktop computers up and running. They have XP pro installed so that is a blessing as I had no idea what to expect. I thought maybe the hard drive might have been wiped clean since they were coming from an office in the states. These were some computers that came over on the container. Need to get step-down transformers tomorrow for the monitor, baby scale and incubators so they are working for a long time to come. The picture to the right is those items in the nursery. It is a blessing to have my computer because I’m listening to worship music as I’m writing. This helps to bring the whole thing back in perspective and set my focus back on the fact that I’m here for God not me or man. The glory is all His. I should know by now He is in total control.

Nov. 12th
Wednesday - Today was a good day. I have seen more progress today. I think we will make it in the time I have left. We sent much of the supplies to the pharmacy so the doctors can get what they need. Much of the overstock was put in the newly renovated part of the hospital in a clean and safe place. It will be gone in about 3 months or less. Had time to talk with Dr. Tomarken today about this entire process we have had to go through to get the contents of this container. Project C.U.R.E. wants a report about this container and how it was handled. He was very upbeat about it and told me I was welcome anytime. He said I was good for the people and he claims I have given them encouragement to do things as they now see that none of what they thought could not be done could, but only if they try and ask questions when necessary. Now many think I should stay another month. There is enough to do but they can manage if they keep the "I can attitude".

Nov 13th
Thursday - I got an email today that someone is funding another container and they want a list of items for it ASAP to send it out right away. Isn’t GOD Great! Now the real issue is, what will do the most good here. I need a real tour tomorrow of the entire hospital that’s working with what was sent (this container) by the people here in the US. My only regret here is that I really never got to see much of the country with me not being able to drive myself around. Went to the Reeves home for dinner tonight and it was good. Rice and beans, not to hot. She had the hot in a bowl by itself. It rained here tonight again. The rain is nice but it raises the humidity and that is hard to deal with. Everything sticks to you, and sleep is hard when you just lay there and sweat. And then no shower in the morning just put on your dirty clothes and go, few! Tomorrow is my last day to make a difference here. May GOD grant me Grace through the Prayers of His people.

Nov. 14th
Friday - The last day at JFK started at 7:30am in the warehouse trying to see how to get the most done. Had to install some step-down transformers for the major equipment. We put out some incubators and a baby scale. Dr. Julie said that the scale alone will save babies lives as they didn't have any before. You don’t just go buy a scale here. Now they can do medications by the weight not a guess and hope it's right. She said that if you miss the weight by 3 lbs they might possibly die. This is really how basic the need is here. Being here this long is really the only way to see the true need but even more than that the true need of the people to change there mindset to care for what they have. It seems to me that maybe a loss of hope has lead to a loss in caring which makes this circle. It must be broken to really affect change here. My belief is that it will only come when others come along side and show the people that there is hope, in a physical sense, then you may show them how God can do that in their lives.

Nov. 15th
Saturday - I finally got a tour of the city per-say. We when down town and went on a walking tour of the street vendors and sights from the edge of that part of the city. It reminds me of a very large flee market. I could see the port from this point and saw the Mercy Ship in port. It has spent 10 months here and is leaving about the first of the year. Just shortly after that JFK should be reopening the areas that are being remodeled. Went to a few more places and it was time to get to the airport to leave Liberia. My plane was to leave at 5:50pm for Accra, Ghana and we arrived at the airport at 4:45. Sat next to a missionary lady from Sudan and she was going on to Nigeria. She was on her way back from teaching and training on the Mercy Ship for a week. When I got off the plane my baggage was nowhere in site. I prayed that God would help me find my luggage and a man came up to me and led me to where it was. God is Good!!

Nov 16th
Sunday - Had Breakfast and took a walk around the city a little. Not so many people out in most places as this is Sunday. There are still many street vendor though. Went to the hotel until I got a ride to the airport for my 11:00pm flight to South Africa. Had a great flight because the plane was less than half full so I had 4 seats to myself. First class at coach fair, not bad. All night flight.

Nov 17th
Monday - Arrived at Johannesburg Airport about 7am. It took 90 minutes to get through customs and baggage claim and got my luggage. Hooray!! Found Stan, that is from the guest house where I will be staying until the next flight, and off we went. This is basically a motel. It is nice and the rooms are set up like a church camp. 2 rooms with 2 or 3 beds, common kitchen and each room has a bathroom. Have Internet which is Great. I have been able to talk with Sharon on skpye this afternoon. It was like a phone call. Did my wash, have to iron them to finish drying them due to rain. Ready for the next journey to the Dinas' and praying that the flights work out as they have had some changes since I got to Africa. My plane leaves at 1:50 pm on Tuesday. I walked down to get some dinner and it rained so I’m a bit sore tonight but it's all good. The whole day has been busy work and walking. I am readying for the next leg of this journey. Thanks again for praying for me. God has protected and kept me healthy.

Nov 8th & 10th

Nov. 8th
Only 1 week left here and now the crunch has hit. I have spent the day in the warehouse trying to separate things. There are NO gloves, masks, gowns or foot coverings in the hospital so they would be more than happy to get a container of these type of items than anything else. Mercy Ship is here now helping Liberia. Christen, one of the doctors in charge, is the main person I will be dealing this week to distribute all the contents of the container to the doctors and departments. I walked up the street today to one of the hotels close to JFK and found they have a outdoor deli for lunch time. When I leave in the morning, sometimes I don’t get to eat till late evening. This may work well. The doctors are also going to send us updates and photos of how this makes a difference here. This is affecting the hearts and not just the lives and to GOD be the Glory! Well, it's 6pm I better send this off to Sharon via email and get a ride home. The internet has made this a much easier trip. My ride was delayed till 9pm so I sat and talked to the people who came and went. Most of the state side doctors are here through a foundation called HEART they are part of Harvard, Princeton, Yale, etc. and associated hospitals. So there are top notch people here.

Nov. 10th
Arrived at 7:30am, found Doctor Tamochan about 8:30 and he took me to see Mrs. Dr. McDonald who is the head administrator at the hospital. We talked about what needed to be done and she agreed to meet me in the warehouse to start moving things out. I kept the inventory and they call the departments and divide up the list as to who needs and gets what. You would have thought they were kids on Christmas morning that just got what they wanted and more in some cases. I needed to distribute the boxes of gaze and bandages first as they are a large amount 100 cases and many needed it right away. Then syringes as there are 20 cases of different sizes. Some sizes they don’t have. This process has taken all day. 4:30pm and my ride is was suppose to be here, must of got side tracked, showed up at 5:30 with other places to go so got back at 6:30pm. I was told that what I am doing here is good because they have never had anyone come with the container and never had one with so much right stuff in it. Not just what someone thought but things that are needed. It is raining this evening that means tomorrow will be muggy along with mid 90s. This was a very Blessed day. I can't tell you all how much it means to me that you are praying. Thank you!

The container is at the hospital. Praise God!

Nov 7th
Praise GOD at 5pm the container arrived. Unloaded in 2 ½ hours, not bad.

Nov 3rd, 4th & 5th

Nov. 3
Monday many things happened today. The architect and the contractor for the remodel of the hospital came in. The architect is doing his work for free. He put the “not using machinery here” in prospective. If you employ equipment then people who have nothing now will have less because that is their job and how are they to eat. It won’t save lives though. Most just exist on dirt floors, walls of whatever, a tin roof and no windows. That is 75 percent of the people here. Working people at the hospital average about $100.00 or a little more a mouth. And gas is still $3.30 per gallon USD. 100 lbs of rice is $35.00 and I have seen no milk here. But they have coke! Going with the kids in the morning I see so much disperse as we take back streets. Back to the hospital, I am still working on the incubator. Got the transformer back and I still can’t get it to light. I went to the maturity ward to see if there were any others like this one. Did not find one. They did have 5 there but they did not have a light. 1 had heat and 2 didn’t work at all. I saw 2 babies in there. We are going back Tuesday and pull out what does not work for them. Julie, the doctor, was in today and she was so happy to see someone, she said thank you. Got the specks off the internet for an autoclave that they said was bad. Turns out it needed to be cleaned and the water levels had to be set right and it works fine now. I needed a plug and cord, got lights, put in a portable O/R light and it works. These were all considered junk. They are not hard fixes it just took time because I didn’t have the right tools but it was not impossible. This is, without question, a full time job for someone.

Nov. 4th
Got up early went up stairs to read, not by the front door like most days, and my ride with the children forgot me so now I’m waiting for a way to town. Not driving here puts a hardship on getting things done in a timely fashion. I got a ride in with Mr. Snow. We had to make a stop and there were a large group of people standing around talking about the elections and if Obama wins he will bring world peace. This is when knowing God is in charge makes all the difference in the world. The rest of the day has been uneventful. White rice and egg sandwich for dinner. Talked with Sharon on Skype, my life line, and at this rate I may learn to type a little better as we have to type to talk.

Nov 5th
Traffic was bad this morning. Try to imagine road work, no lights and no traffic control. I just received a call to say that 2 of the 3 boxes we sent from home have arrived. Now which ones. I have spent the day in the office and it has turned out to be a good thing as I have had Doctors in and hospital management as I was disappointed because every thing in container was going to a warehouse. Now, by God’s grace, it is going to the doctor that really needs the stuff and now I know another reason I’m here seeing where this stuff is to go. The PRAYER is now Friday morning as I will have the doctor’s help to be sure things get where they are needed. I guess thanksgiving came early for me. I can’t express my thanks to GOD for the knowledge that this will not be in vain through my eyes. Now I know that these things will really help the people and I told them I want to take photos. They had no problem with that and they are as happy to get the items as I am to hear that we will really do some good. I’m sure right now if I was not here the contents in this container would sit in a warehouse and probably never get used. I also got to talk with the peds doctors about Rafiki and they and Doctor Tomakian want to help, at least, on a weekly bases. That is also very good news and I believe that will happen in GOD’s Grace and timing. The ride home tonight was about 7 miles and 2 hours because of a traffic jam. Glad I was not driving. Container now set to get for before 12 noon Friday. Thanks again for all your prayers.

Oct 31st & Nov 1st

Oct. 31
I went to JFK at 7am and had to ride with the children to school. There are no school buses so they pick up and drop off children and people all the way to town. Really different way. Found an incubator that looked like it might work so I found a cord (every thing that is considered bad they cut the cord off )found the lights to be working. UV started so I had it cleaned up and had to find wire send out, buy a plug, clean cord, attached plug, then plugged it in, start the UV and the transformer burns out then had to take it to a shop to have it rewound. I asked Dr. Julie how the baby is doing and is the UV light still needed in the morning when the lights first came on baby still needed it so after taking the transformer in then they called another Hospital to see if anyone had a UV bulb we could use for a short time and found that a whole unit was available, no one had asked. Best part by this time the condition of the baby has turned around and will not need it. PRAISE GOD!! This is the power of prayer and we will now have one more working unit. That turned into an all day project when getting a nut off with pliers in a small space leaves you to improvise, it takes a lot of time and effort. No tools. I’m suppose to get picked up at 4pm with the children. At 4:40 I called to see if there is something holding them up. No, they forgot me. They sent a car about 5:15 and got back about 6pm. I found it was wash day. Great, they washed everything but what I’m wearing. It stated raining this afternoon so I now have clean but very wet clothes as hanging them is the only way to dry them. Will see how this plays out. Was told now should get the container early next week. Here everything is later. Got to Mr. Snow’s home they fed me African gumbo with a yam base.This was good, not spicy! Now at 7pm they want to know if I want dinner oh boy, too full. Maybe some fruit later. Sharon Emailed me an update on the boxes. Now they say 1 left New Jersey on the 24th, 1 on the 26th, and 1 on the 29th. We will see if they ever arrive. It would be nice.

Nov. 1st
Pastor Sam & I went to the Rafiki Center today. When we arrived I was surprised to see how nice it was. It is away from the city, toward the airport and down a dirt road. Got to the gate explained who we were to the guard, he called and a Mr. Dave Veneman came and asked who we were. He said, "Paul Olsen, I read your name on a list here, come in. Once in side the compound, he and his wife Babs were new volunteers of 5 mouths, they directed us to the clinic. They have no staff for it yet, but the Medical Kits are a great start even for short term mission help. Took photos of them opening the cases then they showed us around and explained at this time they have 12 children.They only take true orphans no mother or father that are living and from 18 months to 5 years. One young man's story is that he was found on his dead mother's back who was trying to get to Seralion, a neighboring country. Someone took him there then someone else brought him back to Monrovia and he was found sitting on a street corner and was then advertised if he belonged to anyone. No one claimed him so he is now at Rafiki. Anyone who knew of him said he was called the survivor as he should have died many times from spending time on his mothers back after she died and all the way through his journey to Rafiki. Right now they have room for 90 children and will grow to 180. Only have staff for 30 right now. Each cottage will house 10 children and what is called a "Mother" must be 18 or older with no husband or children under 18. CHRISTIAN with a good church background. They have a guest house for short term missionaries and housing for the full time staff and missionaries. We met the director, her name is Joanne Colvin. She was very nice and asked if we would like to meet the children and house mothers. This was a GREAT day for everyone of us. This was the first step since I arrived that will truly touch lives and make a difference. I now know that I will ask the staff at JFK if there is any who may want to put some time out there once in awhile. God has shown me great things here and there is a long way to go. It stayed dry here today so I think most of my clothes are now dry so I will have something clean to wear to church tomorrow. I’m sure my time here is not wasted in God's eyes but to me it will only help if I can help others avoid some of the down time for things that should have been done 2 weeks before I arrived. Thank you for continuing to pray for me while I am over here.