Saleem Maliiko!!

Hi!! Bonjour!! Saleem Maliiko!!

Well how do I (Suzanne) send you emails. Franklin bought a sweet GSM Chinese "iPhone" and we are able to get a SIM card for both internet AND texting AND to call home. So, maybe you will get a text from me or a phonecall :-) dunno if you can text me back though. We flew into N'djamena at around 9:15-ish on Sunday. That was AFTER a suitcase was abondoned, and the following occurred...

We arrived with about 1.5 hours to board the plane. We stopped at the great big display board to see which desk we should check in at, and what gate we'd be board to load onto the plane. We'll our check in was in zone 9, and we were standing in zone 2, so we turned right and started rolling towards zone 9. Immediately, 2 police men/women and 3 French machine gunners stopped us and pressed us and the crowed back about 5 feet, blocking our way towards zone 9. Finally the police chick told us in English about a suitcase that was left unattended 20 meters away (you could look over at it) was a suspected bomb and that they were securing the terminal. OK, I thought... do what you gotta do, right? As we waited at the secured zone, looking at this blue tote bag, we decided it was time to beg the guy at zone 2 to check us onto our flight, but he refused (snooty little Frenchman). He did reassure us that if we were still roped off from zone 9 in another 30 minutes, when they would close the checkin for the flight, he'd take us in. Then, we were hearded out of the terminal as the loudspeaker announced the problem and informed us that all flights were now cancelled! Sweet. Goodbye Chad trip!

We stood outside for about 30 minutes, police cars with the sirens all over the place, while the bomb squad went in to take care of business. We assume they put the thing in a box and blew it to Allah, because the explosion was quite loud (even though the ground didn't shake). Within 5 minutes it was business as usual. We were into the terminal walking past a lady sweeping up some charred paper off the floor, with people sipping wine in a nearby cafe off to the side. Go figure. We made it onto the plane with only 3 minutes to spare, and after grabbing the last copy of the English newspaper with the headline "World Markets Crashing" with figures showing 20-24% losses from London, Tokyo, New York and Germany. Looked like it was going to be a good time to drop off the face of the earth for a while.

So on the flight to N'djamena I sat next to this oil tycoon who informed me he was a chain smoker. Approximately 7 cigarettes in one hour. "I'm addicted (pronoune ad-deeee'cted)". So to compensate he decided that getting drunk would be the most logical option to ease the jitters. He kept ordering wine bottle after wine bottle and even ordered me wine bottle after wine bottle. During that time, he managed to not only get hammered BUT to spill red wine all over his trousers. Followed up by what I assume some profanities in French that I have yet to learn. Upon landing we get off the plane on the runway and this bus drives us about 20 yards to the luggage claim/airport. We could have walked that distance. Did i mention its very dark?? Yeah, no city lights (Franklin - Actually, there were, Suzanne just didn't notice them. We later learned that only 5 years ago there really were NO lights in N'djamena). We walk into the airport to go through customs and there are bugs EVERYWHERE! Not a good sign. So the guys in customs didn't speak English (or Engrish, for that matter), we were the last in line, and just stamped our passports and pantomimed that we needed to register with the police within 3 days. Fine. OK, off to get luggage. We met our peeps that were there to pick us up, and apparently there was another person named "Maria" that was supposed to be on the flight. After waiting for several minutes, we decided Maria wasn't even on the plane and continued the journey to our port of call, which was the SIL institute (where we slept that night). Turns out Maria actually was on the plane and somehow was diverted to another room to so called register. (It also turned out that someone felt sorry for this 18 year old white girl that they gave here a nice hotel room overnight, for free.)

We finally were able to rendevous with her at the market in N'djamena. The market let alone the streets AND the so called 'bus' ride are not for people with a weak stomach. The heat, the filth, the poverty was a real eye opening experience. You don't know or can't even conceive what poverty and filth is until you have been to a major city in Africa. Or Tchad.......or what the Chadian Arabic would call Tachaad. I have been picking up a lot of French (doing Rosetta Stone as well) along with a lot of Chadian Arabic. You have to speak the language if you want to make it here.

We had quite an adventure in the capital and quite an adventure on the travel south to Bere. When we reached the first destination of Kelo to rent a 4x4 (because the roads were flooded) a fight broke out. Africans will jump in and carry your luggage and want you to pay them. This was the case with us this time. I have it all on film to show when I return. I am writing you from cellphone-bluetooth-macbook remember?? Uable to post pictures/video yet. We managed to pile luggage for all the volunteers in the back of the truck bed, cram 7 people in the cab of the truck, and 5 people on top of the luggage, clinging on for dear life in the back... true african style. Away we went to Bere on rutted roads and absolute wilderness and wild country. It reminded me of the pictures i would see of remote Africa in National Geographic. We managed to get stuck one time. We crossed a river on a homemade barge that they use ropes to pull across. FINALLY we are at the hospital......14 hours later. So far Franklin is getting over his illness, 4 volunteers have beginning symptoms of malaria. I am ok so far. I feel rather nauseous at night and fatigued. So I have been extra cautious. But all in all.... I really really like Bere. With a nice comfortable matress cot, my mosquito net, I quickly fell asleep. Which was much needed.

First day on the job. The hospital is supposedly "quiet" right now because of a dispute that broke out between some Arabs and the locals that resulted in 5 dead and 14 wounded (stab wounds). All which showed up at the hospital. Most were women, children and a few men. The fight started when an Arab cow wandered into the rice field of a local, a stabbing ensued, followed quickly by revenge over the "dead brother" who fell when stabbed in the field. Later, after everyone else was wounded or dead, he revived. True story. Oh, and did I mention the law? Doesnt exist. Things should be very very busy again by next week though.

I saw a patient that had AIDS who was misdiagnosed at another hospital for Polio. He was so thin and deathly looking. Picture Auschwitz and take it to another level. Then I assisted with a girl who was 14 years old who has AIDS, gastroenteritis, meningitis, malaria and something else. She is very bad off. I was able to help in the Operating room of a patient who had a premature baby the previous night but there was still after birth left inside her. She went into shock and the doctor had to perform a D&C to remove the remaining placenta. The heat in the OR was so intense the sweat was literally pouring off our arms and backs. Towards the end, they switched on the AC (which has to be used carefully or else too much current is drawn and burns out the generator). Afterwards I had to 'milk' her breast down into a cup (because her family wouldn't do it) and feed her premature baby the milk by spoon. All the while the patient was wheezing-breathing loud and basically clinging on to what life she has left. We don't expect her to make it through the night. (She died before nightfall.) Which means the baby won't make it either. I also took another baby outside in the sun because the mother had been stabbed during the fight and couldnt move.....the baby has jaundice. So sunlight 1 time every hour for 15 minutes. No patients and much of the staff only speak french, local language or chadian arabic. My French has increased leaps and bounds in the last few days, along with Arabic.

There was one other case (Suzanne didn't see this one) of a wiry, skinny guy who was... well, just not right. He was wild-eyed, wouldn't hold still, wouldn't sit down, wouldn't talk, and was ALOT stronger than he looked. We tried to lay him down to do an exam and he nearly bench pressed James with one arm (James is about 6' 3") while fighting off another hospital worker with the other arm. James called for the chaplin, who had a special prayer service with him, suspecting he was possessed (let's just say they've seen this kind of thing before, and the chaplin has had to deal with it a number of times). He was seated and in his right mind next time we came through... no other interventions needed. (The chaplin has his own story, we'll try to tell you about it sometime... prior to his conversion, he was a successful, Russian-trained, Islamic terrorist.)

Some other cases were malaria, some were poorly healed fractures that the doctor rebroke the femur, set the leg with pins so the leg could grow to normal size.....other cases included????? It's all a blur now. OH YES! I also helped Lin with the doctor's horse that had an unopened abcess. He stabbed it with a blade and nothing but puss.

The highlight? I was offered a job of being the director of projects for Tchad and Sudan. But that would mean I would have to move to Africa. Right.

Tomorrow's agenda is to do rounds in the morning, do inventory and establish ledgers for accounting. Then order all the medicine for the whole next year. And try to eat something with substance. Today was bread for breakfast, beans and rice for lunch, the locally made peanut butter on bread with a side of sliced tomatoes. All the sweating and moving around I do....must have Big Mac!! I have to run in scrubs or a skirt because your not supposed to show your knees here. SHORTS (not long skirts!).....hello women of Tchad....liberate yourselves!

Time for bed for a shower (cold) and try to sleep off the long day of hard work. Very fatigued and feeling a little sick. Sometime tomorrow I hope to slip away to the local market and have a dress made for about 7 dollars and practice my Arabic. Or French.

"Je veux acheter du robe" Or!! "Nidoor nachri angumaaji (roob)"

OK, until next time, we leave you with a new blog feature we'll be ending with from time to time... Things you don't want to hear in the mission field: "I'll help you wash dishes right after I finish going to the bathroom."