Upcountry Mission: Billy's Story

It took us 20 hours to go 750 km which is an average speed of 37.5 km/hour or 23 mph.  Given the state of the roads that is actually a good pace.  The village we stopped in was called Kissinae, which translated means "the New village".  The people are a forest people called the Kissi.  They are a fairly large  group that stretches into the northeastern part of Sierra Leon.  We setup our clinic at a brand new school that had recently been completed by a NGO.  The village had not yet had permission to use the school so the building was being used for the first time. 

We used one of the classrooms as a treatment room.

Camp was setup just across the road.

The people of Kissinae were extremely receptive and friendly.  The men of the village spent 3 days working on some of the worst parts of the road to the village so we would have an easier time getting there.  Probably the most suprising thing was that the village presented us with 3 bags of rice and a young male goat.






A village elder presents us with a goat.

So this is the story of Billy.    After being presented the goat was taken back to camp.  I wasn't able to catch up to him till lunch.  By that time the goat had already been given a name.  proper etiquette dictated that the goat be eaten so there was nothing to be done but make the best of young 'Billy'.  So...

Billy was our first patient screened and I would like to announce our first, successful Mercy Sheep's surgery.  Billy's problem was that he was a goat, specifically a young goat.  Rejected by his village it was only right and proper that we help poor Billy with his problem.  We put Billy in the capable hands of our culinary specialist, Ms. Lorinda.


Before

After

In the coming posts I will put up some pictures of the people of Kissinae and the surrounding area.  They were a really loving and beautiful people.  We were not able to find as many surgical patients for the ship as we would have hoped but there were plenty of people with dental needs.  Also, Kissinae does not have a local church like many of the villages around it.  So some of the local pastors under the leadership of the Pastor from Ouende-Keneama (local big town) used our trip as an opportunity to go door to door and speak with people.  They were hoping our activities would generate questions and interest in the Christian life.  I believe this is the true power of these types of missions.

Today We Took A Walk

In the states we would have lunch with Mark at least three times a week.  It is one of the small things I miss here in Africa.  So, since the boys had the day of school I thought we would take a picnic out to the dental clinic and have lunch with Mark.  It is about a one mile walk down a very busy and dusty street. 

We are in full on dry season so it is also very HOT.  Really, today it felt Texas HOT.  Jacob staid behind on the ship to help his friend celebrate his birthday so I only had Matthew and Caleb with me.  They were real troupers. When we arrived we realized I had the wrong time for lunch and we were a half an hour early. 

We took the opportunity to visit the school for the deaf next door to the dental clinic.  The newest Gateway group is doing some repairs, cleaning, and painting.  I was impressed how hard they were working after only being in Africa one night.  All the children at the school were excited to see Matthew and Caleb.  We must have shaken hands or hugged at least 50 children.  They also ruffled the boys hair.  For a moment I thought that they were going to get upset with all the attention.  It was a bit overwhelming, but the crush of the crowd soon subsided and we bought two cold cokes in glass bottles found a shady spot and waited for Mark to finish working. 

 We had a lovely lunch and it felt like a quicker walk home.  All-in-all it was a very nice day.  It was absolutely nothing like the lunches we had in the state...different but GOOD!

Upcountry Mission: Getting There Part 2

After 10 hours on the road we stopped at a guest house and then got up at 6 am for another 10 hours in the car.  All told, we went approximately 750 km from Conakry to Kissinae.

Passed a few taxis.  The guys on top pay extra for the air conditioning.

We saw just about everything on top of taxis.  Here a motorcyle.  We did see a whole cow on top of one but everyone was so shocked no one got a picture.



We came to a bridge that looked a little sketchy, so we got out to take a good look before crossing.



It look OK so we continued across.

After one last push we got to our clinic site and home for the next 5 days.  This is a picture of the school where we set up our clinic, but more on that next post...

Upcountry Mission - Getting There Part 1

This month I was blessed to get to go into the interior of Guinea to oversee a dental clinic.  I have seperated this trip into several postings.  The first part is some pictures showing what it was like traveling in Guinea.

We started with a 5:00 am pack up to avoid traffic.  It can take as long as 4 hours to get out of Conakry if we wait for daylight.



We did pass a Starbucks on the way but decided not to stop.

 

On some good road.

 

Some not-so-good road.





Some bad road



An African farm on the way.

We stopped in Guekodou for gas

Buying charcoal to cook with.  We ended up having a gas stove once we arrived but we didn't know that at the time.

Buying Flip Flops

The boys go through shoes so fast...so off to the downtown market we went Sunday morning, with the promise of ice cream looming in the air, the boys made it most of the mile walk without complaint.  This was my second trip to the market for flip flops.  Caleb had outgrown his and one of Matthews went over the side of the ship and down, down, down into the ocean below.  There were many tears shed over that spider man flip flop.  Who knew a child could be so attached to a shoe?

After negotiations had ceased for the first flip flop purchase, the cost was 30,000 Guinean Francs a pair.  Not my best negotiating.  This time I managed to get three pairs of flip flops for 45,000.  This makes me feel better about my negotiating skills...at least until I find out how much someone else paid.  I want you to know that I LOVE price tags.  I am looking forward to walking through stores in the US this summer and knowing exactly how much something costs.  I LOVE to pick things up and really look at them when I shop.  I am learning the don't touch it, don't look at it, and don't act like you are even interested method of shopping.  It is a difficult transition.

So, flip flops were purchased and it was time for ice cream.  Alas, the ice cream shop was closed.  Luckily I know my way around (a little) so off we head to the nearest grocery store for yummy ice cream covered in chocolate.  A half a mile later we arrive to an almost completely bare ice cream cooler.  Oh, the sad faces.  There was a box of 30 ice pops left.   The boys decided that ice pops were close to ice cream.  Happy faces!  But what to do with 30 ice pops on a mile walk back to the ship.

While we were outside the store opening our treats an elderly lady approached asking for money.  We gave her an ice pop and the smile she gave us was beautiful.  Thus we knew what to do with the other 24 ice pops.

While we were walking and handing out ice pops we met Muhammad.  He spent the next half hour walking and talking with us.  He also made sure that the children who received ice pops said, "Merci."  We learned that Muhammad was from Sierra Leon and that he was in Guinea because Mercy Ships had performed cataract surgery on his mother, who was recovering at the Hope Center.  It was lovely to get to know Muhammad and to see lots of smiling faces eating ice pops.  None of this would have happened if the ice cream shop hadn't been closed and the cooler hadn't been almost empty.  It was such a great life lesson for us and the boys.  Often in life things do not work out how we plan or want them to, sometimes a little disappointment leads to great blessings.

Closeing Out 2012--A Great Year

Weekend of December 1st:  Mark and Jacob went to a retreat on the island.  They had a great time diving into God's word & the waves.  I am told that the bonfire and steaks were also GREAT!

December 7th: The ballet classes that I teach performed a shortened version of the Nutcracker with the story being read and  few of the dances performed.  It was very well attended and a lot of fun to put together.  Jacob played the part of the Nutcracker, Caleb was Fritz, and Matthew enjoyed being a very well behaved audience member. 

December 9th:  Caleb turned 6!  We had a Polar Express Party with hot chocolate, mint oreos, chocolate cupcakes, and chocolate ice cream.

The Christmas Season:  They really do a great job of Christmas on the ship.  The activities, church services, and food were all fantastic.  I am so thankful for all the people who worked to make Christmas amazing!  Here are a few pictures of some of the things we participated in....

We made Christmas cookies in the dining hall.  The dough was prepared all we had to do was cut the cookies out.

It was fun and messy!

After they baked, we iced and decorated them.  The decorated ones disappeared before I could snap a picture.

This years Christmas tree.  Yes, it is made from toilet paper rolls.

Christmas morning.

An awesome tradition on the ship.  Everyone puts a shoe outside their cabin door on Christmas Eve.  People fill the shoes with all kinds of treats and presents.  the boys really enjoyed this part of Christmas morning.

Thanks to a wonderful supporter we were able to read out Christmas book.  We have read this to the boys on Christmas morning for seven years.  I didn't think to bring our copy with us.  So, it was an amazing blessing to receive a new copy and continue the tradition.

This year Jacob asked to read the story to us. 

The boys really enjoyed Christmas morning!

I really enjoyed Christmas brunch!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year (a little late) from The Bullock Family!

Visiting Prisoners

As directed in Matthew, my dental team visited the Guinea Central Prison in Conakry.  Because of God's providence I had 7 dentists on hand and we were able to see over 300 patients .  This was not planned, but we felt very blessed to have so many dentists for this out reach.  Our patients included men, women and boys as young as 15.  We were actually prepared to see even younger patients since sometimes it is customary for small children to accompany their mothers into prison (sounds barbaric but make sense when you think on it).

 We spent two days in the prison and set up our clinic in a little Catholic chapel.  It was actually the same chapel I have been to for the Prison Ministry (see earlier post).

 Things went so well, it was sometimes hard to remember we were inside a prison.

 We were able to help prisoners by taking out one or two teeth that may have been bothering them for a long time.

The patients were given bread before being seen because sometimes they do not eat well and we need them to have strength to have a tooth pulled.

 In the end we just offered a little of God's love in the form of a helping hand.