A Life Changing Weekend!!!

How do I describe or put into words this weekend...well I will attempt it; It all started on a wonderful weekend camping trip to Bilene, Mozambique. As we were driving in Swaziland still, off to the left we saw a huge elephant just walking slowly, and that was pretty amazing! Then I first had to get a temporary visa at the border and that all went just fine with no problems. As we were getting ready to actually cross the border about 13 guys ran up to the window quoting different exchange rates for their currency. At this point good thing I wasn’t in charge of changing the money over because it was all pretty confusing to me, and David almost got ripped off until he told the guy he owed us more money. We arrived at the destination and you could hear the water/waves rolling in and it was quite beautiful. They had to deflate their tires on all the vehicles first before driving into camp because the camp accommodations were literally right on the beach! We played all sorts of games on the white soft sand beach all day like cricket, soccer, etc... and went jet skiing as well. Oh and one of the many highlights of the weekend was catching a huge sail fish in the deep ocean off of a jet ski. Yes, a jet ski and NOT a legitimate deep sea fishing boat. We went out to sea on the jet ski to troll for some fish, possibly Tuna and also to see if we could spot some Whales. Sure enough we dropped our lines and about 30 min later I noticed we had a bite. So I picked up the rod and started to reel it in but the fish was too large and I couldn’t fight it so Barry took over. I was nervous about falling into the ocean and then 45 min. later Barry finally reeled it in. He took one good look at it and said we need to release him because he is just too beautiful! Oh and if that’s not cool enough I forgot to mention that we saw 6 Whales jumping, making noises, and blowing all around us. On the last day we drove into Maputo and stopped at a Yacht Club Restaurant and I had prawn curry and prawn cakes that were delightful. The price of seafood is crazy cheap and only cost $12.00

Camping in a tent on the beach and catching Sail fish off a jet ski-”PRICELESS”!!

We made it back across the border to Swaziland and we were now on the Bulembu dirt road back home and the 3 of us were the first ones on to the scene of a rollover accident. It was a Bulembu marked bakkie=truck with large 40 gallon water bottles dispersed all over the road and two bodies laying on the side of the road as well. One guy was holding his chest and coughing a lot and the other guy was bloody all over and not moving. So I immediately got on my cell phone and rang for the ambulance and nurse that I work with everyday at the Bulembu clinic and my phone wouldn’t connect. Then I grabbed the mans cell phone and made the phone call out. All I could do was think I just need to talk to someone, then I finally got it together and realized we were the only ones on the road and I needed to help this bloody man. So I quickly ran back to the car and grabbed a towel out of my bag and rubber gloves and tied the towel around his arm to stop some of the bleeding. His index finger was totally torn off and a ligament was hanging and the other fingers were badly mangled. Blood was coming out of his ear and head and many other places. I had the guy lay down because now he was confused and his body was starting to shake hard because he was going into shock. As he laid there on the road he kept looking up at me saying please don’t let me die, I know I’m dying now. He said can you please help me get out of pain. Then he asked me about 20 times what my name was and said please don’t let me die. I felt so inadequate and helpless and all I could do was say positive words and tell him he wasn’t going to die. I then asked the man if I could pray with him and he said yes and that was good. Then we waited about 30 min until the ambulance got there and it felt like the longest 30 min. of my life. I started to step away when the paramedics got there but he yelled out and said, “No please don’t go, don’t leave me I know you will save my life” So I just placed my hand on his shoulder and told him I would help place him in the ambulance but that it would all be OK. My other 2 friends kept their distance because they couldn’t handle the sight of blood they said and did a great job of picking up all the heavy water jugs to clear a path for the ambulance. The one gentlemen was released from the hospital the next day with minor injuries and the other guy was released on Thursday and suffered a concussion, lacerations of the skull, and his other fingers survived.

I am doing well, learning a lot, and keeping an open mind. Had a GREAT week of weather with sunshine and blue sky’s, it was divine! Great work week as well and I just love seeing the children smile.

The ABC infant orphanage just got a new baby in on Wednesday that is only 2 weeks old and tiny tiny because he was born 2 months early. His mom was a rape victim and she was only 13yrs old. His name is Sibusiso which means “Blessing”. He is so cute and just sleeps all the time.

Thursday evening the Swaziland Frontier Bike race came through Bulembu and that was the ending point for that leg of the 3 day bike race and my roommates and I were volunteered to help serve beverages to the racers. I tell you, never a dull moment here and constant activities. They host this race once a year and it’s an intense mountain bike race going up all those steep steep hills for a total of 3 days. Watching them Friday morning go up the hill past the Hospital inspired me to get back into my cycling when I get home and can’t wait to hit the gym hard!!

I can not believe how fast the time is going and I can say that I have learned many life lessons. I have seen things and met people I will NEVER forget and have learned the true meaning of THANKFULNESS through my time here. It’s really weighing heavy on my heart this week of leaving and it seems as though I have just developed some awesome relationships, learned the language more to better speak it, and have settled into the kids lives more. I will be completely sad to say goodbye! I’m excited that I was able to serve, share, and just being flexible to whatever, has been a good feeling. Flexibility is a must in Africa because things don’t always go as planned and they even have a saying over here that I hear used at least 3 times a

day. It’s called T.I.A which means "This Is Africa".

This is the wish I always wish,

The prayer I always pray:

Lord, may my life help others

It touches on the way.

Matthew 5:16

Hope everyone is doing well,

Melissa

"Blessed to Bless"

Hello-

I had a great weekend with lots of things to see, do, and fun times!! It started out with a ride into town (Mbabane) with rain, fog,and slippery muddy dirt roads. You know your in a third world country when your dodging cows, goats, and chickens when driving down the road, as if the thick fog wasn’t enough of a distraction. I went to spend the weekend with a friend of mine Chris from USA, his Aunt Carlie, Uncle Jim, and cousin David (who is tall, good looking, and very funny not to mention). They live about 30 min outside of Mbabane on a sugar cane farm called Malkerns. It was so peaceful and beautiful being on the farm just overlooking all the rolling hills of agriculture and beautiful mountains in the distance (picture included). There are Pineapple fields all around the sugar cane farm and I saw them picking the Pineapples as well which I thought was neat. We went to the candle factory where they hand carve candles, and it was quite impressive. Spoke to a gentleman there who has been carving for 22 years and also teaches the newer guys his stellar technique. Quite impressive to watch them quickly manipulate and carve the animals out of wax. Then we went to another shop and I learned how they make a picture on cloth material with wax called a “Batik”. It’s really neat to watch and understand the process of the final picture. Many intricate steps are involved. The lady is drawing the picture on the fabric with hot wax. (In my picture posted)

Went on a couple of great walks, went on my first Big Game type safari which David took me, and he did a good job explaining the different animals, he especially had an eye for the crocodiles!! Went to a Braai that evening and watched the Rugby game. Oh and I also watched some Cricket for the first time in my life, and after a while I was catching on to the concept. The family I stayed with was very delightful and very accommodating that I really didn’t want to leave so soon. (Thanks again Chris for the arrangement!!) Jim made a delicious breakfast of bacon, sausage, eggs etc... and we sat outside on the patio and had a wonderful meal with a beautiful view. It was a very nice weekend and enjoyed seeing so much more of Swaziland and many other beautiful places!

Work has been good and hard this week with a bit more of a challenge because I am working on mainly older children more. I have seen over 200 children now and have extracted 21 teeth to date. This was a big week for extractions, abscess’s, infections, and emergency tooth ache exams. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I didn’t leave the clinic till around 6:00pm still working on kids. I even had a little 8yr old girl knock on the house door Tuesday morning at 6:40 am and I answered in my pajamas because I am the only one up at that time in my house. I have never seen this girl in the clinic yet and who knows how far she walked to come find me. She said, Auntie Melissa can you please help me I have a bad tooth that hurts. Of course I had medical gloves inside the house so I invited her in and took a look at her mouth on the couch. She had a huge cavity and so I told her to come to the clinic that day so I could take it out and make her feel better. I also cleaned her teeth that day but come to find out she had 10 teeth with cavities. I had worked on a 16yr old boy for 1 hour 40 min just on his top teeth removing hard calculus/tartar and told him he had to come back another day to finish the bottom. He then said to me, “I didn’t know I was growing rocks under my gums” Very good description I thought. Then the next day I had a 17yr old boy that I spent 2hrs 10 min on and he now has a clean mouth. I actually took before and after photos of his gums to just document how bad it was to now how good his gums are already healing. He had periodontal disease, gingival hyperplasia, mobility, and major halitosis. So I decided to spare you all the before and after photos but for all my dental professional people reading/following this blog I can’t wait to share with you the photos and the gum tissue healing. On Wednesday I had an 8yr old boy ask me if I was trying to take his tooth out because I was scraping so hard and had to apply a lot of pressure to just remove the calculus/tartar. So I am telling myself that I really need a “Holiday” aka vacation to rest my hands and my mind.

Went horse back riding on Wednesday after work with Talitha who owns the horses here. They have horses for the orphans to ride as a type of therapy. It was fun taking them through the forest and it felt like something out of a movie. We saw many monkeys of course and the horses don’t like them so much. The weather has been about the same with about 2 days of sunshine half of the day. I have had more and more people show up to the clinic with tooth aches and wanting to be seen, that I think they know my time here is nearing and they are just desperate to be seen. It’s so sad because there is SUCH a need and I truly wish I had more time here!! I continue to think of you all back home and hope all is well with you and your families! Thank You all for all your prayers!

Blessings,

Melissa

1 Thessalonians 5:18

My roommates are GREAT!

OK well we had a great weekend last weekend and all was safe and sound! In these pictures you will see some native Swaziland people doing some native tribal dancing and they picked my roommate Leigh and I out of the crowd to help learn and dance with them. I’m definitely getting my dancing in over here and might be taking home some new moves! We went to the candle factory where they hand blow and carve beautiful glass sculptures and also had a chance to see some beautiful wildlife while we were out, that was neat! We saw some really cool animals, it was awesome! I had a chicken quesadilla for lunch that day and it reminded me a little bit of home since that’s the first type of Mexican food I have had in over a month now. (Oh how I miss LaPlacita)!!!

Speaking of food, I have had some family members and friends ask about the food situation here...I have to pack a lunch to eat at the Hospital because it’s too long of a walk to go home. I mostly eat cereal, yogurt, or eggs for breakfast, tuna and a piece of fruit like an apple or orange for lunch, and then a communal dinner that the roommates and I take turns making in the evenings. I have noticed that for every dinner meal there is ALWAYS some type of pasta, rice, or carbohydrate and I’m really starting to try and break away from the carbs because my body is going into shock eating all those carbs every night!! I’m going to start making baked chicken dishes and the other night I made a chicken dish without all the pasta and the girls liked it! Oh and I eat a lot of peanut butter. I had one of the village teenage girls over to the house to show me how to make this fresh spinach and peanut butter dish, and it was amazing! I buy fresh lettuce, spinach, and cauliflower from someone’s garden here in the village. The grocery store that is 2 hours away is small with about 6 isles and you can get just about anything generic that is basic. Most people back home think of Africa as a starving country and hardly a food source, but it’s really not like that here. There are places to buy food but where the starving part comes in, is that the people don’t have the money to buy the food therefore that’s why they are hungry. For example a man who has a job and works makes about R35 (rand) a day and that is equivalent to about $4.00 a day. So it’s not that Africa doesn’t have a food source, it’s more the lack of means for the people to buy it.The fresh fruit selection is not a wide variety like I was expecting and I went to buy a small can of green chilies so I could make my famous sour cream chicken enchiladas, and there are not green chilies to buy. But oddly enough they have all american type cereals and we buy a lot of frozen chicken breasts and ground beef to cook for dinners. We have a gas stove that I have to help light for the girls because they are afraid it will blow up on them when lighting the gas. We can do laundry ourselves or pay a lady named “Togo” to do it for us, and it all hangs outside to dry. So when we have rainy days it takes a little longer to get your clothes back.

I went over to a friends house on Sunday after church to learn how to make a traditional South African desert called Milk Tart. It’s so delicious, I’m bringing the recipe home. Oh yeah I forgot to tell you all that I was asked by the lady who took us on the Sat. bike ride if I could babysit her two children from 9:30am till 6:00pm on Sunday and I said yes. What is it with me and babysitting? I guess all those years of me nannying in college wasn’t enough. HaHa Yes, this is the second time I have babysat for this family and I thought for sure the first go around I would be fired and she would NEVER ask me again because they were filthy dirty from head to toe! (Pictures to show how filthy dirty from head to toe they were). Mom and Dad both said it was great because then that meant they had a good time since they were so dirty.

This week has been so much better, and I really can’t say enough THANK YOU’s for everyone who helped get me the much needed LONG JOHN PANTS and more dental supplies! The new instruments and sharping stone have made all the difference in the world and has helped me to carry on with all the cleanings. I have seen 154 children to date and have now extracted 12 teeth. It’s still raining here and carrying on with freezing cold weather. But boy I can’t tell you enough how much of a difference the long johns make, and I am much warmer now! They feel like little heaters on my legs and I’m soooo much happier having them. SO THANK YOU THANK YOU (Darla/Talisha)!!

My family all sent me a bunch of letters already signed and sealed that they packed in my bags that tell me to open on certain days, weeks, months, hard day, etc... and I can’t tell you enough how much reading those letters have made my days special. It’s kind of weird because they say the right thing at the right moment and I have gotten many laughs along with HUGE smiles. Yes, Bryan I am eating way too much rice and I would love to watch that movie and eat Pizukie when I return home with you and T!!

So now I will tell you about my roommates because quite a few of you have been wondering. First is Ruth (35) who is from Redding England and that is about an hour from London. She is the head person in charge of volunteers for Bulembu and works in the Ministry office of Bulembu. She has been here going on 3 years now and the only one with a car in our house. Then there is Natalie (22) from Manchester England and she got here a week before me but will be serving in Bulembu for 7 months. She works at the school as a teacher and mainly teaches Math and Biology. Then Sophie (18) who shares a room with me is from Redding England. She has been here already 2 months and just left this Tuesday to go back home before she starts college in England. She worked in the ABC House with all the baby baby orphans. She had many stories that she would share with me daily about the new babies they just got in, or even how her day was with 28 small babies all under 2yrs old. Then Leigh (21) from Vancouver Canada got here 2 weeks after me and is here for 3 months and going home right before Christmas. She has a very cool job in my opinion, because she was sent here by the Canadian group that mainly owns and helps finance Bulembu to do their website, and communications through journalism pieces. She gets to interview different people and go to different job sites taking photos, and video and then piece it all together. She is very talented and very funny! She along with Natalie and Ruth can really get me laughing! I have to say that I REALLY REALLY enjoy living with these 4 ladies and it’s been fun getting to know them and hang out with them. It’s even more surprising to say that we only have one bathroom for the 5 of us and we make it work just fine!! It’s sad to see Sophie go and it made me realize how very different it is to actually share a room and personal space with someone. After all these years of being by myself it’s kind of hard to come home to people or someone and discuss my day with them. Living with the girls has made me realize that I can’t just come home and unwind from my day by myself. Depending on the day I have to come home and start dinner, or help the other girls start dinner by chopping veggies or setting the table, and they even like to just talk about how your day went. It’s quite different and quite a change for me. Something about my job many people don’t understand is that not only is it taxing physically on the body and hands, but also mentally. Having to be in constant communication all day and make sure your not hurting people because they hate going to the dentist already is very tiring, not to mention the amount of tartar/calculus I’m removing isn’t pleasant for the patient or me. So it’s good coming home to my roommates, but much different then me going straight to the gym after work to unwind and then home to the LOVE of my life “Trotter Boy” Yes, my dog, I miss him terribly! It’s also different in a way because we don’t have appliances to make life easy so we have to take turns washing dishes by hand and cleaning up after others. It’s made me become more of a group person instead of just doing everything by myself. I know this may sound strange but it’s actually harder to adjust to living with people when your use to being by yourself and doing your own routine. So in closing I just want to say I hope everyone is doing great back home and all is well here!

Talk to you next weekend,

Melissa

Turning My Trials To Gold...

Hello Again!!!

Well it’s becoming a pattern now to report back to you how my weekend went since they are now becoming exciting and a story to tell!! I told that we were headed into town to go grocery shopping last weekend and that it’s 2 hours one way...well I will quickly explain how that day ended but whoever passes this on to my dad please tell him that I am safe! We had a wonderful lunch at the Guava Cafe and I tried a Mango milkshake and it was simply delightful. Did a little shopping, got groceries, got gas, and started our journey home. We were on the road just getting ready to pass over Maguga Dam and we had about 40 minutes of sunlight left and all of a sudden we came to a “road block”. Now when I say road block, it is a red plastic gas container with a little rock on top of it sitting in the middle of the road, but up ahead is a bus turned sideways blocking both sides of the 2 lane road. (I do have a picture to go with this story!!) So Ruth stops the car and all 4 of us girls are surveying the situation and deciding what to do at this point. There are cars coming from the other direction that are barely squeezing by, one by one to get around the bus. People are getting out of their cars and then getting back into the car when they make it pass the bus. We couldn’t figure out why people would get out then run over and get in,(they were afraid the car would turn over into the ditch) until it was our turn to try and squeeze by. Oh by the way let me mention that a car full of 4 girls is not an ideal situation when it is NOTHING but all men standing around the bus and slow moving vehicles. Oh and to make the story more exciting, the broken down bus was a Correctional Facility Bus of men that had it written on the side of the bus. So it’s now our turn to go by and there is barely enough room on both sides to squeeze by because on the left Ruth could have scratched up her mirror on the bus or on the right is a ditch that we could have flipped the car into. Well since I am here to give you this update, you know how the story turned out-safe and sound. So as we made it through safely with our doors locked, my roommate Leigh says that was a situation right out of a movie girls. Seriously 4 girls in a car driving upon a road block of about 25 men that are in a Correctional bus and then the girls disappear from their afternoon of grocery shopping. The good news is that it all turned out OK but we were very nervous to say the least!

Lets see, this week has been a hard week and the most challenging week for me so far. It’s been raining for the last 3 days and the cold weather seems to be getting colder. I came home from work on Tuesday and had a really hard day of patients with TONS of tartar, my instruments are getting dull so therefore it’s taking longer to remove the tartar and now my hands are starting to ache. All I really wanted to do was get warm and just unwind from the day. So I asked Ruth if we could make a fire in the fireplace and she said no, because we didn’t have enough wood for a fire. Since it has been raining she said we can’t go gather wood either because it will all be wet. So I said how about the little pile that’s in the garage, and she said no, because it hasn’t been split and wont fit in the little fire place. So being completely tired, cold, and worn out I decided I would take the sharp ax and go chop the wood. Well I hope you are all getting a mental picture of this one, because living in Arizona my WHOLE life I have never swung an ax before and have never chopped wood before. So away I go and I asked my roommate Sophie from England to come help me because it was the other girls turn to cook dinner that night. After about a million hacks at the wood taking turns back and forth Sophie and I managed to collect a pile of wood that burned out in 30 minutes. I thought to myself that night, gosh I think I’m on a reality TV show of some type of Survivor. I thought I was a very domesticated women before I came to Africa knowing how to cook, clean, mow my grass, hunt/fish, take care of a house, dog, etc.. but now I’ve taken it to the next level-chopping wood! Ha-Ha

No really I’m serious, one weekend Ruth went out of town to go to a friends wedding and asked the 3 of us if we would hang curtains to give our windows some privacy and so we hung curtains that weekend, went picking the avocado trees for fresh avocado’s, and collected fire wood from the forest. These curtains are NOT what I’m use to in the USA. It wasn’t just a pole then you attach the plastic loops and then plug it in, this was legitimately counting the material and placing some eye hooks and then tying off the rope and pulling the rope through to give it the squished curtain effect. Ok enough of the detail on how I’m more domesticated, even though it would have been nice to just come home and turn on the heater or flip a switch to your fake fireplace that runs on gas! I have learned that this is all part of the living and learning experience and I’m THANKFUL to be here! In the grand scheme of things I am just so HAPPY to be able to see the children’s faces smiling at me and saying a huge Thank-You with a big hug accompanying the gratitude after their teeth are cleaned or extracted! Now I have also realized that you have to work a lot harder living under these conditions and let me tell you, there isn’t anything “easy” here!

Our scheduled day of no electricity was on Wednesday but this time the word never traveled to my house so Ruth and I had no clue that I wasn’t going to be able to work on patients. So I went to work at the Bulembu Hospital Clinic and saw one patient and then I had my next patient in the chair and the electricity went out. I thought oh give it a little time it shall come back on because the village people said that happens often when its raining and the electricity will shut off for a little while. Nope, never came back on and I could not see her teeth in the dark so I had to reschedule my day. It was my night to cook dinner that night and I made beef tacos (yummy) and squash. I know you were thinking beans but I couldn’t find refried beans at the last 2 grocery stores I had been to.

On a fun note I did go to a Braai (we call it a Bar-B-Q-) and danced the night away! I learned a South African dance called Sokkie it’s equivalent to ball room dancing with some spins and turns in it. It was a going away party for one of the volunteers named A.J. and the South African men were teaching my roommate Leigh and I the new moves! It was sooooo much fun and now I think I will take up ball room dancing!

Going to a candle and glass factory early Saturday morning and then to the cultural village of Swaziland to see the natives dancing, eat some native food, and some other sight seeing adventures!

Oh and the number of teeth extracted now is up to 9 teeth! And I must say 9 happy children that did not even cry or shed a tear!!! I also want to say a Happy Belated Birthday to my dear friends Kristina and Kendra, sorry I missed it-Pizzokie and Pita Jungle when I get home! Congrats Krysten on the twins finally!! Can’t wait to see pictures of my new cousins! And a huge CONGRATS to Stacey on her big Wedding Day SATURDAY!!

Bye until next Saturday!