The Grimace of Victory

The last several weeks have been a marathon. Renee and I have been juggling a relatively heavy hosting schedule. At times it has been exhausting, exasperating, and just plain challenging. But I can genuinely say, I love that my job forces me to have perspective about where my strength and stamina ultimately flow from. If a perfect God can give me grace, then I guess can spare a little for myself, too. ;) I'm planning to share more about my job on board in my next post (which will hopefully not be as delayed as this one!)

Rewind to the Tuesday after our arrival in Douala. The first patients arrived at the HOPE (Hospital Out-Patient Extension) Center, a previously unused section of a local hospital that Mercy Ships renovated last summer. The facility adds 220 beds to the Africa Mercy's 70-some on-board, and that extra space is vital for keeping the surgical schedule ticking at full capacity. It gives patients a place to stay both before and after their surgery, when they need to stay close to the ship for cast changes and physical therapy appointments.

It was during an early visit to the HOPE Center that our team first met Julienne, a 14-year-old girl with an inviting smile. While we were getting a tour around one of the common areas of the building, she quietly entered and sat down on a bench by the back wall, watching our group from a distance. One of the first things we noticed were the colorful purple braids mixed in with the black ones that fell just above her shoulders. They were lovely, and we went over to tell her so, and in no time she opened right up, telling us about her trip from her home outside of Yaounde to Douala.

Julienne under the tent on the dock

Not long after the HOPE Center opened, late September saw the first patients on the dock, awaiting the final step in the patient screening process. Every potential patient that gets treated on board first meets with their would-be surgeon, who makes the final decision on whether to go forward with an operation.

It was during the first week of surgeon screening that I saw Julienne again. She caught my eye and waved excitedly, and I went under the waiting tent to greet her and her friend who was sitting next to her. Both girls had legs that bowed dramatically outwards. It was not as noticeable when they sat down, but standing up they almost formed a perfect "O". At 14, they are just under age cut-off of 16 years for orthopedic surgeries. A couple more years would make it much more difficult for their bones to heal from the change they were about to undergo.

Julienne at the HOPE Center

One week in September, I brought the radio team I was hosting down to see the physical therapy tent, which sits on the dock next to the admissions and screening tents. From where I stood near the entrance, I could see Julienne's "maman" sitting in a chair near the back. A nurse was busy measuring the angle of the curve in Julienne's legs so that they would know by how much they would need to correct them in surgery. But at that particular moment, her maman had turned away from them, and was gazing at a young post-op patient on the bed opposite them. The nurses at that patient's side were using a special saw to carefully remove the child's old cast from his newly straightened legs, and put on a new one.

As Julienne's mom watched them work, I saw a peace-filled smile cross her face. It was a moment that held a thousand years in heaven. This woman, the perfect personification of "be still and know". I wondered to myself what she might have been thinking about.

Julienne (right) with her mom (Center) and surgery buddy, who also had bowed legs

Julienne had come so far to get to this point, but the road ahead would be long and trying. I marveled at maman's strength and courage, which she had clearly passed on to her daughter. I could see it in the way they both smiled lightheartedly, for all appearances without a care in the world, as though they weren't about to surrender Julienne's legs to the foreign doctors they had only just met, to be literally sawed apart and put back together again. Staying at the HOPE Center, they had no doubt heard stories from other patients about the pain and tears that typically accompany the first steps on the "new legs". And yet here they were, anxious and even excited to finally begin the process of transformation.

I don't want to miss a single opportunity to be reminded: the patients are the real heroes on this ship.

Don't worry, I wouldn't go through that whole story without telling you the ending! I'm happy to share that both Julienne and her friend have had their surgery, and are recovering normally. A couple weeks later I saw them while the patients were relaxing outside on Deck 7. They each took a turn making slow steps across the deck with the help of a walker, their mouths pulled into perfectly victorious grimaces for the occasion--those first steps take a lot of determination and stamina!

Julienne going for a walk in the wards

In other news, a group of volunteers took advantage of a Saturday afternoon to do some off-roading in Ngoma, just outside of Douala. We drove until it was green in every direction, and then drove some more. After a year of living in West Africa already, I had never actually driven somewhere just to explore. It was amazing! Check out some pictures below.

The two "chauffers" plotting our course, somewhere in Ngoma

Same road, off in the other direction

And we found a huge pile of dirt, so naturally, up we go...