A very average conservation with several of the surgery residents rapidly transformed into an extremely intense, up close and personal conversation with a civil war survivor. As an American, all the survivors of our civil war are long gone. But, Jerry Brown, the surgery resident from Liberia who was in the picture several posts back, is a survivor and his story was absolutely, utterly humbling for someone who has known nothing of the magnitude of what he has been through.
It started out innocent enough, one of the residents asking me if I knew how long it took him(Jerry) to get through medical school. 5-6 years I guessed, not knowing 5 years is the norm in Liberia. It was 9 years to get through medical school. Then the story comes out. Civil war broke out as he started...school stopped...everything stopped. He couldn't go out to look for food, because he was a middle twenties year old male, who was either fighting for one-side or the other. Either way, both sides shot at him if they had a chance. His mother had to go look for what food was available. He said it was often just leaves of any plant...leaf stew. All the dogs, lizards and snails had long since been eaten. The harshness and reality in his tone was unmistakable...he had in a decade gone from eating leaves, twigs, snails, or whatever he could find to survive to being one of the most affable surgery residents I had meet here in Mbingo. His story of survival/escape is as mind blowing, and having this person of such living history be as humble and gracious is equally awe inspiring.
He and his mother were not making it on their side of the war zone(they were starving to death), things were better on the other side, but the risk of trying to flee to the other side was death. He says he prayed to God of what to do and a family friend came that day and said she was taking her 5 year-old son and leaving that day. He decided he had to take his mother and go, as they crossed from one-side to the other, with bullets literally flying over their heads; the boy was shot in the head right in front of him and he could do nothing by put him on his mother's back and continue running... by the time they reached cover, he was dead. After all this, he could continue to push through and finish medical school over 9 long years of uncertainty, some semesters taking a entire year to complete, because the professors had left the country for safety. Its mind boggling to me the resiliency of the human spirit and the forgiveness and compassion that still rests in his soul.
I am humbled and humbled again. My six-year medical school was hard and pre-80 hour work week orthopaedic residency was harder...but, when viewed through the African tinted glasses I have to look through now...I and every American unequivocally has been blessed beyond our imagination.
To live free....to live safe... crazy simple things we take for granted everyday....until you meet someone who has lived without either.
BI
Now, so I don't leave everyone depressed.... Pictures of a Toby ritual that makes us laugh. The following sequence occurs every time we come or go from meals... just in reverse order for coming or going. This will be kinda like "where's Waldo?" but look for "where's Toby?" instead.
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| He sprints for the center island, with flag poles!!! |
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| The weave in/out of all the poles, and occasionally patients/family get weaved... |
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| Sprint to the launching ramp at the end of the grass island!!! |
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| The Jump!!! Best when patients are not sitting right here, but doesn't stop Toby...He's not afraid to take them out. |
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| Mad dash to catch back up to the family!!!!! The Tobyn Amos Flag Pole ritual..... :) |
4 comments:
hi ipsen's and Roxy. just love reading these blogs. you may have to keep them going when you get back to Joplin so we have something to read about. Glad to hear the sherbert turned out. I also see Joey finally lost his tooth. was that before he got to Africa? HOpe the tooth fairy knew where he was. take care. love to all. SAM
Words cannot describe the feeling in me. The Ispen's, I am so proud of an American family spending their first few weeks in a rural community and hospital like Mbingo and having such a wonderful time. I am Cameroonian and know first hand the difficulties in providing medical care in a rural hospital with very scarce resources like Mbingo. The Baptist Convention hospitals are doing their bit in a poor country, thanks largely to the assistance from people like you.Yes, as you've mentioned, spine surgery is one of the areas that is almost non existent in Cameroon. There are a couple of poorly trained surgeons in Yaounde claiming to be doing spine surgery. I am so happy the surgeons and residents at Mbingo will learn a few things from you and help so many people coming from all corners of Cameroon to Mbingo. It looks as if the small rural hospital in Mbingo is becoming a big reference center.I pray you use all the resources at your disposal to improve spinal surgery at Mbingo and Cameroon. You know the sad thing is our corrupt government that cannot provide basic medical facilities for its citizens is not really bothered about what's going on in places like Mbingo.I came across your blog by chance while trying to catch up with news back at home. I have just spent the last hour going through your postings and it was time well spent. Please, if it is possible for you to come back to Mbingo long or short term , do kindly consider it. I thank the Almighty for bringing you to Mbingo and may you have a wonderful time and save journey back to your base.
Dear Anonymous,
Thank you for your kind words and support. This has long been something that my husband and I have talked about doing and have finally had the opportunity. Now that God has opened this door for us in Mbingo, I anticipate that it will continue to be a place we will try to frequent and support as best we can. We have connections here that tie us back to medical school and the people have been amazing. I hope that our blogging descriptives have done justice to the way of life here and to your native countrymen, as it is through our eyes I do not wish to mislead anyone. Thank you for reading and again for your comments. God's Blessings to you!
hey epsen family and grandma roxy! am soooo enjoying your blogs, keep them coming, especially the pics! you are experiencing such awesome things and accomplishing wonderful things as a family! what memories for those kids, from here and there!! roxy, i have been blocked from my hotmail account, can't even get in there to read my emails! still working on that, but i have another account you can try! hughmom@yahoo.com stay safe and well and we will see you soon! miss you!
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