Worlds apart

My plans of writing a little blurb every few days were foiled by my GI system rebelling. I still don’t know if I accidentally ate some gluten or if I caught something. Regardless I’m feeling back to normal today, praise God!

I wish it were easy to share life here in a few words, but when compared to the US or Europe, PNG is a world apart. I did some reading yesterday- PNG is the 29th poorest country in the world. I see the effects of this every day in the hospital and clinic. Medications we use every day aren’t available, people often come in barefoot because they can’t afford shoes.

People often delay care. I’m not sure how much of this is due to poverty, how much is cultural and/or a sense of fatalism, and how much is the rugged terrain that impedes travel. There are probably myriad more reasons that I simply don’t know of or understand. So I see patients coming in with advanced cancer yet to be diagnosed. People with TB affecting their lungs, their brain, their spleen, their belly. Infections that we rarely see in the US are more common and often more advanced.

And yet, I also see people who are so grateful for the care they receive, who give a deeper thank you than I hear back home. I hear children laughing outside as they play. I see families caring for their loved ones. And I hear the voices of staff, students, and families praising Jesus. The longer I’m here, the more I see what a privilege it is to be serving here.

(I hope to share about my daily life and some stories in the coming days. Pictures are mostly devoid of people as I want to protect patient confidentiality. And I’m bad at remembering to take photos!)Read more