Miss-Adventures

We've had a couple miss-adventures this week and both right in the coziness of our own home! Well on our patio at least. Do you remember that I told you about the rat problem? In the spirit of selfishness, we eagerly placed plates of rat poison in both our attic spaces (ie: the space between our ceiling and the corrugated metal sheets hung over it, it is not sealed!). And I am here to inform you that it kinda worked...
Two days ago I noticed a foul odour occurring right outside our door, and upon investigation we found a dead rat tucked very tightly in the drain underneath our cement walkway! Yes, pleasant isn't it! Well God happened to send our dear Aussie friend to visit us that day and she (being G.I. Jane), went in after it and pulled it using muscle and plastic bags alone! Thank the LORD for Kerrin!
So now here we are with a dead rat in a bag in a tupperware container (bye bye tupperware), and its just been garbage day and we don't want a rat carcass stinking things up, whatdya do? I've realized that we have a luxury at home I've never before appreciated - the Yellow Pages! Well, this was just miss-adventure #1, there was more to come!
So yesterday afternoon I step outside to make lunch (we have an outdoor kitchen), and I hear this sad soft whimpering. And I say, "Dear sweet goodness, WHAT IS IT?" Well, its a cat, yes, a sad wreck of a cat that is not in good shape (on it's best day), and is currently in it's last moments! Yes, we had a cat die on our porch, probably after it was in our attic and eating our rat poison. And that one had to be put in a plastic bag too.
So now we have two dead animals in bags, just sitting there. Luckily when we had our Filipino friends over for dinner they decided the best thing was to go up the street to where some garbage trucks are parked overnight and throw em in the back. And so we said goodbye to our four-legged friends.
This morning our dear Ate Doris came back and the brave little women climbed into our attic spaces to search out anymore failing animals, which there luckily were not. And we took down the rat poison too. I must say I'm a little afraid to step outside now, what might we find next? Yes, these are the miss-adventures of a house of girls in a foreign country!

Names in the Masses

Yesterday was good for my heart.
Let me be really, really honest here. The last week or more I have been having a hard time dealing with some of my inner-criticisms. I've been beating myself up because I feel so detached from the needs and faces around me. I've felt disdain for the idea of missions and my desire for comfort. And I've wrestled my dislike for this enormous Metropolis that is currently my home.
That is my reality - sorry if its a little glass-half-empty. I suppose some of these emotional pitfalls are part of the all familiar culture shock.
But I said that yesterday was good for my heart, so there is an upside... Yesterday Mia and I joined Gerlene, the dear Filipina midwife we work with, and went with her on home visits. This will be a regular part of our work here, walking throughout the community and stopping in at the homes of the pregnant women we care for. The community we are working in is a short walk from our home and the area houses some 300,000 people. The people who call this place home are all poor, families here might live on $100-200 a month!
So we walked about, visiting of our pregnant mommies; we stop in at their homes and perform prenatal check-ups, talk and maybe enjoy some merienda (this is the name for a snack, basically anything without rice!) Our merienda yesterday was Sprite and white bread and mayo sandwiches - nutritious and delicious! During home visits we meet family members and neighbours and have a chance to see their homes (most live in the maze of closet sized cement box houses).
In all of this, my spirit was somehow renewed and I saw the chance to know these women, to be a part of an intimate time in their lives, and to show care for them and their families. In this kind of care we are able to enter their lives not just for the moment of birth, not just as health care providers, but as friends, and hopefully as the light of Christ!
There is a mysterious attraction and beauty in the slums, in close-knit families, in people taking care of each other, in children playing in the lanes, in simplicity, in generosity and open homes. And I find that my heart quickens, that my spirits are bolstered when I walk there. That doesn't erase my questions and it doesn't change the fact that these people live in incredible need. But in a city I dislike, there is a beacon of warmth, in the midst of the masses, people become human. They have faces and names; Gemma, Alma, Irene, Melba, Grace.

Meaningful Days

This is us girls at our "graduation" from our "Observational Studies of Midwifery in the Philippines", may I remind you that the only requirement for this certificate, was attendance! But they were super cute, and very formal about it and they served merienda, so we were all in!
I suppose I will note that my roomies and other two girls working in our practice are - Mia (top left) and Alex (bottom, 2nd from left)

We were still attending Fabella on Valentines day, which was a sad day here! Even our married friends didn't have their hubbies around, so we had ourselves a wonderful date with each other instead! We had dinner, gifts of chocolate and a movie (Music and Lyrics...so cute!).
I'm still recovering from dinner - but the evening was wonderful!

Stay tuned folks - in the next couple days we should have some births (we're always on call 24-7), and I have a very funny story about my landlords. Actually I think its just that my landlords are very funny!

Our Home

We finished at Fabella on Thursday - Thank all of you for your prayers, the rest of our time there was basically more of the same. If God so calls on your heart, keep praying for those women and that hospital, even though I'm no longer there - He is!

Now I want to introduce you to my home - this little spot in northern Quezon City (Metro Manila). This will be our simple haven for the next 10ish months. I share this home with 3 roommates: Mia (fellow Albertan), Alex (Californian), and Sarah (Colorado-ian). But those are only my "official" roomies! We share our home with about 10 trillion ants, and some geckos. And also with some cockroaches, who tend to appear at shocking moments, like in the middle of the night! And as we have just discovered - a family of rats! Yes, over our heads, in our ceiling we seem to have a violent and noisy rat population that comes alive (and wakes us up), at night! It's kinda sick. But I have to rejoice - we may have ants, cockroaches, geckos, lizards, and rats, but we DON'T have spiders, and I rejoice!

The (constant) noise we enjoy around here includes the roar of as many bikes/tricys as our home has ants, neighbourhood volumed kareoke (a big favourite here), overhead planes, a nearby school sound system (think loudspeakers and crazy workouts/music!) and the barking of many dogs. Oh, and the rats!


Bedroom to 3 of us. Life is pretty simple.

Our little "patio", we keep our "ref" and our pots n pans outside.

The lane to our landlords garden and home.

Our neighbourhood.

Up to the main road.

Contrasting Emotions and Experiences

So it has been a week now that I've been observing at Fabella Hospital which means that daily I am seeing crazy, crazy things! Very often I am seeing so many pregnant women that most of your jaws would just drop! They're everywhere, and then there are the postpartum wards which would also makes your jaws drop. And we're continually told this is "slow season" (only 50-80 births a day), yes there are birth "seasons" here! In the last week I've seen 20 something births, including 3 c-sections. I've also been exposed to some really sad things, mostly because the women served at this hospital are usually very, very poor, and often young and, because of the Fall. But most of all God's grace is enough and He is there for the mums, the babes, and for us. This hospital does a lot with its resources, which aren't many. That is to say that you cannot imagine what this hospital is like, or how brave the moms are who come here. Pray that the government would continue to increase the budget given to this place so that they can continue to increase their standard of care.
Starting next week my sister midis and I will be in regular practice here - helping a Filipina midwife in a poor neighbourhood, doing prentals, home visits, labour and delivery and then all the post-partum care! We really have such an amazing job, and what a chance to love these women!
So I guess that makes life very, very good. The day-to-day is up and down, a lot of difficulties a lot of emotions, but I know in a way that I think is amazing - that God wants me here. My roomies and I have a suite up near our practice and are joined there by various cockroaches, geckos and ants. So far no massive scary spiders (thank you to everyone who prays), and I'm pretending they don't exist anywhere! Still waiting on internet service at home.

The Delivery Room

Well it has been 2 days now at Fabella Maternity Hospital, and after all the "welcome/orientation" stuff of yesterday we joined in on a Lamaze class that some hospital midwives run for low-risk mothers. It was a very good class, sadly very few women get to participate, most women "risk-out" and instead will labour and deliver alone in a room full of staff/students and other labouring mothers.
Today my team and I spent in the Delivery room and OR. These patients are considered high-risk for a variety of reasons, such as first baby, high blood pressure, early or late labour, etc. So we observed 10 births today! 2 of them by C-Section. As well as 3 tubal ligations.
It was a very intense day, I can't begin to explain it to you here - but I can say that it was good to be able to offer kind words and a gentle touch to these women who are often in great pain, maybe frightened and always without their loved ones. That was a great, great privilege.
Please pray for these women, I am so glad there is a hospital for their care, even if it's not what most of us would expect . Would you ask God to give them courage, strength, to be their comfort and to give them safe deliveries.

Address & Cellular

I now have a mailing address and a cell number! And I would LOVE to receive letters, packages, texts or phone calls - basically I'm saying, "LOVE ME"!! He, he. So if you are interested in getting that info, please email me or comment here and I will pass my digits right along.

First Steps in Manila

Kamusta-ka from Manila! We arrived here on Thursday and have been settling in and building our home since. We have a wonderful little place in a gated yard with access to our landlord's beautiful garden. Right outside our door we enter the world of Metro Manila; loud, smoggy, many many smiling faces, crazy traffic, curious stares, poverty and wealth side-by-side. It's hard to descirbe this city in mere words, and its far too early to pretend like I really know anything of it.
While everyone is consistantly very, very friendly and ready to help, I must say that I am tiring of the constant stares and commotion that us going anywhere causes. I am a head taller than most of the population here, and I know it the moment I step out of my gate. I hope that I will learn to block out the attention.
On a very, very happy note yesterday I met my Filipina-preceptor and we went full-on into a prenatal day! I know I've posted about a couple other prentatals days that I've be apart of, but this one is different because I will actually be attending the births of many of these women! You don't know the excitement, wonder and almost confusion that brings me! I am so glad for this chance to learn and serve.
On Tuesday we will begin a 2-week rotation through an enormous maternity hospital here that sees some 80+ births/day!!! We will have the chance to see dozens of births, and observe and assist in all of their departments! I have heard from previous midwives that their experiences at Fabella (fa-bell-ya) Hospital has been extremely intense and often heart-breaking. Life here just doesn't play out the same as at home.

• Please PRAY for me and the other girls these next 2 weeks, we are going to need strength, trust in God's goodness, and open minds and hearts.
• Pray also that we will be able to bless these precious mothers who need a touch of love, and for our interactions with the hospital staff - that we would learn from each other.