Loss of a Friend

Loss of My Friend
"death unto life"

Yesterday my friend died.  Connie Nelson - petite, loving, fun, caring, beautitul, generous, kind, faithful, loyal, practical, clever, smart, funny, hospitable, positive, and a true disciple of Christ.  I will not be able to present that rain check for our special get-together after I return home from my mission.  

Dearest Connie, I won't be able to walk with you, come to your dinners and luncheons, or run over to your house to chat about church, family, politics, antiques, everything.  I won't be able to ooh and ahh over your latest cute outfit, purchased on sale, of course.  I won't be able to bring you into my kitchen or to my front porch.  I won't see that mischievous smile and bright face.  I won't enjoy your comments in Relief Society about not judging others, about loving everyone, about loving the Lord,  about gratitude and appreciation for blessings.  I won't be able to go to yard sales and consigning with you.  I won't enjoy your sincere interest in each of my children, whom you know by name (all 10!) and have been a friend and neighbor to.  I won't borrow your book for reading group.  I won't see you drive by in the car with Tim, stopping for a few moments to say "hi" and joke a little.

I won't do anymore funeral luncheons with you.  And sad to me, I will not be able to help with yours.

But I will, God willing, see you again. I love you.

Staying Clean

Staying Clean 
"a house of order"

Just for your info this is the type of scenario I've encountered as the ad hoc
mission housing coordinator: 

Phone rings.

"Sister Peterson, we need a new washer."

"Oh, what's the problem."

"It just stopped working and won't start and it won't empty."

"Well, did you try turning the knob to "spin" and closing the lid?"

"Yes, it just started thumping and stopped dead."

"What's in the washer?"

"Just our blankets, sheets, P-day clothes, socks, towels, bicycle safety vests...."

"Hmmm."  Explanation and troubleshooting follows, and often it is an easy fix.

Or another.  Phone rings.

"Sister Peterson, we need a new fridge."

"Oh, what's the problem?"

"We were gone for 3 days to MLC and came home and everything

stinks really bad. The fridge is warm."

"Hmmm. Is it plugged in?"

"Yes."

"Okay, Get rid of all the food. And I'll check on a fridge."

(I proceed to call another set of elders who have an extra fridge in their apartment.

and call the other elders the next morning.)

"Hi Elder.  Is the fridge still warm?"

"No, but it stinks really bad and I think it is blowing stinky air in from the

back. Something is seriously wrong. I found out there was a power outage

while we were gone."  

"Did you clean it out?"

"Yes, last night."

"Is it cold now?"

"I don't know, I haven't checked."

"Go check."

"Yes it's cold, but it really smells bad."

"Did you clean it out?"

 "Yes, it's empty now."

"Did you use soap or a cleaner?"

"For what?."

"When you wiped it out."

"Wiped it out?  Oh, um.  We didn't have time."

"Okay, get some bleach, some dish soap and

put it in some water and use a clean rag to

scrub it out really well.  Then dry it.

I think that might fix your fridge."

Sisters of Charity

Sisters of Charity
"I was an hungered and ye gave me meat"

     Sister Florette and Me (Please don't reproduce photo, as I promised this was just for family.)

I am so pleased when I meet people who are loving, dedicated to serving others as this Sister of Charity, Sister Florette, of the same Catholic religious order as Mother Teresa.  She has taken vows of chastity, poverty, obedience and service to the poorest of the poor for her whole life.  She is far from her home and family.  She is gracious and kind and humble.

Every single day these sisters feed the poor, cooking up big pots of food every morning. They have some elderly men that live near them, that they house and feed. They run a nursery school for parents who are looking for work.  

We were able to donate a supply of school kits to them, and while we were there a mother with her three sons had showed up and the boys were very grateful for the backpacks and school supplies.  

Answer to a Letter From Friends Considering a Mission

Letter to Friends
"I am a stranger in the earth."

Dear C and A,

First, healthwise, we have been truly blessed and our prayers for health and strength answered. Other than a couple of reactions to spicy local food that goes right through, we have been healthy. We are thankful for this great blessing.

We both knew we wanted to serve a couples mission, and we decided to do it after Tom retired. You are ideal missionary candidates and your unique talents and abilities could help in many situations. You two have creative talents I can only dream of.

We started talking seriously about going early in 2016 and decided we would like to go around Septemberish.  We got to the MTC October 31.  

We started watching the Senior Missionary Opportunities website, watching for that posting that would prompt us to apply.  I suggest you do that, then call and talk to the  people named on the website for the type of mission that you feel lead to.  You can ask for what you want, or take whatever.  They also have more informatioin. You might get what you want, or you might get changed. But they want to send seniors where they can use their talents. I don't think you could pay me enough to be an office worker or a name extractor. (I can't see you and A doing that and liking it, but maybe that would be your dream mission.)   Humanitarian is a lot of hard work, but not boring, is interesting and challenging. I also think a mission at a church historic site would be absolutely lovely.  

It a tedious job getting shots, a health profile completed, legal documents such as police reports, passports or visas if you go out of country, interviews, paperwork, etc.  But the missionary website helps you all along the way. Getting ready for a senior mission is much more work though, because you have to consider the lifetime accumulation of responsibilities, finances and family matters.  Our daughter Mary is living in our home and has power of attorney for our finances and income taxes.  We put all our bills on automatic payment.  I left big box to dump our mail in - after Mary sorts out the junk mail.  I bought and wrapped Christmas presents for the two Christmases we'd miss. Granted that was an unnecessary thing, but I wanted to do it.) We have WhatsApp on our phones, along with all of our children, so we have had an enjoyable exchange of photos, chit-chat, and video and phone calls, all free.  (Of course you have to pay for your phone. We have t-Mobile and it has a text/data plan, and we don't worry about minutes because of WhatsApp.)  So although we've missed babies, graduations, baptisms and new missionaries - we were well informed and much is shared so we feel a part of it all.)  We also have Skype, but they've changed from the original version and I don't like to use it much. Before we left I felt overwhelmed going through all our "stuff" and making room for Mary's family and then when I felt fairly satisfied with my progress Tom's mom moved out of her house and I will have all of her accumulation to go through when I get home.  So it may never feel like the job is completed - and thankfully we die someday and then it will be totally completed!  So this is some of the kind of practical stuff.  I had a hard time finding clothes for a semi-tropical climate in Utah, and resorted to Savers and DI for skirts and some tops.  At the time there were a lot of short dresses and immodest tops that were in the stores, I could hardly find anything new.

This logo goes on boxes of donated humanitarian supplies.

Living in this mission has been an education like no other. I didn't even know where Trinidad was. I thought it was in Spain.  I thought Suriname was somewhere near Malaysia.  And Guyana?  All I knew was that Jim Jones and Cult drank suicidal red Koolaid in the jungle.  Lizards and frogs are frequent houseguests and we have bats in the ceiling that make some black dried up bat poop that falls through the cracks and you can hear them chirp and skitter.  We take a daily early morning walk around the neighborhood where we may encounter loose dogs, cats, cattle, horses, donkeys, drunk guys, barefooted, bare bottomed babies, blaring Indian music with blaring Gospel music and Soca, drummers from a Madras Indian religion that sacrifices animals, fishermen, fish, pigs, monkeys, on roads that are deeply pitted, sunken and full of animal droppings and puddles. And the smells are equally pungent.  Women start cooking early in the morning and people go outside to vigorously brush their teeth and spit in the ditches which are full of everything including the kitchen sink.  We say "Good morning morning."  People are nice. They call to us from their hammocks, their porches, their doorways, their bicycles.  Dey be talkin' Creolese an we kanna unstan, weez lernin. We buy fresh bananas and melons and fruits from a lady's cart, bread from a man that sells from his car, a megaphone advertising his wares. The wind blows in a huge gust and then the rain pours like it has been flung by a gigantic bucket, then the road dries up in minutes.  Men walk their birds in little cages. The cane workers, loaded into the backs of big trucks outfitted with benches, covered with a tarp, rumble by. One entertaining dilemma we observed was when a housemover unsuccessfully tried to turn a corner and the road sunk in and the house fell in the trench.  We were amazed they were able to eventually get it hoisted back onto the trailer and deliver it to the lot, where it perches atop wood pillars. The main highway, where we live, features hired cars and vans, motorcycles, bikes, donkey drawn carts, and all the above animals, as well as pedestrians waiting for a hired cars, some shaded by umbrellas or in little covered bus stops. They pass on the right, they pass on the left, the hired drivers drive like crazy and trucks are slow.  We are incredibly lucky to not have killed or been killed.  

The Church is small, but growing. The strong members are incredibly strong and brave. The missionaries are also incredibly strong and brave.  We love them all.  We see small miracles and are grateful to be serving, learning, working, loving and growing. We go to different branches every week because Tom is in the new Berbice District Presidency.  We hope one day the Church will be strong enough to have a temple here.

Well, I've gone on and on...if you have anymore questions, let me know.  Demke's, what say you?

Love,

Sister Catherine (I like that, sounds kind of like I'm a nun.  And by the way we've worked a little with the Sisters of Charity - they are from the same order as Mother Teresa - wear the same habit. They are dear, humble and feed the poor every single day.)

Two old missionaries...

Learning the Hard Way
"for such a time as this"

Natalie, our wonderful daughter (in-law) wrote a little
note to us that made me reflect on all the life experience I've had, which really has prepared me to handle a lot of the various challenges of this mission.  She makes us (Elder Peterson and I) sound better than we really are, but what she says is true for each person who takes their abilities and life-lessons and applies them to whatever situations they encounter. And yes, I've learned a lot from others and from life. Sometimes the learnings are rich and wide and deep. Sometimes questions remain. Sometimes I think/sense/believe things which are kept on hold and until they are verified. And sometimes I feel things that remain unspoken because I am protective of them and save them for proper disclosure in a safe place. Anyway, here's what Natalie wrote, and you can pretend she's writing to you, too.  Just plug in your skills and talents. God gave you some, too!

"Tom and Cath, I can't help but think how prepared you guys have beenn to be doing what you're doing "at such a time as this," You've been blessed to have organizational skills.  You are skilled at teaching and leading the youth. You know how to find good deals and buy things that you know people need.  You know how to lead a team.  You know how to feed an army.  You know how to entertain a crowd - especially the youth (and can come up with great games that you learned as a PE coach!)  You know how to work with other teams to get a project accomplished.  You are able to get by on little when there isn't much to go around.  You have awesome gardening skills to teach others.  You are both amazing teachers and can teach the gospel as you teach life skills, just as Christ would do.  And mostly you are good at loving the people around you, wherever that is.  These people need you and you have been sent for all the gifts and talents you have to share. You are such examples to all of us, including your grandchildren that will follow your examples.  We love you so much!"

Sign in Georgetown Hospital

The Red-Eye Express
"to cure diseases"

Our landlord warned us that pink-eye was spreading like an epidemic. It wasn't but 2 days later Elder Wells called to find out what he could do to treat pink-eye.  Since he lives a little distance from here we suggested he call a couple of sisters in the branch and see what they recommend.  After consulting with them he calls me back and tells me that he wasn't really up for trying either remedy.  "So what did they suggest?" I ask.
Elder Wells said, "Well, the first one suggested I get these certain leaves and boil them in water, then wash my eyes out with the water. I'm not sure about putting that in my eye."
"Okay," I say. "Understandable."
Pause
"The second one wasn't anything I wanted to try either," he says.
Longer pause
I ask, "What was that?"
Elder Wells, quietly says, "Rinse with breast milk."
(I am trying to process this and not laugh too much over the phone.)
 "And she said I could come over and get some." 
By this time I am nearly doubled over laughing, imagining what was going through an 18 year old missionary's mind.  So I relent and assure him I'll help and go to the drug store and find something.  So we drive over the Canje Bridge to New Amsterdam for the eye drops, then back over the bridge to another bridge, then over that bridge (Berbice Bridge) to Rosignol, to meet him to give him the medicine.  He is standing in front of the church (a rented house) with his companion.  He is wearing sunglasses.  I ask to see his eye.  Yep, conjunctivitis.  I give him instructions. He thanks me, then proceeds to tell about a meeting they just had with a family.  When the missionaries went into the house he thought it was strange that they were all wearing sunglasses.  So his companion asks why they are all wearing sunglasses.  One family member says, in all seriousness, "We don't want Elder Wells to look at our eyes, because we don't want to catch the "red eye."

It gets better.  The next Sunday we go to a different area for church.  One of the sisters (an outspoken and can-do kind of woman) walks in, wearing sunglasses, and loudly announces she's not shaking anyone's hands today because she has pink-eye.  Okay, I'm more than happy to keep my distance.  After Sacrament Meeting I go upstairs to observe the Primary.
The lesson is "I Am Thankful for my Ears."  The teacher is leading an activity where a boy turns his back to the class and class members speak aloud one at a time and he is supposed to guess who it is by their voice.  Just then Sister No-Hand-Shakey walks in and sees what's going on.  She takes a washcloth (people carry wash cloths for wiping sweat away) from her purse.  She folds it into a blindfold and covers the little boy's eyes with it.  It is too small to tie in the back so she tells him to hold it in place with his hands......then the next child, etc. You get the picture.  I admit I had conflicting feelings about this - whether I should speak up or pretend it was like trying to make my son with the chicken pox kiss his little sister on the lips.

I'm sure people from other cultures view a lot of things Americans do as inexplicable, too....

Side Show

On the Way to the Store

“in the attitude of mocking and pointing their fingers”

Bunches of Bitty Baby Cutie-Patootie Booties

On May 29 we were on a hunt for items to fill newborn kits (diapers, pins, blankets, booties, etc.) which will be stored in an emergency container.  We were in downtown Georgetown on a busy street.  As we crossed the street there was a street preacher wearing a tan linen smock and yelling into a megaphone.   I wasn’t paying much attention to him until I realized he was shouting at us.  He was calling us “pink devils” and screeching about the Book of Mormon and how Mormons hate black people.  I turned to look at him and calmly said, “That’s not right,” but he kept yelling, and so I just turned into the store.  Tom was not quite as calm, and told him to stop it.  Didn’t work.  But we then just ignored him.  A man watching the whole thing, looked at us as if to indicate he understood the guy was off-base.  We’ve also had people suck their teeth at us, which, we hear, is a sign of derision.  When that happens I play ignorant and just smile at them and say, “Good morning.”  

I know the young missionaries get a lot more heckling.  Just part of the whole deal, I guess.

Nice Rice

Nice Rice
"street of the city was pure gold"

A few weeks ago we encountered stretches of road covered with gold rice.  When it is harvest time farmers dump their rice along the main highway, spread it out with their bare feet, let it dry out, then tediously shovel it all up into bags, then load them into big trucks, like the one in this picture.  As we continued down the road we saw long lines of trucks waiting to deliver the rice to the rice mill.
All that work yields a harvest - same with the church here in Berbice, Guyana - Since we've been here these 7 months, we have watched the branches grow in number of members, as well as in Gospel learning.  Little children ar giving talks.  People that can't read are joining in class discussions.  Church meeting halls are cleaner.  More people are singing with confidence. More seats are full.  They just made a new district, which will eventually lead to a stake, if the growth continues.  

March 12, 2017

Signs of the Times

"signs and wonders"

One of the more entertaining things about living in Guyana is reading signs of all genres.  Some have a lot of personality, like, “No urinating” or even better “No pissin ya.”  We went past a beauty shop named, “Shirleen’s Beauty Saloon.”  

 

Some billboards, especially in Georgetown, contain an amazing amount of information, so if you are passing by, you would have to stop and stand there for awhile to read all the information.

Colorful spray painted posters are stuck along the roads to advertise “Old Year’s Night” (New Year’s Eve) parties, dances, horse races, “all white” or “all black” parties (where you wear all black clothes or all white clothes - nothing racial about it) soca concerts, parades, or community events.  The paint colors are bright and fluorescent, similar to grocery store window paintings on steroids.       

This sign was prominently posted at the entrance to the hospital’s maternal and antenatal clinic advocating breast milk only for infants.  Women here nurse openly, and the missionary elders don’t quite know how to respond!                                                 

This house has a hand-painted sign, “Protey not for Sale.”   Those pesky real estate agents!                                                 

With socialized medicine, “ALL DRUGS ARE PROVIDED FREE TO THE PUBLIC.” This means long lines and a lot of waiting on the benches for your turn.

Somewhat common hand-lettered signs advertise chickens for sale, “Pluck or Live Chicken.” On this sign the painter questioned the original spelling and changed the

“V” in live to an “F” so the sign reads “Pluck chicken N life for Sale.”

You can go to a “Marriage Officer” to get married.  I wonder if anyone has felt like they were handcuffed for the double ring ceremony.

Guess I'll sign off now.

Another Day in Paradise

15 February 2017

Another Day in Paradise

"travelling into a far country"

Suriname Embassy in Georgetown

Today we had to go to Georgetown to apply for visas at the Suriname embassy, as we are preparing for a wheelchair project there.  This entailed going to the embassy standing in line signing the ledger going into the building to a caged window getting some papers showing our passports and then being told we have to have photocopies of our passports going and getting the copies then being told we need passport photos driving to get some more photos taken, going back 2 hours later because they close for lunch then standing in line again then going in with our filled-in papers then signing then paying 100.00 each then getting the visas.  

Then, since the local mission office told us we had a package, we went downtown to the post office and they told us to go around the other side of the building (which entailed walking down the road where all the homeless men were sleeping against the post office wall) and behind some market booths into the post office where there was an office to buy stamps and windows to pay bills to mail and finally to package pick up down a little hall where I handed them the slip for the package and the guy went into the back to get it walking as slowly and proudly as he could (looking mighty important) then put it on the table right before my very eyes but I couldn't get it until he cut it open, looked through everything then taped it up and put it on another table behind 2 glassed in sections and in the first section the girl wrote out a  bill telling what the postage was and the customs fee and then she had us take the bill to the next window to pay then get a receipt and finally get the package back at the place we started.  Mind you, the two sections were right next to each other and the clerk and cashier could have easily handled the transaction as one person.  And the package guy apparently had the "go fetch" job which was very important.  So when I got home and saw the package contained good stuff, including marshmallow Peeps, I immediately ripped open the Peeps and ate the whole package and felt like I had just shot up a happy drug.

But, to back up, after the post office it was off to the airport for another amazing business transaction to buy tickets for our flight to Suriname.  Thank goodness they actually used a computer.  Then the long drive home to Canje, filled with crazy drivers, school children, dogs, mules, carts, horses, goats, sheep, bikes, motorcycles and pot holes of unimaginable proportion.  Ahh, so nice to get to our oven house.  So just when I changed into my lovely house dress, took off my make-up and washed up and was going to just relax and breathe, the missionaries called and one of the missionaries had had a seizure so I got dressed again, put on my little badge, and headed over to the missionary apartment.  No one could get a hold of the mission president, who was in one of the many foreign outposts of the mission, so I suggested a blessing be given, which was given. We discussed the situation and decided the elders would stay and watch Elder W (a handsome athletic young man who was not quite having the happy 19th birthday celebration he expected) and we would check on him the next day.  So back home finally for some rest.  Again I changed into my lovely but amazingly comfortable house dress. Then as soon as the mission president, who is a doctor, got the news, he called and asked us to immediately take Elder W and his companion to Georgetown to the emergency room for an evaluation which would take another long narrative to explain the horrors of.  So basically after all of that then we had to turn around to go back to Canje, which basically adds up to what felt like a drive to California in time and distance.

The run on sentences are a metaphor for a run on day.

15 February 2017

The Lord is Mindful

"what ye shall eat and what ye shall drink"

The New Amsterdam branch president's wife beckoned me aside and showed me a bag full of staple foods - rice, oil, sugar, salt, flour - and told me the branch had given a lot of these out a few months ago to members in need. There were two bags left over, and she decided to take them to church on Sunday to give them away.  She gave one of the bags to a young father.  

The backstory is, earlier in the week Sister Kirton, the branch president's wife, had seen this man along the road and recognized him as a member who hadn't come to church for a very long time.  She greeted him and asked why she hadn't seen him for so long.  He said he spent everyday looking for a job, so didn't come to church.  She invited him.  Well, to her surprise he showed up with his wife and child.  She decided to give him one of the remaining bags (they call them hampers, here).  With tears in his eyes he thanked her and said, "We have nothing to eat.  I came here today and spent my last money on the cab fare to get here."

Fruits of Faith

15 February 2017

Fruits of Faith

"all manner of fine workmanship"

Relief Society, the teacher told about how she'd been to market for a whole week and didn't sell one single thing.  She felt discouraged, but read her scriptures (the lesson was on studying the scriptures), and read about the Lord strengthening us.  So she decided she would "be covered by the blood of Jesus" (must be a leftover phrase from her former church) have faith, be strong, and trust in the Lord.  She set up her booth at the market and said a woman came to her and said,

"I told you I'd come back. I bought from you a long time ago."  The sister did not remember her, but the lady bought a "full set of cherbuks." The sister was so happy she got seven thousand dollars for them.  (Roughly $35.00 USD)  Then she sold a lot more, more that she'd ever made in a whole week.

I'm still trying to understand Creolese and Guyanese accents.  I asked another sister after RS what cherbuks were.  Chair backs.  "Oh, what do you use them for?"  "You know, to put on de buks of chers."  "Oh, does she make them?"  "Yes, makes dem."  "What do they look like?"  "You jus trow dem ova da cher."  I think. Oh, like an afghan.  I ask "Does she use yarn?  Crochet them?"  "Yes."  So I learned more about faith, and about Guyanese afghan decor.

By Kirsten Ballering

15 February 2016

At the Ready

"prepare ye for that which is to come"

We were asked to help with New Amsterdam Branch's emergency plan tonight, and then, just as I was putting stuff together for this we get an email from the area office. So, we get this new assignment.  Guess the Lord figures, well if they can do it once they can do it some more...... "Coincidences" like this happen all the time. So now we have to  make sure all the branches/districts/wards in Trinidad, Suriname, Guyana, Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao are trained for emergency preparedness and make their own plans by the end of June.  (These plans will definitely not be as thorough as my ward at home.  My home ward is very diligent doing everything we're supposed to.  There, if there is a disaster, all I have to do is put a colored card on my door so when the neighborhood captains are checking on me and other ward members they'll know the situation.  If the card is red, stop to  help; if green, we're okay; if yellow, I can come help; if black; somebody's dead, or something like that. I'm not really sure what the colors mean, but I do remember that if I die, I have to put the black card on my door before I leave.)

They asked us to help before we got the assignment.  Guess the Lord figures, well if they can do it once they can do it some more......

A sweet neighbor.  I definitely fit in the neighborhood.

6 January 2017

Blessings in Georgetown

“the lame to walk and the blind to see”

We spent last week in Georgetown to carry out a few of the projects we have been working on: support for an orthopedic clinic, vision care training, and meeting with a partner regarding clothing distribution for the poor.  

LDS Charities works with a local orthopedic center, Ptolemy-Reid, to provide wheelchairs and prosthetics for those in need.  

Orthopedics (or as they say here, "Orthopaedics")

One of the people we are working with is this 17 year old young man, a national cricket team member, who lost his leg in a serious motorcycle accident.  He seemed so glum, and reserved, but by the time we left he was smiling and joking around.

We also were able to meet students with various handicaps that attend school at the center and are learning skills to help them as they face the world.

Vision Care

Dr. Smalley, ophthalmologist from Lehi, Utah, shares his expertise with Guyanese doctors. 

Following is an article from the Guyana Chronicle written by Shirley Thomas about the vision project we headed up by linking LDS Charities resources with the the Georgetown Public Hospital.  The purpose was to provide training, supplies and equipment for doctors to  improve vision care and cataract surgeries.  Having witnessed the rows and rows and long lines of people waiting their turns to see a doctor, we feel greatly blessed to have played a role in putting this together to help the people.

In this article I have a new name, “Sister Peterkin.”  and Elder Peterkin also has a new one.  We got a good laugh out of this.

Ophthalmologists learn better approach to tackle cataracts

By Shirley Thomas

THE Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (CJCLDS) is on its second humanitarian mission to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) in two years, this time around, providing training for ophthalmologists of the Eye Care Department, employing the use of advanced technology to perform cataract surgeries.Over the last week Dr. Aaron Smalley, ophthalmologist from Utah, USA has been delivering lectures for the local ophthalmologists in “The Introduction to Phacoemulsification Cataract Surgery”, and has also conducted several surgeries at the institution.

Dr. Smalley, a graduate of the George Washington D.C. University, did his ophthalmology training at Hershey, Pennsylvania and currently resides at Utah. He is accompanied to Guyana by his wife, Julie Smalley who, on Tuesday made a donation of some 200 reading glasses to Eye Care Guyana. The spectacles were received by Charles Vandyke, National Programme Manager who thanked the donor and said that the glasses will be distributed to deserving cases in the hinterland locations of Guyana.

Phacoemulsification, or ‘phaco’, as surgeons refer to it, is used to restore vision in patients whose vision has become cloudy from cataracts. Phacoemulsification cataract surgery is a procedure in which an ultrasonic device is used to break up and then remove a cloudy lens, or cataract, from the eye to improve vision. The insertion of an intraocular lens (IOL) usually immediately follows phacoemulsification.

Julie Smalley outlined that phacoemulsification is an advance approach to doing cataract eye surgery today. Some of the benefits include faster healing of the eye after surgery, with less chances of developing infection of the eye. Using the‘phaco’ method also takes a lot smaller incision; the recovery process is a lot easier and the recovery time is drastically reduced. It is easier for the patient to recover once the doctors understand and know how to use the machine, she said.

Sister Smalley collected reading glasses from friends and neighbors and donated them.  Thanks for that goodwill!

On Monday Dr. Smalley delivered his first lecture for ophthalmologists and general

practitioners, with about 45 persons in attendance. On Thursday, he conducted another lecture

at the Multi-Purpose Hall, GPHC compound.

Meanwhile, on Friday (Feb 3) he will deliver another lecture for Emergency Room doctors, training them how to respond in case of an eye emergency. He also had other engagements with Consultant Ophthalmologist, relative to the operation of the ‘phaco’ equipment.

PRESENTATION    While on their first visit to the GPHC in 2015, the CJCLDS Charities made a presentation of a phacoemulsification equipment to the institution which is being operated by Consultant Ophthalmologist, Dr. Shailendra Sugrim.

Vandyke, who was the first to be operated on, using the machine, attested to the fact that Dr. Sugrim did a ‘fantastic job’ on him, using the ‘phaco’ machine. Other items in the (2015) gift package included a Slit Lamp Biomicroscope, Auto-refractor and an Indirect Ophthalmoscope.

The humanitarian gestures currently being witnessed are in keeping with a promise made on that occasion, to send an ophthalmologist to conduct a training course for the doctors here.

This package is being rolled out under the remit of Elder Thomas Peterkin and wife, Sister Catherine Peterkin. The Peterkins who are on an 18-month stay here, arrived in Guyana last November, and reside at Berbice.

Ophthalmologists benefitting from the training are Dr. Damonie Lamy and Dr. Jennel Sarju of the GPHC; Dr. Celeste Hinds of Linden and Dr. Louisa Mc Donald of Suddie, who all report to Consultant Ophthalmologist, Dr Shailendra Sugrim.

Previous CJCLDS charities made donations of a Slit-Lamp Biomicroscope, Auto-refractor. The charities will also be donating some other equipment and consumables to the Department of Ophthalmology in a few weeks, the hospital’s Public Relations Officer, Mitzy Campbell said.

She said the GPHC is deeply appreciative of the initiative and would like to express gratitude to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

A rather elated Elder Thomas Peterkin commented: “We are so glad Dr. Smalley was able to come. We just arrived here two months ago and we are excited to be here to serve the people of Guyana the best we can. We like to do projects that will be ongoing, so we train the doctors here, and they will be able to train more doctors, so that more people would be cared for… So that’s our purpose, that’s what we are concerned about.”

His wife Catherine added: “We are so pleased to be able to work with the Georgetown Hospital. Dr. Sugrim, his staff and all the other doctors have been just wonderful and we are so touched by the warmth of the people of Guyana.”

Meanwhile, Smalley said she was amazed at the work attitude of the doctors who all showed a keen interest in learning, and were also very knowledgeable and willing to learn more. She had kudos for them, adding that the doctors and staff are doing a great job at delivering health care here.

The Rains Came Down

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Late December 2016

Savanna

“earth which drinketh in the rain”

Our neighborhood is a rectangular chunk of land bordered on the north by this savanna.  At Christmastime we had a lot of rain which flooded the plain. For those of you who might appreciate my weird sense of humor, “the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain,” but the wateh in Guyana soaks savanna.

20 January 2017

Walk the Bird

“..a bird from the hand of a fowler”

I noticed men walking around with little square boxes.  I thought it strange because they looked like manly men with square purses.  Then I saw a man carrying a bird cage with a little bird in it, and realized these men were actually walking their birds.  They sometimes take the birds on a bike ride, or put the cages on posts in front of their homes.  They poke a certain kind of grass through the bars of the cage so the birds can peck at the seeds for a tasty bird’s breakfast.  

Racer

Even stranger still, when I asked a man about the birds he told me they are for  “bird races.” Two cages are put side by side on a pole and the birds start singing or not.  Whichever bird outlasts the other, wins.  So I decided to find out more about this custom and did an internet search and discovered what is billed a race, is actually more of a marathon for the bird that lasts the longest in the tweeting competition.  Bets are cast, and thousands of dollars can be won if your bird outlasts the others.  

There are actually hunters that go into the Amazon and trap these birds and sell them for a lot of money.  Some go hunt them for themselves.  They are chipper chirpers, but not songbirds.
They are called towa towa’s.  You can listen to an mp3 online if you look it up. There is a really good tweeter somewhere in the trees near my house that sings a long time.  It’s probably singing the most because its cage is the sky.

19 January, 2017

Write Something, Catherine

“write one to another..”

I think of writing often, and I somehow have a mental block and interject any distracting thought to dissuade me.  I really will try harder, because there is so much I find interesting, entertaining, amusing, enriching or surprising - maybe you would find that also, if I can put it into words.

For instance, just as I was going to write I saw a lizard on the wall near the computer.  I really didn’t want it to consider me for a landing pad, so I sent for the lizard patrol  (Tom) and he tried to get it and when it fell to the floor he tried to catch it but it’s tail fell off, so he took it on a paper to put it outside, but the tail stayed there still wiggling by itself.  Every single day I have experiences I never even dreamed of.

We were just approved for a project yesterday, and we’re excited about it, because it is “our” project and not one that we’ve inherited to do.  We’ll be working with the New Amsterdam Rotary Club to have water filtration systems put in some primary (elementary) schools so the children have healthy clean water to drink.  We will be facilitating a cataract surgery training at the Georgetown Public Hospital at the end of the month and all the work we’ve done finding and .ordering cataract surgery kits, lenses, and parts will finally conclude. We will be hosting the technical specialist, Dr. Aaron Smalley, and his wife while he trains the doctors here on surgical techniques (phaco, etc.) and sponsoring the obligatory “closing ceremony.”  Things at the hospital are challenging, to say the least. Hundreds of patients have been awaiting surgeries because a vision field analyzer machine has a burnt out light bulb.  Finding a bulb took a lot of detective work, but I know one man who is going to jump for joy when he sees it!  While the doctor is at work all that week, we plan on working on some other projects that are in process in the Georgetown area, including assessing a disaster relief container and looking at a night school that has requested computer donations from the Church.  We live almost 3 hours from Georgetown so we will be staying there for the week.