Life at Segera
(Written July 2)
Segera Mission is an awesome place that does a lot of great things for a lot of people. It provides a free clinic, school, church, free tap with purified water, support for orphans and malnourished kids, and even some jobs. The clinic itself is the only health care for 40 km in any direction (a big deal when your only transportation is your legs!). Good things are being done here, like immunizing a group of people that would not otherwise receive vaccinations, and providing a safer place to deliver babies.
However, its really hard to see how deep rooted the problems are here. At times, I’m tempted to think that there is no way enough change could occur to even make a dent in all the problems. The people here are extremely isolated and cut off from the rest of the world. With a questionable educational program and absolutely no monetary resources, most of them have extremely limited opportunities for a better life. They have customs and practices that have not changed in thousands of years. They live in tiny huts (you have to crouch to get inside) made of cow dung and sleep on beds made of sticks and hides. These traditional tribal people do frustrating things like drink straight from the contaminated river and rub cow dung on their open wounds. They engage in practices such as circumcision as a rite of passage (for both male and female). They cook their food over an open fire in their small, enclosed huts and rarely (if ever) consume a fruit or vegetable. From a nursing standpoint, their lives are a nightmare!
Due to a lack of understanding, communication barrier, and high respect for tradition, change is extremely difficult to implement. The temptation can easily become one of two things- either an attitude of defeat, or a desire to take on everything, to try to use your own human means (money, knowledge...) to push change onto a resistant people for their own benefit. The latter, while well intentioned and at times very productive, will certainly also produce loads of frustration, exhaustion, and eventual burnout.
I’m realizing that the only possible alternative is to know that these people are not outside of God’s control. Our God in the western world is in fact the same God here in the African bush! He knows these people, their thoughts, and their needs the same way as He knows us. I must constantly remind myself that though the problems here are numerous, God cares for them immensely. This alternative is not the easy way out. It requires continual prayer and submission along with a willing heart and a desire to work hard.
I’ll be honest, there are terrible situations here that make this choice even more of a challenge for me. There are people suffering from starvation, preventable diseases, devastating accidents, and even witchcraft. This week, two and a half year old Jimmy fell head first into the boiling vat of porridge in the school’s kitchen. He is now suffering from second degree burns on 20% of his body. His mom, a single mother of five, had been unable to provide food for the family for the previous 3-4 days, which explains why he wandered into the kitchen in the first place. Stories like this are common, but as Caroline is constantly reminding me, there IS hope. And as the nurse (Christine) firmly states, people here get into dangerous situations because they don’t understand, but God protects them. They do survive against all obstacles. And not only does God love and provide for people like this, He also chooses them for His purposes! “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise: God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and
the things that are not to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.” 1 Corinthians 1: 27-29.
These are just some of my thoughts so far. I truly am loving my time here at Segera, and I am learning so much in the clinic. I work with a nurse on staff at Segera, as well as Caroline and Adam, and we see up to 60-70 patients per day. We help with deliveries, emergencies, wound care, and assessments/treatment of common injuries and illnesses. It’s an amazing experience that I am blessed to be a part of and I’m excited to see what the next 2 and a half weeks have in store!
