the lonely day

I knew this day would come soon enough. I’m NOT writing this so that everyone feels like they need to pump me up, I’m just trying to document what I’m truly feeling while I’m here in South Africa. It was a very good day at work, but we got off a little early so I’ve had the whole afternoon to relax and spend some time alone – not that that type of time is hard to come by at all. ☺ We left work about 130. Caroline and I went to the bookstore to buy some books for the hospital. Then I came home and took a long nap. I felt a bit guilty doing that because I feel like I’m here I need to take advantage of each moment. But then I decided that I also needed to give myself a chance to rest and adjust to this new schedule, etc. After my nap I headed up to the roof (where I remained despite my fear of blowing away!) to journal and look through my book on South Africa. I decided if I am going to be adventurous while I’m here, it was time to start planning my adventures. I found some things around here that I feel like will be safe to check out on my own, so I’m making a list of things to do in my free time. Unfortunately a lot of things close down by 5 and we don’t get off work until 3 or 4, but on those days I get off early, I’ll now have things to accomplish…and there’s always the weekends, but those seem to be filling up fast. Anyway, while up there I was just thinking about how nice it would be just to have one good friend here that wanted to explore the city – then we could tackle it together and go and do whatever we wanted. I came at a funny time in that many people already have an established friend set or have seen the things they want to around here. Many of the interns are pretty young and interested in exploring different things than I am. Don’t get me wrong though – I’m aware I’ve only been here 3 days and have been so blessed by friends in that time (especially Caroline the other CL girl), so I’m not complaining – I’m just excited for that time to have a travel companion. ☺ (Are you reading this Jamie?! No pressure!) I’m also not making this my final statement – I still have yet to give this whole Connect thing a chance – starting with this trip Saturday. We’ll see what happens. This is just a momentary bump in my first week adjustment.

Aside from that…today was a great day! Thursdays are “Theatre” days on the burn unit – aka surgery days. The doctors and sisters are amazing at this hospital. They are totally open to us being part of any process. During theatre days we accompany the patients to the OR and stay with them until they receive their anesthesia. Even better than that – the parents are allowed to be with the kids in the OR until they fall asleep! I know – my CL friends are amazed right now. ☺ Following surgery, we stay with the kids while they wake up in recovery and then accompany them back to their rooms. It’s awesome. I was with one of the kids I’ve been working with when he went back to theatre. His mom wasn’t able to be with him, so I held his hand while he fell asleep. The doctors all thanked me as left. How awesome to be working in this environment!

I have found that there doesn’t seem to be any territorialism as far as we’re concerned in the areas we’ve been working. Everyone is open and inviting to our services and seeing how we can all work together to make things better for everyone. How great!

I did meet a really nice nurse when I was waiting with a child in recovery. She was amazed that I had to fund the whole trip by myself. She didn’t know why the hospital (especially one in the US) wouldn’t have at least paid for my ticket for an opportunity like this. She said that her hospital had funds set aside to assist staff in such volunteer endeavors. She said the US has so many more resources; she couldn’t believe that I didn’t have help. Don’t worry- I told her that I had wonderful friends, family and coworkers that helped me raise most of the funds I needed to travel her. I told her that I sold cookbooks to raise the money. She thought that was pretty funny. This led to a discussion about people who have more don’t always give more. That got me thinking about my own giving. This whole experience has caused a desire in me to be more giving to others. It has meant so much to have people walk up and hand me a check for my trip (no matter how large or small). It is so humbling and creates in me a desire to provide that love and joy to someone else. When I get home, my budget (that I promise to make!) will now include specific funds for random needs I see in others.

Speaking of giving – I received the best e.mail from a friend today. My friend Bethany told me that she was contributing to my trip by contributing to a world hunger crisis fundraiser. She mentioned that she was pretending the child she was helping was in South Africa – thus the connection to me. ☺ I didn’t ask Bethany if I could do this (so I hope that’s okay b.lar – I don’t know why I just called you that!). Here’s part of what she said,

“Anyway, it's something that I've never done before, to give a substantial amount, but I was just thinking about how quickly we spend money on shopping, or movies etc. So I decided to just not think twice about it and give. I learned that there are over 900 million people, 300 million being children in the world who are starving and that someone dies of starvation every 7 seconds. That number is just too big to comprehend, but then John & Sherry were talking about those people, even though we don't know them, will be our "neighbors" in heaven. I thought that was such a unique way to think about it, we don't have to know the person to do our part to help.”

I was so proud of her I cried. There are so many ways to help out this world, from traveling to South Africa, to making financial contributions to good organizations, or finding people in your own community who just need a helping hand. It’s about loving others – that’s what this whole trip is about. Realizing that God IS love. Where love is – God is. Where God is – Love is. If we don’t have love – we don’t have God. It’s so simple, yet so difficult for us. So my inspiration note for this entry- Go right now and find a way to show God’s love. I promise you’ll feel it 10 times in return! I love you all!