Weekend Update

This weekend I confirmed that my life’s calling is NOT in medicine. Dr. Mercy performed some surgeries and I could only watch part of one (hernia repair). She and another surgeon also operated on a man who’d supposedly had prostate surgery at another hospital. Faith Alive suspected that it hadn’t really been removed, and they were right. Rather than dishonesty, however, the problem was total incompetence -- the other surgeons had cut the prostate but left it in the bladder!

After surgery I sat through interviews with children who receive school scholarships through The Angel Program at Faith Alive. Currently 65 students receive aid, aged nursery through secondary (high) school. They are the fortunate ones, because over 200 children are on the waiting list. Only one child per family can apply, and they attend a variety of schools. (Elim and Hwol Yarje schools are separate from The Angel Program.) I read that the Nigerian government ranks very low in amount of money spent on public education. Actually both public and private schools charge tuition.

On Sunday I spoke at Church of Christ in Nigeria, Tudun Wada. A nurse at Faith Alive invited me to talk about the clinic and encourage them to either access services there, or donate and/or volunteer. I encouraged people of all ages to be part of the solution. They were especially interested to hear that one youth at our church sacrificially sponsors a Save-A-Life patient for $183 per year. I won’t mention her name because she’s humble, but she knows who she is.

Sunday was also Emily’s birthday. She’s Drs. Chris and Mercy’s eight year old daughter. We celebrated by eating at AfriOne, a favorite restaurant of Nigerians and foreigners. The food includes both Nigerian and Western dishes, and they sell breads, pastries, and ice cream. Emmy chose ‘Blue’ ice cream and I picked my favorite here, ‘Smack’ (type of chocolate and nuts). I’ve been invited to join Emmy’s birthday party at school tomorrow. She is envious that her brother Prince celebrated his birthday in the United States this spring, so I told her that Erika from America came to Nigeria for her birthday. Amazingly that seemed to do the trick.