MK's

MK’s or missionary kids are a special breed of child and young person. Before coming to PNG for our three month stints, I had the impression that parents were short changing their children by bringing them to the mission field. Boy was I wrong!

The MK’s currently living in Kudjip at the Nazarene Hospital Station range from age 3 months to 17 years. Several were born here and some have older siblings that grew up on the mission field and are currently in the States living, working and attending universities.

Depending on the age of the MK, they attend school for several hours a day. Kindergarten through 8^th grade is in one school house and has one teacher and various volunteer assistants through the school year. At the present time there are eight children in elementary. There are also eight high school aged young people living at Kudjip. Two will be leaving for universities in the States this fall. Much of the curriculum is taken from home schooling programs and each individual has a computerized program they work with.

The after school hours are special here. The hospital station covers approximately 350 acres and is about ½ mile in length. There is a lower area that is bordered by the Waghi River; the upper area where the missionary homes, staff homes and hospital occupy about half of the area. This upper portion is fairly free range for the kids. Scot and I were just sitting down for dinner and three very muddy teens came walking by. They had been playing mud football. I’ve watched several of the teens practicing belaying up rather tall trees. There is a rather decrepit court for playing tennis or basketball. Capture the flag, volleyball and ultimate Frisbee are also favorites with the teens. Basketball and volleyball are often played with the local children and students from the local nursing school. There are only a handful of televisions on the station and only one channel so and viewing is extremely limited. There is internet available, but service is frequently sporadic and slow.

The younger children enjoy many “aunts and uncles” – all the missionaries and volunteers are aunt or uncle. For Valentine’s Day they made valentines and heart shaped pretzels to pass out to the aunts and uncles. The younger MK’s will go to the hospital to sing, pass out Bible verses and visit with the younger patients. Riding bicycles is a frequent pastime, also tree climbing and just playing outdoors.

For those adventurous and who have parents willing, there is tubing on the river. I haven’t done it myself, but I have observed several coming back with bumps and bruises, including Scot. (He described it as a near death experience.) Game nights, or movie nights (There are numerous DVD’s to share; Scot and I are currently enjoying Downton Abbey/seasons 1/2.) for the teens and adults are quite common. Life at the Nazarene Hospital Station in Kudjip is a peaceful and loving experience. The love and care for each other, the patients and staff are a wonderful representation of Christ’s love for each of us.

I am truly blessed to be able to live here for three months each year and I now envy the families that have been raised in this setting.

Tyronza

Back in the Saddle

It has been three weeks since we arrived back in Papua New Guinea. Sorry I have been silent, but things have been busy and we have been settling in. The weather here has been much the same as before, warm days and cool nights. Hope the snow and ice has not been too bad for the rest of you.

It is avocado season here and I have been busy getting them down for us as well as for the other missionaries. A long bamboo pole with a loop of surgical tubing duct-taped to one end seems to be the ideal tool. Fresh avocado right off the tree is very nice. I had also forgotten how good the pineapple and bananas were. Tyronza has recently discovered a particularly tasty PNG version of plantain. She makes a plantain crumble that tastes like fresh apples and really goes down well. Needless to say, I have not lost any weight, you get the picture. (With Tyronza’s encouragement, I am trying to walk in the mornings for exercise.)

The clinic is similar to last year. I am kept very busy by my PNG nurse, Judy. She has one child age 6 and tells me she has gotten remarried since our last trip over. Judy speaks very good English and tries to keep me out of trouble the best she can. She and her new husband live off station, about a half mile up the national highway. They live in a bamboo hut with a grass roof. They have no electricity, no indoor plumbing or running water. They cook over an open fire pit. She does have a cellphone, but no TV or radio. Each day she charges her cellphone at the clinic. The patients are also similar to those I have seen before. I am always dismayed at how far advanced infections and cancers seem to get before the patients will seek medical help. PID, pelvic inflammatory disease, is a real staple, and cervical cancer is one of the most common clinical problems. In the past three weeks, I have seen 11 inoperable cases. There is only one linear accelerator in this country and the likelihood of getting timely irradiation care when there are so many to treat is slim. Please pray for my PNG patients.

Surgery is going well. The most common surgery is a caesarian section, followed closely by pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy and cancer surgery. So far I have had 21 major surgeries plus a number of minor cases, deliveries and episiotomy repairs. There has been only one disaster so far.  I had a full-blown emergency for fetal distress, but the time-lapse-to-cut is so slow around here that the baby was dead at birth. I did get a heart rate back and eventually some spontaneous respirations, but without a ventilator the baby expired two days later.

Thanks for listening to the Stork Tale. Hope you are all healthy and enjoying the last gasps of winter. You are never far from our thoughts and prayers. Please hold us close in yours.

Dr. P and Tyronza

Shopping and Food Preparation

I, Tyronza, thought I’d share some concerning the shopping and food preparation for ourselves in PNG. To begin you must first get into town from Kudjip. The nearest town is Mt. Hagen approximately 30 miles away and the drive takes around 45-50 minutes. Actually, you have to start by getting a ride with one of the missionaries going into Mt. Hagen and we have to have a watchmon (a guard) with us. Basically, the watchmon keeps an eye on the vehicle.

After we pick up the watchmon and have a prayer for safe travel, we depart Kudjip and start dodging the many and deep potholes on the road to Mt. Hagen. We also keep an eye out for all the foot traffic along the road.

Upon arrival in Mt. Hagen, the bank is often the first stop to obtain the necessary kina (PNG money) for purchases. The current exchange rate is slightly less than two to one. Our first exchange at the airport of $200 gave us 377K. There are several small stores in Mt. Hagen. The main ones we shop in our Best Buy, the largest grocery, Brian Bell, it carries small appliances and Westpac, a very small grocery and meat market.

Food is expensive and anything other than the locally grown fruits and vegetables can be hard to obtain. If you find it, buy it, because it probably won’t be there next trip! Items I purchased in town recently range from a slow cooker (159K), napkins (6K for a package of 100), large can of mushroom pieces (5.5K), medium jar of mayonnaise (22.5K), 2 kilo brick of cheese (79K), 8 oz. butter (7.75K), pork mince (22.5K/kilo), large can tuna in water (20.95K), lamb necks (14.95K/kilo), beef mince (27.9K/kilo), can of cocoa (17.9K), can of tomatoes (5.75K) and small box of cereal (11.80K).

The final stop is the fresh market where there is a large variety of fresh produce and fruits sold, also live chickens. I purchase onions, potatoes, kaukau (yams), pumpkin (squash), kumu (greens), bell peppers, garlic, ginger, pineapple, bananas, coconut, and many other interesting edibles. 

After the return trip to Kudjip, groceries are sorted and stored away and fruits and vegetables are soaked in a diluted bleach solution for around 20 minutes. Then they are dried and stored for later use. As the meat is rather tough, the slow cooker gets frequent usage. I bake bread every 3-4 days. Scot and I typically have some of the other volunteers or missionaries over for meals once or twice a week. It is the evening’s entertainment.

My little oven and I are getting used to each other, but I certainly miss my Kitchen Aid! Scot is a great help in the kitchen, when he is available. We brought a “yonana” appliance with us and are enjoying making smoothies from the local fruit.

More to come later,

Tyronza

New House and a Wedding

Dear Friends and Family,

Tyronza and I are safe and sound with our Papua New Guinea friends. As she told you, the trip over was not much fun; however, one must try to look on the positive side. We did finally receive all of our gear and we didn’t even have to go through customs in Australia or PNG.

Our housing is a little different this time. On the other two visits, we lived in the “Barnabas House” which was built for large groups and had abundant living area with a large kitchen and plenty of freezer and refrigerator space. Our new abode is a small cottage, the “Stone House”. It is new since our last visit. We have an apartment size refrigerator, a tiny oven which seems to have a mind of its own and a tiny washing machine. The bed is great and I seem to sleep like a log! (and snore like a buzz saw, says Tyronza) We had been used to having some large groups over, but a smaller crowd will be a nice change.

Many of our old friends are still here or will be coming soon, but a lot of our national friends have moved on for better opportunity. Because of a big national gas project, things in PNG are going through many changes and those with education can get more money elsewhere. I wish them well.

Not much else seems to have changed here. The medical need is still staggering. The fruit and vegetables are still wonderful. The people are still strange and interesting. The bugs are still present everywhere and in all things; and the climate is still great!

Tyronza adds that on our first Sunday back we were invited to attend a local (bush) church wedding and mumu. It was a lovely Christian wedding. The main service was nice, but after the pastor had finished his part, people were asked to give short testimonials for the bride and groom. Although the instructions were for one minute testimonials, the shortest was 7 minutes and the longest went on for 20! As all of this was in Tok Pisin (pidgin), we really didn’t know what was being said. The bride was lovely and the food interesting. It was a mumu with pig, cooking bananas, kaukau (yams), cabbage and carrots.

I will tell you more in the days to come. Tyronza and I appreciate all your prayers and keep all of you in our hearts and prayers.

Bye for now,

Dr. P & Tyronza

Packing and Travelling to Papua New Guinea

On Monday, January 28^th, Scot and I were completing our packing of clothing, food items and medical supplies to bring with us to PNG. Scot carefully weighed the bags after each adjustment. Travelling internationally, we were allowed 2 bags each of 50 pounds, in addition to a carry-on. We made use of all space and weight!

On Tuesday, our children dropped us off at the St. Louis airport and we began the tedious and lengthy process of travel to Kudjip, Western Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea. We were originally scheduled to depart STL at 6:25 pm and fly into Dallas/Ft. Worth.  Next, a 16 hour flight from DFW into Brisbane, Australia. After a short layover, we were to fly from Brisbane into Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, a 4 hour flight. After Port Moresby there is a short one hour flight into Mt. Hagen and then a 30-40 minute drive to Kudjip Village and the Nazarene Hospital located there. That is how the travel was supposed to be. However, because of the severe weather all the way from central Texas through St. Louis and up into Canada we were rescheduled through Los Angeles. We arrived in Los Angeles in good time and were boarded onto the flight for Brisbane. At this point, we sat on the plane at the gate for 4 hours with mechanical problems! Upon arriving Brisbane, the last flight of the evening for Port Moresby was soon to depart. Scot and I made the plane, but our luggage did not! We knew we had missed the connection between POM and Mt. Hagen and would have preferred to overnight in Brisbane, but we did not have an Australian visa. We arrived in Port Moresby in the evening. After filing a lost luggage claim, we took a taxi to the Wellness Lodge to spend the night. We were wait listed for the flight the following morning and were fortunate to get seating.  On arriving in Mt. Hagen, we were happy to see the friendly face of Joanie Goosen, a volunteer missionary at Kudjip, waiting to pick us up. The following day, we were reunited with our luggage!

That concludes the saga of packing and travelling to Papua New Guinea. As anyone who has ever travelled to PNG will tell you, this is not an unusual travel adventure! We are now happily settled into a two bedroom house on the hospital station. It is newly built and very comfortable; it is called “Stone House”.  We are glad to be back with the missionary families here and our other PNG friends. Scot is still at the hospital today and will have medical news to report later.

In addition to keeping us and our family in your prayers, there is a specific prayer request from PNG. “Please pray for PNG missionaries and nationals at this time due to increased tensions and security concerns regarding the Melanesian Nazarene Teachers College.”