Yes, we finally arrived back at Kudjip Nazarene Hospital on
January 15th. We had a few travel glitches and wound up with a forced
overnight in Brisbane. All our luggage made it through and we arrived rested
and in good spirits (courtesy of Qantas airline). I have been working very hard
since then doing OB and Gyn things, so a little late on posting anything to
you. Sorry about that! (Tyronza has been asking for a blog every day or so.)
When we arrived, the area was just recovering from an
unusually long, 2-3 month, drought. Typically, it rains nearly half an inch each
day here, so the problem with gardening is usually “too wet – not too dry!” With
the drought, people had no way to water their gardens and everything was dried
up. There were no vegetables growing and therefore little to eat. That is a
major problem, since most of the millions of people in the highlands depend on
their gardens for their daily food. I don’t know of anyone who starved to
death, but there were plenty of skinny people who were very happy to see the
rains resume. Most gardens in our area are rapidly recovering and now beginning
to produce. We are grateful for the rain and the answered prayers.
I had never tried any gardening in Papua New Guinea, but
since the garden needed planting, I decided to give it a try. (Our local garden
plot is primarily courtesy of Dr. Ted Henderson. He and his wife, Rachel, were
in Kudjip for a year and have now returned to the US.) I have planted peas,
cilantro, tomatoes, onions, carrots, parsnips, beets, radishes, oyster root,
squash, cucumbers, peppers and arugula! So far, I am having a bit of a problem
getting anything to come up. The squash, cucumbers and radishes are looking
great, but all else looks like a failure. Don’t know what I am doing wrong! I
will have to talk to some locals for advice. I think ants might be part of the
problem. I’m now putting together a sprouting area. Tyronza says that she hopes
I get it figured out soon. She is looking forward to getting vegetables without
going to market!
Hope you are well and surviving the winter weather. Please
know that we pray for friends and family back home each day. We’ll be back in
Cape the end of April and Spring should be waiting for us there!
Mi bi lukim yu bihain,
(I’ll see you later.)
Scot (Dr. P) & Tyronza
ps: will write again soon about medical stuff
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