Share, Learn, Serve, Have Fun! This is OSEELC Week in Garoua Boulai. OSEELC is the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Cameroons Health Services organization. The church has three hospitals (in Garoua Boulai, N’Gaoundéré, and Ngaoubela) and numerous clinics in smaller towns. This is the fifth year that they have all met together in one place for OSEELC Week.
The purpose
is for health care workers to get to know each other, share information and
experiences; to serve the local community, and to engage in sports and other
fun activities. Yesterday morning was
the opening worship service (even though people arrived the day before and
there were some activities then). I was
invited to this opening as was the mayor, sous-prefet and other notables. (OK, I listed me first, but I wasn’t the most
important… I am not participating in
most other activities as I work with education and not health services.)
Health
workers from each region had clothing made from the same material. Two of the hospital choirs prepared songs to
share. The service was held in the courtyard
(or maybe we would say the parking lot if there were more cars that came to the
hospital). It was a beautiful, sunny day
– most of them are now since it is the dry season. Cloth canopies were set up to create shade
for participants.
Dr. Solofo Rakotoarivelo,
Director of the hospital in GB, welcomed everyone. Various pastors participated and the Regional
Bishop, Ndjidere Ngimbe Nestor, preached.
I was happy to see that during communion, two women and two men
distributed the elements. (I am obviously haveing trouble getting pictures and text to do what I want in this blog. Sigh. At least you can see both - and extra white space.)
Before the
service, I stood with Dr. Simon Aroga, Director of the OSEELC. He introduced me to various people as the
person who had helped them improve their yearly planning documents! People from all areas had heard of me. (Wow.
I had helped Dr. Solofo and Betrogo Jacob reorganize the document they
already had and to make its objectives reflex what they wanted for people in
the area. This document was then used as
a model for the other hospitals. The hospital
in GB had done the lion’s share of the work; still, the combined effort and
cooperation has strengthened the work OSEELC is doing.) At service ended with a parade of
workers. Here are three pictures of
participating regions.
Activities
this week include free clinics to test for HIV, High Blood Pressure, and
Diabetes. Other hospitals brought
workers to provide dental and eye clinics, services which are only periodically
available in GB.
Areas also
have teams that are competing in soccer and volleyball tournaments. Did you notice that the N’gaoundéré team had
already won a medal and were showing it off during the parade?
Participants
are also eating together and finding ways to relax and have fun.
Other news:
For a week
or so we have been having daily periods without electricity. For the past three days it has started about
4 a.m. (That means if you have an
electric hot water heater and want to take a hot shower, do it in the evening
and don’t wait until the morning!) Power
comes back so that things in the fridge/freezer (for those of us fortunate
enough to have them) don’t spoil or defrost.
At least the electricity is back by dark. A couple of people told me workers are
replacing poles or doing some kinds of repairs that require the power to be
shut off. Fortunately, my computer has a
battery and I have a solar lamp. We
adjust…
A friend
gave me a palette of eggs (30 of them!).
So I have started my Christmas baking early. I made the equivalent of 5 pumpkin pies which
I have been sharing with friends. I want
to make Ginger Snaps, one of my favorite cookies, and am thinking of making
eggnog for a party next week. I think I
will have enough eggs!
News about
CAR and its elections in the next entry – once the power is back and I can
recharge the computer…
Blessed
Advent.
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