Nicaragua Monday evening

Monday February 11

We are finished with Monday - At the hospital it went good the docs did amazing work and it got off to a great start for the week.  There were tons of kids at the hospital and about wore the childrens ministry out.  This is the day to do our shopping trip around town and get a few things that we were not  able to get in the totes.  Right now we are done with supper and we are getting showers and doing our skyping and our magic jack phone calls.  So far it has kept up the tradition of raining - much but enough to raise the humidity that is already at about 90+ .  Tomorrow RJ - Oscar and I are working on a house that belongs to the nurse at the orphanage.  It has been broken into several times and has had their pots and pans stolen and etc. Steve from the church put in a new door on the front today and new knobs and locks that RJ brought from Cal.  Tomorrow we will put in the back door and put some new siding on and do some work on the windows - shutters - windows - bars-  Thank you all for all of your support -  we could not be here without your support.   God Bless You. 

Love Karl

KENYA - Day 1 at the hospital

I will keep it short as there isn't good internet tonight for some reason.  There's lots to tell.
It looks like it won't let me load any pictures.

Today was the first day working in the hospital.  We had 3 clinics; Plastics, GYN and ENT.  We sent 'troops' all over the hospital, but mostly to OB and Pediatrics to see what they want us to do.  The nurses were frustrated by their lack of resuscitation of newborns and the new hospital isn't up and running yet, so we'll work out of the old one.  We had a warm welcome from the CEO at the hospital and were surprised to find an physician from Washington University in Seattle who is living here for a year.  The have a program to help improve medical education here and she's involved.  I won't go into the details, but it's a very ambitious program which includes students and residents from the US and Nairobi who do rotations here so we'll be working with all of them.  As far as my clinic, the patients were preselected by the ENT who comes here from Nairobi 2 days a week.  It was tonsil, tonsil, tonsil, tonsil, horrible tumor, then tonsil, tonsil, tonsil, horrible tumor, tonsil, tonsil, tonsil, inoperable horrible tumor that looked like a large melanoma in the roof of the mouth.  Only one nasal septum, but almost every patient needed surgery.  Very interesting clinic.

There is a lady in the women's ward with a huge parotid tumor covered with a bandage who just came in today.  Maybe big as a grapefruit if you partially flattened it on the side of the head.  We'll do a bandage change tomorrow and get a better look at it.  The pediatric ward is 4 rooms side by side with large glass windows for walls with 8 metal, white paint peeling beds in each room.  Most of the kids have what appears to be a mother with them, but some are orphans.

KENYA

We made it to Naivasha after stopping first at the elephant orphanage then
on a scenic outlook over the Rift Valley. It's something like Grand Canyon stretching from Israel to Mozambique. It's quite a view. We had a boat tour of Lake Naivasha and saw hippos, giraffes, zebra, waterbuck, wildebeest and tons of birds. It was amazing. Especially the giraffe and zebras didn't run away. The hotel is nice. I'll post I tires when I have more time. We're off to the hospital this morning. I'll include a view of our rooms from the restaurant where we're having breakfast. It's like a row of cottages. We slept under mosquito nets last night. John and I decided this is the most exotic place we've ever been. NN

Nicaragua

Sunday
Greetings!  What a day!  We went to a 3 hour church service, lunch after and then finished gathering supplies to take to the hospital.  It is always quite a job sorting through totes and organizing what we need to take. 

We had a ditzel clinic which consisted of scar revisions, skin cancer excisions, mole removals, etc. and lots of teaching from the docs. We worked with 3 Nicaraguan doctors and an American living in Nicaragua.  For those of you Iowans reading this, he just happens to originally be from Ackley, IA!  He is a world renowned physician and is the founder of Nicaplast which is a group of plastic surgeons who do cleft lip and palate surgery in Nicaragua.  One of the doctors is a general and plastic surgeon, another and ENT dr. and the other is the founder of the medical school in Leon, Nic.  They are wonderful doctors and we have had a great time working with them already and have also enjoyed our interactions with them away from work.  We are looking forward to the week once the surgeries start in the morning. 

Sue, Tamra, and I helped the doctors in the clinic today and it is good to get back in the groove with old friends at work again. 

There have been some difficulties with no water in some of the bathrooms on the compound or no air conditioning.  Most of the rooms that missionaries stay in have air conditioning now which has been a blessing but equipment just does not last here.  Dean and I have been without it the last few nights and got moved to another room today after a Virginia team left.  Tamra and Cole have been without water off and on and I think Catherine and Sue and Karls accomodations have been good. 

Time to shower and get to bed.  Hope is all well with everyone at home. More blogs to follow as time allows.     Carolyn

KENYA

Breakfast at Country Lodge.

Nicaragua 13

We arrived in Puerto Cabezas yesterday afternoon and hit the ground running. The California people arrived as well and all our totes made it through customs! Have been very busy!  We have met the Nicaraguan doctors we will be working with and they are absolutely wonderful.  So friendly, helpful and accomadating in every way.  Today we had our clinic and saw several hundred patients and have a very full schedule of surgeries for the week.  With several doctors, we will also be having a large ditzel clinic which will amount to a lot of mole removals, scar revisions, etc.

It is great to be back to Nicaragua and connect with old friends again and we will definitely have many new friendships when we leave here.  We are very anxious to get started working with the doctors.  They share the spiritual commitments that our team has and that is as important as the physical care that they will give their patients. 

Keep us in your prayers as we begin a long week.   Carolyn

After supper tonight we were invited to one of our favorite Nicaraguan nurse Rigbys home. It was her 60th birthday.  The evening was filled with music, dancing and laughter.   Our doctors this year have proved to be very entertaining leading the dancing.  They are joy filled and we are looking forward to a spirited week.
SUE

KENYA - Country Lodge Nairobi

We made it to Nairobi after one short flight to Detroit where we lost one bag, the two LONG flights 7+ hours to Amsterdam and then Nairobi.  We were picked up at the airport with 3 vans and taken to the Country Lodge which is really nice.  I'm feeling guilty I'm not suffering yet, but they say we should take a good long shower here since the showers in Naivasha are not as good.  We'll head there tomorrow, stopping at the elephant orphanage around noon, then go on a hippo boat tour in the afternoon.  Then we promise we will get to work!  We went to the adjoining restaurant for a break before heading to bed.  We're 9 hours ahead of Nebraska so there will be some jet lag involved.  I stayed awake most of the trip (yes, I napped some) so I could sleep tonight since I don't often go to bed for the night at 2 pm!  The pictures below are from the Nairobi airport and the hotel.

Megan and Molly at Nairobi airport

Our Baggage

Dr. Ray Schulte

Caitlin and her mom Dr. Stice

John & Kevin

Diana, Wendy, Dr. Dumitru, Kristi

Jeff & Joan H.

One of the vans to the hotel.

Restaurant near hotel.

The team at the airport.

I see some of the pictures on the last 3 posts are out of order.  I posted them from my cell phone and they didn't send in order.  Operator error!
We had to use our key card 3 times and go through an additional guarded gate to get back into our hotel from the restaurant next door.  I think we are safe!
Nila

Kenya- Amsterdam

Didn't sleep much overnight but here we are waiting in Amsterdam for the third leg. There are Dutch shoes and tulips everywhere. It's now 8am here but somewhere in the middle of the night back home. We're hoping to be so tired by the time we hit Nairobi we'll be able to sleep well tonight. N

Kenya

Megan Kresha also has a blog. http://www.tumblr.com/blog/columbusmedicalmission
She's sitting by Kevin on the plane to Amsterdam.

Nairobi, Kenya

Checking in at Country Lodge in Nairobi. Only one lost suitcase! It's close to the Isreali embassy so it's very secure 😉Nila

Kenya links

Www.wendys1stmissiontrip2013.blogspot.com
Wendy Kallhoff is also blogging on our trip. Follow her also.

Nicaragua '13

Good Morning from Managua!  We have had some difficulty getting to this point of being able to post so bear with us.  Tryng to navigate through all the questions, problems of e-mails in a 3rd world country is frustrating.

We arrived in Managua last evening around 8:30 with good connecting flights the whole way.  Our totes arrived with us (sigh of relief) and then we got through customs after 3 were searched (another sigh of relief!).  They were looking for drugs and since we didn't take any medications with us, we were OK.  We had pretty tight connections so didn't have time for meals yesterday so were glad to hear the restaurant at our hotel was still open.  We gathered for a late evening meal before going to bed.

We have just had breakfast at the hotel and will be going across the street to the airport to catch our last leg of our flight to Puerto Cabezas.  We will have 2 doctors from Nicaragua joining us and the rest will come later with the California group. 

This afternoon will be very busy going through totes, trying to organize things for our clinic tomorrow, getting surgical trays made up, etc., etc.  And hopefully the sterilizer will run after a year of idle time.  Lots to do and hope we will be able to continue to post.  Continue to keep us in your prayers.       Carolyn

Kenya

All checked in at Eppley airfield. Dr. Schulte and Dr. Stice are here. Dr. Schulte is traveling in our plane. The rest are meeting us in Detroit. Megan brought a ziplock full of pizza! No pizza left behind!

KENYA

Taking off from Columbus at 3 am. John, Kevin, Wendy and Nila.

Nicaragua '13

JANUARY 13, 2013
The Nicaragua team met today in Lincoln at Sue & Karl Tillinghast's.  We were commissioned at their church, First Presbyterian at the 11:00 service.  We had a great meeting with lots of discussion on our travel plans, finances, supplies & totes, gifts, devotions, etc.  Tamra has lots of neat ideas on things that she has in store for children's ministry so that will be fun to see what all she has planned. 

At this point, it looks like we will be working with 4 physicians from Nicaragua; plastic surgeons & ENT physicians.  We don't know yet how the surgery schedule for the week is going to be worked out but we have learned how to be flexible and will deal with whatever is handed to us. 

Everyone is getting so excited for the trip.  Our medical supplies are all packed in totes & we have 1 or 2 more to pack with misc. supplies.  But once again, one of the worst parts in preparing for this trip is to figure out how we can get everything we need for 10 days into our own personal carry-on size bags weighing no more than 30 lbs.  Believe me, it is NOT easy (especially for us girls)!  

Our mission trip will be Feb. 7-17th.  We will be posting to this blog site as internet service is available.  

Keep us in your prayers!
Carolyn Athey

KENYA HERE WE COME

Things are moving right along with our plans to travel to Naivasha, Kenya where we will work in the District Hospital.  I've included a slideshow of the Kenya team.  We had a team meeting this past Sunday where all but 2 of the 19 members attended so we could meet and talk with one another.  Several have been there before so their experience is valuable.  We will not all be on the same plane, but will arrive in Nairobi all the same evening within and hour of each other.  We'll stay the night in a hotel there.  They say it's near the Israeli embassy so is heavily guarded.  I guess that's good to know.  We'll have 3 vans, 2 for people and 1 for the supplies and luggage.  On the way to Naivasha there is both a baby elephant preserve and baby giraffe preserve.  I guess for orphaned animals.  We'll probably get to stop there if time permits either on the way to or back from Naivasha.  They also say Lake Naivasha has hundreds (thousands?) of flamingos and hippos.  We'll get out on a boat in the lake at some point and see them.  Yes..... we'll be careful of the hippos.  It's interesting how many folks have warned me about them, as if people from Nebraska would know more about hippo safety than the people who live there and will guide us.

I just got a call from Louise at Federated Church tonight with another 20 receiving blankets and baby hats.  The ladies there have already made us 25 hospital gowns.  I'm afraid we won't have room for surgical instruments.  We may have to rearrange and take fewer drapes or something.
I also received an e-mail from a Kenyan general surgeon today, who we will work with there.  He will get me in touch with the local ENT, Dr. Anne.  Since there is ENT there I may not have to take as many instruments as usual, but that's unclear right now.  They apparently do not have a microscope for ear surgery so that saves us an ear tray, but tells me there is probably a lot of need for ear surgery there.

I want to add photos and stories of our team, but don't have time right now so will do it another time.  The blog is a little cumbersome to sign in and we get lots of spam comments that need to be deleted from foreign advertisements it seems so it's a bit of a nuisance to have to screen them all.  I will write more when I have time.

We're being commissioned at Federated Church this Sunday and following that with a Baked Potato Bar fund raiser to help cover costs.  Thanks to everyone who has helped so much.  This will be the biggest adventure yet.  I feel a little bad about not going to DR Congo and will keep it on my list.  I received and e-mail from another missionary who put off a trip there for the same reasons we did.  The government is unstable, and although the mission site where we would have been working isn't in the direct line of the trouble, we didn't want to get there and then have riots in the capitol which could close the airport and lock us in.  In the mean time, I gave up on my French lessons for DRC and got a "Teach Yourself Swahili" CD/book set from Amazon yesterday, so now will try to learn a few words.  If I can say hello, goodbye, wait here, excuse me, please and thank you I'll be happy. Someone once told me Swahili is the hardest language in the world to learn.  I don't know if that is true or not. Lucky for us, the 2 national languages in Kenya are Swahili and ENGLISH!!  Woo Hoo!!
Nila Novotny

KENYA

We packed for Kenya this week.  We put together 14 totes full of medical supplies.  There will be 6 physicians, 10 nurses and 2 ancillary personnel traveling together to Nairobi, then to Naivasha, Kenya to work in a new women's hospital built by a group of Nebraskans.  They have brought Kenyans to Nebraska to train and work on training them there.
I'll have the opportunity to work with a local Otolaryngologist and helping in whatever way I can.  John will be working on the stove project modeled after the project used by HELPS International (the group we went with to Guatemala last year).  The idea is to built stoves to contain the fires in homes, decrease smoke inhalation, decrease burn injuries and decrease time spent gathering wood.  It also helps protect the environment as it uses much less wood and with less time gathering wood and tending a fire the children can attend school and parents can be more productive with their time. Watch the YouTube video Stove project  It helps in so many ways.  The stoves are inexpensive and efficient.  I've included a link to YouTube that explains the project.  It is out of Guatemala but the same principle we will be using in Kenya.  NN

Nicaragua '13

We learned from our first trip to Nicaragua, that the word "flexibility" is a key word and one that we have come to be very familiar with.  Just a few nights ago, we learned that, due to unforeseen circumstances, the 2 physicians with the California part of our team are not able to go to Nicaragua with us in February.  Of course, that news blindsided all of us but we still knew that we all wanted to go back in whatever capacity that we could be used, whether it was medical or non-medical.  We now have learned that we will be working with Nicaraguan doctors, plastic surgeons from Managua.  That is great news and will be a blessing for the people in Nicaragua who have been waiting for our team to return.  We don't have a lot of details yet so are anxiously waiting to hear more news.  But our hearts are with the people of Nicaragua so we are happy to serve them in any way we can.  Please keep us in your prayers.
Carolyn Athey

Nicaragua '13

   In spite of the miserable cold & blustery day on Sunday, the Columbus Medical Mission Team, Nicaragua '13 had a very successful spaghetti feed fundraiser.  It was held at Peace Lutheran Church and we had a great turnout.  We also had a Christmas bake sale with lots of delicious baked goods.  Another addition to our fundraiser this year was a silent auction of items bought in Nicaragua on our last trip.  These items were from Nicaraguan craftsman & many from Puerto Cabezas which is where we work on our mission.  We want to thank everyone who came & also who supported us with monetary donations as well as all the wonderful baked goods.  We are always amazed at the generosity of so many who support our mission.  We also want to recognize Cargill for their donation of hamburger as well as the Barilla pasta company for their donation of all the spaghetti and spaghetti sauce and Michael Brittenham, State Farm agent, for his donation of napkins and cups.  And thank you to Jodi Dreifurst, a 2 time member of our mission team, for her donation of the table covering. We were also fortunate to have volunteers who helped us during the spaghetti feed and to them, a HUGE thank you.  Words cannot express how grateful we are to everyone who helped make this fundraiser a success. 
   In less than 2 months our team will be back in Nicaragua, and for some of of us our 4th trip back.  The people in Puerto Cabezas certainly have won our hearts and we are so blessed to have the opportunity to serve them again.  We are looking forward for the opportunity to work with our friends from California again as well as our brothers & sisters in Nicaragua.  Please keep us in your prayers as we prepare to return to help those in need in Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua.  And please plan to follow this site for blogs.  We will try to keep everyone updated as time allows & as the electricity allows us to.
Carolyn Athey

KENYA 2013

It's been a long time since I've posted because things seem to keep changing.  The civil unrest in DRC has made it too unstable to travel there.  On any given day it might be OK, but because of the rebels in the Northeast who recently took more control and threatened the capitol city, Dr. Fletcher warned us not to get our tickets and to hold off for now on our trip.  We were terribly disappointed  as we have done all the leg work, made plans and have been getting our shots for Congo.  I've put out feelers for other trips and we were all ready to sign on to a very good mission to Haiti when another African opportunity presented itself that we couldn't pass up.  This is to travel with Friends of Naivasha to Kenya with Dr. Coleen Stice, who I trained with at Mayo, and who has extensive mission experience.  Her team has helped in the building of a women's hospital in an area greatly underserved north of Nairobi.  We met with her today and made all the arrangements for 7 of us to join her group of 11 and travel together to Kenya.  Our team consists of myself (ENT), John (McGyver), Kevin Harm Pediatric NP, Wendy Kallhoff, RN, L&D nurse, Molly Dreesen O'Tool, BSN L&D nurse, Erin Scoggins, BSN, L&D nurse and Megan Kresha, Paramedic.  I will be working with a Kenyan Otolaryngologist, John will help with a stove project designed to build stoves for the huts which will prevent burns and smoke inhalation with the open fires in the homes, Kevin will work with Pediatrics, the nurses will work in Labor & Delivery and Megan will help out wherever needed.  We will all get to teach and work on a very ambitious project.  There are several websites and a YouTube video about the organization.  I'll try to link, but just look for Friends of Naivasha on the internet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxcvcm4ePL8&feature=share and you'll find lots of information on it.  We also have a Facebook/Columbus Medical Mission Team - Africa page that we will link to.  We are very excited and everything seems to be falling into place.  We'll be having 2 fund raisers.  First at Pizza Ranch on Dec. 17, 5-8 pm, second a potato bar at Federated Church January 13, 11:30-1pm.  Also, don't forget the Nicaragua team spaghetti feed tomorrow Dec. 9 at Peace Lutheran Church at noon.

Nicaragua '13

The Columbus Medical Mission Team (Nicaragua '13) met today & we had a fantastic meeting.  We had lots to cover regarding travel plans, fundraising efforts, ordering supplies, etc., etc.  Our big fundraiser will be our spaghetti feed which will be Sunday, December 9th from 12:00-2:00 at Peace Lutheran Church as well as a Christmas bake sale.  A new addition that we are having this year during the spaghetti feed is a silent auction of items we purchased from Nicaragua in February.  These items are made in Nicaragua and many are from craftsmen in Puerto Cabezas, the town where we work.  Some of the items are baskets, jewelry, a wood carving, scarves, etc.  We have been very blessed to have gotten our hamburger donated from Cargill as well as spaghetti and spaghetti sauce donated from the Barilla pasta company.  Thank you to everyone who supports our mission work through your donations but most importantly, with your prayers. 

Team members from left to right in top picture:  Catherine Johnston, Sue & Karl Tillinghast, Tamra Boettcher, Cole Fullner, Carolyn & Dean Athey

Carolyn Athey

DR Congo

I've received another video about the mission in DR Congo.  We have a contact in North Carolina with a church that sends missionaries there regularly.
http://www.imdb.com/video/wab/vi378274841/

Nicaragua 2013

We are happy to report that the Columbus Medical Mission Team (Nicaragua '13) is formed.  We have 2 new members, Cole Fullner & Catherine Johnston, and they will be joining Karl & Sue Tillinghast, Tamra Boettcher & Dean & Carolyn Athey.  This will be the 4th trip to Nicaragua for the Tillinghast's & Athey's and Tamra's 2nd trip. 

Tamra will be taking on a dual role this time.  Her desire was to lead the children's ministry and she will do that with the help of Cole & Catherine.  She will also use her medical skills when necessary but felt her calling for this trip was to participate more fully in the spiritual side of the mission trip.  She has a lot of experience with the youth through her participation in her church and the people of Puerto Cabezas will certainly benefit spiritually & medically from her expertise. 

Our team has a lot of work ahead of us from now on but we look forward to all the challenges & efforts it will take to make our way back to Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua.  Please keep us in your prayers as we prepare for our next journey.
Carolyn Athey

Nicaragua 2013

   The Columbus Medical Mission Team, Nicaragua 2013, met September 9th.  Everyone came with ideas for an even more exciting trip.  The dates are February 7-17, 2013.
   We will be fundraising and set December 9th as the date for our spaghetti feed so mark your calendars!  Details with the time and place will follow.
   Team members returning for their 4th trip to Nicaragua are Karl & Sue Tillinghast and Dean & Carolyn Athey.  We are very excited that Tamra Boettcher, ARNP, will also be going with us.  She was on the first trip to Nicaragua and has been anxiously waiting to return.  We have 1 and possibly 2 persons who are working out details to go with us, as well.  It's going to be a great team!
   Once again, we're partnering with the California team.  The leaders of that team are Keveta Anderson and Suzie Smith.  We don't know yet who will all make up their team but we do know that Dr. Rich Bergstrom and Dr. Mark Nichols are the physicians who will be going.  Dr. Bergstrom is an ENT specialist and Dr. Nichols is a general surgeon and both have been on several medical mission trips to Nicaragua.  We had the privilege of working with them last February and are looking forward to working with them again. 
   We continue to ask for your prayers as we plan for our next mission trip to Nicaragua. 
Carolyn

CONSIDERING MISSIONS

I've spent the last few days at our national Academy of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery meeting in Washington DC and as always am coming away with new thoughts and ideas.  The past couple of years I've gone to every cleft course offered.  One course led to my getting additional training at the University of Arkansas with cleft surgeon Dr. Lisa Buckmiller, who has extensive cleft training and who has done missions throughout her career.  She is who invited me to Guatemala with their team.  The trip was awesome as I could work with 3 other cleft surgeons who you read about on earlier blogs from October 2011.  I was trying to decide what to do next when I found Dr. Fletcher's mission in DR Congo.  Although I have another opportunity to return to Guatemala, I decided the trip to Africa had so much to offer, that I have decided to go there instead.  One of the main factors primary factors in this decision is the opportunity to teach the local physicians.  Dr. Fletcher has been working hard for years to improve the level of health care in the poorest country in the world.  I attended several hours of humanitarian meetings in DC and every one of them made the point of how important it is to teach.  There were stories of setting up ENT residency programs, literacy programs in slums, and training the local physicians in every way.  A couple of groups 'put themselves out of business' by returning year after year, bringing supplies and training the local doctors to the point where they aren't needed to do the surgery as they have well trained specialists. None of my previous missions focused on training, and  each time I talk to Dr. Fletcher about what surgery we might do, he reminds me that it has to include teaching.  They have Family Practice residents and medical students with a fair amount of book learning, but very little 'hands on' experience so we probably won't do the large numbers of cases, but rather a smaller number, but allow the Congolese doctors to do as much as they can. Dr. Fletcher, himself, does some ENT surgery so we'll teach him as much as we can so he can use to teach more incoming doctors.
We will also have the advantage of an American trained general surgeon who can do followup care.  This is a huge advantage.  Missions always leave you with a sense of concern about what will happen to the patients after the team leaves, so this will be a great help.
One of the humanitarian speakers so aptly pointed out that there are lots of people who say they want to go, but in the end, the time, the money and the 'outside your comfort zone' factors limit who actually is able to take the leap of faith to go.

John and Nila Novotny in Guatemala 2011

The meeting has me more inspired than ever for missions and now has given me some additional tools to help organize things and places to look for donations.

SENDING SUPPLIES

Today I packed up 4 boxes of supplies and will send them UPS tomorrow to North Carolina for Dr. Fletcher to take to DR Congo.  Large supplies can be shipped there by cargo ship and will actually get there via Belgium.  I'm not sure how long it will take, but Dr. Fletcher is returning to Congo in October.  We'll still be taking some supplies of our own in February, but this uses up things we've had in storage that we were unable to take before.  It's fortunate that I spoke with him today as he mentioned a need for tracheotomy tubes.  It turns out I have a small stockpile in my office that have accumulated from patients who no longer needed them so was able to find a good home for them.  It also includes some unneeded GYN instruments and laparoscopy equipment that our hospital can't use. NN

DR CONGO AND NICARAGUA

We have now branched into two teams.  Next year, 2013 will find two separate Columbus Medical Mission Teams traveling to two different countries, so the blog may be a little confusing.  We will try to keep them labeled correctly so you know which is which.  It looks like both trips will be in February so that will only add to the confusion, but it's a good time of year to travel to the tropics.  Everyone in Nebraska can attest to that.
The DR Congo team will be participating in a Webinar about the Congo later this month that is put on through the Presbyterian Church Missions.  We haven't done that before, so are waiting to see what more we can learn.  Dr. Fletcher has been traveling around the country speaking about the Congo all summer and has given our name to other interested participants, so we'll see how that works out.  I'm meeting with one next week at our national ENT meeting.
There are so many mission opportunities out there and so many people interested it's sometimes hard to keep focused.  Each one has unique characteristics and we're anxious to see how the Africa branch pans out.  Both teams will be following the other and praying for a successful trip.

Nicaragua 2013

    We are happy to report that Columbus Medical Mission Team will be returning to Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, in February.  After our last trip in February, it was uncertain if we would be going back but we have gotten the word from the leaders in California that it's a GO! 
     It doesn't seem possible that this will be the 4th trip that CMMT members have traveled to Puerto Cabezas.  For those of us who have been privileged to go on these trips, it has truly been a blessing to be able to serve so many needy people in that region.  The people in that area have found a place in our hearts & with God's help, CMMT will return for however long he wants us there.
   We will be starting to have team meetings to assemble the team, discuss fundraising, etc.  So please stay tuned for more details as they become available.  Dean & I will be doing a couple presentations soon about our trips to Nicaragua.  If there are any groups, clubs or organizations who would like us to talk at, please feel free to contact us (276-0638 or 276-0640).  We love to tell our stories & share our experiences with everyone. 
Carolyn Athey

WORLD OF NEED

We're having our first team meeting for the trip to Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) this weekend.
We'll start to solidify the team, the dates, and what needs to be done to prepare for the trip.  I had Dr. Fletcher on the phone earlier this week to ask about the political strife that we all hear so much about throughout Africa.  Of course, it's like hearing of strife in the USA.  Some areas are much worse than others and it can't all be lumped into one. Several times I've had people look shocked that we would even consider going there because of the danger.  It was reassuring to talk to Dr. Fletcher who has lived there most of the last 20 years.  He said the political unrest is far from where we'll be and he and his wife travel freely without fear in their region.  They do not need razor wire around their compound (or station as he calls it).  However there is a fence around the hospital.  He says we'll be able to take a day and travel to one of the outlying hospitals so we can see the area and smaller communities.  We may do clinic there.

I'm excited about the possibility of teaching there.  Dr. Fletcher seems as interested in using all of the team to teach whatever we can.  They have 2 nursing schools, medical students and residents.  He's trying to improve the medical education as much as possible so they can provide better care for themselves and in the far distant future become self sustaining.  This is the poorest country in the world, ranked 187 out of 187 (USA is 4th).   NN

DR Congo Video

I've just received a video from Dr. Fletcher, our surgeon in DR Congo.  I'll try to post it.  It is interesting and informative.  You may have to download Google docs to view it.
DR Congo video

We have our first team meeting August 12, so please pray for our team.  If you are interested in joining the team, please contact me for more information.  NN