Today's post is reblogged from Nurse Amy Jones' blog, "through a porthole". It shines the love and light of Jesus!
Sendra and I are the same age. He is my Gasy Brother. It doesn’t mean
that he’s windy, and as many times as I explain it, that joke isn’t
funny in another language. ‘Gasy’ can be placed as a prefix for anything
that is a Malagasy version or done in a Malagasy way. ‘Madagascan’
doesn’t actually exist here, although it looks nicer without red wiggly
lines underneath it. I guess if we referred to vanilla as Malagasy
Vanilla no one would know where it came from?
I digress;
When we first met he was nervous about starting his first job in a
while. He had a pretty bad year. A newly acquired limp showed how he had
broken his leg from a serious car accident, the new title of a single
dad after loosing his wife and associated unemployment. As I said, a
pretty bad year. When the ship arrived he was just piecing life back
together again. Putting the puzzle into some kind of order. He was
giving English lessons to some of our translators and selling his
marital home to make ends meet. We have worked side by side for over a
year now. He was a translator for the medical capacity building team. At
least that’s what it says on his badge. In reality he has been my
colleague who is as passionate about changing healthcare in his country
as I am. Maybe even more so. He has helped me navigate delicate, deeply
disturbing, confusing and beautifully upsetting situations. Without a
healthcare background you would think that he would faint, vomit or
quit. But he never did.
I remember when I wanted to go and work with the midwives to
familiarise my self with their equipment and team. Sendra leaned in at
one point and whispered “are we actually going to watch that lady give
birth”. I have to admit I hadn’t really played out the scenario in my
head or thought about the fact this was probably the first time he had
seen a birth. I just nodded. His eyes widened and he shouted a silent
“help me God”. The baby was born and Sendra was so excited, I’m pretty
sure there was a single manly tear.
As I continued to expose this man to uncomfortable situations he thrived and then one day told me he wanted to be a nurse.
He would often feel like he was already a nurse when he was
translating and he dreamt that one day he would be able to enter the
training program and then teach the Malagasy nurses what he had learnt.
When Sendra translates he teaches and learns at the same time. Each
aspect of teaching he puts into practice. I would see his plate contents
changing at lunchtime after our nutrition sessions and his hand hygiene
would improve after our infection control teaching. Not only that, he
would also question other nurses in their methods, as to why they
weren’t following procedures.
A few weeks ago Sendra passed an entry exam in to nursing school. I
was devastated and delighted. He started last week and now I have to
survive without my Gasy Brother. But I know that he will be an amazing
nurse. That he has soaked up everything he has translated in the last
year and is now a wonderful teacher and mentor.
He said in his recent leaving speech that I treat people with
compassion, something lacking in his country and if it were to be
practiced then he believes corruption will cease and people will no
longer be scared to go to hospital. He wants to follow all that I have
taught and teach other nurses the same.
My biggest mentoring success story that I never knew about was
happening right under my nose. I never planned it. I never put his
statistics in to the data base. Those donors that get a monthly missions
report have no idea, because he’s not a participant in any mentoring
program yet he is the most educated non-health care professional in town
with the biggest heart and motivation to change the world.
I believe his willingness to serve Mercy Ships gave him hope at a
time in his life that was messy. That his time here has given him vision
and a future that he could have never have dreamed of.
It’s not just the tumour
It’s not just the burn
It’s not just the Fistula
It’s about hope and hope comes to different people in different ways, not always in an operating theatre.
We so often focus on the patients but we have hundreds of day crew
that are employed and there are so many inspirational stories that come
out of their mouths each day. Sendra says that this ship and its crew
will stay in his heart forever and I’m sure hes not the only one.
Sendra has chosen school over money. Or as he describes it he’s
chosen a bright future. He has had to stop working for Mercy Ships so
that he can study and attend lectures. That means no fixed or steady
income. A few crew members have donated to his exam costs. Thank you so
much if that’s you. If anyone would like to sponsor him through school
then contact me.
Pray for him and his bright future, pray for me that I’ll cope with out him.
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