Dear Friends,

Sadly for Carol and I,  we find ourselves with only three more days to go, it hardly seems possible that three months has gone by.  As there is always plenty to be done, each day seems to be over no sooner than it is started. 

 In connection with that thought I notice that no matter how carefully we plan out the next day there is always the unexpected. So  often they are relatively small matters that rock the boat. Easily attended to, like leaking water pipes, a termite trail that has appeared overnight, some electrical fitting that suddenly no longer works, or the most elusive of all that toilet cistern that will not stop running. 

With three large buildings on the Christ Church compound the amount of work  required to maintain them in good condition is considerable. We are so blessed by the maintenance team we have and in particular by Dereje who is the team leader. With Dereje with have another four Ethiopians, members of our maintenance team and responsible for our buildings. Elyas who is Dereje’s right hand man, Wendwson (pronounced Wonderson) who has his main role in the gardens and with the trees, Samira his wife who cleans the Church, Community Centre and the accommodation block  as well as taking care of the laundry. This leaves Gashu who is one of those people who seems to be everywhere, keeping the clinic area clean, looking after the two vehicles, taking responsibility for setting up the church for services and the fellowship times. Gashu stays on the compound, living on the roof of the accommodation block and literally  keeping his eye on all that is happening from his vantage point high above the compound. 

It should be noted that both Gashu and Dereje are leaders in the Ethiopian Evangelical Church who meet each Thursday evening in our  Church and are also regular members of the Christ Church congregation. 

Dereje is a very able team leader and an extremely skilful worker. He has a keen mind and always ready to learn new and better ways. It is really good to work with someone who has an open mind and even more so who can respond quickly to an emergency. 

This happened last month as one morning Dereje raced into the office calling out the we had a fire. I followed him quickly as he then ran behind the church to the generator room. There it was! Two large circuit breakers well ablaze. Dereje quickly rounded up all our CO2 fire extinguishers and the two of us attacked the seat of the fire.  It was soon obvious that the circuits were still alive as no sooner did we deaden the fire than it sparked into life again. I kept saying to Dereje that we still had power and he assured me that the circuit breaker feeding the generator room was off.  Finally Dereje had to cut the power to the whole compound and that solved that part of the problem. The next was of course, inevitable, the fire extinguishers all ran out. Though the  fire was now reasonably small it was still burning. Just the day before we had purchased some bags of plastering sand and Dereje ran to bring me a bag of sand. The sand did the trick and in no time our fire was out, only to find the circuit breaker in the power room was now alight but not too badly. By now the firefighting team was in full swing and this one was soon out.  

Almost at the end of our efforts the fire brigade arrived, but all was under control. What a mess we had and by now the horrible smell of burnt cable and plastic seemed to be everywhere. Worst of all we had no power to the whole compound. Almost miraculously two men appeared on the scene who turned out to be from the Electricity Department. With their help and three new circuit breakers and cable we were able to have a temporary connection that restore power to the whole compound by late evening. That left us with the very real need of a good electrical engineer not only to make permanent connections but also to make sure our generator was wired in correctly.  Beyond the scope of my knowledge. However we did find some of the cause and that was aluminum cables connected to copper and electrolysis had set in. Hence the switch that would not turn off. Within a couple of days such an expert was found, trained in Germany and Holland.  A couple of 12 hour days and some afternoons saw our power room, generator room and the generator back in better condition than before, working very effectively and looking very professional. 

Although it all seemed at the time quite a small scale disaster on reflection we realized there were some real blessings. It happened in the morning when we had staff on the spot, far better than in the middle of the night. That morning was an eye clinic operating day, but there were more patients than usual for the surgeon to see so surgery was delayed and no patients had been prepped at the time of the fire. Most of all there were no injuries. 

Emergencies do happen and being prepared and able to respond is important. Recently I was called to help in such a case. That was the day I met 8 year old Samara. Samara has a congenital heart disease that affects three areas of her heart and has now resulted in severe breathing difficulties. Samra is a regular patient at the clinic and has formed a deep trust with Dr. Shada. However apart from monitoring her prescribed medication and helping with the cost we are not equipped to do more. On that particular day Samra was in a very bad state. Her lips and around her mouth was blue as were her fingers, she could hardly move and had to be carried. I was called on to help her and her father plus the oxygen cylinder into our mini bus and get them to the hospital nearby as quickly as possible.  

About ten days later I went into the clinic and met Dr. Shada with a young girl in her arms. This girl was laughing and giggling and it took me a while to realize that this was the same girl we had rushed to the hospital, hardly able to breathe. Now there was no blueness except at the fingertips that are rounded and swollen. Of course I put my foot in it as I remarked to Dr. Shada that Samra was very thin (she is) as Shada informed I should have seen her a couple of months ago, when she was really thin! Dr. Shada introduced me to her mother and filled me in with Samra’s condition. This young girl has been at deaths door so many times in her young life it is just amazing she has the ability to laugh at all.  Samara has had two major investigations, one when she was two and another when she was 6. They apparently basically agree but even if the parents had been able to afford the operation she needs neither of the specialists on those two occasions were prepared to operate as Samra was too weak to survive the ordeal.  I have now met Samra a few times and find her very outgoing and it is very easy to like her. We wave to each other from a distance or if I go into Dr, Shada’s surgery, Samra will come over and hold my hand and on her last visit when I said goodbye I received a nice hug and a kiss. 

Let me share something with you. Dr. Shada has a very special desk in her room. It looks like any other but this one has a very unusual drawer. In this drawer is a small  bundle of Yemeni Rials. This little bundle never seems to  run out, very much like the widows jar of oil. It is from this bundle of notes that Samra parents draw on to meet the high cost of their daughter’s medicines. Her father is out of work. It is not that he can’t or won’t, he is a qualified male nurse, there is no work.  Three to five hundred US dollars a year are way out of his reach and the cost of the operation, around 20,000 US dollars an amount of money only to be dreamed about.   

All of us at Ras Morbat Clinic and the small congregation at Christ Church Aden, hope and pray that you will join us in meeting the need of this young girl. Samra doesn’t need to travel half way round the world to have her operation. I’m told there are good hospitals in Saudi Arabia or Jordan where she could get the help she needs to have a life. Any gifts could be sent through the Diocesan office in Cyprus or use the email address for Christ Church and contact Mansour who will gladly let you have the bank account number. 

Carol and I have had a busy and very happy time these last three months. A great opportunity for us, having been in at the beginning or what was really the second beginning and being able for a short while to be part of this effective work once again. We trust that you will remember our maintenance people they stop the walls from falling down (an exaggeration of course) but they are important to the work.

Rev. Jim and Carol Wakerley.

Home email: jbcmwake@xtra.co.nz