“Faith never knows where it is being led, but it knows and loves the one who is leading” ~ Oswald Chambers

It is winter here in Africa and the evening temperature is perfect weather for sleeping. We wake up to hot coffee, cocoa and tea – fresh fruit or oatmeal and of course, the company of our Global colleagues. Harran calls for the quote and the daily journal, goes over our schedule for the day and gives us any important updates. Then we are of to our respective assignments.

The morning was made up of classes and clinic. The central meeting place for all the teachers. The teachers lounge, saw a steady stream of “Mazungu” throughout the morning as we floated between one class or another. At 10:10 – high tea and Mandazi was served as usual, then back to work.

The experience at the clinic in Pommern this afternoon was an eye opener. Dr. Godlove is an angel in our midst. (Is that really his name?). He put on his dentistry and oral surgeons´ as a steady string of patients with toothaches or an abscess walks through the door. One patient in particular, a middle aged woman, was specially complicated. Dr. Godlove spent most of an hour working to get all of the pieces of a molar which had wrapped itself around the woman´s jawbone out of her mouth. He first screwed the best chair she sat on to its highest point because he is short and in stature and the tooth was at the top of her mouth. He set his feet standing in front of the woman with nurse Patricia and – or Dr. Fiscus holding the patients head as she leaned back for him and with all his strength he coaxed and dug and talked to that tooth until he got a good enough grip on it to yank it out. I will never forget the bravery, strength and gratefulness of this woman when he held up that tooth for her to see.

She went around to each one of us in that room and thanked us with a handshake individually – and then her husband thanked us. Asante san- Asante san
If there is any point at all to life, surely it is to live at our dreams, to serve, to become fully realized human beings, savoring the possibility of our full potential and to find the simple joy of giving at the end of the day.
But, by the love of God – Never ever find yourself in POmmern with a toothache.

JACKIE