Saturday, May 30th

Deep, Down, Dark   In his book Deep, Down, Dark about the thirty-three Chilean miners who were trapped and then rescued after sixty-nine days from the Copiapo San Jose mine in 2010, Hector Tobar describes how people can pull together and periodically fall apart while making a miracle happen.  This last week our team screened … Read more

Friday, May 29th

Friday, May 29th: Well today we had our last day at Bugando Medical Centre and it was a wonderful and blessed day. All the team arrived at the hospital and we went to the ward report where we reviewed the new admissions and update on the status of some patients. We then went to make … Read more

Thursday, May 28th

Thursday, May 28th: WOW…What a day we had! Thank you God for being with us and providing us with love, strength and guidance. I said some special prayers this morning as I know we had some very delicate and long surgeries. Our driver dropped off Ralph, Chad and I at Bugando Medical Centre where we … Read more

Tuesday, May 27th

Not so Pole Pole….. When Julie and I climbed Kilimanjaro 5 years ago, our guides used the phrase, pole pole, to tell us to go slowly slowly in order to keep from succumbing to the oxygen deprivation of high altitude.  Well, that's not good advice for clinic. What a fun, tough, sad, tragic and hopeful … Read more

Monday, May 25th:

Monday, May 25th:    The team has now flown to Mwanza, which is a beautiful city by Lake Victoria.  Ralph, Julie and I arrived on Sunday and the rest of the team arrived with Julius on Monday.  As I always tell my team members, we are coming to do God's work in Tanzania and we … Read more

Sunday, May 24th:

Patient First So, now I'm an occupational medicine expert for mining. Of all the things I thought I would be teaching, the least likely I would have expected is talking about worker's compensation injuries.  But, I found myself in front of some young doctors eager to learn about what I knew to screen for injuries, … Read more

Sunday blog by Ralph Reeder

Focus of Hope We all hope for the best.  My role in my first day of seeing patients was to be truthful to people who had hoped for results far beyond my capabilities to provide.  Truth can be a hope crusher.  To tell two young people they will never walk again, in a land that … Read more

Saturday, May 23rd

Saturday, May 23rd:   Brandon, Emily and Chad were up early and all excited to head on out on safari with Julius.  They had big smiles and were ready to go and see God's beauty in Africa.  Julius arrived in his official safari vehicle and outfit and looked very professional.  We talked to them throughout … Read more

Saturday, May 23rd (From Ralph Reeder):

Great Expectations Expectations are a part of everyone’s life.  It seems my whole life, I have been preparing for what comes next and have had only a vague sense of what to expect.  The time from high school to college, college to graduate education, then to post-graduate training and career has come and gone.  Sometimes … Read more

Friday, May 22nd

Friday, May 22nd:   I was so excited because last night I was able to meet the children that Hope Ministries and Chad, Hannah, Drew & Chase are sponsoring with an educational scholarship in honor of Kari Stroschein.  I gave them the letters that Hannah and Drew wrote and they just loved them.  The two … Read more