Giving back lives

The above photo shows the entrance to the VVF (Vesico vaginal fistula) center at Evangel hospital.

VVF's are a very big issue in Africa. Almost all VVF's are caused by prolonged obstructed labor resulting in a dead infant. After the dead child starts to break down it will deliver.The tissue around the area where the head had been stuck starts to die and break down due to the lack of blood supply while the infant was still inside the mother. Once the fistula develops and the women starts leaking she is often divorced by the husband and has to live on her own.

Currently Evangel operates on 15-30 women per month.They have a hostel where the women live and recover from their operation. Every Tuesday they have a time when they celebrate the women being discharged from the hospital.This morning two women were leaving.One had been there three weeks,the other five weeks.

Aisha below offered her story as an example.Her third child was full term.After three days in labor she had a C-section. A fistula developed and her husband divorced her. After needing several operations at Evangel she has now been dry for ten months.

Fulani

On Saturday we were taken to an area about 80 miles outside of Jos to visit a Fulani family. Because it is Ramadan it was recommended that we make it a day trip rather than spending the night there as is the usual practice. Tim Malloy heads up the Fulani ministry with SIM here. It is estimated that there are over 12 million Fulani in Nigeria alone, over 120 million in Africa. The Fulani are a nomadic people who raise and migrate with their Zebo cattle. Most Fulani are Muslim.

We had a great day first finding the correct home (no GPS-no roads for that matter) and then visiting with Bello and his friend. 

Some of the testimonies we heard were amazing. For those interested I would direct you to a DVD called "More than Dreams" (Netflix has it). One of the stories on that DVD is about a Fulani in Nigeria who Tim knows. Tim's partner, Babangida  has a story very similar to Mohammads.

Real security

Today we spent the afternoon at Gidan Bege or "House of Hope". It is a small orphanage and clinic in Jos.We spent the afternoon seeing Muslim women in a health clinic and gave vaccinations to the 17 boys who live there full time. The stories that explain why the boys are there will break your heart. Many were accused of being the reason their parents died and were thrown out of their village. Some barley got out alive.

Instead of living on the streets and being influenced in negative ways they are loved and educated in the name of Jesus. They have a school there and after their normal school education start learning trades at age 13. By the time they are 18 they are educated and have training for full time jobs.

The only thing that limits the ministry is finances. It is amazing how far a dollar can go there.

What a great investment for eternal returns

See ya,Scott

Africa so far

Hello all,
I am Luke, the youngest of the Hankinsons. Today in the O.R. I saw a stump revision on a women whose leg had been amputated as a result of her diabetes. I also saw a nine year old who had a problem called club foot. I also saw a baby who had this condition today. This is the third time I have been to the O.R. and each time I am surprised!
Over the trip I have realized that us Americans have so many extra things that we don't need. Over this one week that I have not had the common American things such as T.V. and such. Without these things I have been spending more time with others and I have also been less distracted and I have been more focused on GOD. Yes I have computer but I can only spend about ten minutes on a day and when I am on I am either skyping my Mom or on facebook. Any how when I have taken the media out of my life i have been impacted positively.
Tomorrow I am going to spend the entire day at a city ministry who takes care of homeless boys. We will be helping at a clinic at the shelter. I am very excited and will try to tell you all about it.
Luke

Evangel hospital

This morning Austin and I sat in on morning rounds. After that we rounded on patients who were in the hospital. The above pic shows Austin in the male surgical ward which has 16 beds. The diversity of patients is amazing. A little pitch for Evangel: anyone reading this who has ever thought about going to Africa, let me know. I'll put you in contact with the right people.Everyone here is very gracious and make you feel very welcome.More later.
Scott

Hello All,

Today was our first time at the hospital. We were able to meet with a missionary orthopedic surgeon who let us  watch several operations. We saw two c-sections, a bowel surgery as well as a surgery on a broken leg. The man had been hit by a car and his leg broke  in multiple places. We watched the surgeon drill brackets into the bone so that the bone could heal properly. One interesting thing I noticed was that before the patient was given the spinal anesthesia, the doctors prayed over the man. I must admit some parts were pretty gruesome and I felt a little queasy as they were the first big surgeries I had witnessed. That being said, I am still excited to see more surgeries in the hospital. I thank God for the opportunity to be here and see how the church is growing through health care in Nigeria.

Austin

We made it

Hello all,
We are now in Jos and getting settled in.
After 21 hrs of traveling on Monday we were happy to spend Tuesday night in Abuja.Yesterday morning we drove up to Jos and had a great time seeing the country. Yesterday and this morning we had a chance to meet some of the other families, more tonight.They have all been very warm and have made us feel very welcome.The meals have been wonderful (so much for my idea of dropping some weight).
The guys are making friends by the hour with kids from the other missionary families.
One thing has made me feel especially secure. As some of you may know, Jos has seen some recent violence. As a father I was hoping that we would have an extra layer of security for my children.
In addition to gates and guards around the compound, every missionary family has great guard dogs, one family has a rotweiler, many have german shephards.

See below and meet Ginger and Nutmeg (not sure which one is Nutmeg)

I do believe  that our guard dogs are by far the best in Nigeria. I will sleep well while here knowing they are on the job.
See you tomorrow, Scott