5Crawfords

Sierra Leone II trip – Part II of III

Posted by 5Crawfords | Posted in | Posted on 4:58 AM

Day Three (Feb 5)

I actually slept really well considering I was sharing a bed with another man! Actually, the bed is so big it really is like a separate bed. Think king size x 1.5, so one of us can get in and out of bed without the other feeling a thing – one of the benefits of a foam mattress. One of the few benefits I should say - ha!

We set out for the Bo hospital campus after breakfast and our morning worship time. John leads worship and Mark from Mercy Ships was able to find a guitar to borrow this week, so that’s been really cool. Since it is Sunday and none of the maintenance workers were expected to be at the site, we decided to do an unescorted walk-through of both the Bo and Kenema sites so we could wrap our brains around the remaining work that lies ahead.

At the Bo site, we once again ran into a wrinkle – the site map from Google Earth that we had drawn was somewhat inaccurate, with a number of new buildings to add. Since we have internet on our phones here, we pulled up the current Google Earth map and fortunately, it was quite accurate. So we’ll have to redraw some of it, but it’s a lot better than having to map it out with a tape measure! It’s amazing how cell phone and internet technology is becoming available and playing such a critical part on EMI trips.

On the Bo site, discussing the existing systems with onsite workers and volunteers, including this Scottish guy (sitting) who is there for a year.

Working with intern Ross on revising the Bo site plan using Google Earth through an internet connection gained by the cell phone network. Incredible to have that technology available!

After a couple hours had passed, we felt like we had at least defined the work to be done at Bo and were confident we had enough time in the next few days. We headed out on the 1 hour drive to Kenema around 12:30pm. The countryside in Sierra Leone is so beautiful – I think one of the most beautiful of the countries I’ve seen in Africa. It’s lush green, though not quite as thick as Uganda, but towering above the bush are palm trees of all shapes and sizes. It really looks exactly like you would picture the jungle areas of Africa to look. The rivers are pretty too, clean (looking) water that flows in large, dark channels with tons of jagged rocks sticking out. It’s no wonder that the mineral mining in Sierra Leone is such a big industry – there are partially emerging rock deposits everywhere. I am looking, but still haven’t found any diamonds in the soil! (I’m joking, but actually, it used to be very common here to just find diamonds around in the dirt).

At Kenema, we were pleasantly surprised to find that our map was very accurate with only a few minor additions. The hospital matron, a short heavy-set woman who seemed like a nice person, met us in her Sunday casual clothes, coming from cooking in her home on-site (many hospital staff live on the site here). She was kind enough to meet with us, but let us know there was no official maintenance staff at the hospital – they were trying to hire some people but have struggled to do so.

The site was in tough shape, similar to Bo, but since it’s smaller we were able to accomplish a lot. And, though she was right that there weren’t any official maintenance staff, there were more than a dozen ‘unofficial’ maintenance volunteers sitting around the site that quickly jumped in to help us as we moved about. I love that about Africa – you can always find someone eager to help you here. By the end of our 3 hours on site, we had made a big dent in our work. Tomorrow we’ll be back in Kenema to finish up there, which should be no problem.

A short anecdotal story: a couple of guys on our team last night got hit up by a prostitute looking for business at our hotel. One guy was sitting out on the patio when a woman came and stood by him trying to get his attention by putting on makeup for 5 minutes and nudging closer and closer to him. She finally bumped his table and then went on about how she was tired of Sierra Leonian men! He quickly got up and left. She then went and knocked on the door to talk to his roommate, but he didn’t answer. Never a dull moment on an EMI trip, though dealing with a prostitute was definitely a first! Sadly, many women here are forced into such business to try to survive.

This mural was painted near the entrance to the Mortuary at the Bo site. We found it funny, strange and a little eerie to have such a cartoony picture on the Morgue entry wall.

Another funny sign that had a dark side - at first glance it's funny to see this posted at a hospital, but upon reflection you wonder how many people have been traumatized, ostracized, or worse because of misperceptions like this.

Day Four (Feb 6)

Today was our day to be in Kenema all day, so after breakfast and devotions time, we packed up and headed off on the one hour drive. The work went really fast – the team is well dialed in to what they are doing and though we arrived a bit late, close to 11am, we made quick work of the site. So around 2pm, three of us actually headed back to Bo to get some preliminary data for our full day there tomorrow. By 5pm, we were back at the hotel and feeling great about the trip so far – two hospitals down and one to go!

The Kenema site, as seen from atop the tall water tank on site.

On top of the Kenema water tower.

Our devotion times have been really good so far. The group has been focusing on having right motives, recognizing that in the end God is far less concerned with our actions (good or bad) than he is our motives. Of course, every point can be taken to an extreme, but by and large God looks at our hearts in most any situation and judges what he finds there. The good example that was shared came from Ruedi (the Swiss electrical engineer).

Ruedi compared King David and King Saul from the bible. King David was someone who in many respects did everything wrong in life. He committed the two biggest sins – adultery and then murder to cover it up. Yet God called him a ‘man after his own heart!’ But King Saul was a man who you could say did everything right in life. Yet, in the end God rejected him because his heart was far from being focused on God. The point for our team was that it doesn’t matter what we do or don’t do, both on the trip or back home. The important thing for us (and everyone) is to make sure we’re doing everything out of pure motives, and don’t shift the credit of our work here into pride back home. I love the team devotional times on EMI trips – it really is what makes the trip meaningful, keeps God at the center of our focus, and unites the team under the umbrella of God’s working in and through us. If this was just a development trip, I think it would be void of most of the true meaning, and in some ways would feel a little pointless.

Day Five (Feb 7)

I’m sitting here in the conference room at Bo hospital today as the team begins the assessment of the biggest hospital we’ve encountered to date. It’s an old campus, built in 1922, and there have been many additions and renovations since. Like most hospitals in the country, it was attacked during the civil war a decade ago. To commemorate this, there is a mass grave in the back of the property. (The civil war was from 1994 to 2003, and was highlighted in the movie ‘Blood Diamond).

The hospital here is pretty rundown looking. The other day while we were here, Pastor Moses helped a mother who had just lost her 15-year old daughter to some sickness, so he called the father with his phone to tell him to come. Hearing stories like that and seeing the condition of the hospital, it’s really disheartening to me that the people here don’t have much hope if they fall sick. I think about one of my boys becoming sick and how hopeless I’d feel if this was where I had to bring him. Not good. I guess it makes me glad we’re here, hopefully helping to make this a better refuge for the sick and suffering segment of society here. Also, since this is a highly muslim area, the lack of hope extends even beyond this life. As the recommendations we’re making eventually are implemented by Mercy Ships, hopefully some of the relationships built in that process can begin to share the light of the gospel with the people as well.

Taking water samples in a surgical room. It's weird to see such an unsanitary environment where people are operated on. You imagine they can only do their best when they often don't even have running water in the sink sometimes.

Back to the trip, one complaint we’ve heard repeatedly going back to the trip in September is that the communication and coordination from the Ministry of Health to the hospitals themselves is poor. One story we were told today underscores this. One of the buildings here is currently torn apart and is undergoing renovations. The work just started one day a couple of months ago when out of the blue workers showed up and started ripping the roof off of one of the wards (i.e. patient rooms). Well, there were 42 patients being housed in the building at the time, including two women giving birth! It was also raining at the time, so the hospital staff quickly scrambled to get all the equipment protected and the patients under cover in a new building. Through all of it, the workers refused to stop working as they were under a contract with the Ministry of Health and had a tight timeline to finish if they wanted to be paid. To me, this just illustrates once again how our work is only one small part of the necessary system-wide remediation work that will be required for real change to take place at these hospitals.

At the end of the day, I think we’re coming to the conclusion that the Bo hospital we’re at right now is in the worst condition of the 6 hospitals we’ve assessed (including September’s trip). It’s an old facility, and with the damage from the war and a perpetual lack of maintenance, it is in pretty poor condition.

Our Mercy Ships host Mark Palmer and I. He's a great guy, even if he talks a little funny sometimes (he's Canadian). Ha!

A good amount of time on-site at Bo was spent with groups of kids following us around. And of course, all they want is to have their picture taken and then to see it on the screen.

The streets of downtown Bo, as seen from the balcony of our hotel.

Our hotel in Bo (the 3-story building with the towels hanging out on the roof).

Day Six (Feb 8)

Today was a milestone in the trip – our last day on the road gathering data. Anytime I’m on a trip, I always have one eye on the calendar counting the days until I get back to Alisha and the boys, so checking off boxes of things to be completed is encouraging mentally for me. Of course, I love being a part of this great work and am so honored to get to work with such top notch volunteers that we get at EMI, but I do miss my family on these trips so it’s always good when things go well and I’m feeling like we’re accomplishing what we set out to do.

We packed up and left the hotel in the morning and went to the Bo site to finalize our data. At the hospital, we once again encountered someone dying. As we were walking near the edge of the site looking at the water system, we heard from within the hospital the sound of a large group of people erupt in mourning. As we watched from about 60 feet away, we saw a body carried out on a slab of wood with long poles on each end, followed by a crowd of about 30-40 people wailing. I asked Pastor Moses if it was hired wailers or actually wailing, and he said they weren’t hired. As we stood watching the scene play out, it was heart wrenching to see the grief. People crying and throwing their arms around, one young boy threw himself to the ground and began rolling in the dirt – it was upsetting to see to say the least. Pastor Moses immediately went over to the people and started helping them, pulling the young boy off the ground and hugging others. He later said he found out it was a 19-year old girl who had passed. He didn’t know what she died of but he said she had been admitted to the hospital for some time.

Of course people die everyday everywhere in the world, but when you know there’s a strong possibility that the person you see dead could have been saved if conditions were better or they lived in another country, it seems more disheartening. It seems so unfair for these people to have to suffer such great loss for things that are either non-issues (i.e. a sanitary hospital to be treated in) for us or else easily solved (diseases that are easily cured in the West).

We also heard a story that even when Western doctors come to help here, they are realizing that their work needs to be consistent with the culture and capabilities of the region. For example, if a woman is struggling in childbirth and the child’s life is in danger, they will likely focus on keeping the mother alive and well and let the child die, having the woman deliver the baby stillborn instead of doing an emergency c-section to save the baby. The reason is that a woman who has had a c-section previously here is in a very high danger zone for future pregnancies. The thinking is that if the mother is saved the first time and not given the cessarian at the expense of the life of the child, she will be able to deliver naturally the second time and therefore the second baby will have a mother. If the baby and mother are both saved the first time by giving her the cessarian, the woman is likely to die the second time, potentially leaving two newborn babies without a mom and very low chance of success in this world. Obviously, there are very serious moral issues to be considered, but I can’t necessarily fault the logic of this philosophy – that is, trying to make improvements that are appropriate for their society and that don’t create additional, unforeseen societal problems.

When I hear things like that, I am just speechless – we are just not faced with those kinds of scenarios back in North America. It must be so difficult for the doctors to have to consider such difficult choices and the longer term ramifications of those choices, and then alter those choices based on those longer term ramifications. It’s both mind numbing and heart wrenching.

The drive back to Freetown seemed long, but at just over 3 hours it was actually an hour shorter than we had been told. It’s a tedious drive, especially because the entire country is now covered in a hazy fog of sand and dust from the seasonal Harmattan winds blowing off the Sahara. It’s really fascinating when you read about these winds, which carry enormous amounts of dust and dirt and sand thousands of miles west from the Sahara. In some years they have been reported as far away as the Caribbean Sea.

All packed up and ready to head to Freetown, we stopped for lunch at a Lebanese restaurant in downtown Bo. There is a heavy Lebanese presence in Sierra Leone - mostly due to the mining industry.

The crowded road out of Bo - once you get out of town the sea of motorcycles disappears - they are only used for local transportation.

The Harmattan winds work kind of like the jet stream in that there are typically no winds at the ground level. However, the dust in the air makes it look like a massive forest fire is burning nearby. Tonight when it got dark, visibility was probably only 400 meters. It made me hope our flights aren’t affected.

But we made it safely back to Freetown, and it’s nice to know the traveling and data collection aspect of the trip is complete. The team is feeling very good about where they are at with their respective sections of the report. The next 4 nights we’re staying in a small ‘beach house’ south of town – that should be interesting.

On the side of the road heading back to Freetown - Pastor Moses wanted to stop to buy a big supply of rice since the price is so much cheaper out of the city.

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Sierra Leone Trip II (Jan 31-Feb 14)

Posted by 5Crawfords | Posted in | Posted on 6:51 AM

Sierra Leone Trip II

Part I of III - Travel days (Jan 31 – Feb 2)
I’m sitting in London in a hotel (since I had an overnight layover this time) and I am amazed by two things. One, even though I’ve spent a fair amount of time in the UK over the past few years with EMI, I am once again reminded how different the cultures are. As with many cultural differences, they are subtle and many times difficult to even describe, but they ultimately serve to make you feel very out of place. So when I travel to the UK, I typically try to be quieter, less obvious in what I say and do, and just try to blend in. I do become somewhat of a target for being taken advantage of though since if things don’t go as I think they should, I am very unlikely to buck the system.
For instance, if a sign says something is one price and when I get to the counter they charge me for more, I will probably just keep quiet and pay because I don’t want to be that obnoxious American demanding my rights overseas! (Not that all Americans are obnoxious of course, but like it or not that is the stereotype and I don’t want to reinforce it.) In today’s case, fortunately, the nice middle-eastern woman who helped me at the market in Heathrow airport notified me that the sandwich I’d chosen was not a part of the meal deal, so I was able to go back and select one that was a part of the deal. That’s nice because I’ve learned to take advantage of any ‘deal’ I can find in the UK – with the exchange rate of 1.6+ dollars to the pound, it is easy to spend a lot of money here without realizing it.
The second thing that stands out to me is how much of a mindset shift I have to undergo to go on these trips. The moments leading up to leaving are nothing short of mental torture for me. My anxiety, sadness and homesickness levels all skyrocket to the top and I am left in this state of mini-depression. I can be completely convinced in my heart that the trip is what God wants me to do, but still struggle with my mind not wanting to go. When those two don’t agree, I’ve learned that my heart should be listened to so I follow what it says, but it makes for a very tumultuous inner struggle.
I have no idea how long God will want me to do these trips, I really don’t. But I’m learning that though anxiety is bad, the idea of saying no to our ‘flesh’ in a big way from time to time is a healthy thing, even if it makes us terribly uncomfortable. I hate it and everything in me tells me I don’t want to go…except the peace I have inside that this is what God has called our family to for this time in our lives. Then once I’ve left, even on the road to the airport, 50% of the anxiety is gone. That part doesn’t make as much sense to me, other than once I’m gone I feel like the clock has started ticking towards when I get back home to Alisha and the boys!
So even though the travel process isn’t a direct part of the ministry of EMI, it is definitely the biggest growth area for me. It’s a 3-times per year tearing away of my own agenda, where my security in my family and home is replaced with the security of living in God’s will for my life. Of course, that’s actually the security I live under 24/7, it’s just that I’m able to fake being in control most of the time otherwise. For me, God sees fit to remove the veil 3-times per year. Perhaps if I learned to live that way all the time he wouldn’t have to keep doing it for me 3-times per year! As usual, the overall travel was a long haul – about 50 hours from my front door step to our guesthouse outside of Freetown.

Charting out a plan after just arriving off the ferry in Freetown.

Also, for the first time on one of my trips, one of the volunteers’ bags didn’t make it on the flight, so he was left with just the clothes on his back. He had a great attitude about it – I think I would have been more freaked out!
There were so many familiar images this time, as we took the same ferry across and met Mark Palmer from Mercy Ships on the other side. I kept blocking out the Ship from my mind because everything in me felt like that was the next step! But I reminded myself that I’m very much looking forward to seeing the country this time, and staying on the ship would have made that impossible.
When we arrived at the guesthouse, it was much nicer than I expected – they had power, dinner waiting for us, and an upstairs dorm style room with nice wood beds formed into little cubicles. I stayed up very late getting the unlocked, go-anywhere internet ‘stick’ I bought on Amazon.com to finally work. I did succeed finally, so I was able to email home and let them know I’d arrived.

Good to be back on the bustling streets of Sierra Leone!

Day One (Feb 3)
I actually slept through my alarm and was the last one awake at 7:20am. I scrambled to make it to breakfast downstairs. We did our typical team testimonies, heard a bit from Mark about the project Mercy Ships is undertaking in having us come, and then hit the road for the 2+ hour car drive to Makeni.
After checking into our guesthouse – again, surprisingly nice for this rural of a town – we decided to head straight out for the hospital. We right away ran into a little wrinkle in the plan. The site we had all mapped out and prepared to assess was no longer the hospital! The hospital had moved last year. So after driving around town for a bit, we finally found the new hospital campus a few miles from town. The changed site actually turned out to be a blessing, since it had only be in operation for under a year, there really wasn’t a whole lot that had broken down just yet.
However, we were led around by the worker who works on site as a representative of the contractor who built the hospital. This man shared with us that they had still not been paid for building the hospital. Apparently, the local government officials keep putting the payment off. The contractor is worried that if the building or systems are allowed to break down, his chances of being paid are very low. So, he is paying out of his own pocket to have this man keep things working on site.

The new hospital site in Makeni

The civil engineering team discussing the Makeni water system with the builder's representative on site. Since he had built the site, his knowledge was invaluable to us.

The water system at the new Makeni site was actually very nice. However, because there is insufficent power on the site, the pumps aren't able to operate enough to fill this nice tank system. Also, the pumps that were installed were likely from America, which means they were built to operate at a different power frequency. Consequently, they keep burning out and need replacement. It's startling that a hospital that has been in service less than a year already has such basic utility problems even though the solutions to those problems are relatively simple.

The electrical team (L to R): intern Ross, volunteer Ruedi and volunteer Bill - once again, we had an all-star team! Bill and Ruedi each have over 30 years of experience, yet they worked together very well as a team. It was a great example to the rest of us "young guys" to see such seasoned veterans working together so well.

Structural volunteer Barry with intern Ross

The man shared with us that since Makeni was the former headquarters of the rebel army (RUF) in the civil war, many of the former rebel leaders are now in prominent government positions here. As such, he said the officials are operating according to their own rules and agendas. Of course, this was just one man’s story and who knows if it’s even partially true. He said he was a Christian though, and he seemed very interested in finding out that we were as well.
But it was amazing to me to think that some of the people who committed such atrocities against the country of Sierra Leone have somehow been able to garner for themselves positions of political power. And though Makeni appears on the surface to be somewhat mellow and a typical medium sized African town (reminds me of Jinja, Uganda, a bit), it carries a significant history with it in the devastating war of the past two decades, largely due to its convenient location next to some of the diamond mining areas.
Since we were so productive today and the hospital is so new, it looks like we will press on to Bo tomorrow, a day ahead of schedule. I am really enjoying seeing this country after having read so much about its history after the last trip. Of course the movie Blood Diamond was set here, but the books ‘A Long Way Gone’ and ‘Blood Diamonds’ tell a gripping account of the events from two very different on-the-ground viewpoints. I highly recommend both to anyone interested in West Africa’s recent, volatile history.
One other quick thing – on this trip, we’ve been able to purchase SIM cards for our iphones (unlocked) and computer internet ‘sticks’ and thus virtually have internet access 24/7! It’s amazing the advances in technology over the past couple of years. The speed is not bad though still comparatively slow, but being able to keep up with email during the trip is an enormous blessing. I also am available to Alisha by phone at anytime if she needs me back home. I am convinced that the cell phone (and now phone internet) system of pay as you go is so much better than the proprietary jumbled mess we have to put up with back in the U.S. To remain neutral, I won’t mention AT&T’s name specifically. Ha!

Day Two (Feb 4)
Today, we went back to the Makeni site to finalize our observations there. By noon, each of the disciplines had seen enough, so we pulled out of town a day earlier than expected. The ride to Bo was 4 hours, heading back west towards Freetown for an hour and a half before turning south to Bo. Fortunately, the roads were nice so we didn’t have to battle the usual potholes. It was pretty warm still, in large part because the air conditioner in the car we were driving in stopped working on the first day. It was interesting to see the country side – similar to Uganda but not lush since it’s the dry season. One big difference though is that the landscape is riddled with palm trees of every size and shape. It really is beautiful, and looks very much like what you would think the jungles of Africa look like.

The palm trees were so beautiful, even though the countryside was pretty dry. Sierra Leone gets a ton of rain during the wet season - the wettest time of year (June-Oct) gets close to 30 inches of rain per month!

Hearing from Pastor Moses in the car much of the way was a real treat. His on-the-ground account of the war was so interested. Though he had a couple of close calls, thankfully he and his family all survived without being tracked down by the rebel group who were torturing and killing any and everyone in their path. More about Pastor Moses later in the trip.

Mark Palmer, our Mercy Ships' host, and Pastor Moses, who also works with Mercy Ships on the ground. These guys traveled with us and were a lot of fun to have around. We joked that they were like an old married couple because they liked to give each other a hard time.

We arrived in Bo around 5pm and got checked into our rooms. In some rooms, the beds were bigger than a king size, so to save money and stick together at one hotel, some of us decided to share a room and the large bed in it. I shared with John, the other EMI staff member who came on this trip.
The team this time consists of: me; John Agee, another EMI project leader and civil engineer; intern Ross Yeager, a just graduated electrical engineering student from Colorado Springs; Austin Hewitt, a civil engineer who came on the trip in September as well (it’s a huge blessing to have someone come back this time to help with continuity in our work); Aaron Koonsman, a civil engineer from New York; Bill Baldwin, an electrical engineer with 30+ years experience; and Ruedi Tobler, another electrical engineer with 30+ years experience as well as many EMI trips under his belt and numerous trips to Africa, including living in West Africa for 3 years at one point in his career. It’s a great team and they made quick work of the hospital in Makeni. The next 4 days will be the meat of the trip as we assess the two larger hospitals.

No trip to Africa is complete without a picture with the local kids around all clammoring for your attention. One thing is universal in Africa, regardless of which country you're in: African children love having their picture taken!

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A New Semester Begins at EMI...

Posted by 5Crawfords | Posted in | Posted on 8:45 PM

ORIENTATION
EMI operates on a semester system, largely to match our intern program to the college system here in America. We have 3 semesters or trip cycles that begin in February, May and September each year.
This past week, 26 new interns and staff stayed at a local retreat center outside of Colorado Springs to go through a very intensive, 9-day orientation to EMI. Topics covered include history of EMI, future strategic planning, personality tests, culture training, testimonies, and many more topics designed to introduce incoming personnel to our organization. I teach the culture training sessions, along with two other staff members here. It's always a great week of getting to know the new people some, though it is definitely exhausting for them. We went through this orientation two weeks before we moved to Uganda, so it was a pretty stressful time of life! Still, we thoroughly enjoyed it.
PROJECT TRIP
In just over a week (January 31st to be exact), I depart on another project trip. I am heading back to Sierra Leone to work with Mercy Ships on a very similar hospital assessment project as I led in September. We'll be assessing three rural hospitals in Makeni, Bo and Kenema. We'll be traveling throughout the country since these towns are spread out, so it will be a very different trip from September. Also, the ship has sailed to the country of Togo (a few countries south of Sierra Leone on the West African coast) so we won't be staying on it this time - yes, that means no more Starbucks coffee! Ha!
Since the trip in September, I have read two books on the recent past of Sierra Leone. The books are 'A long way gone' about a child soldier's experience in the civil war that raged from the early 90's until 2002, and 'Blood Diamond', which is also about the war but how it closely relates to the world's diamond supply, some of the worst atrocities ever committed in modern times, and even about how Al Qaeda was buying as many diamonds as they could from the rebels in the three years leading up to 9/11 to liquidate their cash assets in anticipation of the US retaliating to the attack by freezing their bank accounts (which did happen).
Anyway, reading these books has really given me a heart and passion for the country of Sierra Leone, so I am very much looking forward to this trip. It is fascinating and tragic what happened to that country, and how interconnected the conflict in this tiny African country was with the entire world. For instance, at one point the author suggests that as much as 80% of the 'blood diamonds' from this conflict ended up on the fingers of unsuspecting American brides. The Academy Award winning film by the same name (with Leonardo DiCaprio) was based on this book. It's a gruesome and upsetting film, but if you are interested in seeing some of the country where we'll be working and traveling around and also learning a bit about the war itself, I would recommend the movie - but I will warn you that it's not at all for the faint of heart. It is very disturbing that most of the grotesque things depicted in the film actually occurred.
Anyway, as always, we would appreciate prayer for our family as being separated is always hard on each of us. I return to the U.S. on February 20 (we're in Sierra Leone from Feb. 2-13) after spending a few days in the UK on my way home, visiting the EMI-UK office and some of the staff there, as well as some of our friends from our time in Uganda.
Thank you for partnering with us in this work - we are so blessed to have a team of friends and family who stand with us, pray for us, and ultimately are no less a part of this work than we are.

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EMI CEO Jim Hall

Posted by 5Crawfords | Posted in | Posted on 12:54 PM

Earlier this morning, our CEO here at EMI, Jim Hall, went home to be with the Lord. He was 57. Jim passed after a very brief bout with the reoccurrence of his melanoma cancer first diagnosed in his foot in Sept 2010. He had been given the all clear for just over a year, but unfortunately, the cancer returned aggressively in mid October.

Jim and his wife Nancy had flown to Florida to be with family a week ago Saturday and at that time he was doing fairly well with the help of medication (for pain). On Tuesday they had their family Thanksgiving dinner. But that night, he suffered a stroke and lost mobility on his left side. His symptoms then progressed rapidly, and his communication became less and less. By Saturday, he was no longer responsive and it was clear the end was near.
We are all in a bit of shock here that things happened so quickly – it was just earlier this month when we learned that his cancer had spread and that he’d be stepping away to battle it, and he joined our office Thanksgiving party a week and a half ago on the 18th seeming like the same old Jim.
Perhaps it’s an answer to our prayers that he didn’t suffer on and on, as he was getting more and more uncomfortable with each day. Nonetheless, it has struck us all pretty hard here at EMI as we process no longer having Jim around.

I know when someone you don’t know dies it’s hard to imagine what kind of loss it is for those close to the person, but I can tell you that Jim was a pretty special man. He led this ministry with an open hand, never grasping on to the power of his role or making anyone feel as if they were beneath him. He was a consensus builder, and as such, a very good listener – yet he was a man of deep conviction and could make good decisions quickly. He was equally comfortable meeting with leaders of different countries around the world through the years as he was hanging out in his swimsuit in Uganda with us and throwing our boys in the pool. He had a disarming nature about him that made him a friend to all who had the privilege of getting to know him.
I think what struck me most personally about Jim was how comfortable he was in most any situation. He was anyman to everyman, and was not at all challenged by someone thinking differently than him - in fact he seemed to enjoy the differences amongst people. His faith was strong, and as such he didn’t seem to have any of the typical hang-ups with this or that nuance regarding faith matters. He had a very personal and open relationship with God and expressed it in a way that was very natural and unrehearsed. In a few talks I had with him about God, he never claimed to have a full understanding of God and how He works in the world, but he trusted Him implicitly nonetheless based on how he had seen Him work in and through his own life. When he led our morning devotions in the bible, it was always done in the manner of "let's see what God has for us in His word this morning" as opposed to an instructional tone that might have placed him above those he was speaking to.
Of course I believe every one of us is a sinner that falls short of God’s standard. However, when I think of what Jesus might’ve been like here on earth I am reminded of so many of the qualities I saw in Jim. And in the same way that the disciplines must have felt abandoned and somewhat lost when Jesus left them abruptly at the height of His ministry, I think we at EMI all feel the loss of not having the time we thought we would have with Jim. Of course, EMI will go on. It is afterall God’s ministry that is not based on any one person. But even so, Jim will be a very difficult person to replace and his loss will be felt throughout our ministry for a long time.
We would appreciate your prayers here for the entire EMI family, and especially for Nancy. They both (Jim & Nancy) have been very solid in all of this, confident in the hope that lies ahead for Jim as he prepared to pass into the presence of God for eternity.

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End of Semester update

Posted by 5Crawfords | Posted in | Posted on 5:20 AM

It's nearing the end of the 'semester' here at EMI (we call them semesters because we match our project seasons up roughly with the college schedule here in the US). That means projects are getting ready to finish, interns are wrapping up their time, and project leaders are ramping up for next semesters trips. Here is a summary of what's been going on at EMI as well as around the Crawford household recently...

EMI's CEO, Jim Hall
It's been a tough last few weeks for EMI. Our CEO, Jim Hall, had to step down a couple weeks ago after learning that his melanoma cancer (diagnosed in Sept 2010) had come back and spread to a number of spots and organs. We were all heartbroken to learn this news, as Jim had been given an all clear just this past August. Jim is a great leader whose relational style and steady demeanor have been a huge blessing to our organization for the past 3 years. Jim was a big factor in Alisha's and my decision to stay on with EMI after returning from Uganda. Jim is feeling pretty poorly these last few weeks because of the cancer, so please join us in praying for Jim and his wife Nancy, and all of EMI as we deal with this tough situation. They have traveled to Florida for the Thanksgiving holiday to be near family, and it's possible they may stay on to pursue doing treatment there.

Project complete
The Sierra Leone hospital assessment project report is completed, bound and in the hands of the ministry. My intern, Mike Corsetto (a UC Davis grad!), did a great job in helping get the report out the door over a month early! Mercy Ships has already expressed their gratitude for the team's work and will be presenting the report at a number of health care conferences in West Africa in the coming weeks. It could potentially be a significant new avenue for EMI as more healthcare ministries find out about us and our ability to mobilize engineers to come assess and make recommendations for the many struggling hospitals in the region.

Horn of Africa Drought and Famine
Something else that's been occupying my time the past few months has been the drought and famine in East Africa. The biggest humanitarian crisis in the world right now is the drought-induced famine going on right now in Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Ethiopia, where 12 million people are being affected by a severe lack of food and water due to consecutive record-dry rainy seasons there.
I have been coordinating with some of EMI's Disaster Response partners (CRWRC and Food for the Hungry) to mobilize 5 volunteer engineers to the region to work on such projects as rainwater collection programs and water source rehabilitation. My job has been to coordinate and track our volunteers during their mobilization. Anytime there are desperate people, the situation can be volatile. Tribal rivalries fighting over water and food can get violent, and a couple of our volunteers had to be evacuated in once instance due to the breakdown in security in one area.
All EMI volunteers have now returned home for the time being, though the impact of their work is still be realized in the area as water sources are being restored to provide desperately needed supply to the people in the region.

Next project
Well, if I would have posted this last week, I would have told you about my upcoming trip to Guinea to do the next round of assessments for Mercy Ships at the two government hospitals in the capital city of Conakry. But last Thursday evening, just hours after purchasing the team's airfare, I received notice from Mercy Ships that they were having concerns about the upcoming elections in Guinea that were now being postponed until around the time our trip was scheduled in early February. So, I spent the next hour contacting the our travel agent's emergency agent and was able to cancel the tickets for a small fee. Had this change in plans not come when it did, it could have cost the team hundreds of dollars each to make the change.

So, after a lengthy discussion with the Mercy Ships off-ship program directors, we decided to change the trip back to Sierra Leone to assess the three rural hospitals scattered around the country. This trip had been scheduled for our May/June trip cycle, but we felt it was best to switch given the unrest in Guinea. So, back to Sierra Leone I go come February! I'm excited to see more of the country - especially after just having read the book "A Long Way gone", which was written by a former child soldier about his experience in the civil war there that ended in 2002. If you are at all interested in West Africa, or in learning more about the atrosity of turning children into soldiers that is happening more and more all over sub-saharan Africa, I highly recommend this book. As a warning, it's not for the faint of heart!

Home and school
Alisha and the boys are off school this week for Thanksgiving break. Soccer season just ended for the boys so we are happy to have our lives back! We have really struggled with how to push back against the culture of busy-ness back in the States. We really miss the slower lifestyle we lived in Uganda, yet we're finding it's very difficult to try to mimic that lifestyle here. Just having the boys do 1 activity makes our life seem like a rat race - we had 7 practices and 3-4 games per week, with soccer on 6 out of 7 days of the week. And that's just one activity - most of the boy's friends are doing 2+ sports at a time. Of course, it's great for the boys to play a sport, but it comes at the price of having any kind of regular family time together. We're still trying to figure that one out.
Alisha's work is going well - she's teaching 5th grade once again. She does miss the lower grades sometimes, but is content where God's placed her for the time being. With Brodie in 5th grade at the school (in a different class), it's been a real blessing having her in the position she's in. She gets to be Brodie's history teacher too.

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Sierra Leone - Parts IV and V of V

Posted by 5Crawfords | Posted in | Posted on 2:42 AM

The EMI team

(More pictures at end)

Monday Sept 12:
It felt like a typical Monday morning on the ship this morning. The weekend is mostly off for people on the ship (from my estimation), so things were pretty low key. But Monday morning, by 6:45am the dining area was bustling with people with a very ‘back to work’ atmosphere. For our team of course, we worked through the weekend so the only difference was breakfast started at 6:30am instead of 7:30am.
The report is coming along really well - we may come back to the office 90% done. That would be great, and would allow intern Mike to work on a number of other projects for other project leaders who have a backlog of open projects. For me, it would allow me to get an early start on recruiting for my February trip as well as work on a few other small projects I would like to get to.
This afternoon, intern Mike and I took a ride into town with our Mercy Ships host Dulce, who is Honduran (though she sounds and seems as American as we are). She has been here for a year and a half and hosts all the visiting teams. She is very outgoing and has made our time here very fun.
Anyway, we went to town to meet with a local ministry whom our CEO Jim Hall led a trip for a year and a half ago. They have almost built Phase I of the project so we had hoped to make it out to the project site to see some pictures. Unfortunately, the day we were going to go it was really stormy weather out so they had to cancel. So instead, we went to their office downtown to meet with their construction manager. It was a good chance to connect with a past ministry and get some good feedback from them as to what we did well and what pitfalls they encountered. We’re trying to do this more – connecting with other ministries (past or future) to learn how we can do what we do better or to better select future projects by meeting the ministry in country ahead of time.
At night, everyone worked on wrapping up their report sections and powerpoint presentation. This could be a very different type of presentation, as there is the potential for a lot of people to be there. They have opened it up to everyone on the ship, so who knows who will come. Either way, this represents an entirely new direction for this ministry so interest is very high with the leadership. I am very glad that we have such a well qualified and experienced team to answer questions from a bunch of doctors!

Tuesday Sept 13:

Presentation day! It’s what we work up to the entire time we’re here, so naturally the team was excited and a little nervous all day as we made final tweaks and edits to the presentation. We also did a complete mock run-through of it, which I had never done before on a trip. It was really helpful as we then all critiqued each other and did more fine tuning.
At 6:30pm, we all gathered in the room, and by 7pm around 50 people had come into the auditorium for the presentation. Overall, the presentation was really well received. The 50 people who showed up were people who didn’t have anything to do with the on-shore programs dept., which was encouraging that people from across the many departments of Mercy Ships were taking interest in this new direction of work.
But our presentation was also a bit sobering, as the precursor to any work to be done on these hospital sites is something that is extremely difficult to do: developing a maintenance and operations program to sustain the existing facilities. Right now, if something breaks or isn’t working, either nothing is done about it or an insufficient fix is fashioned.
A sad example of this happened today. The power at the children’s hospital was operating in single phase (instead of three phase), which means the power was only coming through one line. This results in a brown out, or low power. The problem was in the panel as the connection from the city was too weak to supply full power. So the maintenance worker wanted to shove his screwdriver into the connection to give it a better contact. This actually could work, however it also is extremely dangerous and could have killed him and the 4 people standing next to him.
Well, unfortunately, while all of this was going on, the hospital wasn’t receiving enough power to operate its equipment. Two small children who were on respirator machines passed away because of the brown out. Stories like that are maddening and unbelievably tragic. But unfortunately, it is an everyday occurrence. The estimate we were told is that about 4 children die everyday at the hospital, and typically the reason they die is a very preventable or treatable reason.
For our team, this has made our work seem like it has very real life consequences, but it also has driven us into deeper questions about the huge obstacles there will be for our work to have an impact. We can design a pretty system that looks good in a presentation and feel really good about ourselves, but if we don’t step back and think through the more difficult issues we will have little chance of making an impact.
The deeper, difficult issues on this trip have to do with the maintenance at the hospitals. The maintenance staff don’t seem to fully grasp the vision of their role in providing healthcare at the hospital. There doesn’t seem to be a connection for them (by our estimation) between them keeping the septic system up and running so sewage doesn’t back up on the site and the overall quality of healthcare being provided. Or, when the power goes out, they don’t seem to be connecting the dots that they are now more important in the lives of some patients than their doctors are.
But the reality is, the maintenance people at hospitals are critical to the overall success of the hospital. So right now, as raw sewage spills out on the hospital grounds the hospital’s ability to provide healthcare is being undermined. These are some of the issues we’ve been discussing – How do we change the culture in the maintenance departments at these hospitals? How do we encourage a training/mentoring program? How do we get them the tools they need to do their work? It’s made for some great conversations this week amongst our team, and ultimately will lead to our assessment report being much more practical and useful for the ministry.

Part V of V

Wednesday Sept 14:

Today was our closing day, and we decided to go to the most popular beach in Sierra Leone – ‘River No. 2’. It’s a spot on the Atlantic Ocean where a River enters into the ocean directly, without any kind of widening at the end. The beach along the ocean just north of the river is pristine white sand.
However, about 10 minutes after we arrived, the skies opened up and it rained pretty much the rest of the day. A bunch of the team went swimming in the warm ocean water anyways – everyone but Joe and I actually got in and swam. So what was to be a full day with dinner afterwards ended up being a half day at the beach with us returning to the ship for dinner. It was still fun, and we got to do some souvenir shopping at the beach before leaving.
After dinner, we had our closing team meeting, where we have everyone share their high/low points, something God taught them while they were here, and then any prayer requests they have going back. Then, we take turns sharing encouraging observations we’ve made or things we’ve noticed about the person one person volunteers to pray for that person before we move on to the next person. One by one, we let everyone share.
This meeting is always a favorite for EMI volunteers as they get to share and hear feedback from other team members, as well as to give feedback to others. This one was no different as we have had such good team unity and bonding. Tomorrow begins the long trek home. From the time we leave the ship until I get home is scheduled to be about 40 hours – yikes! But having Alisha and the boys there waiting for me at the airport is all the motivation I’ll need to get through – I miss them a ton and can’t wait to be back home again with them!

Travel Sept 15-16:

What can be said about 40 hours of traveling on airplanes? It was long and brutal but in the end all worth it to see Alisha and the boys! We did head into town during our layover in Brussels, which was fun. I know very little about Belgium, other than waffles! So, when we were in town, we stopped in and ordered Belgian waffles, so I've got that box checked. It was fun, but honestly, I think Eggo waffles are better. Please don't tell Belgium I said so. :)

Intern Mike and I with the Contractor for a previous EMI design project.

This humongous 'Cotton Tree' downtown is highly revered in Sierra Leone. It is the symbol of freedom for the city of Freetown. According to legend, back in 1792, when the first African American freed slaves were returned to this region, they met at a large tree and had a feast of thanksgiving for their new freedom.

The water in the swimming pool on the ship is kept very low to keep it from splashing out when the ship rocks back and forth from the sea.

Joe presenting his structural findings.

A pretty large crowd (about 50) showed up for our presentation.

The team arriving at the beach - it was really nice, with fine white sand...but the rains were soon to follow after our arrival.

River No. 2 beach is a beautiful spot.

My first time touching the Atlantic Ocean.

River No. 2 - what a romantic name for such a beautiful river. ;)

The team enjoying our only local meal of the trip - Barracuda with Rice. It was pretty good!

Joe was mezmorized to sleep by the peaceful playing of Dan's Irish flute!

Pouring rain all day made the dirt roads on the trip home a lot more treacherous than the trip there.

The rainy streets of suburban Freetown.

We thought we had car trouble in one of the vehicles, but it turns out the warning light was just malfunctioning. But a group of engineers hovering over a car is a scary situation to be in. Joe thought it was the spritzer falve. Geoff insisted it was the capacitor.

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Sierra Leone - Part III of V

Posted by 5Crawfords | Posted in | Posted on 4:05 PM

The storms make for beautiful sunsets in Freetown, Sierra Leone

Saturday Sept 10:

Today was a bit of a day on cruise control. The team is feeling good about where we’re at so the urgency of getting through the work has relaxed a bit. The data gathering at the sites is mostly complete, so now it’s a matter of compiling the information into recommendations and writing the report.
When we woke up this morning, it was a very gray and rainy day. I had been scheduled to go out to visit a previous EMI project site that has now been constructed, but because of the foul weather the Liberian man who was to pick me and intern Mike up called to say that the trip was cancelled. So, we all worked on the report around the lounge areas of the ship. After lunch, I took 4 of the guys into town to do souvenir shopping. It’s always fun to see the different personalities of the shop vendors in different countries around the world – some places are more aggressive, whereas some are passive. In Sierra Leone, the vendors are a little more insistent than in Uganda, but overall they are still pretty passive.
After shopping, we ate and worked a little more on the report. Overall, it was a much more low-key day since no one had to go to the sites. It’s always nice to get to that point of the trip when the team realizes that we have ample time to complete the project, so people can relax a bit and enjoy the experience a bit more. Good conversations are much more likely to happen once people don’t feel stressed about the work.
One of the things our trip has brought out in the group is a discussion about relief and development work in places like this. The problems we see are so wide and deeply layered that it’s hard to imagine our small group of engineers making any progress at all. But as Mark Thompson, Mercy Ships’ program director, said on day 1 of our trip, when you’re faced with a seemingly hopeless situation as these hospitals appear to be in, you have two choices: you can do nothing, or you can choose to try to do something.
We keep coming back to that statement. Ultimately, our job certainly includes thinking and talking about these things in order to make sure we’re giving our best and most intelligent effort possible in the situation. But ultimately, it is really up to God to do the impossible. If you’re not sure what I mean by impossible situation, here’s one example (out of many) of a situation we’re facing at one of the hospitals:
The sewage system at the main hospital in the country consists of a few septic tanks that catch the sewage solids and allow the liquid to seep out into two pipes that drain directly out to two places: 1) the Atlantic Ocean; and 2) a fishing village on the beach (which is completely covered in several feet of trash).
Well, the septic tanks are all plugged and therefore there is a constant spillage of raw sewage out onto the hospital grounds. These tanks are located out where the hospital laundry services are located, so the service workers are out hanging clothes while standing on soggy ground with raw sewage scattered and floating around. In some places, the sewage forms large ponds (2-6 inches deep) that the workers must navigate through to get in and out of the laundry building. Of course, not only is this sewage, but sewage from patients in the hospital who have highly infectious diseases. Obviously, the hospital is creating new patients all the time simply by staying in operation!
So from our standpoint, to come in and make recommendations for fixing the septic tanks ultimately would, as one of our civil engineers bluntly pointed out, result in the sewage systems actually transferring the sewage to the ocean and fishing village quicker! What a hopeless situation – even the solution results in significant health hazards!
Well clearly, the long term solution we will be recommending will include a massive overhauling of the existing sewer system, including a treatment facility that will clean the water before it is discharged to the ocean and village. But can you guess what else protrudes from the ocean front wall just meters away from the hospital’s drainage pipes that spill into the ocean and village? A pipe that’s three times the size of the hospital’s pipes where the city’s sewage system drains out! Hopeless!
Ultimately, we have to persevere, and realize that though we’ll only be making a small dent in the problem, at least it’s a start. Who knows, perhaps others around will be inspired by the hospital’s efforts to stop these practices of dumping raw sewage into the waterways. As the main hospital in the country, it seems important that they at least make this attempt.
Oh, by the way, did I mention that the water below the village is routinely filled with people bathing and doing laundry?!

Sunday Sept 11:
Today was the 10th anniversary of 9/11. I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since hearing the news on my car radio that morning on my drive into work. The televisions in the dining hall (where we’ve set up our makeshift workstation) have been playing the memorial events in New York City live all day.
As we sat here working, the background noise has been the solemn reading of the names of all the victims. I paused for a few minutes to stand there and watch as family members read the names of their loved ones. I imagined what it would be like if one of my boys was there reading my name. It made me sick to my stomach to think about the terrible tragedy that day was for those families.
I prayed for them to have comfort from God, though I’m not sure how you comfort someone on that level of despair. To have your whole existence altered forever – how do you find hope in that situation? If my family were taken from me I think I’d lose the will to live. At that point I think trying to pick up the pieces to move on with your life would feel selfish and even disrespectful to your lost loved ones – as if you were turning your back on them for the selfish reason of trying to be happy again. I think that would be my humanistic response.
I am thankful that to date, I have not had to go through that level of despair in my life, and I pray neither me nor my family ever has to.
I know God is there with us in those situations, but I don’t think God’s plan for our life includes such tragedies. I know He shows up big at these times, but why He chooses to step in and prevent some things while sitting back and allowing other things is something I’ll never fully understand about Him. I don’t believe He orchestrates such events on earth though, as it would be contrary to His divinely good nature. Somehow, in some way, I think God limits Himself, and in a way subjects himself to the horrors of sin in our world despite His ability to intervene.
Of course Jesus was a good example of this, as He hung on the cross and allowed himself to be tortured and killed all the while possessing the full power to stop his own suffering in an instant. So why would Jesus, who is God, subject Himself to such terrible forces that could be under His control if He desired? And why would God the Father do the very same thing in our world today? I think the answer could only be one thing: relationship. For Jesus, it was for the purpose of gaining us salvation, paying the price for our sins. Similarly, for God the Father, I think He does it for the sake of having true relationship with us. In other words, God limits his own ability to prevent evil from occurring in order to allow free will into the world such that we can choose to believe in him and come to know Him intimately.
If God were to intervene and control each and every aspect of life here on earth, would he really have a true relationship with us? Or, would we simply be doing what he preprogrammed us to do from before time? My belief is that God is able, in some mysterious and complex way that I can’t begin to understand in my finite mind, to both be in full control of His creation and at the same time be grieved to the point of crying and feeling sadness and despair as that same creation continues to make choices that have consequences that He oftentimes limits Himself from preventing.
I realize my view of God is a speck, just like anyone else’s is. (Maybe my speck is even a little smaller than average!) I have no desire to redefine God’s nature so I can understand Him, only to do my best to interpret and understand the small aspect of his nature that He chose to reveal to us in the Bible. Someday, every human who arrives in Heaven will see and feel the wonder of an infinite God…and realize just how limited their understanding was and that overall, their perception of who He was and how He works was somehow skewed from who He is (I certainly count myself among that group.)
I realize this doesn’t have a lot to do with the project – today was a day where we sat around the table working on the report so there wasn’t much in the way of exciting stories anyway. But in light of the 9/11 anniversary, I thought I’d share some of my thoughts on how to reconcile these tragedies with the notion of a good and loving God. I certainly recognize that others have very different beliefs about God’s nature. I look forward to one day all standing together in Heaven and laughing together as we think back on how simplistic our thought capabilities were here on earth!

In-between storms - it's amazing how much rain this place gets!