Charis Around the World

Tidbits From Ebony
by Elizabeth Carmichael

A role play about washing hands before eating together as a family,
performed for children under the summer grapevines
at our demonstration garden in the village.

Dear Charis Family,

Thanks for your patience with me since you haven't heard from me since April!!  By that point, I was headed toward a semi-burnout with everyday life and work in Ebony.  Then, at the beginning of May, I had carpel tunnel surgery on my right hand.  I am so thankful for the opportunity to do that, under the care of an international hand specialist. He did an amazing job and I have been completely free from the pain that had not been allowing me to even sleep anymore.  You might think it is a crazy thing to have a surgery in a third world country, but it only cost me $80 total and I got to stay and recover in my own house.  I am so thankful, also, that my mom was visiting me at that time!  It all just came together.  But, it has taken some time to recover and to get back on the ball....especially with my "tidbits."
 

Decorations for my birthday party in September.

Back in April, the five local staff members that I was managing joined me in starting a regular meeting of community elders in our project villages.  I have come to refer to this group as the "Scary Lookin' Dudes."  If you saw their pictures on the news, you would NOT think it was in conjunction with positive reports.  Yet, these are the men of my everyday life.  The husbands of my friends.  The fathers of the children I love on and snuggle.  It's just who they are.  But, I won't deny they can look a bit scary. :-)  We met with them for the past six months and I pray it will have a positive impact on the project work in their villages.  I won't go into all the details of how all that works, but I've included a few "tidbits" for you below.  (The stories below were written for an actual, formal report I had to turn in so if they sound a bit "choppy" that may be the reason.)  Hope you enjoy them.  Through the work I've been a part of this year, and the stories below, I've seen that CHANGE.....life change.......Kingdom change........is possible even in the most dire of circumstances.  Perhaps it will help to remember that these stories have occurred in a war torn nation with ongoing conflict.  The men and women are highly UN-educated, find problem solving VERY difficult, experience death and loss, abuse and poverty constantly.  And, yet, God is giving them glimpses of light.  Pray for the light to shine brightly upon them.

I am now back in the United States for several months, regrouping, resting and looking ahead to what is next for me.  I plan to return to Ebony, but have a lot of decisions to make before it is clear what path I will take to continue working there.

MANY blessings,
EC

In the "Tent" village, one of our Community Health Workers, named "Girlie," was helping a woman who was pregnant.  She went to her house to check on the woman one night, and her labor was not going well.  The woman was in more pain than normal and the baby didn't seem to be positioned well.  Girlie took the woman to the hospital in another village far away.  The doctors there checked her and said the position of the baby “was not good” and they could not deliver the baby.  The labor was still progressing and the situation was getting worse.  The hospital staff told the CHW to go to a maternity hospital in the big city.  The CHW took the mother all the way to the other hospital and found that she would require an operation to deliver.  A boy was born by emergency cesarean.  When the CHW took the patient home, the family made her a very special local food and gave her the equivalent of $10 as a gift.  Our project continues to encourage CHWs toward volunteerism.  However, when the community members voluntarily acknowledge the value of the CHW help and the personal cost each CHW pays when they are away from their own households, helping community members, we see this as a sign of sustainability and appropriate self-initiative within the community.

Our Community Health Workers, trained through my project, are modeling love, patient centered and evidence based care in the community.  One night, "Star" went to help a woman who was only 28 weeks pregnant.  Star saw that she was bleeding and had several problems, yet the baby had not reached full term yet.  It was not safe to deliver (especially since there is NO care for premature infants). Star helped the woman as much as she could, following her training about how to deal with hemorrhage while simultaneously preventing miscarriage.  Soon, Star decided that she would take the woman to a hospital.  The bleeding worsened and, when Star and the woman reached the hospital, the doctor was very encouraged by Star's treatment of the patient.  She said, "I haven't seen a CHW help a patient this much!"  Because of the treatment she received, both the lives of the woman and the baby were preserved and delivery was prevented until the woman was full term.  She had a home delivery for which Star assisted.

One of our women's groups functions in a community where there is a family with many problems.  The husband and wife are “always fighting” and all the women in the household fight with each other. The problems are very apparent to the neighbors and the rest of the community.  Group members report that “every time the husband is hitting the wife, she ‘escapes’ and runs away to someone else's house (a family member).”  This family has a daughter.  One day, the husband left with the young daughter and “kidnapped her” to a neighboring province.  In our group, several CHWs thought, "How can we help this troubled family?"  One CHW suggested, "Let's find one of our children who ‘has a reason to go to their house.’  We will have the child just ask how they are doing."  The group agreed to this action step, also agreeing to the priority of helping this family within their community.  When the child went to the home, the family told her “many, many stories” about what was going on and the problems they were facing.  Then, the CHWs thought, "We should work with them and make a self help group among their women."  So, as a result of the help of CHWs, a Self Help Group (focused on individual/household micro-economic and social development through collaboration among women) was developed among the women of this troubled family.  The CHW group reports that the economic improvement and the attention has helped the family “settle down” quite a bit.  The husband has returned with their daughter.  This story has gained the attention of several community members and is shared as a success story of gentle and productive community intervention.

A health worker in another group tells this story: “I was at home alone and a man brought a child to my house.  They were very upset because his child had swallowed gasoline.  I saw that the child was very lethargic and then I said, ‘Let's go very quickly to a car and then we will go to a hospital.’  I thought I should give him milk, but then I thought, ‘No, I won't because his throat is probably closed off and nothing will go down.’"  (Note: CHWs are taught to not give water or milk to a patient who has swallowed gasoline if the patient is unconscious.  The CHW discerned the difference and used problem solving skills in her treatment choices.)  “When the doctor saw the sickness and what happened, he pumped the child’s stomach.  Then the child vomited and was OK after a while.  The family told me that they are so happy that he is OK and that my response to them was very fast.”

In a very remote place there are four young boys who “can’t see at night.”  Our project women's group reports that “when night comes, the whole family knows that the boys will not be able to see.”  This is a significant problem anywhere in the world, but most especially for boys who live in a household where they are expected to help with chores, or need to walk back and forth outside to use a latrine, wash themselves or visit the mosque for prayers.  The Community Health Worker, Rina, said, "I should take these children to the eye doctors who come once a month to the bigger village."  (She was referring to the Eye Camps which have increased to once per week since September.)  When she took them to the eye doctors, the boys were given vitamin A capsule and some medicine that no one else had ever given the family.  Having learned about nutrition in her classes, the CHW stopped on the way home and bought some vegetables and to give to the family.  (She bought groceries that she knew to be especially helpful for eye health.  This was a significant gift from her, as she is a widow with two children of her own.)  The CHW taught the family some lessons about eye health, nutrition and how to administer their new medications.  Currently, the family reports that the boys have improved so much that they can go to the bathroom themselves at night and can see a bit.  The family says, “My sons are healed!”

At a women's group called "Light," many of the poor people have problems with eye health.  Many people have cataracts, which in local language are called “curtains.”  The CHW group said to these kinds of people, "We know a good eye hospital and where it is.  They help us a lot."  The CHWs had learned about a famous Eye Hospital through the monthly eye clinic program at the village clinic, a program initiated after CHW groups in our project groups identified eye health as a major problem within the community.  (Identifying community felt and real needs is a major goal of the our project.)  The CHW took the old widow, who has no other person to help or care for her, to the eye hospital.  Now the woman has had cataract removal surgery and proper follow up.  As a result of this story, many people know that this was with the help of the local CHW.

One day a man came to the garden and said to Mr. Sib (our project agriculturalist), “Everyone in our household has a problem with the trees they are trying to grow.  They are all sick.”  Our staff member went to the house for a consultation and found that the trees had a problem that could be solved with the tobacco solution—a recipe taught to CHWs in their agricultural training.  One CHW in particular, who lives quite near the man with the problem, is a specialist when it comes to carrying for tree diseases.  As a reward for helping our project staff to train new CHW groups further from the clinic area, she received a “medicine pump” to use for spraying her garden.  She often takes her pump to houses within the community, helping them spray for and care for their trees and other plants.  Because the CHW did not have permission to visit the home of this male community member, she gave him clear instructions about how to make his own tobacco solution and apply it to the trees.  The man reports that the trees are now health and his family is very happy.  Fruit has come to every tree that was sick.

Through the meetings of community elders, our project staff (especially the male community facilitator) have helped community leaders address key social issues that community members are facing.  Our staff also seek to emphasize important character and leadership traits. During one meeting, "Chase" reiterated some social training he had received regarding reflecting on past pain and learning from problems.  He recited for the group of CHWs and community elders a poem that has had a powerful impact on his life.  Through his personal story, his intentionality to address this issue, and his articulations of character lessons he had studied through the week, the group learned from Chaman the importance of small, consistent choices to display a character that is “life/energy giving” to others rather than “life/energy taking.”

This poem about peace is the one the leaders responded very positively to.  Despite what might be portrayed in the news sometimes, the majority of the population longs for peace and health for their men, women and children.


The smiles

My smiles all changed to weeping (without you), when will you come?

My days all changed to dark nights (without you), when will you come?


All the mountains are lying down; the ripples of the rivers are burning

Our springs became all full of Thorns, when will you come?


The heads do not look good without turbans (a cultural expression of prosperity and leadership)

Look to the heads, all are without hat, when will you come?


There is no bracelet's shaking sound, all the sounds are from handcuffs

Our Deras(1) are getting empty of our guests, when will you come?

(1) An open area usually in the gardens and local people use it as place of meeting their guests, or only men sit there for chatting and tea drinking.

Have you ever seen one of these guys without their head on?
That is how I have felt for the past six months!

Our International Charis Family
Your stories from around the world touch us and we pray for your safety.
Thanks, Love and Blessings to every one of you!