MISSIONARY LIFE

Professional

I remember my father's schedule as something like this.  He would wake up around 6:00 AM, which is African sunrise. After some Bible-reading and prayer, then some calisthenics to stay fit, he would walk over to the hospital to participate in morning prayers with hospital staff, followed by rounds.  Then he'd return for breakfast with the family, around 7:00 or 8:00.

After breakfast, there was work at the hospital to be done.  After a full day of work broken only by lunch, Dad would come home for supper at sunset around 6:00 PM and start the generator, so we'd have some light. During supper, a line of people would begin growing outside the door.  After supper, Dad would go out to see them, examining them and writing down individual instructions on cards to be presented the next day at the dispensary.  At 9:00 PM Dad would shut down the generator and we'd all retire for the night.

Dr. Willi and Barb Kieper in surgery

Certain days were set aside for various tasks:  For example, Tuesdays were assigned for routine surgery, which I loved to sit in on and watch after hurriedly completing my daily schoolwork. I had the privilege of seeing twins, even triplets born; C-sections, hernia operations, and many other surgeries, at a very young age.  I saw for the first time at about eight years old a tiny, fully-formed human fetus, nestled in gauze on my father's hand.  It had been removed from its mother because the pregnancy was ectopic.  I can even recall seeing one man die on the operating table when nothing more could be done for him.

      Gutowski sisters watch surgery

There was a great deal of travelling to be done, too.  Fridays and Saturdays Dad would pack up vaccines and other supplies, along with some lunch, and head out to some of the outermost villages to vaccinate children and do examinations.  

Typical Mambilla road                   Tipped over Land Rover

He'd often take us kids along with some staff members to help out by getting medical equipment ready.  There were so many people to see, that he set things up assembly line style:  I'd be taking the vaccine bottle caps off, a staff member would fill the syringes, and Dad would examine a child, then vaccinate him or her and move on to the next one.  Mom often travelled also:  she was an able worker and teacher as well as a nurse--indeed, she taught us three kids our first few grades.

Anita goes church visiting

After the one year of furlough, Dad had obtained training in dentistry as well as medicine.  He'd found that many medical problems of the face and mouth could be prevented by good dental care, which he could now provide.

Dentistry comes in handy

A lot of the medical work involved obstetrics. Minnie Kuhn, a trained nurse-midwife, provided valuable service to the people over many years.  She was capable, bright, and practical.  Her long arms and large hands delivered many a baby out of peril and into the world.  She taught my dad quite a few useful obstetric tricks and techniques vital in a place where technology was insufficient and unreliable.  In appreciation, she was often given the honor of naming babies.  Her quirky sense of humor came out at times:  she named one set of triplet girls Faith, Hope, and Charity!

Minnie Kuhn does prenatal checks

Although my mother did not usually participate in hospital work, being quite busy at home, she did pitch in by helping to build.  She designed and supervised the construction of new hospital buildings, for example.

Anita building a school house

The hospital staff were perhaps the most important legacy of my parents' work, for they carried on the tradition of compassionate medical care after the missionaries left.  Some went on to further training, becoming doctors and nurses in their own right.  There is now a hospital operating in Gembu, a nearby town, much of whose senior staff was trained at Warwar.

Zebulon Wanmi examines a baby

images courtesy of Dr. W.D. Gutowski, MD.

created by C.L. Van Eysinga 1997, 2004.

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