All Things!

We find so much joy in our work in Bwambo! There are times that we our overwhelmed with gratitude to MDA for helping us to live out this beautiful calling with our children, and with our friends in Bwambo who care for one another and support each other so well, even amidst the poverty.

This past visit to Bwambo, Tanzania, one of the mission doctors sites, was a beautiful one! We brought a few volunteers with us this time. Nathan Bittner, a videographer and film major at the University of Minnesota, who spent his days interviewing and recording the story of Bwambo Mission, and our new daughter-in-law Emily who is an RN and came to know our son Jake through our mission work.  There's nothing more glorious than to celebrate Christmas with people who know nothing of the materialism and the gift-giving focus at Christmas time! We were able to enter into the Christmas season and really welcome our Lord with open hearts. We got to attend mass every day and celebrate this beautiful liturgical season all the way through New Year's Eve which ended with the midnight mass and a bonfire! What joy! To be able to be with people who live as simply and reverently as the Holy Family.
 
Again, we are so grateful because our donated medical equipment and surgical supplies are all working well. We are still in need of funds for an x-ray machine, and for lab supplies. It's been very difficult for Mark when we travel there to diagnose patients without these things. But, we trust and know that "that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Yes, All Things!! 

Seven Years of Building Health and Hope in Tanzania

When we signed on to volunteer with Mission Doctors Association to work in East Africa in 2009, we had no idea that we would still be serving, year-after-year, in a small village in the South Pare Mountains. This past summer will mark our seventh year of our partnership with Bwambo Village and Health Center in Tanzania. You may ask, “Why Tanzania? And why Bwambo Village.?” When we first arrived in the village in 2009, with no idea of how or why God sent us to that particular place, we began our work with open hearts and open minds. We knew God had a plan, and we were willing to listen, pray, and take the time we needed to know exactly what He had in mind for our family, friends, and supporters. After six years of working in Bwambo, we have come to know a little bit more of what God had planned for us.

We continue to work everyday to develop and support this small village and health center.  The many small efforts we, along with many volunteers and supporters, have made since 2009 have borne much fruit in so many lives.  And the great news is, we are seeing the  health center grow into a self-sustained entity,  a healthier and more hopeful community, and a global church relationship flower into “something beautiful for God”.

Updates 2014
This past summer was especially exciting for our family.  We spent six weeks in Tanzania again working at the Bwambo Health Center and continuing to develop projects in the village and parish. We also hosted two families who helped out in the clinic and church.  Dr. Greg Young, and his wife Heidi, along with their three children, spent a few weeks in Bwambo seeing patients, planting trees and painting an icon mural with Nick Markell.  Claire Zajac, a good friend, headed up the video project for donors, and the Bwambo Olympic Games, an annual event in Bwambo. Nick, a nationally-known iconographer, his wife, Signe, and there two children also volunteered in many capacities. Nick was able to finish the “Risen Christ of Bwambo” icon in the Church, and gave an additional five icon canvasses to the parish. Signe was able to see and outfit 300 patients with new eye glasses and started our first-ever eye clinic, which is still up and running. Many thanks to all of the Druffner, Young, and Markell children for working so hard and being great supports for all of the adult volunteers. We had a wonderful time making homemade pizzas on the wood stove and gathering at the end of each day to share stories and humorous exchanges with each other. We even had a dance party around the bonfire with all of the student nurses, (marsh mallows included)!

Over 500 patients were seen, 400 bottles of medicine donated, 300 mid-wife packs donated by SCCS students, 300 patients fit with glasses, 220 trees planted, and a beautiful icon mural completed. Many thanks to all of you who made this all possible!

Goals for 2015-16
This year, we are focusing our work on continued development of Bwambo Health Center, and in particular, refurbishing the health center buildings.  There are five buildings that are in desperate need of repair, including the operating room, the outpatient clinic rooms, the staff houses, and the convent (where Bethany Medical Sisters from India will live when the house is complete).
Since 2009, we have seen great changes and we are happy to report that the Health Center is almost completely self-sustaining business.  Through donations of medicines, equipment, and volunteer hours, more staff have been hired, and more patients are being seen, which provides enough revenue to pay our full-time doctor, Fr. Dr. Beda (also the Pastor at the parish) and 20 other staff members. The Pharmacy is well-stocked, and the nursing students trained as well.

How You Can Help
If you would like to help us make this dream a reality by donating to the Bwambo Building Campaign, please click on the donate button on this page.  We are so very grateful for all you have done to help develop and sustain Bwambo Health Center and Mission.

We are beginning to see what God’s plan was for us in 2009 and what it continues to be in 2014.  We are grateful to all of you for allowing us to serve the people of Bwambo Village, with whom we share friendship, love, and mutual support. We are not on a mission to “save” our friends in Bwambo. (We have realized, it is we who need “saving.”)  We are merely answering God’s call to share our lives and resources with our cherished brothers and sisters in Tanzania. We could not think of a better calling. 

Merry Christmas and may God continue to bless you abundantly, The Druffner Family

Ambulance Campaign!

We have had the privilege of working with Mission Doctors Association in Bwambo, Tanzania for the past five years. Each summer, we pack up our family, with eighteen duffle bags of donated medicines and medical supplies in tow, and head to the South Pare Mountains in Tanzania.  There, we find hundreds of patients waiting to be seen, as there are only 200 doctors and 40 million people in Tanzania. My husband Mark, a Family Practitioner (also trained in surgery), spends his days seeing patients, teaching nurses and mid-wives, and performing deliveries and surgeries. Molly and the children work in the hospital cleaning, painting, refurbishing, and organizing the wards and clinic rooms. We have very little running water, and virtually no electricity, save for the small generator that runs on diesel fuel. Our life in Bwambo Village can be very challenging, but it is also extremely satisfying, knowing that we are able to care for patients and their families at least once per year for 8-10 weeks. Mark sees hundreds of patients while we are in Bwambo. We are so grateful for this wonderful opportunity to serve!!

One of the difficulties in doing the beautiful work of MDA is seeing the many, many needs of the hospitals and of the patients while on mission. Over the past five years we have held many fundraisers to collect funds for a new ultra-sound machine, an x-ray machine, basic lab equipment, and medical supplies. We were also able to put in three large water tanks to bring clean running water to the hospital. All of these efforts have improved things at the hospital and clinic in many wonderful ways.

Because the people in the South Pares do not have any kind of transportation, they walk to and from the hospital on foot, sometimes taking 8-10 hours to reach the hospital for care. Can you imagine being in labor or needing emergency surgery and having to walk or be carried for many, many hours up a steep mountain pass?!  One of the most important services Bwambo Health Center provides is ambulance transport to the major hospital at the base of the mountains where patients can receive emergency care and/or surgeries. This vehicle (the only vehicle on the mission at present) has carried thousands of desperate patients up and down the mountain for over 15 years.  (This Land Rover/Truck has been over used and much abused to say the least.)  Unfortunately, just this past month, the Pastor, Fr. Dr. Beda, was told that the truck was no longer safe to transport patients and would need repairs too expensive for the Diocese to handle. For this reason, we are in desperate search for a donor to provide a portion of the cost to buy a new ambulance/Land Rover. As you can imagine a Land Rover truck is one of the only vehicles that can traverse the steep mountainous trails (we can’t really call them roads yet ).

The Total cost of the new vehicle is close to $70,000. However, the MIVA foundation (a mission-based group supplying vehicles to missions for many years), is willing to donate $50,000!! This makes our job much simpler, as we are only asked to raise $20,000. We have raised $8,500 so far!!

We believe that this Ambulance Campaign is a great opportunity for us all to share our gifts with others who are truly in desperate need of transportation for medical care. Please consider a donation to purchase a new Land Rover for Bwambo Health Center.

Your generous gift will make it possible for thousands of patients to get the care they need on a daily basis.

Many blessings and thanks for all you do to support our efforts to help those in need,

Dr. Mark and Mrs. Molly Druffner and family

Please click on the Donate button on the top right to donate.  

Please specify "Ambulance Campaign" under "I want my donation to be designated toward"

Water Research Project

Forgot to add that Jake was given a grant by University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point to do a Water Research project. He got over one-hundred water samples from all different sources in Bwambo village and tested each for bacteria and ecoli counts.  He then set up a lab in the back closet in our house where he created sample containers, which he placed in an incubator, powered by a car battery to grow the bacteria. In the end his results were very clear.  The homes that had water tanks were very dirty, mostly from using water containers that were not clean, and the fresh water sources from the mountain were quite clean. Next year, he will return to re-test the water following a huge water project the group from the Netherlands is doing in Bwambo. Should be a really interesting study and one he could use for his future work in Hydrology and Water Management.

An Amazing Trip!

Dear Friends, Family, and Blog readers,

This was our fourth mission to Tanzania and it seems to get better each year. What an amazing mission trip we had this summer!  No one got any major sicknesses (accept for Molly's fungus on chin from kissing and holding too many babies with head fungus :) and no deaths to report at hospital. Forty babies born in month of July! Some emergency, but successful surgeries. Mark was able to give daily workshops on infant resuscitation and emergency medicine. Fr. Dr. Beda (the doctor in charge) and Fr. Josaphat (a medical student)  worked with Mark in clinic and with Swahili translations. Medically, much was accomplished and many patients were cared for. We were also able to do some house calls to elderly patients who could not travel by foot.

One highlight was visiting Fr. Beda's family in Kilomeni Town in the mountains. Six of his eleven siblings were there to greet us along with his beautiful, strong mama, with a big feast, laughter, prayer, and some tears of joy.

We also had many wonderful meals and exchanging of cultural recipes with the Catholic community and hospital staff. Fr. Beda and the boys sacrificed a goat for our final farewell meal, which was a great learning experience for all. Every single part of the animal was used from something, including a hand-braided intestine for roasting, the hooves for soup, and the fur for selling. We were pleasantly surprised by the sumptuous meal Mary created with sauce, rice, chapati, pilau, and cabbages. The food is so good!

The children planted over 700 trees near the hospital as a reforestation project. They spent a few weeks also refinishing wood and painting the Doctor's House which has been completely refurbished for future volunteers, thanks to a generous donor from Trinity School. Its really beautiful!

Molly restocked the pharmacy and created a cleaning schedule for the staff on maintenance duty. She was very pleased with the outcome and hopes it will last :).

The most exciting part of the trip was the painting of a new icon at the Church by Minnesota iconographer, Nicholas Markell. He not only created a lasting gift, "The Risen Christ of Bwambo", but he was able to teach Julian and Cecilia the arduous, but prayerful task of writing an icon. What a gift! Thank you Nick! You may never know how many people and prayers you've inspired through this beautiful work.

We are so very grateful for Fr. Dr. Beda for the many ways he made our work (and some relaxation :) possible. He is a generous and wonderful host, especially to the children who love and admire him. Fr. Michael, the Pastor, and Fr. Josaphat,  were also so kind and great with the little ones. Daily Mass with the three priests, beautiful music, and close friends was really the highlight. Molly and some of the children were able to attend daily adoration to pray for the mission, the patients, and personal intentions from home. This trip has been prayerful, life-giving, and truly inspiring.

Many thanks go to Bishop Rogath Kimaryo and the Vicar General for hosting us in Same for our first conference on life issues. Fr. Beda, Mark, and Molly gave a day-long conference for priests and religious at the Same (pronounced 'sommay') Diocese on the "Culture of Life in East Africa." Over eighty people attended and all went very well. We hope to continue this work with the assistance of Human Life International in the future.

Many, many thanks to you all for your love, prayers, and support. Friends, family, and Mission Doctors Association have made this all possible and we are truly grateful.

The Druffners

 

Busy

We have been here for one week and are settling into a routine. Fr. Dr. Beda is away on vacation for six days so Mark is covering the hospital alone which is very busy.

Fifty patients, two deliveries, and one minor surgery just today. Nick Markell, an Icon artist from Minnesota, is here now painting a beautiful Risen Christ icon in the Church.  All the Druffner children have been assisting him. Molly is working to keep all happy with supplies for projects, big meals made on wood stove and daily prayer in Chapel.  Work is hard  but very rewarding.  The sun shines, music rings out through the valley, new friends are made and we feel  just a bit closer to our heavenly home here.

(Sent by text to Elise: Photos to follow when we get internet access ;) )

Well we are off!

Minneapolis Airport

It was a long night of Jake packing his entire water research project into large boxes, including many glass viles, a pressure cooker, dry ice, and testing liquids. Mark madly copied our talks for a Culture of Life Workshop in the Diocese (not many photo copy options in Same Town). Molly repacked all of the bags after discovering that items were missing and some bags were over weight. We are now at 16 large duffles of medical supplies and nine personal carry-on bags. If it all makes it, it will be a great travel miracle. St. Christopher, pray for us!

Many thanks to all of you, friends and family, for your support and prayers. Without you, none of this would be possible.

Will update blog when next near wi-fi, which might be a while. Love that! Uhuru! Freedom!

Jake and Rose

Mary Therese and Rose