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

Bwambo or Bust!! Mission Trip 2013

Our fourteen, 50 pound duffle bags are packed in the living room filled with donations of medications, medical equipment, baby clothes, blankets, hospital sheets, catechists materials, and a few bags of chocolate chips for making cookies when the children get home sick.

We will be leaving on July 7th for seven weeks to one of our favorite places on earth - Bwambo
 
Molly has packed her spices, peanut butter, board games, and many great books for the children to read when they are missing the internet :)  This is such a special time for our family, as we are away from all distractions and can really spend some great family time together.


The kids are so excited to see their friends!  They have spent the last four summers with them and it will be so great to see how they have all grown and play hours of soccer with them.


Mark is furiously organizing medications, teaching manuals, and travel forms that we need to bring so many donated items into the country.  He is very excited to work with Fr. Dr. Beda again and to teach the nurses about infant resuscitation, safe delivery practices, and basic disease prevention.

This year, Molly and the children will be working on a reforestation project with Fr. Beda. Because of the climate changes throughout the entire country and the over use of wood products, trees are becoming scarce in the region.  This will be a great time for the children to learn about nature and wildlife in the South Pares.

Julian and Cecilia will be assisting Nick Markell, an Iconographer from Minnesota, who will be painting a beautiful Risen Christ mural in the church.  This will be an incredible opportunity for them to witness the work of an incredible artist.

Molly is working with the parish teaching catechesis and spending time with moms and babies in the in the maternity ward, which she absolutely loves!

We are all very excited to go and ask you for prayers, especially for safety.  Some of the car rides up the mountain can be a harrowing experience!!

Thank you all for your prayers, donations, and support.  We are so grateful to have such wonderful friends like you,

Under the protection of Jesus and Mary,

The Druffners

We have arrived safely home and we are so grateful!

Our overall feeling about our trip to Tanzania this year is a deep sense of gratitude.  We are so grateful to Mission Doctors Association and to our friends and family for making this work possible and for giving our family the opportunity to build-up and sustain the health center there. This being our third summer in Tanzania, we have also come to cherish our friendships with the people in our parish and in the hospital in Bwambo Village. At times we are ready to throw in the towel, as our work there is wrought with medical challenges, sickness, lack of water, electricity, and creature comforts. However, we know  that the Lord has truly called us to this place.

We are sorry the journal entries were few and far between this summer. We had no internet in Bwambo this year, which was actually a blessing for all of us.  To be removed from media, computers, phones, and cars is a wonderful way to get to know your family members better. From morning until evening, the kids were painting, cleaning, digging, and planting around the hospital grounds. On their off hours (which were many), they made crazy videos in the banana groves, cooked exotic foods with local ingredients, and made up games in the bush that involved home-made slingshots and dirt balls. In the evening, Banana Gram tournaments and Bush Baby sightings were the entertainments of choice. 

We became godparents to "Mary Elizabeth" (Molly's Baptismal name) and our little Francis became a Godfather to a "baby Francis" on the same day. After a beautiful Mass, we were invited to the family's home for a big feast of rice, roasted meats, fruits, and more rice, all served in large plastic buckets.  Little did we know that the entire church choir would accompany us and sing beautiful hymns the entire day while we prayed, ate, and visited with over fifty guests. What a glorious day we had!  One of our greatest joys is visiting families in their homes and sharing in their simple, but spirit filled celebrations. 

Julian spent many hours of each week interviewing and video taping the staff and volunteers. He hopes to make a documentary on our time in Bwambo so as to encourage other medical missionary families to join the Mission Doctors Association’s wonderful ministry. Our family has been so blessed by this experience and we cannot say enough about how supportive MDA has been to our work in Bwambo. 

The best news is that, after eight years of having no full-time physician on staff, Dr. Fr. Beda is now at Bwambo Health Center. After saying Mass in the morning, Dr. Fr. Beda begins his work, staying on-call and ready for patients 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Mark was not only able to work with and teach Dr. Beda some new medical techniques, but he was also able to give Dr. Beda some much-needed time away with his relatives and fellow priests.  Mark has many stories to tell about the many babies he delivered, the classes he taught, and the great help the donated medical equipment and medicines were to all involved. He now considers Dr. Beda a colleague, but also a new and wonderful friend. Please keep Dr. Beda in your prayers. 

Below is a  list of the many ways in which your support has helped Mark and the staff in their work. 

1. The ultrasound machine has saved many lives over the past three years and is still in good condition.

2. The x-ray machine has arrived and a staff member is going to Moshi (a nearby city) to be 

trained as an x-ray tech this Fall. 

3.  The pharmacy is well-stocked with donated medications and medical supplies.

4. The newborns are all now wearing hand-knit hats from generous parishioners in Stillwater, MN.  Being that the mountain is over 6000 ft. up, it can get very cold at night, and the hats are really important for the health of the new babies. 

5. The new Maternity Ward, which Dr. Beda had built,  was decked out with new mattresses, sheets and blankets all donated by friends and family members. 

6.  The St. Croix Catholic Youth Center, built through generous donations from the Faith Formation kids in Stillwater, is complete! (Pictures forthcoming.)

7. The Woman-to-Woman Project, which provides micro-loans to women in the village to start their own businesses, has been very successful. 14 women have been recipients of these loans and 100 percent of the women have started businesses and paid their monthly dues to the parish.  We were able to eat a big chicken dinner at the home of an entrepreneur who started a poultry business. Another started a small pharmacy which was doing very well. We would like to continue this program and hope more people will be interested in donating $100 to sponsor one woman. 

8. Over 20 kids are attending the new Kindergarten which we sponsored this year. It is fun to see the beautiful little children reading books and writing in new notebooks. Francis and Rose spent many mornings there exchanging English/Swahili phrases and sharing games from both cultures. 

Again, many, many thanks to all of you for all the prayers and support you have given the hospital and parish. We could never begin to express the joy that these acts of generosity bring to the people of Bwambo Village. 

We hope to continue our work in Bwambo and support the village through the hospital and parish. This coming year, we will be collecting donations to rebuild a very dilapidated house in order to bring long-term medical volunteers to Bwambo.  We will also continue to collect baby hats, midwife packs, medicines, and money to hire new staff at the hospital. 

We look forward to seeing many of you in the next few months and hope to share our gratitude personally with each of you some day soon.

Many blessings and thanks, The Druffners