Freitag, 22. Februar 2008

english update

Hello again,
this is another update in english so that you can know what is happening in our part of the world. In the last update I wrote in german I reported on a man who was flown in from Mogadishu. After he survived the weekend he went in for a long operation. If I recall right the operation took about 7 hours and the surgeons closed his stomach and tried to work on his lungs and clean out the huge infection he developed over the many days of poor treatment in the capital city of Somalia. We all knew that he was very sick but when we came in the ICU in the morning, we realized that things were not good for him. So we all prayed for him, and just about 5 min. later he passed away. The doctor who took care of him cried and she is not someone who easily cries when a patient dies. Dorothy afterwards spent some time with the son who is about 18 years old. And he cried his heart out which is very unusual for a Muslim Somali young man. She was able to give him some scripture from the Bible which encourages to call on the Lord in every circumstance. And surprisingly he immediately did. He started praying in his own language right there where he was. That was an incredible incident. We agreed that we would meet in Nairobi and talk more about things of life. We all hope that this brief encounter at our Hospital would bring this dear family closer to this God, who is full of love and compassion.
Just a few more words on our situation here in Kenya. I wish I could say we have peace now. What I can say is that we have calm these days. And we all pray that this present calm would lead to a lasting peaceful solution. All the talks go towards an establishment of a Primeminister post, which means a powersharing. How this is gonna work out, nobody knows yet, but it probably is the only workable solution at this point in time.
It was yesterday in the afternoon when an older couple from the States and I plus Benjamin went about 20 km out of our station to visit a displaced family. After we reached, the family had a chance to share their story and here it is: Right after the announcement of the electionresults, angry neighbours came running towards their neigbours who belong to the rival tribe. On their way they burned houses and killed people. The displaced family now took whatever they could take, children first and a few other things and ran into the bush to hide from the attackers. They kept on hiding in the forest for a month until they had a chance to rush to familymembers in other parts of the country. The wife today is still under shock and they are trying to come to terms with whatever happened to their lifes in those dark days. We had a great time of prayer together and put our trust in God that he would restore what has been destroyed.
So much for today, have a great day, Thomas

Samstag, 16. Februar 2008

neues in deutsch

Hallo,
Seit meinem letzten blog in deutsch ist gar nicht so furchtbar viel passiert hier in unserem Land. Die Friedensverhandlungen laufen zäh vor sich hin. Kofi Annan scheint wirklich ein Meister seines Handwerks zu sein. Er schafft es immerhin die zerstrittenen Parteien soweit zusammenzubringen, dass sie miteinander reden. Wir haben noch keine wirklich neuen Ergebnisse. Eine deutsche Delegation war jetzt schon mal da, und hat von den Vorzuegen einer grossen Koalition erzaehlt. Wie weit das einen grossen Eindruck gemacht hat, wissen wir noch nicht. Wir koennen uns jetzt wieder mehr um unsere Somalis kuemmern, deren Krieg unbemerkt von der Weltoeffentlichkeit, leise aber mit immenser Brutalitaet vor sich hin gefuehrt wird. Letzte Nacht bekamen wir ein Bombenopfer ins Haus, der vor etwa einem Monat von einer Granate getroffen wurde. Mit schweren inneren Verletzungen vegetierte er in einem Notkrankenhaus vor sich hin. Gestern endlich konnten sie ihn aus Mogadishu ausfliegen und nach Nairobi bringen. Abends gegen 9 kam er dann zu uns in Krankenhaus wo er dann erstmal stabilisiert wurde. Die Notaerztin meinte, er sei ein lebendes Wunder, dass jemand mit solchen Verletzugen ueberhaupt noch so weit reisen konnte. Ich habe ihn heute morgen auf der Intensivstation besucht, wo er mich relativ munter anschaute. Die Verwandtschaft hat mir dann von der Situation in der Haupstadt Somalias berichtet. Die Stadt ist inzwischen eine Geisterstadt, wo nur noch Banditen ihr Unwesen treiben und gegen die aethiopischen Truppen kaempfen. Es scheint eine aehnliche Situation zu sein wie in Irak, nur dass die Welt nicht viel davon mitbekommt. Vom Krankenhaus aus gibt es gute Chancen bald einen Einsatz nach Somalia zu haben. Wir bekommen staendig Einladungen und die Menschen betteln uns an, doch bald zu kommen und zu helfen wo es geht. Wir hoffen, dass die Situation sich soweit bessert, dass man fuer kuerzere Einsaetze von vielleicht einer Woche, hineinfliegen kann.
Dieses Land braucht Gott, denFriedefuersten, seine Bewohner haben keine Idee wie das Land jemals befriedet werden kann.
Thomas