I think my effort is falling short

Am I doing enough? 

My heart is sadden with a death of a beautiful smart girl I didn’t know. Evon Tarr age 26 died a day or so. She is the daughter of Daniel Tarr on of my students in Liberia. Evon graduated from highschool which tells you how much Daniel and Evon valued education for women. Her loss will be felt by many. 

I knew she was critical but I was so helpless on this side of the Atlantic. Daniel and his family were unable to get her the medical care she needed. Liberia has a very difficult time getting care to the working Liberian whose income may be somewhere around $100.00-200.00. 

I was not able to help. 

I wish I could write better and be able to have a bigger audience. I know there are things that can be done. I am driven to improve my health. I also need to improve my communication with those in Liberia. Can I help the poor in a personal and effective way? As long as I have life I have got to try. Keep walking

Train nurses and informed care to see what a doctor sees

Drew Hinshaw wrote a report in the Wall Street Journal about the people who had to bury the 11,000 people who died from Ebola; are now having to deal with the posttraumatic stress from the experience. Many of these workers were involved in the Civil War of 14 years as well. I can add to those experiences the trauma of seeing many people die from malaria and other tropical diseases. When I lived in Liberia, many families would give a permanent name to their children at the age of eight because 50% of the children died before the age of eight from tropical diseases. 

From these conditions it is easy for me to see as the article reports before the Ebola outbreak in 2011 “40% of the 500,000 people in Nimba County exhibited symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder.” That is 200,000 people in one county. If you then factor in the Ebola tragedy stress already had a breaking point would show many people are suffering.

For 4,000,000 people in Liberia there is only one psychiatrist. Potentially a 40% being affected with post-traumatic stress disorder when be around 1,600,000. The actual number maybe more than that but I have no way of knowing. 

Related to this large number would be people suffer from depression and anxiety. 

I have already reported on how schizophrenia is being treated by chaining people to trees. When I lived in Liberia I saw a man who was nude with the car bumper chained to his body. He was walking right down the street in the rainy season in Buchanan. This let everybody know that he had a mental illness and without treatment that was his lot. 

From these reports the only sensible treatments available would be through clinics or nurses administrating hopefully medicines that treat the disorders. 

Matthew Kruah, one of the so-called burial boys,
who helped inter victims of Ebola

The New York Times reports Benedict Carey, in Ghana and another places in Africa nurses are being trained as well as community support systems to help people with these problems. The reality is there will never be enough doctors. People can still be helped if nurses, therapists can be trained to see what the doctor sees to prescribe the right medicine and dose; and then monitor the progress and make changes like the doctor would. Support could be given by training pastors, the most educated in an area, to run support groups. Online education would be one of the best ways to get to meet people connected to good ideas about support groups. AA could train people to run groups for alcohol and drugs abuse. 

Connecting with people who are interested and have people skills could be very helpful in helping people with posttraumatic-stress, depression and anxiety. I think it is important to remember that the people who are being trained come from a different educational system then what we have in United States. 

In the New York Times article by Carey reported that these programs would have to be evaluated in time to see if they were effective. To be honest with you I think we are years away from seeing more psychiatrists in Liberia. Doctors follow the money so training nonprofessional people is something that we have to do better. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/13/health/mental-health-care-in-west-africa-is-often-a-product-of-luck.html?_r=0

http://www.wsj.com/articles/ebola-still-takes-mental-toll-on-west-africas-burial-boys-1455080341

Share your story to heal

One of the things that Dr. Allen's or his psychologist shares for people Who are suffering from depression, anxiety and even post traumatic stress they can begin to understand their pain by sharing their story.
There is something about being with people who have similar problems and sharing each other story.in many cases the story includes betrayal that allows the abuse to have taken place in the first place. 
In war the betrayal might be from politicians or leaders who fail to prevent the war and the hell of it. The abuse of war happens is people go through hell on earth trying to survive. War affects everybody. 

Share your story. How are you betrayed and how are you were abused. Saying, writing down your story can be very helpful.
Find me another to have had similar experiences and miss each of you share your experiences this can be very therapeutic. If you don't have someone to talk to I would be glad to listen.

Good stuff on the net

I was reading in the book of Isaiah in the Holman Christian standard Bible. And I've been following the principles taught by Dr.Gene Getz. The translation is real clear and present it in paragraph form that makes it easy to read from. The translators have taken great care to give us a good rendering of the Scriptures. I give it a thumbs up.
Dr. Gatz has online video teachings that goal long with the principles in the study Bible. And his talks enhance the study. It's just another layer that's found on the Internet they can be real good for people. If you're looking for Bible teaching with the emphasis on application check out Gene Getz Life principal study Bible.
Overall I think you will enjoy the Bible study. And nothing beats reading the Bible and a new rendering. 

To know Jesus as our Savior we have to know the good news of the gospel.

The good news:

Moses recovering from malaria and typhoid.
Thank God he lived.

Staying in the book of Romans we read in 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus died on the cross for you and I. He took on Himself our sins and paid the penalty for our sins. If you were dying of malaria and I took that malaria in my body where you were free from it that would be good news for you and your family.   That is what Jesus did for us. He took away our sins and the punishment so that we could be saved and know God. It certainly shows God’s love.
By the way when I lived in Liberia I suffered from malaria. If I did suffer again as an old man it would be too bad.

Ephesians 2:8, 9 tell us more of the good news. ‘For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” We have to trust in Jesus to save us from sin and its wage of death. We cannot do it ourselves. When we die we are helpless we can’t move. Only God can take us to heaven. The shell is left to this earth until the time God raises and gives it life. Until then our soul and spirit go to heaven. 

We express that trust in the Savior by prayer. Romans 10:13 says, “For, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Call on God to save you and He will. Now you can begin you walk with God. 

Email me bbbbsa@sbcglobal.net for any concerns.

To know Jesus we have to know the truth about sin and death.

If you want to begin a walk with God, it starts by faith with knowing Christ as your Savior. Has anyone ever shown you from the Bible how you can know God through Jesus Christ and know for sure you are going to heaven? May I show you?

The bad news: 

Recently too many died in the Ebola out break. Death breaks our
hearts with sadness. 

The Bible tells us “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans  3:23 We have all done things wrong. The 6 commandments dealing with human behavior show us what we need to know, we have all lied, stole, disobeyed our parents, hated, had sexual thoughts toward others we shouldn’t have, coveted others belongings or relationships. You may argue one area but we have all done something wrong. Because of our sin we don’t meet God’s standards for entrance into His Heaven. We fall short. If you and I wanted to throw a rock to Monrovia from Harper, I think you could throw farther than me. Both of our throws would come up short of hitting the Monrovia. It is even a greater problem going to heaven. We can’t get there on our own. Every funeral shows us that as we look at the body of a loved one. There is no life left in the body. That body will go back to the earth. We are helpless after death; also we don't even know where heaven is.

In Romans 6:23 the Bible tells us in Romans 6:23a, “For the wages of sin is death,” A wage is something we earn and because of our sins we earn death. Death comes to us all. In any culture and at any time you would have to agree that is bad news. 

We have a big palavar wouldn't you say.

Chain, chain, chain The dark side in West Africa, Mental Illness

chained in a room at a prayer camp near Lomé, Togo,
in April. Chaining is a last resort for families in
.chained in a room at a prayer camp near Lomé, Togo
175 are chained there.

When I lived in Liberia, West Africa I came across a man who was wearing no clothes and had a car bumper chained to his body.  He was carrying it Down the street of Buchanan, then the second largest city in Liberia. Traveling in the backcountry I would often see women topless, But I never seen a man naked. Louis Orta a veteran missionary explain to me that the man was mentally ill and this was the way people knew to stay clear. His family would have to feed him and providing any shelter. I inquired about the man and it sounded like he was suffering from schizophrenia.

When I read the New York Times, the series of articles by Benedict Carey reporting on the Chains of Mental Illness from West Africa, my 40 year old memories came back to me. It was in the rainy season and this man would've been naked day and night.

The West Africans have a strong belief and fear of demons. It is embedded in their culture long before Christianity came to Africa. Mr. Carey I think is absolutely right in reporting what are families to do with the severely mentally ill. In Liberia there is one psychiatrist and very few are in the other countries of West Africa? If the mentally ill have a family who will care for them, it is my guess until I'm proven wrong, that they would be fed once a day. I would have to have that theory checked out but, I think it's very possible. Most people in Liberia eat one meal a day when I was there. 

When I was in Liberia, if you were convicted of a crime or waiting for trial if your family did not feed you, you did not live to be tried. I interviewed a man name Matthew Sasaw who had ate 9 people near Harper, Liberia. Cannibalism was still practicing the month of December back in the 1970s. I interviewed several tribal people who told me before Pres. Tugman the practice was more widespread in the 50s. Matthew did not live up to the trial because his family did not feed him.

Once again here is an opportunity for the Internet to play an important role in helping to advanced care for Liberia and West Africa. There is little chance for medical people to give up all lucrative practice to go help the unfortunate who cannot pay. But what if psychiatrists could donate an afternoon for an online clinic where they can help diagnose precribe medicines that could be adapted with follow-up online appointments. Online classes and workshops could be presented to the people who care for these unfortunate. With better information and support families and caregivers could provide more humane care.

The lessons that we learn in our own world of the mentally ill who are homeless and inadequately medicated and uneducated can be applied to the third world. Or the other way around, if we put into place strategies to improve care for the mentally ill in West Africa, what we've learned could be applied at home. 

Carrying for the mentally ill is filled with challenges, both at home and abroad that isn't nice to care for something beyond ourselves. Keep walking

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Follow up and read

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/13/health/mental-health-care-in-west-africa-is-often-a-product-of-luck.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/12/health/the-chains-of-mental-illness-in-west-africa.html