My African Adventures

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Reminder about your invitation from Janna Buttrick

2011-11-07T03:11:00.000-05:00

This is a reminder that on October 24, Janna Buttrick sent you an invitation to become part of their professional network at LinkedIn.

Accept Janna Buttrick's Invitation

On October 24, Janna Buttrick wrote:

> To: [janna.buttrick.blog@blogger.com]

> From: Janna Buttrick [janna.buttrick@gmail.com]

> Subject: Invitation to connect on LinkedIn

> I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.
>
> - Janna

You are receiving Reminder emails for pending invitations. Unsubscribe.

Reminder about your invitation from Janna Buttrick

2011-10-31T05:23:00.001-04:00

This is a reminder that on October 24, Janna Buttrick sent you an invitation to become part of their professional network at LinkedIn.

Accept Janna Buttrick's Invitation

On October 24, Janna Buttrick wrote:

> To: [janna.buttrick.blog@blogger.com]

> From: Janna Buttrick [janna.buttrick@gmail.com]

> Subject: Invitation to connect on LinkedIn

> I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.
>
> - Janna

You are receiving Reminder emails for pending invitations. Unsubscribe.

Invitation to connect on LinkedIn

2011-10-24T14:51:00.001-04:00

From Janna Buttrick

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- Janna

Confirm that you know Janna

You are receiving Invitation to Connect emails. Unsubscribe

Email addresses

2009-11-10T05:52:00.000-05:00

So, I've discovered that I am unable to respond to comments on my
blog and this is disappointing to me because I would like to write to
some of you. Here is my solution to this problem. Please email me at
janna.buttrick@gmail.com so that I can have your email address. That
way I can write some more personalized emails to ya'll. (Call out to
AmyB. - this is mostly for you! lol.) Miss you all. Write often. God bless

The Missionaries

2009-11-02T06:27:00.001-05:00

The Lord has blessed Bere with a ton of wonderful
missionaries. I myself feel blessed to be a part
of this group, and although we all have unique
personalities, we all get along great. I not only
get to work with these amazing individuals, I get
to be a part of this family. :)

First, there is Dr. James and his wife Sarah.
James is an amazing physician and mostly works in
the OR. Sarah is a nurse and works all over the
place. She is an amazing woman who is a great
teacher also. Out of everyone she has taken the
most time to explain things to me and teaching me
about the different papers and what everything
means, and for this I am eternally grateful.

Next there is the Parker family. The four of them
moved here in June with one way tickets. There
testimony is amazing and full of miracles. Jamie,
the father, works as the head maintenance man for
the hospital and does everything from plumbing to
drilling screws into broken legs. Tammy is a
beautiful woman with a very compassionate heart.
She seems to be the busiest of all of us even
though she doesn't work at the hospital. She is
home schooling her two kids, teaching English at

the local Adventist school, continually cooking
and sharing food with all of us, and on top of
that all she is Mama to all of us and to half the
local children. Corey is their 14 year old son
who came kicking and screaming the whole way to
Africa, since he was about to start academy, but
now that he's here he will be the hardest one to
get to leave. Brichelle is their 12 year old
daughter and she was meant to live here. She is a
little hippie and fits right in with the locals.

Then there are the SM's. Stephen has been here

for a year and a half. He is leaving in December
but is thinking about returning in January for
another 6 months. Stephen runs the administrative
side of things and since they are in the process
of trying to open another hospital in a town a
couple hours away they are hoping he will head up
the administrative side of things down there.
It's amazing all the things he has done here. He
has learned the language very well so can
communicate with almost anyone. He is a business
student and is only 20 years old but that hasn't
stopped him from accomplishing great things and
God has really blessed him and the things that he
has worked on. He is from Cali and is a lot of fun to hang out with.

Next came Carson. He is a graduated nurse from
Southern and has been here since June. He is from
Montana and has the most amazing accent ever.
(Kelly Ree – You went to school with him.) He is
the laid back, go with the flow kind of guy and
is very generous with whatever food has been sent
to him. :) Yeah for Mac and Cheese and powdered mash potatoes. Lol.

Then there is Michelle. She is also a graduated
nurse from Southern. She grew up in Miami, and
that spunkiness comes threw. I love it! She is a
woman after God's own heart and there is a lot
that I have to learn from her about trusting God
and his faithfulness to us. Her and I have become
fast friends and I am very glad she is here to
share memories with, and to go through trials n' sickness with.

Lastly, there is Melody. She arrived here just a
few weeks before me with her father Dr. Tim. They
were planning on staying one month then heading
out to the Congo. But, after being here for a bit
she decided to stay and work until January then
leave for the Congo. Dr. Tim left last week and
she stayed. She is a really sweet girl and I
still haven't got to know her that well because
she was out and about in other towns with her dad
when he was here, but now we will probably have
more time together, which will rock having another girl around.

In a few days we will actually be having one more
long term SM join us from Southern, his name is

Luke and we all are waiting in anticipation to
meet him. There are also short term missionaries
that come and go but this is the core group. We
are truly a family. We cook for each other, we
clean up after each other, we take care of each
other when we are sick, and most of all we are
just there for one another as a support group.
Just like any family there are times that you get
annoyed with certain things, but we forgive and
forget and go back to loving one another. I feel

like God knew that I needed a support group here
with me and he sent it. :) Thank you Jesus.

Oh, and I can't forget the newest addition to the
family. I got a tiny kitten the other day that is
absolutely adorable. She is all different shades

of grey with strips on the back and spots on the

belly. She sleeps in my hut with me at night and
during the day she comes and hangs out on the

missionary compound. I love her and she has added
so much joy to all of our lives. :) We also have
3 horses, Bob, Libby, and Pepper, that we are
free to ride, then Sarah and James have a puppy
named Caramel. And that completes this little
family of missionaries here in the Bere village of Chad.

Ps. On another note, please continue to keep me
in your prayers. Malaria is no fun! :(

Malaria

2009-10-29T10:21:00.002-04:00

I have MALARIA already! AHHH! =( This is a picture of me with Malaria and having an allergic reaction to the Doxy Cyclin.

My Home Life

2009-10-23T13:05:00.001-04:00

My home is wonderful! I live with the surgeon
Samedi and his family. There are 18 kids and
there is never a moment of silence, but that is
what family is. A mass chaos of fun, noise, and
naked children running this way and that. Not all
the children are Samedi's and Jolie's but they've
taken in some of their grandchildren and also
some orphans. The youngest is 14months and the
oldest is 33years old. I have yet to see them all
there at once, but there is a main group of
younger children that are normally all there together.

The house is set up like this… You walk in
between two mud brick huts and have entered the
"house". It is a wide open space that is
surrounded by mud and straw walls. In the center
of the area is a well that is used for
everything! Drinking, cooking, washing clothes,
taking bathes, ect. (I get my drinking water at
the hospital.) There are 8 separate huts
scattered around the outskirts of the "house".
There is one for cooking in, one for the animals
to stay in, and two that are combined that the
girls, babies, and Samedi and Jolie all sleep in.
Then on the front side is my hut and an empty hut
that is falling apart. On the far left side there
are two huts that the boys all share. The shower
is an encircled mud wall area that you can go
into with your bucket to bath. Unfortunately,
many of the children also use this area to pee
in. I tend to take a full bucket of water to
rinse it out with and then go back to get my
bathing water. They all think this is extremely
funny and always wonder where the first bucket of water ended up.

Everything happens outside. We eat outside on mats and benches and everyone sits around outside just chillin. I like to sit with the kids as its

getting later and they will one by one drift off
all around me. The stars are brighter here then
anywhere I've ever been! The sun goes down at 6
and wakes up at 5. I typically end up sleeping
from 8 till 6. It seems like forever but here the
sun takes it out of you everyday and it takes all
10 hours to recoup and be ready for another day.

My hut is an explosion of color. My door and

window are both painted bright yellow! (Thanks
Emily!) Inside I have gotten a bright pink floor
mat to cover the majority of the floor with which
has been way nicer then the dirty floor. I have a
yellow and blue cot that is surrounded by bright
blue mosquito net that flows down to the floor
like a little girl's princess canopy bed. J I

have a bench that houses my bathroom totes, a big
blue storage bin that acts as my dresser, a chair
for a night stand, and a few nice hooks that I
hang towels and such on. I have a woven basket
that I can throw my dirty laundry in and I keep
my bathing bin right by the door. Although I do
share my hut with unwelcome visitors… Spiders,
flying cockroaches, mosquitoes, flies, lizards,
warrior ants, bats, and an occasional chicken or
two… I have been able to make it pretty homey and
I love it! After seeing some of the other SM's
huts I realize that I was blessed with my housing situation.

I've only washed my laundry twice but each time
has been an adventure. You fill up your little
bin with water and take a hard bar of soap and go
to town on a few pieces of clothes. Then you dump
the water and put new water in, which you then
rinse the few items in to get the soap out, and

then you hang those couple pieces up and repeat.
It takes a few hours! And when its 41 degrees
Celsius out (about 107 Fahrenheit), then doing
laundry is no easy task. Lifting the bucket a
million times from the bottom of the well,
bending down scrubbing and rinse, then all the

tippy toeing to hang everything up…. Well, let's
just say that the women here are ripped! They can
carry a bundle of sticks on their head, a baby on
the back, and a huge bin of water all at the same
time. I can hardly handle the water, never mind
the other two items. I am in the process of
learning to carry items on my head though and its
no easy task. I think my head must be rounder
then theirs! They have items sit so easily on
their heads while they walk around and I put
something up there and within minutes it's
inevitably sliding this way and that. LOL! But,
by the time I return I plan on being a professional in that line of business.

Meal time is always an adventure. You're never
sure what you're going to get and you pray that
it's not boule – an icky mass of grains and sand
that you then dip into funny runny sauces. Yucky!
I'm not a fan of this specialty. On a regular day
though I will eat a few little donut things that
are really just like a pancake mix that's then
dropped into oil to deep fry, with some tea that
is delicious, for breakfast at about 6:30ish.
Then I work from 7 till 3, and will eat around 4.
This second meal is mostly always rice. I like
the rice though. It's a good Chadian rice that
has little chopped garlic and onions mixed into
it. Then sometimes around 8ish they will pull out

some more rice or tea. But, for the most part
it's just those two meals. I have been here two
weeks and have already lost 11 lbs. Whenever the
SM's get together and make spaghetti or something it's quite the treat! J

Sleep normally comes very quickly to me but, I
wake up many times during the night. There is
always some kind of loud celebration occurring
somewhere close by with drums and "singing", or
what I'd like to call loud hollering/moaning.
Lol! This normally wakes me up around 10. Then, I
will sleep again till about 1 and this is when I
wake up and wish that I didn't have to pee and
desperately try to go back to sleep, but

sometimes I can't and will have to get out of the
safety of my mosquito net and venture into the
deep darkness of the night to find a nice place
to squat. Once again sleep will take me and
around 3 I will wake to the mourning ceremonial
wails that occur when someone dies, and it seems
like someone is dying here everyday. Then, bright
and early at 5 when the sun is peaking into the
sky I wake up to the sound of the women sweeping
the dirt ground of the whole court yard. It's
quite the process and sometimes I am unable to
fall back asleep, but with some luck I do and
will sleep until the beep of my watch wakes me at 6.

Life here is completely different from anything in the states. It's very simple, yet very chaotic

at the same time. Everything we do in the
evenings to get the house clean in the states,
will take the ladies here all day long, and so
although it's very basic it's still very busy. I
like it here. I still have some adjusting to do,
but I am learning every moment and know that
although we are way more technologically advanced
then these people that they have many many things
that they can and are teaching me about. Life
here is tough. Nothing comes easy to the Chadians
and death and sickness haunt their every move.
But, that's what I'm here to try to help them
with. I am trying to teach the girls in my own

family certain things about personal hygiene and
I am at the hospital everyday trying to save
people who never learned about taking care of
their bodies. But that's another story…

My Journey

2009-10-19T14:44:00.000-04:00

I have been in Bere for almost a week now and
have already seen and experienced so much. So
many memories are in the making and yet I am
having a hard time letting go of the old ones. I
am homesick in a way yet wouldn't give this up
for anything. Well, I suppose I should tell my
tale from the top and not from the middle… So,
here is adventure number one, my journey.

Packing was a nightmare! The night before my
nerves were so frazzled that I could hardly pack
my own bags. I was wishing my mommy was there
with me to push me along and set me in the right
direction, but that wasn't the case and I felt
lost. On the 7th I needed to leave my house by
1pm in order to get to the airport on time. It
wasn't until right at 1pm that I'd officially
zipped my bags shut and frantically threw them
into Jonathan's car (my friend who brought me
down to the airport). On the was down to the
airport I rushed into Frisbee Memorial Hospital
for my one last shot that I needed before take
off. (Talk about last minute!J) Then, we made one
last taco bell visit so I could savor that
wonderful Mexican fast food for my last time. It was delicious!

After arriving at the Boston Airport it was a
struggle to get all my things to the counter. I
had 2 big LLBean duffel bags, each weighing
70lbs, my backpacking backpack, my satchel
(computer bag), and my pillow. I pulled them all
inside, and then Jon parked and came in to help
me push them through line to the counter. When I
got my first bag on the scale it was a little bit
under 70lbs so they sent it through and I paid
the heavy baggage fee. Then, I shove the second
one up there and it's over 70lbs… and my other
bag, which I could have transferred a few things
into, was gone already. AHH! I was frustrated!
And on top of that the lady behind the counter
keeps saying I have to much carry on luggage and
that she's positive it won't fit in the little
metal bin they have to measure your carry on. I
took a few items out of my big bag and got it
sent through and paid the excess lbs few, and
then I went over to my backpack and tightened and
tugged on every strap there was till I made it
half its original size. Then I stuffed it into
the metal bin triumphantly while hiding my
satchel behind me. The lady nodded in
satisfaction and I waited until she was busy with
someone else before tackling the metal bin in order to get my pack out of it.

Once on the plane I felt relief wash over me.
This is it, I thought. I am going to Africa. All
the lose ends are tied up and there isn't
anything to stress about anymore. I slept well on
the first flight, which landed me in London. Here
I had a long layover and had time to call mom and
dad. When the next plane was getting ready to
board the lady checking our boarding passes
decided to take it upon herself to make sure that
I couldn't bring my backpack on and that I should
have to pay the $150 extra checked baggage fee. I
cried! And for once in my life it was perhaps
somewhat helpful, because although I did have to
check it through to Chad I didn't have to pay the fee. Thank you Jesus.

Next I landed in Paris, went through customs once
again and then made it onto my flight with no
problems. It was upon boarding this flight that I
realized something, I was one of three white
people traveling to Chad. And I was the only
person wearing jeans and a T-shirt. I felt
slightly out of place but no big deal I could
change as soon as I arrived. I made my way to the
back of the plane and saw that my isle made for
three was stuffed full already by two large men
in what Americans would call dresses, and they
would call garbs. They got up and I squished into
the window seat. At this moment it hit me, or
rather it hit my nose. Body odor like you
couldn't imagine was wafting around inside the
cabin. I proceeded to tie my bandana around my
nose and mouth, which helped somewhat, but not
enough. I don't know what is next to Godliness
here but it is most certainly not cleanliness, this much I have learned.

I fell asleep for the first part of the flight
and missed dinner. But, when I woke, I did so to
the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. We
were flying over the Sahara dessert and it was
sunset. I have seen beautiful sunsets before but
this one toped them all. We were thousands of
miles up in the sky and yet you could see the
heat rising from the ground as the earth cooled
from the daytime heat. There was nothing but sand
mountains as far as the eye could see. Not one
cloud in the sky and not one tree on the ground
yet it was the most beautiful ocean of sand I have ever seen.

Then, once again sleep took me and when I woke I
was in another world. I was in Chad, Africa!

As I clamored down the steps off the plane I was
surrounded by a dust cloud that I couldn't see,
because it was dark, but that I knew was there.
And this was not just any dust cloud, no no, it
was a humid sticky dust cloud so as it touched
your skin it stuck to you like mud. I felt dirty
and I had only been off the plane for a matter of
10 seconds. Lol. We walked across the landing
strip and into what looked like would perhaps be
a maintenance shed in America, but this was no
maintenance shed, this was the customs "shack".
As we shuffled through the doors into that dimly
lit building things were no longer civilized. It
became as crazy as a slaughter house in that
tiny, sticky, locus filled room. I got shoved
this way and that and had no idea where the line
was to get your passport stamped. I soon realized
I couldn't find the line because Chadians don't
like to wait in lines, they like to wait till the
man at the counter moves on and then all jump at
the customs officer and see which passport he
will happen to grab. I debated with myself
whether to wait and go last or jump on in; the
decision was easy as soon as on the other side of
the gate I could see the luggage already being
brought in. I waited like a lioness ready for the
kill and as the lady at the counter moved past I
pounced. It was a pretty good one I'd have to say
to because I was up against about 20 other people
but managed to get my passport stamped that time
around. J Da-da-da-da da-da da-da can't touch this! LOL!

Relief washed through me when I saw all three of
my bags come into the room. I grabbed them up
threw them onto an old rusty push cart. I was
almost free! But alas, I was stopped by the
security men when I'd almost made it out of the
airport. Apparently I looked suspicious due to my
whiteness, my décor, and my large amount of
luggage. They began unzipping my bags and
rummaging through them. As they began to re-zip
my bags I felt safe knowing that they weren't
going to take any of my things. Then a man, who
had been close by, but not in on the rummaging
action, yelled "ARRET" very loudly and ran over.
I had no idea what arret meant at the time but
have since learned that it means: stop. He had
apparently spotted something that looked
suspicious and proceeded to pull a zip lock bag
full of tampons out of my bag. He then took a
tampon out of the bag and twisted it all around
very carefully as though he were handling a
weapon of mass destruction. I tried not to smile
but my humor got the best of me and I began
smirking, then giggling uncontrollably. It is
just one of those moments that would never happen
in the states and that I will never forget. He
finally decided that it must not be harmful, or I
would be giggling so uncontrollably, then he
stuffed the tampon in his pocket and replaced the
zip lock in my bag. And I was a free woman! LoL!

James Appel, the head doctor at the hospital, was
standing and waiting just outside the airport
when I came wondering out. He assumed by my
confused look, huge duffel bags, and once again
my whiteness, lol, that I must be Janna and
rushed over to help me with all my luggage. We
drove about 15min to a Christian compound that
had guest rooms where we meet up with his wife
then stayed there for the night. In the morning I
found out that the van we were going to be
driving down to Bere was out of commission and we
would be taking public transportation. This meant
that only one bag could come and it needed to be
small since the last leg of the journey would be
on motorcycles. I was highly distraut! But, I
managed to get what I needed for a bit into my
backpack and left the rest locked in the van
under the watchful eye of the hospital mechanic, David.

We boarded onto an already stuffed bus and for
the next 6 hours bounced down half paved, most
potholed road I have ever been on. I Chad certain
things are acceptable that would get you kicked
off a bus in the states, or in most westernized
countries for that matter. Such as, eating sugar
cane and once your done sucking out the sweetness
spitting the left over mashed up yuck on the
floor or simply spitting on the floor. The bus
smelt like a 4H building at a fair and I thought
I was going to die… but I didn't. I even managed
to join in on some of the local approved spitting
by getting some watermelon and letting the seeds
fly out of my mouth like rockets onto the floor J
That is one of those things that after I return
home I will never have the pleasure of doing again.

When the bus arrived in Kelo, a bigger town about
45min north of Bere, we disembarked! To our
surprise one of the other hospital workers was
there with a truck to meet us and instead of
going on the moto's, like they call them here, we
got a semi comfortable ride down to the hospital.
I kept thinking how if we'd known he were meeting
us than I could have brought my luggage, but I
tried shoving the negative thoughts out to be
ready to see my new home. We went through miles
of muddy mess and I was very thankful that I was
not on the back of a motorcycle. As we entered
Bere we were welcomed by a big white, mostly
faded, sign that said Bon Voyage and Bere! I had
made it to the place that was to be my home for
the next 7 ½ months and although it felt as
though my journey had come to an end it was really just beginning.

My accident/fall/dumb dumb dumb idea! :)

2009-10-06T22:42:00.001-04:00

I wanted to share this video before I leave. About a week ago I had a minor accident that my brother just happened to catch on video. lol. So here it is -

So that is my not so smart moment of following Ike, the new boys dean at Pine Tree Academy, up a board which supposedly was going to make going over the board on his bike steadier somehow... All I know is that I ended up with a nice gash on the back of my head, a very bruised hip, and a pile of chopped up clothing thanks to my ambulance ride. Well, the moral of the story is? I will not be doing that again! lol.
-Janna

Leaving the states

2009-10-06T22:33:00.001-04:00

Here I go! An amazing adventure awaits me right around the corner and I have yet to finish packing my belongings. :) I am excited about my journey, but, I am also beginning to stress a little bit. I fly out of Boston International Airport in 23 hours. My parents are in Germany so I am here to stress alone and try to get everything put together. I miss my mommy and its only been a few weeks since she left for Europe. :( I wish she were here with me to remind me of all the little details that I am bound to be forgetting. Fall is in full fledge foliage stage right now! lol. I love the fall. Its as if the angels have come down during the night and painted all the trees beautiful and bright colors and the leaves are raining down to the earth in a melancholy fashion. I am definitely a New England girl and despite the hassle that winter brings I will miss it and all the joys of playing in the snow. I am unsure of what to expect upon my arrival and during my stay in Chad. All I know is that it will not be like America and I will learn to appreciate all the little things so much more upon my return. I am excited to be immersed in this new culture and can't wait to share with all of you just what its like. I will do my best to blog often and let you know all the adventures of everyday life at the Bere Hospital. Please keep me in your prayers. Signing out for the last time in the USA for 8 months! - Janna

My first official Blog

2009-08-27T23:04:00.000-04:00

Well, this is my first official blog post. The purpose for this blog is to log the adventures I have while I am working in Chad, Africa for the next eight months. I will be working at the Bere hospital as a nurse. I am nervous but also very excited. I have started getting ready for my trip which included getting 4 very painful shots today. :( Sad Face! I don't mind needles and blood as long as its not pointed at me and its not my blood. lol. I know most of you already have me in your prayers but remember to send up prayers not only for me as I am in Africa but for all the people I will be working with also. :) Take that statement as you will.

I already miss you all. Goodnight!