Day Eighteen (July 20, 2006)

I need to pay tribute to some very special people: Russell Armstrong, Justina Makhobal, Elizabeth Lavoie, Jamie White, Marnie Mitchell and Johan Redelinghuys. These are the Canadians that presently staff Tsepong. They have committed a year or more of their lives to this project. With each, I have had many long conversations, shared many meals, traveled to amazing places and downed more than one bottle of wonderful South African wine.

I have also watched them curiously, from a distance. What kind of person gives up everything that is familiar to them, everything they cherish, everything comfortable, to live in a relative state of exile to face this kind of death and devastation on a daily basis? Where do they find the strength to cope with the isolation and loneliness? Russel and Marnie are well into their second year away from home. Jamie leaves tomorrow after being here for a year. Johan leaves the week after. Justina will be here for another 6 months, Elizabeth until next May. They arrive here as complete strangers and on day one are thrown into a situation in which they work together in a totally foreign environment to save lives. They organize the sick masses, treat and comfort each one, rejoice if they become well and grieve if they die. They watch with pride if the ill become well enough to care for themselves and gather in the room of the one who has died to prepare the body for removal. There is no task, no matter how gruesome, they shy away from. They are motivated by a deep compassion that drives them to work hands on to decrease some of the intense human suffering that exists on this planet. They all believe that this is not just a better way to live but it is the only way to live. I thank God for each one of them.

We will often all walk home from the clinic together, all carrying coats and stethoscopes, and slowly begin to discuss and digest the events of the day. I often take a step back and realize what this courageous group of people has just accomplished, what they accomplish on a daily basis. I am so grateful and honoured to be counted among them, if only for a short period of time.

Last night, the team traveled to South Africa to honor Jamie on the eve of his departure with a celebratory dinner. It was wonderful.

Jamie’s departing words: “We have saved many lives in the past year and I have prepared too many bodies for the morgue. This was my privilege. I was raised by my grandmother in a trailer park in Alberta. I knew what it was like to be without parents and to often wonder where my next meal was coming from. I understand these people. These people are no different than we are. Each have dreams, hope for the future and potential, each one has value and importance. There were people in my life that cared enough to give me a chance. That is what the vulnerable children of Lesotho need. In my year at the clinic this is what I stood up for, this is what I fought for, to give these children that chance.”

Jamie is a registered nurse. This was his first job out of university. He is 26 years old. He was inspired by Stephen Lewis to come to Tsepong. I will watch with great interest as his future unfolds.

PS: This morning I went to the nurse’s station outside of Lineo’s room. I made a sign that says, ‘Lineo Faith Hope- born July 1, 2006 (Canada Day).’ The nurses placed the sign on her bed.