Appalachian State University men's soccer senior
Jake Chasteen took advantage of a great opportunity to travel the world and pursue an internship with his brother, Tucker, in the country of Liberia. Jake will send us updates throughout his trip and the experiences.
PHOTO GALLERY: WEEK 1
Week 1
"I am staying in the Capital city of Liberia, Monrovia. This is where the Samaritan's Purse compound is located. My younger brother Tucker is doing the internship with me. The first two weeks we will be interning at the hospital, the weeks following we will be traveling to Foya (1 hr by plane, 8 hrs by car) and will be involved with soccer/sports camps for both boys and girls.I've been working out and playing some soccer with my bother, and occasionally with the Liberians."
Lodging
"I am staying with an awesome family, the Kauffeldts - Kendell, Bev and their two 15-year-old sons, Isaac and Felix. Tucker and I are staying in the ELWA compound which hosts a variety of Christian NGO's, a Chinese base of some sort and other agencies. It is a walled-in compound, and all the houses have barred windows and doors, with security guards assigned to each house 24/7. The facility hosted the U.S. Military, the CDC, SP, and countless other agencies serving as the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak four years ago. The Kauffeldt's front porch has an ocean view that is amazing, and Tucker and I are learning how to surf and take advantage of the ocean as much as we can."
Cataract Screening in Foya - World Medical Mission, SP, ELWA Hospital
"On Monday (June 11th), Tucker and I along with an SP team and a Liberian optometrist flew up to the top of Liberia to Lofa County to a town called Foya. Samaritan's Purse has a base in Foya. Liberians with cataract problems from around the region, some traveling considerable distances, came to the SP base for the screening day. It was such a joy to get to extend the offer to the patient to go and fly down on an SP sponsored plane, spend two days at the ELWA compound, and get their eyes corrected. We made sure that the patients knew that they were coming to ELWA with the possibility of eye surgery- we didn't want to promise anything substantial in case the MD's at ELWA saw a complication with a patient. It was so unique to get to see their faces light up and countenance lift when we told them our screening results. On the other hand, it was profoundly sad saying some that their case wasn't a cataract case and that they didn't qualify for the program. Many patients came with cataract scaring due to trauma or viral disease (cataract scars can be treated with cornea transplants, and no one does them in Liberia). It made my heart hurt seeing their grey, scared eyes staring into the distance and walking away disheartened that their eyesight might never be restored. They traveled through God knows where on the hope that they would get their sight back. I can't unsee or forget those faces. I want to, one day, be able to go back and help people like the ones I saw as a medical professional."
Recal - Rehabilitation Ebola Effected Community through Agriculture and Livelihood
"Howa Tomba, Seah, is a Kgissi midwife who contracted Ebola from a mother
while delivering her child. Her husband isolated her in their house for 15 days trying to conceal her disease from the community and did not take her to the ETU (Ebola Treatment Unit). After 15 days, her husband carried her to the ELWA Hospital, which took us approximately 20 hours in a car. She was in the ETU for 11 days. During her time she was in a 'trance state,' in and out of consciousness and death. She said she saw a vision. She said she saw a man reaching out toward her telling her to get up and go home. The Lord healed her, and she went back home. Miraculously, her husband didn't contract EVD. During the days after her healing during her recovery, she was isolated. Nobody wanted to be around her out of fear of EVD. A year after she was healed, her community still ostracized her. Seah said she struggled mentally with depression (community isolation of EVD survivors is extremely common). Samaritan's Purse sought her out, and helped transition her back into the community and taught her how to grow cash crops. Tucker and I got to visit her home. Seah was so joyful and greeted us and the staff so warmly. She waited to harvest her eggplants with us, and Tucker and I got a knife and started harvesting. Seah would sing as she worked. We talked with her, and she wanted to thank Samaritan's Purse for all the good they provided in her life."
"Conah Kupe is an EVD survivor who lost many members of her family. She told Tucker and I that SP had helped her three times. She contracted the disease via the ELWA ETU. Then again when after her recovery, when she was isolated by her community and coping with her loses, SP's Ruth & Trauma healing program reached out and healed her mentally and spiritually. Finally, she was healed physically, mentally, and spiritually, but she had no way to provide for herself and her daughter. She said she became sad and hopeless. Surviving an extreme historical hardship, she was left with nothing to go back to. The SP RECAL program gave her the tools and support to plant her garden. Conah had her first harvest last Sunday, June 10th. She used her harvest market money for her daughter's schooling, and to buy a coconut tree which she had planted earlier that day before we arrived. She said that she planted the tree as a reminder to her kids and grandkids that their household would always do agriculture and grow crops. She talked to Tucker and I and thanked us (Samaritan's Purse) for our help and praised God. Tucker and I accepted her thanks and replied that it was for God and from God and in the name of Jesus Christ that she received help from SP."
Week 1 Experiences
- Tucker and I played soccer with some Liberians on a dirt field. It was a fun experience with the level of playing field and the conditions.
- Liberian worship is great. They all sway, clap and sing loud. Each Liberian claps on different beat, but maintain and augment the collective rhythm. It's like a bunch of individual doing a freestyle clap that somehow works with the song.
- Getting to meet EVD survivors and hear their story of how SP provided aid in the name of Jesus and how their lives have become brighter because of Jesus Christ.
- Flying: Noal, the SP pilot, let me fly. I got to fly through to nimbus cloud stacks at 10,000 feet. It was amazing.
- ELWA (Everlasting Love Winning Africa) Hospital- Seeing, walking, and working in the hospital compound that was the front lines of the Ebola response and listening to the staff's stories about those dark days is surreal.
- Experiencing Africa and seeing the culture has been very special.
Week 2
PHOTO GALLERY: WEEK 2
Samaritan's Purse Cataract Clinic
SP has two major medical program initiatives: a cleft palate and a cataract clinic. This Cataract clinic was run out of ELWA hospital, in Monrovia. I was tremendously blessed to be apart of it. Marketing is a different beast in Liberia. An advertisement was made on the ELWA radio station, announcements were made in local churches, and word of mouth were the mediums of dissemination. SP as an organization has built a reputation of trust and assurance in Liberia, which is not an easy task, especially considering cultural differences. There are four cataract surgeons in Liberia (for over 4 million people), so there was a lot of interest in the cataract program. To select the beneficiaries, we had a screening process which entailed visual acuity tests, IOP measurements, B-Scans, and finally a doctor. Over 500 Liberians were screened Sunday - Thursday, and 147 received surgery by two American doctors. Many Liberians with eye issues came to the screening knowing they didn't have a cataract. However, because of a large number of patients, and only two surgeons, some Liberians with cataracts were turned away. But, all were told that SP would be running another clinic next year, so they left with some hope. The first cataract clinic was a success, and the Vice President of Liberia heard about it and wanted to visit the second clinic. Security swarmed the ELWA compound, and the Vice President came into the OR and watched a surgery. Another distinguished visitor was the Ministry of Health. Also, a Liberian national optometrist, Dr. Robert F. Dolo came and performed a couple of surgeries.
OCC Shoeboxes
One of our stops before Foya was a bush village called Bella Balloma, where Justin Sling loaded shoe boxes and Daniella trained local church members in how to teach the Greatest Journey booklet. We landed on the village soccer field, and it was surrounded by the locals. When we unloaded, we were welcomed by a lot of curious faces. We were escorted by a crowd of kids around the village. Justin, the helicopter pilot, needed several trips to pick up all the shoe boxes. Meanwhile, we played sharks and minnows with the kids. I tought them how to play tick-tac-toe. I was deeply moved by the children at the village, especially Tamba. I was so thankful these kids will get a shoe box. Being apart of the operation was very special.
Active Fellowship Sports Camps
Active Fellowship is an SP program that provides kids and youths with physical education, athletic competitions, and soccer events. The Liberian government has little to no organized sports programs or initiatives. Commonly, the kids and youth's lives are balanced between work and schooling if they are lucky. SP provides a safe space for fun and healthy competition. Equipment is scarce. SP comes in with all the gear, leadership, and organization to offer sporting activities. Tucker and I helped out with a three-day kids camp and a three-day youth camp ('youth camp,' some of the guys & girls had babies). The youth camps ended with a town show down futbol match between two villages: Foya Dindu v. Hondonin - that are divided by a valley, which was where the futbol field resided. Coaching was a fun challenge. Concepts that westerners think are 'simple' are foreign to Liberians. The most glaring example was when I presumptuously placed cone lines that were out-of-bounds demarkations, and explained the drill. They proceeded to pass around, step over, and all together ignore the cones. Playing pickup futbol with Liberians, I learned they don't really have out-of-bounds, except if you kick it into the bushes or you are a long ways away from the playing field (you can also play behind the goal, like hockey - but you can only score from the front. The first day of camp caught me off guard in several ways, and for the remainder of my camps, I had more cultural understanding and prepared and taught my sessions with more clarity and simplicity.
AF helped promote and start the first girls soccer teams in Foya; currently there are four teams: The Explorers, Vision, Sugar FC and Ghanis. The age range for the players were 16-24. Tucker and I were out there running a two-day camp for all four squads. The last day was in the rain. The camp started at 7 am and went to 11:30 am. The girls took one break. They kept on wanting to play through the rain, mud, and fatigue. We concluded the camp, and two of the girls spoke up in appreciation of SP, and of Tucker and I. They asked us for gear, specifically cones, because their team didn't have any to practice with.
My favorite AF initiative was the Field Day, where four communities came together in a Swiss family Robinson type event and competed all day in track and field events, plus a couple bonus events like musical chairs, pop the balloons, and more. The hole community, from the little kids to the village chiefs, competed for their village. There were a total of 50 plus events. Each community was a color: green, blue, red, and yellow. Each group constructed a booth from bamboo and palm leafs - these were so impressive. Some communities weaved the palm leafs to create a designs. Bamboo, I learned, was very versatile. It can be used for the framing, you could split it for the roofing, and peal it and it would act like rope. If I am ever on a deserted island, I'll know how to build a bamboo shelter. The event program was extremely organized; starting out with an Olympic type walk out for each community, announcement of the house colors, and was kicked off by the chiefs of each village racing 100 meters.
