Burnt to a crisp

As you probably well know, we have power issues in PNG.  We have been told by people who know electricity that ours is some of the worst power in the world--surges, brown outs, outages in the middle of surgery, generator problems, thousands and thousands of dollars in equipment damage.  (Lest I sound too much like a broken record, interested readers can find more details in my September 2009 blog "Let there be light" and from May 2012 "Surgery by torchlight".)

The hospital took a pretty major hit this last week.  A series of surges and dips fried our "new" x-ray machine.  The power board and a few other things are pretty much burnt to a crisp.  Emails are flying back and forth from PNG to our consultants in America about the possibility of getting replacement parts, which will probably cost a couple of thousand dollars to purchase and months to ship around the world.

Power board from the x-ray machine.
The white thing with the red/orange stripe is the main part that got fried.

In the mean time, our team of x-ray technicians have done a great job keeping us going with the portable x-ray (which is also on its last leg) and our old machine (which we can hardly believe continues to work).  We are so thankful for their hard work and flexibility.

The x-ray lain (from L --> R):  Mr. Lakawa, Pamela, Joseph

BTW, the white girl in the picture is our x-ray taking, dish-washing, lemon-squeezing, South African roomie extrodinaire Pamela.  She is volunteering at Nazarene Hospital for the 5th time, and is 1/2 way through her 6 month stay.  It is so wonderful to have our friend here with us again!

This blog is also a great opportunity to update you on the new hydroelectric dam.  The project is well on its way!  And when it is finished, we should have plenty of stable, cheap, non-equipment frying kind of power to supply the hospital.  The water canal is almost complete.  The workers have started building the actual dam, although recent heavy rains have made that a bit more challenging.  Please continue to pray for this AWESOME project.

Andy and the "hydro guys," canal in progress.

"There will be no more night.  They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light."

~ Revelation 22:5