Today’s picture features my shoemaker. My slipper’s toe-piece tore loose yesterday and in the Netherlands I would not bother to have the slipper repaired. But these are my favorite slippers. It is not just that a good lady-friend paid them for me just before I left for Bangladesh (good memories!), but they are very comfortable for my feet. All good reasons for not wanting to get rid of them.

The shoemaker is just across the street from the hospital. As you can see, he is prepared to do all kinds of shoe repairs, while he also polishes shoes. I delivered my slippers to him (you’ll find them in the circle on the picture) and I was able to retrieve them after only half an hour. Of course I could have waited for them, but then I have to sit or stand near the shop, and usually attracts more attention than I appreciate. The toe-piece now has an extra piece of fabric to attach it to the sole again. I hope it will last for a while again.

In my last news update, I wrote about the surgery on a 10-year old girl with a tumor on her kidney. Fortunately, the surgery went well and the girl is doing much better. We still have to wait for the report from the pathologist to see if the tumor spread to the lymph nodes. The last few weeks have been reasonably busy in the hospital, At times I had about 20 patients admitted for surgery and that is about the maximum that I can oversee. That is because I do my round of visits in the hospital in the hour before I start surgeries and I cannot fit more than 20 patients in that one hour.

This week, a urologist from India will come to our hospital to assist with surgeries that I cannot do myself. I think we may have far too many patients for him, so I hope we can keep things under control a bit. My role during such a urology camp is to keep an eye on the logistics. Which patients can we operate on during this week, and which patients have to wait for the next opportunity? Who gets to go first, second, and so on. There are also a few types of surgical procedures that I could probably do myself in the future, so I want to assist in those surgeries.

There’s an extra problem for the day that this urologist will arrive: a general strike has been announced, and that means that we cannot pick him up by car at the border as we had planned, but that we have to arrange for another means of transport. He and another colleauge will now be picked up with several motor cycles and I hope it will all work out, without them running into some hostile demonstrations.

Little by little, I begin to plan my time of furlough in the Netherlands. I will be in the Netherlands from the end of October to the end of January and I have to schedule additional surgical training, plan visits with my supporters and prayer partners, and leave some time for rest and refreshment. I’ll keep you informed!