Winters in Croatia and Bosnia: NRT Continued , , ,

Our 2 day NRT training in Sarajevo was held in a hotel. We had 47 doctors, nurses, midwives or delivery attendants. Each eager to learn. The training started early Monday morning.  As the people arrived they were given a packet which contained an information sheet, a test, and other information that they would need during the training. The students filled out the forms and took a pre test. At the end of the training another test was given and the scores were significantly higher. The students were well trained and learned well. The training was given by Dr. George Bennett (retired anesthesiologist) from St. George, Utah along with Dr. Carolyn Rich-Denson (neonatologist) from Ogden, Utah, Several local doctors also helped with the training. Marcia Bennett, Dr. Bennett's wife, is really the backbone to the whole operation. She makes all the arrangements, working with all the local people, the humanitarian couple in charge and all the travel arrangements. She was awesome, what a woman! She and her husband have been traveling all over the world for the last 8 years. This last trip was 5 weeks long. We met the Bennett's in Zagreb in October to try to develop a similar project in Croatia for next year.  Anyone who has done international travel knows how hard this is on a body, but all the doctors who work in this program are dedicated to saving lives and know that it is the work of Our Heavenly Father.

Speaking of international travel, we had two people come from headquarters and attend our training in Sarajevo. Dean Walker, Manager of NRT and Vision Care programs, and Aaron Meacham came. The purpose of the trip was to train Aaron as he is new to the humanitarian department. They had come from Hungary. After they left us they were headed to Albania.

After the training we had a closing ceremony where each student was given a certificate of completion, each clinic or hospital that was involved received a training mannequin and equipment to train others at their facilities, they also receive equipment for their clinics.   We heard from Dr. Bennett, the Doctor who helped put on the training (the champion) and Gary.  Each of the training doctors was presented a pin from the American Pediatric Association . A picture of a new baby was also presented to the champion. As Gary shared with the students that we live in Tuzla, two ladies on the front row got excited over this. We learned later that they live in Tuzla. He also told them how we had five children and eight grandchildren. He then told them that we are going to have another grandchild in January and that he hoped that the people who helped in the delivery of that child would be trained and know how to help him if he has trouble breathing.  As he was speaking I remembered that our grandson Dallin caused some concern to the nurses when he was born and the Neonatal Resuscitation team was called in. It turned out that he was just fine, but the people knew what to do and were right on it. If help is not given to these babies in the first 30 seconds numerous problems can develop. How thankful we are that we have healthy children and grandchildren. These doctors who spend their time training neo-natal resuscitation could be doing other things, but they spend their retirement time helping others. That is what "Pure Religion" is. It is a humbling experience to be a part of such a wonderful program.

Wednesday we packed ourselves up into two cars and a Red Cross van with all the equipment in and headed out to Banja Luka which is a four and a half hour drive from Sarajevo. The Red Cross helped bring all the equipment in as they can get the supplies through customs without having to pay all the extra fees. There were 10 of us in our caravan, and every car was packed full. Upon arriving in Banja Luka Dr, Bennett, Dr. Rich-Denson, and two of our translators went to the hospital and started training 6 trainers that would help teach the others who would come to the training on Thursday.

Thursday we started all over again. This time there were 57 students. Plus 8 nurse students who also took part in the training. The training again went very smoothly and we had a nice closing ceremony.   Again we found out that one of the trainers lives in Tuzla. After the ceremony we packed up and drove the two and one half hour drive home to Tuzla.

Did we mention that while we are doing all this training that we received an email about flooding in Slovenia. Due to heavy rains in Austria it was necessary to release water from the dam which caused flooding in both the Sava and Darva Rivers. There is extensive damage and we are helping to cordinate the emergency relief efforts.

As we close this week we would like to share the following which we heard at one of our devotionals held each morning before the trainings.

". . . The significance of this great work is expressed eloquently in the word of F. M. Bareham. He said in 1909:
          'A century ago (in 1809) men were following with bated breath the march of Napoleon and waiting with feverish impatience for news of the wars. And all the while, in their homes, babies were being born. But who could think about babies? Everybody was thinking about battles.
          In one year, between Trafalgar and Waterloo, there stole into the world a host of heroes: Gladstone was born in Liverpool; Tennyson at Somersby Rectory; and Oliver Wendell Holmes in Massachusetts. Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky, and music was enriched by the advent of Felix Mendelssohn in Hamburg.
          But nobody thought of babies; everybody was thinking of battles. Yet, which of the battles of 1809 mattered more than the babies of 1809? We fancy God can manage His world only with great battalions, when all the time he is doing it with beautiful babies.
   And about that same time in Vermont, God sent a little boy to Lucy Mack and Joseph Smith Sr. That little baby grew up to seek the Lord in humble prayer and ultimately to restore the Gospel that we all might understand who God is and what the purpose of life is. Can there ever be anything more significant that a baby? Anything of greater potential and wonder?"