Sounds in the night (and the day)

The banners proclaimed that it was "Bringing Music to the Hospital" time at K Hospital.

                                        

And we thought the sentiment was good. We all need music in our lives-- it gives us vigor, soothes our emotions when sad, expresses our passions when we love, our devotions and the prayers of our souls as well. But music is also an expression of who we are, marking us culturally, ethnically as well as emotionally. (Here's a sample of what the patients heard...hmm. won't let me inset the video, so I'll give you a link  http://youtu.be/D9URX32IgFU)

So it was not surprising that the colors of the sounds we heard in the halls today were the unique blending of influences that comprise Vietnamese music and sounds. Like so many other cultural matters they reflect the accretions of the past, the native sounds, the imports, the adoptions, and the materials and resources available from which to make instruments, sounds, and rhythms.

Traditional music (folk music) resonates with the agricultural heritage, and has generally a fairly simple instrumentation, although highly distinctive in composition. In addition to recognizable stringed instruments such as the lute or guitar, and wind instruments akin to flutes and recorder, drums and such,

       

there are also several unique instruments, notably the Dan Bau (lowermost in the image), a single stringed instrument attached to a bell-like structure that has a remarkable range and tenor using overtones and resonances. Here's a video link to a fine performance using the Dan Bao  http://youtu.be/Vthl0e7tIts  The Dan Tranh, the zither-like instrument is also very elegant and capable of expression, with a very appealing sound to my ears. http://youtu.be/dSfUwKJnDsw 

Vietnamese vocal music has a very long tradition that dates back a long way, and includes influences from Chinese opera, lyric poetry, French love songs and theatre, as well as modern music. Kareoke is very popular still (at least judging from the number of night spots advertising it) which I think speaks to this willingness and desire to express oneself with vocal music. 

Our apartment is surrounded by a modest number of other high-rises, with some open squares in-between, which on various occasions seem to be the venue for open-air concerts of a sort, with heavily amplified traditional voices. Fortunately they usually shut down the volume before 10 pm. We will also occasionally pass other street venues featuring music, such as the "Music for Charity" booth we saw while riding home the other afternoon. Additionally, we occasionally notice some piped in music in certain of the huge traffic circles. I've wondered about these, and suspect that it is a means of reducing aggressive driving behaviors, based on the assumption that if you hear soothing music while navigating a stressful section of traffic you will be less likely to do something angry or impulsive.

The other "music" worth noting here is the ring of pile-drivers putting down foundations for the next high-rise in the neighborhood. For whatever reason, the construction schedules here seem to be almost 24 hours a day, so this is often the first sound one hears in the still twilight early morning hours. (I should note that such a schedule is significantly enabled by the fact that a large portion if not all of the cnstruction personnel will live or camp out on the site during the construction period.)

                            

                                 

(These flowers seemed un-annoyed by the pile drivers, and were a nice by-product of Women's Day this past week.)

In another sense however, the music we "hear" most (or perhaps should hear most) is what the ancient prophet Alma called the "song of redeeming love"-- melodies played on the heart strings of souls who know the sweetness of change in their lives, and healing brought about by the redemption of Christ. It's a song with an infinite number of variations played out in the lives of people in every land. The tempo likewise is varied, progressing very much in an allegrettho fashion for some, while proceding more andante and measured with others. But the sweetness of the music that we see coming from people like H, or DA, or T, or L, or MQ, or even those just beginning to put the notes together like PA or Tr is something to be forever treasured and shared. When we get discouraged, this is the music that perks us up, even with just a few notes from our own hearts, or the shortest riff from that of another. When this ultimately comes together in that grandest of heavenly choirs, we will be there to sing our part, and relish the richness and variety of all the others. Hope you will be too. For now however, we're enjoying learning how the Dan Bau and Dan Tranh fit into the orchestra of saving souls.

Walking the walk? More like sprinting the marathon!

The pace of our life in Hanoi has ebbs and flows, but it has largely been an accelerating one up to this point. We are scrambling to increase our efficiency in preparations for our various teaching and service duties, because the time to prepare continues to shrink as the demands for our presence or effort increases.

We had a bit of a respite this week as our Hospital K schedule was pleasantly disrupted by the visit of several colleagues to participate in a Training Course in Pathology.

                   

                     

                            Drs. To, Hung, Smoller Phung and myself after Day 3 of the course

I introduced Dr. Thuy Phung to my friends here at Hospital K last October and she took the initiative to bring several people along with her this fall for her visit, a well known dermatopathologist, Bruce Smoller, Gary Tse, a breast pathologist from Hong Kong, and she graciously included me in the program they presented, with morning lectures and slide sessions to follow. The gathering attracted a healthy number of participants from the northern part of the country,

         

and so many more pathologists got some exposure to our work here, joined the Facebook group, and learned a bit about me. I had not planned on doing my lecture in Vietnamese, but somehow when the time came, I just went on with it and only got stuck a few times.. Of course Ilearned a host of new words in the process (digital pathology for example is not a routine phrase for missionaries!) and that felt good. Since my signature went on the certificates that each attendee received, along with Dr. To's, they also have something further to remember me by.

     I continued to do some of my other Skype lectures for audiences at a distance in Ho Chi Minh City. But since those are largely a leveraging effort based on the preparation I have been doing for K Hospital. Cho Ray hospital often includes groups of medical students rotating through the department in the lectures, so my audience sometimes may exceed 20 people for these, though usually is much smaller. I haven't done any of these in Vietamese yet, but I am hopeful that at some point down the line I will be able to comfortably and effectively communicate using this language. 

     We also had a highly productive "sharpen the saw"kind of Zone Conference this week with some of our leaders from Cambodia, where the mission leadership is. One of the unique things about this conference is that one of the Zone Leaders who currently serves the VN Zone is Elder Thai from this

                   

Branch! So if you can imagine coming home to your own congregation and building for a short visit during your mission, and then quickly leaving again, he did it. To make matters more interesting, he will return home here in two weeks when he finishes his mission. While we had met Elder Thai when we were in Cambodia a few months ago, this chance was actually very useful to me to assess how he can be quickly integrated back into the branch service organization. Methinks there are no coincidences in this work.

     The Conference brought to mind very specifically the matter that will be the focus of our efforts, in particular as pertains to our own growth and development, the matter of becoming a more committed follower of Christ.

                 

          Sister Hien and Sister Dao respond to the challenge to truly exemplify Christ.

The issue really becomes how do we follow the pattern of Faith, Hope and Charity in our own lives to become greater and greater followers, or disciples, of Christ. Although those are not my words, nor were they the mission presidents, they are the pattern that was being taught, and they are the scriptural phrases taught in the New Testament and the Book of Mormon. 

Such was the perfect prelude to listening at length to the sessions of General Conference, which was done with the Vietnamese translation piped through the sound system, and for those who wished to listen in English, that sound track piped through the infrared translation headsets. While we had been in Zone Conference, MB had chosen to download the entire conference onto her computer (?coincidence-- no) which became critical today when the English speakers had to separate to a different room because the number of visitors exceeeded the number of headsets. I chose to listen in Vietnamese while following the text in English, which was an interesting way to test my vocabulary, but also to assess the quality of the experience for the saints here. Just as was our experience in April, we could see souls being lighted by the outpouring of spirit, witness and truth that came. I found again very quickly the answers to my questions, often repeated from multiple viewpoints to emphasize to me that they were indeed for me.

          

In between sessions, we enjoyed talking with the investigators and members who came, as well as catching a few minutes of conversation with my former roommates gathered together in California for our bi-annual reunion. It was nice of them to include us. The pot-luck menu in between sessions was a unique experience. More sparse today, it included sliced bread, peanut butter, sliced tomatos and shredded dried pork. (Interesting combinations those!) There was the ubiquitous fresh fruit, and a few delights from the oven of apartment 405 (always generating requests for the recipes!) We came home fully recharged spiritually, though dinner did not wait.

The contrast to me between the training course, which offered some measure of recharge, and General Conference, was dramatic in degree. The concept is similar, but the impact dramatically different. I shall try to teach more of my pathology using the spirit of the Lord! So for the coming week, that will include preparing three new lectures (though most of one is done) and revamping our introductory family class, and getting the 30 cards and chocolates for "Women's Day" ready for Sunday, and pulling together English class lessons, and doing our usual hospital consulting, visiting with the volunteer from the Agent Orange Victims Association that we're trying to work with on a project, and visiting with and encouraging several members, all before our friend Giggs arrives from Thailand for a short visit! So it is a good thing the batteries are charged.

What gets tossed out with the bathwater

Our "campsite" as I very lovingly refer to it, comes complete with a spacious garden patio, as we have noted in prior posts. But this patio also is at the lower gravitational end of 15 floors of other campsites.

                     

Looking up, we are at the convex corner of the building, creating interesting wind patterns for flying objects from above.

Given that geography, it is interesting to surmise the stories behind the following items which appear on said patio. I'll list the items and allow my imagination to explore the stories behind them.

     Cigarette butts and packaging: By far the most popular item, nearly outnumbering raindrops, one can only surmise that indoor smoking is outlawed by every housewife in the building, thus relegating the reprobate husbands to the small balconies above us. However, it may be that the urgency to toss the butts overboard is related to some sense of guilt involved with a covert addiction. I predict however, that lung cancer rates in Vietnam will continue to rise.

     Q-tip swabs: This is indeed an archeologist's puzzle, and my surmise is that some future scholarly sleuth with identify these as something much more than items of personal hygiene, but perhaps even symbols of fertility, intimately tied to the cult of bodily orifice probing. No comment about hairballs.

                     

   

     A mop head: No doubt delivered in grace to assist in cleaning up the mess associated with the subsequent delivery of a plastic bag containing nuoc mia, or sugar cane juice, along with one straw (ong hut)

     Yogurt bottles: Temporally related to the sale at Fivi downstairs; they missed the recycle bin down below us.

                    

      Sundry candy and snack wrappers:

      Cuesta wrappers and contents: The number of half-eaten snacks of this variety clearly indicates that this is the favored snack for the easily distracted group under age three who cannot eat an entire snack

                                

      Once potted plants, along with now fragmented pots: The firmament above us has a leak.

      Scarf, children's shorts, and stray socks: We clearly are a waypoint on the journey to the valley of the "lost socks," though judging from the number and frequency of knocks on our door in search of various other missing articles of clothing, we are clearly not the final destination.

      Model (foam) airplane: Fortunately not loaded with ordinance. 

                               

(I can't wait to take it back up to the roof and see where it will land next time! And since I have since discovered his "wingman" lodged further out on the patio, it may be a rerun aerial show!)

      Sterling silver ring: Not the first thing with potential to bring to the "Cam Do" (pawn) shops around and about, but perhaps the most valuable item recovered from the dig so far. Not sure it would make museum quality however.

      Silver chain: Well hidden in the garden path, but who knows what passion led to it's casting to the wind.

Most people here are conscientious about sweeping in front of their homes regularly, though most often that is to remove the biological debris (flower petals for example) that can accumulate with amazing rapidity. Our lot is to clean up the "back lot" of our home which collects largely the detritus of other's indiscretions and bad habits. We are after all below many bathroom windows.

Knowing me, you're not doubt wondering where the moral is in this story. And of course there are many. All things do testify of Christ, and this is not different, on practically all levels. Often in our lives, we live "downstream" from the inconsiderate, wasteful, perhaps even obscene, who mindlessly, and sometimes intentionally cast their garabage into our lives. Most of it is useless, but there may be hidden silver chains, and with the help of a loving Savior, we can discern which is which, and carry out the garbage to where it doesn't interfere with our lives. 

Christ said that "the poor you have always with you" and in that sense, we will probably never know the day when there is not someone mindlessly tossing aside their garabage into our lives, perhaps with a few gems. If we tire of or neglect the "clearing out" processes of repentance and forgiveness, our lives will become but embittered relics of interesting archaeology, or maybe uninteresting archaelolgy. But if we embrace the critical role of the cleansing process of repentance and its twin sister forgiveness, availing ourselves of the infinite atonement of Christ, that on-going effort will become exalting and enobling (as well as enabling) for us. I intend to keep cleaning the patio, and finding opportunities to beautify it.

                   

                       Some of the "greens" and "reds" that have adorned the patio and plate.

                  

  After much patient care, this very old bougainvillea bush is beginning to flower (though supposedly they thrive on perceived drought and subsequent heavy watering, "deceiving" them into thinking they have one last chance to propagate! So it may have been my neglect as much as my care!)

In another sense, the vast majority of the world is daily casting off little evidences of who they are, what they do, and what is important to them, and occasionally they are also casting off unknowingly things that do matter. Beyond just the concept of a "carbon footprint" we have a much richer trail behind us of actions, thoughtful or inconsiderate, words, loving or rude, decisions, trivial and monumental, and possessions, common or precious. We're here trying to leave a legacy of service, love and compassion, as well as some enabling education and leadership skills that will allow the future stakes to flourish and a temple to be built, as well as pragmatic lessons in diagnostic pathology and quality of care that will bless the lives of the rising generation when they are advanced in age and demand the services of cancer care or other pathology-related needs. It's a very fulfilling time to be here indeed.

        

In the meantime, if you know the owners of these more valued castaways, send them our way. We know about "restoration" as well!

Church World Service

Friday was spent at church for a zone conference with Elders Thanh and Le, and Sisters Dao and Hien and President and Sister Christensen.   Elder and Sister Noorda were on a trip looking at provincial projects with Church World Service.  So we missed them, but I was really happy for them.  Church World Service does a marvelous job with their sanitation projects.  Their  model of operation is very effective in its ability to foster long-lasting, self-sustaining education and emotional and physical ownership based changes in small communities.  So I am very glad about the possibilities not only of LDSCharities partnering with them but also learning from them.  Thanks to the Gatherums for their awareness that has facilitated that connection for the Noordas.

For more about CWS and the good work they do, see:  http://www.cwsglobal.org/our-work/

Global Handwashing Day Dance

Sometimes mission work is just really loving and enjoying people you are working with and watching them enjoy what they are doing.
So, in hopes of sharing a bit of that, here, brought to you by the pathology laboratory dance group of Hospital 108.......

is their Global Handwashing Day dance which I didn't get to see in person but which they posted on facebook.

You can watch them and their fellow lab personnel in dancing action by clicking HERE 

Enjoy!

National Global Handwashing Day

Today we worked at another Hospital.  It's an older facility made of multiple buildings.  The main building that houses intensive care, the surgical suites, the laboratories and the stroke unit is about 10 years old.  The other buildings were likely built while the French were still here.  There is a new, multistory hospital being built next door that will replace the current hospital complex.  It is still a year or so away from completion, I think.  One interesting connection with that new hospital is that when the administration was first deciding to build the new building they sent a team of architects and physicians to look at other hospitals in other countries.  Lewis got tapped to help connect that team with the University of Utah and they spent a number of days in Salt Lake City getting a full blown tour of the facilities there.

With the surgery suites in a different building that means that every time we go there, as we enter the main doors of the hospital or wait for the elevator we are sure to encounter unconscious patients, wrapped in sheets, lying on guerneys and being pushed through the front lobby and out the front door and around the building  and into another to get them back to their hospital rooms after surgery.

The staff I talked to are looking forward to patients not having to be moved outside on their way back to their hospital rooms.  And of course, during the rainy season it means delays.  There is a strict "no unconscious patients out in the rain" policy.

Also, we discovered that, unbeknownst to us, October 15 is Global Handwashing Day.  To commemorate it (and also review the principles with all the hospital staff and employees) the hospital is holding a dance and information contest.  Every department has been required to create a dance team with original choreography on the subject  of handwashing and appoint two members of the team (one doctor and one support personnel) to represent them  in a short public interview testing their knowledge of handwashing (there is a lot of information about handwashing out there).  My English students invited me to watch one of the first rounds of the competition with them while Lewis was reviewing slides with a couple of serious young pathologists.  It was a lively performance with some creative dances (and, I would assume, some very good responses to questions from the panel, though I could not understand what they were saying).

As Lewis said, when you work in a place where there is a lot of sickness and there are encounters with death, it is helpful and healthy to create some positive, recreative energy in the care, study and work being done. And I enjoyed seeing, with some of my young friends  who are also working on their dance routine which they must perform next week, how that truism was being played out here.

We also stopped to see Su May before we headed home.  Her young adult daughter was with her.  Her surgery is tomorrow.