SPOT Locator

Our team is using a 'SPOT Locator' to help you see where we are.  We will pinpoint significant locations in our travels, which can be seen by satellite.  By clicking on the link, you can go to the 'SPOT Locator' web page (for 'myspot vawenzel' account).  Select the 'satellite' tab at the top right, then zoom in (using the bar on the left) to see where we were at the time the locator signal was sent (occasionally a photo will be included).  Because there may be a slight delay in receiving the location coordinates (when the signal finally goes through) the map may show we are a few miles down the road from when I pushed the button, because we are on the move at the time.


Click here to view our locations. 

Hospital tours and village clinic preparations

Today, the team received the grand tour of the Koutiala Hospital for Women and Children in Mali, West Africa.  

We began the day with 'Chapel' attended by the entire hospital staff who filled a great room. We heard (but unfortunately couldn't understand) a very well received devotional given first in French by Katherine and translated into Bombara by another gentleman. My friend, Moesh (Moses), the hospital chaplain, was sitting right beside them (what a Godly man).  It was a privilege to convey the greetings from our pastor, Mark Ashton, the entire staff, and our whole congregation at Christ Community Church in Omaha, as brothers and sisters in Christ, with the entire staff at the hospital. They have great appreciation for the contributions made by CCC towards the facilities and equipment at the hospital.

After the 7:30am chapel devotions, rounds were made by the attending physicians in both the adult and pediatric wards before clinics were conducted.

There is an audiologist from Mayo in Rochester who is visiting for a few weeks to conduct sophisticated hearing tests and to distribute about 10 'solar-powered' hearing aids to the children who need them most (I never knew there was such a thing).  There were also leukemia patients that I met last year who are in remission and receiving periodic IV therapy, severe burn (>40%) survivors who were doing very well with their skin grafts, numerous preemies and newborns every day (about 4.5 delivered each day)- the new total exceeding 8000.  After clinics there is the surgical schedule with about 3-4 cases per surgeon. They recently had their busiest month with just over 80 surgeries in January. 

We observed U/V prolapse repairs (after 10 births) and the debredment of a severe osteomylitis of a woman's ankle (the extent of the wound she came to the hospital with is far too graphic to portray here but I'll share the x-ray), but now, she has a chance of surviving; time will tell whether she will keep her foot.  A maxofacial surgeon is present 7 months out of the year reconstructing horrendous disease, disfigurement and disintegration of facial structures we seldom see in the US.  A severe cleft palate case is insignificant when compared to some of his worst cases. 

The 'tour' included a visit to what is probably the most sophisticated medical lab in West Africa. It's amazing what God is accomplishing here through the hands and feet of His people.  Our team also helped with "the chore" of preparing all the medications into prepackaged packets we will be distributing at the village clinic of Soun tomorrow. There will be much to tell after that experience, but it will be an 18 hour day; it may take another day before we send a report.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support for our team and the entire staff at the hospital... what an amazing place.

Here is a link to photos from today.  

Our journey to Mali, West Africa

Jason, Elosia, Eva, Vaughan, Tami, Jennifer, Kristin

We departed Omaha about 1pm on Saturday and connected through Chicago for an 8.5 hour flight to Paris, followed by an 8 hour layover.  Next came a late flight in the dark over the Mediterranean and Sahara Desert that lasted 6 hours.  We arrived in Bamako about 9pm (3pm Omaha time) but didn't get through baggage and customs until midnight.  We were in bed by 2am and up at 7am on Monday to hit the road for a 6 hour drive (to go a short 170 miles) to Koutiala.  Pictures on the blog will help explain why it takes so long.  We were at the Koutiala hospital for introductions by Monday evening, as well as a potluck dinner.  They are 6 hours ahead of CST in Omaha (Koutiala is situated very near the GMT line).  The temperature is about 100*F and humidity is at 3%.   

Keep looking for our blog posts, which we will add and update as time allows.  We'll try to send photos or videos, stories, reports and prayer needs each day, but electricity and reliability of WiFi connections will determine our success at that.  Your comments on the blog are encouraged. 

Pray for our team and the staff at the hospital.  We will be conducting village clinic excursions which add an extra dimension of burden to their busy schedules, but the value of these village clinics is tremendous.  Thank you in advance for your prayers.  Financial support for team members is still needed and will continue to be accepted even after we return from the trip. 

Thank you, 
Vaughan Wenzel, PA-C and the team 

Meet us on the blog.

Much more to tell but the power is going off any minute.  Suffice it to say, we arrived safely at the Koutiala Mission House at 6PM (noon Omaha) and had a wonderful dinner with all the hospital staff and missionaries.  We were tired today but we meet for devotions with the Mali staff at the hospital at 0730 - so we have a 6AM wake up call.

Here is a photo album detailing our arrival in Mali.  Enjoy!

God can even use Cheetos

We arrived in Bamako about 9pm local time on Sunday night (3pm Omaha time).  It took another 2.5 hours to collect all our bags and clear customs.  The Lord protected our 14 bags FILLED with medical supplies, equipment and medications.  A customs official spotted a 'blue stamp" on one of our baggage tags, which means that the bag needed to be refrigerated because it has food or fruit or medicine.  The bag was loaded on a cart with other bags and he wanted us to bring the cart over to the inspection area, but his accent was so thick that I must have misunderstood him and only brought the bag with the blue stamp on it, and sent the rest of the bags on the cart to the other side of the large in-processing area while he turned and walked towards the inspection area.  So Tami and I followed him into the inspection area with the one bag with the blue tag (which was laden with bedside medicine pumps, supplies, injectable drugs essential in the OR, bags and bags of tablets, and derm ointments--all requested by the hospital staff) to open the bag expecting to find the styrofoam box with sensitive lab kits that HAD been designated for cold storage. But it was in different suit case. Why was this one bag marked and not every single one of them?  On top of all these medications was a box with a medium bag of Cheetos, requested by one of the families who missed them (since they are not available in Africa) laying on top of the pile of our payload.  I said, "Ah, here it is.  You are right, a food item."  "What about all those drugs?" he asked.  "Oh, those aren't drugs; they are medicines for the hospital in Koutiala," I answered.  This guy wasn't stupid and I figured my lame assessment about the reason for the blue stamp would go about as far as I could throw this 50# bag. They talked in Bombara (the language of Mali).  Our mission-escort was not with us (he can't come into the customs area) so we had no idea what they were saying for those few minutes, but it didn't sound good.  Suddenly, for no reason (that would be apparent to the casual observer, but we immediately knew better) they said, "Okay, you can go."  I offered to sacrifice the Cheetos, but he declined.  We zipped up the bag and Tami and I took off without further discussion, thinking, "Praise the Lord."  They may never know just how 'good' those Cheetos really are.

This was just one of the "God things" that we've experienced in the first 36 hours. We are looking forward to many more.  VW

Here we go. Months of preparation are at hand. Our medical team is off to Mali, West Africa.


We depart Omaha about 1pm on Saturday and connect through Chicago (for 8.5 hrs) to Paris (7 hr. layover), then a late flight in the dark over the Mediterranean and Sahara Desert (another 6 hrs) that arrives in Bamako about midnight Sunday night. We'll make our way through customs and get in bed by 2am, to be up again at 7am on Monday to hit the road (another 5.5 hours - to go a short 170 miles) to Koutiala. We'll be at the Koutiala hospital for introductions by Monday afternoon, their time. They are 6 hours ahead of CST in Omaha. (Koutiala is situated very near the GMT line.) The temperature will be 100*F.


Bookmark this site and look for our blog posts, which we will update as time allows. We'll try to send photos or videos, stories, reports and prayer needs each day, but electricity and reliability of WiFi connections will determine our success at that. Your comments on the blog are encouraged.


Pray for our team and the staff at the hospital. We will be conducting village clinic excursions which add an extra dimension of burden to their busy schedules, but the value of these village clinics is tremendous. Thank you in advance for your prayers. Financial support for our team members is still needed and will continue to be accepted even after we return from the trip.


Thank you, from all of us the team


Meet us on the blog!


(With apologies to Peter, Paul and Mary)
"All our bags are packed - We're ready to go - We're heading for 'United's' door -
We were up all night, packing one more thing.


So, pray for us once or twice... every day would be so nice.
Lord, lift us up, like you've never done before.


Cause we're leavin' on a jet plane, don't know what lies ahead.
We're leavin' on a jet plane, knowing that you've gone ahead,
Oh Lord... we want to meet you there."