Merry Christmas!

Dear Friends and Family,
I hope you are having a wonderful Christmas season!  I'm enjoying my first Christmas in Bangladesh.  There have been lots of fun events to keep me busy, so I haven't had a chance to be too homesick.  We had several Christmas Tea's for the hospital employees in the last two weeks leading up to Christmas.  On the 23rd, we had a candlelight service/caroling with all the American/European workers, so that was fun to sing Christmas carols in English.  Today (the 24th), we celebrated Christmas with a yummy brunch.  Later on we'll have a Christmas dinner and gift exchange!  Tomorrow, the 25th, there is a big celebration at church and then I will be going to several of my Bengali coworkers homes for tea.  It will be a very different Christmas experience, but I'm looking forward to it.

Please pray for all those who are hearing for the first time about the true reason for Christmas!  Please pray for me as I will be sharing this with my coworkers and patients this Christmas season.
Thank you all for your continued prayers and support!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Here are some more pictures:

 This is at one of the hospital employee Christmas Teas.  These are several of the nurses and midwives that I work with at the hospital.

This is me serving at the Christmas Tea.  I knew those waitressing skills would come in handy some day!

I had the chance to go to the wedding celebration of this couple at one of the local churches two weeks ago.  It was really cool to see the different traditions.  Isn't the bride beautiful? (You are not supposed to smile in pictures here).

Leaving Chittagong

Hi, friends and family!  Hope you are having a wonderful beginning to this Christmas season.  I'm listening to Christmas music as I write this, but I also have the fan on and am in short sleeves, so it doesn't quite feel like it should be Christmastime. But anyway, I'm looking forward to lots of new experiences here in Bangladesh this Advent season.
This is my last night in Chittagong since I've now finished my 2 weeks of intense Bangla language study.  So I wanted to take this opportunity to update my blog one more time while I still have a faster internet service.  I've had a really busy, but productive 2 weeks of study.  I feel like I have a lot of the basics of the language down.  I still can't put a sentence together and don't know the vocab, but I know the alphabet and can say the basic phrases.  When I go back to Malumghat, I will work with a tutor to continue studying.  And hopefully be able to communicate with my patients without always relying on a translator.
I'm really looking forward to going back to the hospital tomorrow.  I'll be jumping right back into the work there and start taking overnight call.  That's a little intimidating because it is for the whole hospital, so I would definitely appreciate your prayers for me.  Fortunately, I will have one of the other doctors on back up for the first couple of months. But I would still love your prayers for wisdom during the next couple of months.
Today in church, we studied 1 Cor 13, which is the classic chapter about love.  Verse 3 really struck me, because it says even if I give all I have to the poor, but do not love, then I gain nothing.  As I go back to the hospital, I can give my all to helping these people, but if I do not do it with love (our Father's love), then it is pointless.  Please pray that I will be a good reflection of that love to all the patients I meet this next week. 
Thanks again for all your prayers and support,
Christel

Here are some more pictures:

This is Dipa, she has been my language tutor while I have been in Chittagong.  This was taken from the roof of her apartment building.  The clothes we are wearing is very common.  It's a long tunic (camiz) with shalwar pants and an orna (scarf).  Also in the background you can see long pieces of fabric hanging off the balconies, those are saris.

This is my first mehendi (henna) experience!  It won't last long when I go back to the hospital and start scrubbing again, but it was fun for now.

This is the children's choir performing at on of the local churches.

Mail and Packages

Hi!  A couple people have asked about sending packages or mail.  I would love to hear from you all!  Little reminders of home are always nice too!

My mailing address is:

Christel Brabon
c/o Memorial Christian Hospital
PO Malumghat Hospital
District Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh 4743

If you would like to send a package, please email me for further details.
Thanks!

Donate

Thank you all your support and prayers.  If you would like to help support my ministry to the women in Bangladesh, you can now do so online.  Click on the above link (Donate) and it will take you to Samaritan's Purse's website.  Then type my name into the doctor's name box.  Let me know if you have any problems with it.  All donations are tax deductible.

Thanks for your support!

First couple of weeks in Bangladesh

Hi, friends and family!
Thank you all for your prayers and support for me over the last couple of weeks.  I've made it safely to Bangladesh.  It was quite a trip, but thankfully I made all my flights (and so did my luggage)!
After arriving, I got to jump right in to life at the hospital.  It has definitely been a steep learning curve.  But the other doctors and staff have really helped me figure out how things work here.  One of my most common phases has been "well in the states I would..., but what do you do here?"
So now that orientation is over, I'm taking 2 weeks to do an intensive Bangla language course.  Some days I think my head is going explode, but actually it is going really well.
Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!
Thanks again for all your prayers and support!
Christel
Here are some pictures (not too graphic, I promise)!

 This is my desk/office at the hospital.  I have to wear a scrub dress over my scrub pants to work at the hospital due to the cultural dress code.

This is one of the ORs at the hospital. Here I'm doing a c-section.  The surgical techs/first assists are wonderful!

This is one of my patients with her baby that I delivered.

This is one of my really sweet patients who was having horrible pain from endometriosis.  Here she is after surgery.

This is a baby python that the gardeners found behind the hospital. That added some excited to our day!

No need for lawn mowers, we have cows!

Visiting in a Bengali home.  She made an incredible lunch for us!

This is the view from my apartment at sunset. It overlooks the caul and rice paddies. So beautiful!

New Adventure in Bangladesh

Hi, friends and family!
I'm starting this blog to chronicle my new adventure that I will be embarking on this October. After many years of preparation, college, medical school and residency, I'm finally ready to go off into the world and put all that training to use. This October I'll be moving to Malumghat, Bangladesh. I'm going with Samaritan's Purse's post residency program for two years and will be working at ABWE's Memorial Christian Hospital.
I will mainly be working as the hospital's OB/Gyn, supervising the midwives, doing c-sections, gynecological surgeries and training traditional birth attendants. I also hope to get involved with some of the local communities and churches.
Right now I'm staying with some of my family in Wilmore and hope to head out October 20th. I'm working on preparing and packing for the next 2 years, as well as spending some fun time with family and friends.
I'll be updating this blog with all my new adventures and hopefully lots of pictures. I'm also going to be sending out email and snail mail updates. If you would like me to send you updates, please email me your address.
Thank you so much for your prayers and support of me over the next two years!

Site in constuction

Hi! I'm working on getting this site set up. Please check back to hear about what's going on with my move to Bangladesh!