to thirst.

One challenge on the wards of the Africa Mercy is that we rely almost solely on our ward translators to communicate with patients. The translators are local Malagasy hired by Mercy Ships to serve in that role, and they usually speak a minimum of 3 languages. It is incredible how quickly they can switch from one language to the next, and for the duration of 12 hour shifts! To make things even trickier for them, they have to translate for a wide array of English speakers… and in case you wondered, English is not universal... especially when it comes to hospital terminology. Sometimes I feel like I’m speaking a different language from my Brit, Aussie, and South African friends. And then there are the German, Swedish, Norwegian, etc. nurses for whom English is a second or third language!

Some of our translators have a better grasp of English than others, and a couple weeks ago I was trying to explain to one what “thirsty” means. How would you describe it?

I think I said something along the lines of “When your mouth is really dry and you want water or something wet in your mouth.” Obviously, being thirsty isn’t just about a dry mouth, but it was the simplest way I could think to explain it.  And, usually that is what it means on the maxillofacial ward, where many of our patients are fed through a nasogastric tube and are able to have nothing, except sometimes water, by mouth.

So when we describe thirst, I realized we explain it by the physical sensation and by what we are desiring... based on what we lack. Thirst is a symptom. We may not even realize we’ve only had 200ml water to drink for the day (a phenomenon all too common in the nursing profession) until we start to feel the dry mouth, the headache, the inability to focus, the lethargy.

Thirst is more than a desire for something we want, it is a craving for something we need. According to the ever-reliable world wide web and the 45 seconds I spent researching it, the longest a person has survived without any water is 18 days. We need water.

Do you ever feel a thirst in your soul? A deep desire... more than just something you want; for something you need, something that you recognize you can’t keep on living without?

My first patient of this field service in Madagascar was a beautiful woman named Vololonirina who had a maxillary tumor removed. When asked about her experience leading up to her surgery with Mercy Ships, she said, ever so poetically, “It has always been a thirst for me to have someone finally taking care of me. Like you.” On the ward, Vololonirina was often found deep in her Malagasy Bible. One shift, after helping comb the post-operative blood out of her hair which was secured back in two messy French braids, I asked her what she loved reading most in the Bible. She immediately flipped to the book of Isaiah. Two weeks before I had committed to studying Isaiah while on the ship, and even after the little reading I had done, I knew why the book of Isaiah meant so much to her. Throughout the whole book are woven the themes of salvation, restoration and hope. Of rivers being made in the wastelands. Vololonirina explained to me how she loved that Isaiah wrote like a poet, and that she clung to his words to remind her of the hope she had in Christ, and of God’s power and ability to satisfy her thirst. Before she left the ship a couple weeks later, she wrote a moving letter to the crew and the other patients. In the letter she, following Isaiah’s suit, wrote a poem:

Because of God’s love I am who I am.
That’s why I am happy;And I am still alive with my soul.I can’t be quiet at all, so I’ve decided to write this poem so as to offer you my thanks and also my souvenir, but don’t forget to thank God for all.Oh friends! I encourage you, lean your lives on God; Because He is the creator of everything on earth.(Alpha and Omega) The beginning and the end.
So don’t waste your time in order not to be late.Please take and feel the righteous words from God and always keep it with faith and whatever happens, God is always with you. He’s the only one who can solve your problems.

My friend, is your soul thirsting? Lean your life on God. He will satisfy your desires with good and lovely things. (psalm 103)

The afflicted and needy are seeking water, but there is none, And their tongue is parched with thirst; I, the LORD, will answer them Myself, As the God of Israel I will not forsake them. "I will open rivers on the bare heights And springs in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water And the dry land fountains of water. [Isaiah 41:17-18]

And the LORD will continually guide you, And satisfy your desire in scorched places, And give strength to your bones; And you will be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. [Isaiah 58:11]