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Letters From Iraq

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Our fellow Christ Follower, Dr. Ken Magee, is now in Iraq with The Northwest Medical Teams
The main emphasis of their trip will be to update the Doctors and Nurses on the latest advances in medicine.
Here are some excerpts from his letters home.

19 Sept 2003
Dear Jo and Family and Friends, Greetings from Iraq, Kurdistan, We finished our three day trip this evening with lots of driving from Dyarbarker this morning to Irbil (Arbil) this evening. Our border crossing from Turkey into Iraq at midday took about three hours of the total in going through many checkpoints; eight in all. However, I had a very helpful Turkish driver who went to great lengths to make sure I stayed out of trouble. Yesterday was really an off day with the taxi drivers in Istanbul taking us to two different terminals and ultimately making us miss our plane. Superbly helpful attendants rearranged our schedule and we flew out a few hours later, journeying by a more devious route via Ankara to Dyarbarker. We thank God for his care in sending helpful people to straighten things out. What could have cost us $400 more at the going rate, they only charged us about $90 extra. Today we passed a lot of ancient history. The remnants of the walls of Ninevah, some of which are being rebuilt, but most of which appears as large piles of dirt that stretch for many miles. The town area now is Mosul. We stayed away from the center of that town as our driver explained that it is full of strong supporters of Saddam H. and lots of anti American sentiment. We did see a group of U.S. armored vehicles passing through that town. One sitting at his machine-gun on top looked awfully young. I smiled and waved and he waved back. What huge responsibility for one so young. Saw a Blackhawk helicopter sailing over the city. We followed along the Tigris River for quite a ways. It is really quite a large river and is obviously used for irrigation very much. The countryside is full of sheep and goats with their herders. Almost no fences exist in that countryside except for razor-wire on cement posts along the Syrian border, and similar things around some of Saddams old hangouts. I saw lots of burros but not near as many as in Afghanistan. We are at a hotel in Irbil where we will be for a few days and will start teaching Monday. There are quite a few aid workers stationed here. Just talked with one from N. Carolina. I also talked with several people while waiting at the border to get into Iraq. Mostly they seemed kindly towards Americans and two I believe are Christ followers. The accommodation here is better than I expected but I guess the reason for choosing it is the security issue. Certainly living in some areas would be problematic for those helping us out. There is a soldier at the gate with his Uzzi. Signs of warfare are present but not huge generally.
Well, we will be meeting the "minister of health" in this part of Kurdistan soon and planning some of the details of our main objectives. Well Jo, I sure miss you and all my good family and friends. I wish you could see the sights I am privileged to see. May you all be blessed. Love, Ken

20 September 2003
Dear Jo and others, It has been a good Saturday here in Irbil We looked around a bit, driving to an old museum that unlike many others in this land was not looted . We saw artifacts from thousands of years ago and even got to touch and feel of some of them. An old citadel sits on a hill on the north side of this city. It has been built and repaired with some parts dating back to nearly seven thousand years ago. But the majority of this day off was spent preparing for our ACLS classes which start on Monday with Iraqi Drs. It is customary to dress up with a good shirt and tie here and so we will do so in starting the class. (Then we hope to become much more casual.) We did visit the area where a suicide bomber blew things up including an Iraqi soldier and child nearby a few days ago. Lots of destruction. It is remarkable that there were not more killed. One of the NWMTI workers who lives about two blocks away had eight windows blown out of his house. But we've encountered only friendliness and the playing children are just like kids everywhere else I've been.
Got to close. Love, Ken

Sunday, 21 Sept. 2003
Dear Jo, It has been a busy day today visiting some hospitals and getting a better idea of where medicine is in Irbil. This morning we visited an emergency hospital with an attached surgery unit. It appeared well-run in spite of it being old and decrepit. Later we visited the one where we will hold our classes. It is more modern and actually pretty well equipped. There does seem to be a hunger to know more. In a storage room where we looked we found a lot of unpacked equipment also. They do have available in limited quantity most of the meds used in acute cardiac life support. We found out that they wanted to send many more to our classes than we have supplies and books available. That does show hunger. Nurses are also going to be included in our classes. Even though both genders appear among both physicians and nurses there seems to be a huge separation between nurses and Drs. with physicians performing much of what nurses do here and nurses doing mostly what nurses aids do in the States. We spent a lot of time sitting and talking and drinking the ever-present tea with the deputy Minister of Health of Kurdistan and later with the Chief of Staff of the larger hospital. Both seem very capable and friendly. Tomorrow we start the classes. Do pray that I and the others of our team may do a good job.
Much Love, Ken

24 September 2003
Dear Jo and others, Classes again went well today. We also attended what would be the equivalent to grand rounds at the hospital where we are holding the ACLS classes this morning. They presented cases of an idiopathic anemia, a pleural effusion, and a boy with severe pulmonary hypertension. I am impressed with the doctors wealth of book knowledge but at the same time the huge lack of things with which to work. For examples, they were unable to culture the pleural effusion which did have a lot of polys, their CT scanner doesn't work, and they have no one here to do a bronchoscopy. Securing cytology was also a problem. However these Doctors are very grateful that we are here and are hopeful in the middle of hard circumstances. The Drs. here are crying for help. They say that medicine has been at a standstill for 15 years. Nevertheless I am impressed with the good job they are doing with what little they have. They are a bright bunch.
Yesterday evening we visited the local business district, composed of all sorts of small shops along crowded and busy streets. It is an "every man and women for themselves" type of traffic. So many things to see. All together small shops with dry-goods stores and their sewing machines working away, men making jewelry, piles of oranges, grains etc, tables piled high with cheeses (and flies), meat markets with knife welding clerks, etc, etc. ancient citadel. Then there is the presence of the military. One young soldier came and talked with us while we were eating. He carried his machine gun with him but wanted to talk and thanked us for being there. Said that Americans were being given such a bad name generally that he was extremely happy for some other type of doings. Said he was going back to his unit and would tell his men about us. Night before last I heard shooting but generally don't.
Much love to you and everyone else, Ken

26 Sept. 2003
Dear Jo and Others, We finished our first week of ACLS classes feeling good about it all and much requests from the hospital administrator and other doctors to do more. So we go to Salaminiyah for next week and then return to Irbil the following week. The administrator and many of his staff hope to be included in a day of classes when we return. We certainly continue to be treated with much kindness.
Yesterday p.m. we were invited to attend the dedication of a park. The "Prime Minister" of Kurdistan and many people central to the running of N. Iraq were present. This also included the US commander of forces in this area. As you would expect this would be the type of gathering that many would love to bomb, so security was extreme. As the speeches progressed many armed men in suits stood among the crowd surveying those near them, never smiling, eyes roving back and forth. Encircling the group were circles of Iraqi soldiers. We sat near a group from the US who had been there since last Feb. They were lonesome for home.
In the evening, late, we were invited to dine with the hospital administrator and many of his staff. (Sounds like we are partying a lot, doesn't it.) Such stories we heard of difficult times for northern Iraq. One told how 8,000 men were taken out of his village by Saddam's forces and never returned. This included several from his own family. Another commented that he wished the US forces would do the same to those loyal to Saddam (Not the way of Jesus!)
Well, I must close, Much love, Ken

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