“Oh my! I have never seen so much stuff in one ear!” I lamented. In fact, I had no idea that so much stuff could even fit.

Zeremy, a strong, sweet, carefree, 10-year-old boy, had come in with ear pain — caused by a stick broken off inside. It happened when he had used a twig to clean out some ear wax — six months prior. Shocked, I asked Jeremy why he had waited so long to get help.

“It didn’t hurt until now,” he answered. “But now it hurts so bad that I told my family I wanted to cut my ear off.”

As I looked into his ear with an otoscope, sure enough, lying against his eardrum was a sizable piece of wood stuck to the earwax like glue. I put some carbamide peroxide drops, specifically for earwax removal, into his ear to soften the earwax overnight.

The following morning, I applied the drops again, waited awhile, and then flushed his ear out at least three times with a large syringe filled with warm water. Only a small amount of earwax came out. I looked inside his ear again. There was almost no change from the night before. The stick was in the same place, still glued to his eardrum. Without anything other than a pair of tweezers, I tried to remove the twig for several minutes, but with no success. I prayed for God to help us. He gave me the wisdom to realize that this job was too big for me.

I told Zeremy’s mother that he needed a doctor. She made a phone call and got us an appointment at the government hospital within walking distance. The doctor was very friendly and had the advantage of a better tool than mine. As he started to pull the stick out of Zeremy’s ear, Zeremy screamed out in pain and began crying. The stick had scratched his ear canal, making it bleed. His mother tried to keep him from jumping out of the chair. Finally, the doctor did an amazing job removing the quarter-of-an-inch long stick.

Good! He got it! I thought. Little did I know that wasn’t even half of what was in his ear. The doctors in Mali speak French, so I used Google Translate to ask, “Is his eardrum ok? Does it have a hole in it?” The doctor spoke a little English and answered, “No.” Then he took my phone to write a message to translate to me. It read, “The ear is dead.”

“What? The ear is dead!” I blurted. My heart sank. Was he deaf in that ear now?

The doctor laughed because he understood what I said. He took my phone, erased only one letter, and returned it to me. This time, it read, “The ear is dirty.” I started laughing and was so thankful it was only a small mistake in spelling. Still laughing at his mistake, he said, “His ear is dirty. I will clean it.”

The doctor heated a small amount of water to put in a syringe and placed a large metal bowl under Zeremy’s ear to catch the water when he flushed it out. He blasted the water into Zeremy’s ear, and we all were shocked at what came out! There were three more pieces of wood, all as big as the first. There was also an abundance of other debris and earwax. He filled the syringe many times until the water that poured out of Zeremy’s ear was clear.

The doctor looked into Zeremy’s ear using a quality otoscope with a built-in camera connected to his computer screen. His ear looked clean, and his eardrum was good, save for the scratch on the side of his ear canal and a small circle of white pus indicating an infection. The doctor said Zeremy needed antibiotics and gave him a good talking to about how he should never put anything else in his ear.

I was thrilled it was all over and relieved that Zeremy felt much better. As we walked home, I praised God for how he helped us. I also praise the Lord for how you, our prayer partners and donors, are a part of the work here in Africa. God bless you all.

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