World Malaria Day - April 25

Today is World Malaria Day designed to bring awareness to the malaria-endemic in our world. I currently live in a country within the risk area for malaria, so this issue is important to me as I work in the area of development.

In January, my team in Niger visited a village called Teppe, where we have begun a Community Health Evangelism program, with a team of visitors from Beulah Alliance in Edmonton. Along with the training done in basic health, our team provided treated mosquito nets in the village - complete with a skit on proper use of the netting. Here is what they called the Mosquito Net Dance to teach the villagers to not allow goats or chickens (or any other animal) in the netting. (photo curtosy of Ace & Cecilia Cheung: http://cheung.sunergo.net/qry/mm_page.taf?id=14)

In my course on humanitarian aid last year, I learned that malaria is transmitted through night-time mosquito bites, and I also learned the following information regarding the treated mosquito nets:

The bug releases the malaria parasite with the toxin at the end of its meal when it seals the wound from bleeding

If using a regular mosquito net, the mosquito can still feed through the netting if your body is up against the “wall”

When using a treated net, the primetherin irritates the mosquito, so if it does begin feeding, it will leave before finishing feeding and will not release the sealant which contains the malaria parasite. It also will kill the mosquito, so helps control/eradicate the population

The risk of malaria increases for those considered 'displaced people groups'. Due to famine, drought, wars, conflicts; many people in Africa and around the world are surviving in acute crisis situations and in refugee camps. According to the World Health Organization:

Population movements and displacement, increased vulnerability due to malnutrition and concurrent infections, poor or absent housing, environmental deterioration resulting in increased vector breeding, and poor knowledge among intervening health agencies all contribute to the increased malaria burden. As a result, people become more vulnerable to malaria attacks, severe malaria and death from malaria.

Malaria is one of the top 5 killers in Niger, especially for those under five; untreated malaria can also lead to severe mental retardation as a result of cerebral malaria.

Malaria Treatment:
As mosquitos have always loved feeding on me, and as I have received many night-time mosquito bites, I am grateful that I am able to afford the anti-malarial medication which is designed to kill the malaria parasite if I am infected.

Many of those around are unable to afford this medication.

Our team is also able to provide medication in the villages that host medical clinics, thanks to funds raised by the Alliance Women's Project in 2006. The cost of medication to treat malaria is minimal:

If you would like to partner with my team in development aid, targeting the elimination of poverty in Niger (which includes malaria prevention and treatment), funds can be donated through an Alliance Church or the National Ministry Center - designated: Impacting Niger.

If you would like to help with mosquito netting in impoverished countries of the world, Samaritan's Purse runs a mosquito netting program alongside a malaria prevention training program.

Further information on malaria and other mosquito-born diseases, can be found on my colleague's blog site (thanks Chantelle for the inspiration to blog this today!)

Hot Season

So, the hot season is no longer knocking at our door - it is here in full force!!! It is 50+ by 9am in the morning!! In fact, it was so hot the other day - it broke my thermometer!!!

Lesson #1: Do not leave a thermometer in the sun (no matter how curious you are as to exactly how hot it is!)

Lesson #2: Next time, buy a thermometer that goes higher than 50 degrees!!

Based on where the line of liquid went to above the final number, I figure that it was about 56 degrees when my thermometer bit the dust!

So, I am off to bed - and I may be taking a few frozen ice cubes wrapped in a towel with me!!

To my friends and family in Calgary enduring a spring blizzard - perhaps we can work out some sort of weather exchange. I am at +55 and you are at -20 (about a 75 temperature degree difference, eh?!!) - so if you send a bit of snow and I send a bit of sun, we could meet in the middle at about +25 for me and +10 for you! Sounds like a fair exchange.

Additional - "You know it is hotter in Niger than in Canada when" . . .

You drive with two fingertips on the steering wheel

You drive with the air conditioner on full-blast at 8:30pm

The dishes in the rack dry faster than you can wash them

The butter in the pan melts - completely - before you can turn on the stove

. . . and other duties as required.

You all know this line in a job description - the one at the end of a list of duties - which states:

Other duties as required

I am still learning what all is required in my new job, I know language study and bookkeeping is a small part of it, but still remain a bit confused on what exactly an International Worker does. BUT, I did find out what my other duties as required are:
 

Changing Tires on my truck!!

The Lord was definitely watching out for me the other night though, as the tire did not go flat until I reached my yard - for it was almost 11pm, my cell phone was dying (oops) and I have never changed a flat tire before! (I am familiar with the concept of the procedure, but my cars in Canada never had a flat, so I had never changed a tire before.) I drive into my yard, head to the house after greeting my guard, Karim, when he calls after me: 'Madame, le pneu!' (Madame, the tire!). I walk over, and sure enough, I hear a slow and steady hissing stream of noise and watch as my tire slowly deflates itself.

I call my teammates in the morning for a ride to prayer meeting, and while there he asks Lisa to show me how to change my tire. (We thought he was joking!) In the end though, I am glad to learn this new task - who knows, I may (will certainly) need this skill out in the desert one day.  And Lisa was honored to be trusted with the task as well!
 

We both had our tasks for the day - mine was single-handed: learn how to change the tire; hers was a bit more complicated as it was multiplied by 6!! Lisa's 'other job duties as required' included:

project manager

chief photographer

comic relief

Instruction Manual reader (interpreter)

Spare tire fetcher

moral support

We also had an audience - as my guard Ifostane heard our giggles and hoots of laughter - and came to investigate! He offered to take it off and go get it fixed, but we managed to convince him that I needed to learn how to do this in case I was ever out alone in the desert. (We used a wonderful French phrase - which does not translate directly to English - but the gist is 'it is necessary that. . . .' and generally leaves no room for argument - though the artisans use this to indicate I must look at their wares or exchange my local currency for the american dollars they accepted from a tourist, neither of which are a must! As much as I loved learning 'il faut que' in class at Laval, I am now a little tired of hearing it all the time - still like using it though!). Anyways . . . Ifostane left us alone, but wandered in and out of the yard to keep his eye on the progress.

The entire process took us two hours - minus the water break in the middle! But we had (likely way too much) fun!! We dutifully read all the instructions - just as if I was doing this alone. The instruction manual was a little hyper-safety-conscious as numerous cautions were repeated 4-5 times:

ensure no one is in the vehicle

do not crawl under the vehicle while it is jacked up

While these are valuable pointers, we felt that we did not need to be reminded of them after every set of instructions! When the book told us to turn things clockwise or counter-clockwise, we both needed to visualize our clocks (with me looking at my arm - watchless - to figure out which direction to turn the wheelnuts or the jack-raiser-thingy). At one point, Lisa indicated something I needed to do in non-technical terms and then asked if I understood the instructions. Of course - I too 'speak female' - so I knew exactly what she meant!!
 

At one point we decided, while I was adjusting the position of the jack, that I should be using my left (and not right) hand. If I should loose a hand, better the left; as in the Muslim society the left hand is 'taboo'. Though the regulations surrounding this in Niger seem to be less strict than in other countries, the left hand is still referred to as 'the other hand'. The left hand is used as toilet paper and if you want to insulte someone, you offer your left hand or offer money with the left hand. We discussed the situation and concluded that there may be some leniency if someone was missing their right hand - but decided to 'play it safe' . . . so the left hand went under the truck!

So . . . for your visual pleasure - photos of our fun!:

figuring out how to put together the 'jack-raiser-thingy':



Lisa fetching the spare tire: lining up the jack (note: left hand going under the truck!!):
reading the instruction booklet: checking the picture - for a visual on which direction is counter-clockwise while turning the 'jack-raiser-thingy': the instructions indicated (in relation to these two pieces) 'keeping them firmly together' . . . they did not cooperate and I had to reattach them many times!: yikes!! time for a hydration break!: so, how high does this need to go?: almost off: . . . the instructions said lift it off, right??!: lining up the spare: I did it! It's on!!: and . . . Voila!! SUCCESS!!

I live with a Gecko

Last week I walked into my kitchen at night to a clicking sound and discovered a gecko on my wall. Now, these guys are quite cute! Appearance and actions. From wikipedia:

Geckos are unique among lizards in their vocalizations, making chirping sounds in social interactions with other geckos. Geckos are unusual in other respects as well. Many species have specialized toe pads that enable them to climb smooth vertical surfaces and even cross indoor ceilings with ease. These antics are well-known to persons living in warm regions of the world where several species of geckos make their home inside human habitations. These species (for example the House gecko) become part of the indoor menagerie and are seldom really discouraged because they feed on insect pests.

One teammate and I were discussing their actions and came to the following description:

When they see you, they freeze and look at you - and you can almost see them thinking "Can you see me?". When you start walking, they figure you can - so they run a few feet over and then freeze again - "Can you see me now??!!?". We concluded that the gecko must figure it's a chameleon . . . but alas, it is not - and we can always see it.

Cute as it is, I am not sure I want it in my house. Though, one of my teammates says I am lucky to have it - it will eat bugs. Another teammate sadly tells me that I will have to get rid of it (ie: kill it) because it will just leave gecko poop all over the floors and walls. Why did no one tell me this before I came?? (yup, because I think they are cute.)

So I head off home to see what I can do about my gecko. Not willing to kill it (it is soooo cute) I figure maybe I can trap it under a bucket and then slide the bucket through my house, onto the verranda and then release it. The next morning I went on a gecko hunt as I saw the gecko poop on the kitchen floor. Had I found it, I am sure my guard would have been amused when I released it - for at the same time he was washing the verranda!

This morning, after searching again last night and finding no gecko poop this morning, I came to some conclusions. I also found a spider in the kitchen which I had to kill - so obviously, the gecko is not doing his job!

Conclusions:

1. the gecko has left the house from whence he came
2. the gecko has died of a heart attack from my attempts to find him
3. the gecko is too scared to come out - because of all my attempts to find him

Well . . . the lizard lives . . . So . . . scratch all the suppositions of this morning: - the lizard is not dead (or died of a heart attack), the lizard has not left the house from whence he came, and he is definitely not too scared to come out BUT- he is not doing his job (because of the spider I found this morning). I just went to grab some more water and found a gecko poop in front of the fridge which was not there at lunch! aggh! So I went on the hunt moving all the furniture. I found him behind one of the moveable counters, but before I could pull it out far enough to get something over him, he ran out and behind or under the washing machine. dude - they are fast!! So - the hunt continues with fervor!

It is a bummer that there a nine things behind/under which he can hide himself! If he was smart, he would stay under the washing machine as that is too heavy for me to move - I am hoping he is not smart! He likely is though, as I did not find him after he ran away. If only I could trap him in the big living area, it would be an easier job (there is not much in there to hide behind or under!). Maybe I will try to chase him this direction and block off all the other doors.

Another third teammate told me last night that she doesn't kill, trap or chase geckos either - as they eat bugs. I was slightly willing to go with that theory (minus the unpleasantness of the poop), but having to kill my own spider this morning killed the geckos chance at the same time. (I hate spiders!) So, I am off on a catch-&-release hunt. What makes it more difficult is the fact that these geckos are night creatures - I will likely have to stay up until 2am to really get a good chance at finding him!

Disclaimer: No teammates names are mentioned to protect identities! :)

My Grandma

My Grandma passed away this week, she has been fighting cancer for the last few years and I know that she is now without pain in heaven. I rest assured in God's timing for me to arrive in Niger when I did; though, it is also difficult to be away from my family at this time.

Having grown up in Calgary where my grandparents lived, I have many memories of times with my Grandma - from picking peonies outside her house; to eating Chinese food (always a favourite!); going to their house Christmas Eve to sing carols, eat food and open presents; to her making New Year's cookies (fried dough) - even though she always insisted in making them with raisins (which I strongly dislike) because that is how they were done - I picked out the raisins because they tasted so good I had to eat them!

My favourite memory was the birthday she took me to the zoo and we spent the day roaming around. As one of her nieces worked at the zoo, she had arranged for me to get in back of the elephant exhibit where I got to see and pet the baby elephant!!

My biggest comfort during this time is a verse that a friend sent me that is so fitting to my grief:

If I dwell by the farthest oceans,

even there Your hand will guide me,

Your strength will support me.

- Psalm 139:9b-10

Each time I have grieved the death of a Grandparent, my Father in Heaven has given me a verse to help me through that time. And it is a comfort to know that during this time of dwelling by the farthest ocean, He has guided me here at this time and it is His strength and arms which hold me close these days.