As mentioned in the previous post, I started off the month in a Fulani village - Kojeri - with a medical team from Beulah Alliance; Edmonton, Alberta.
This church sends out a team each year and this was my first opportunity to travel to a village with a medical clinic (as I arrived after their departure last year). This was an opportunity that I have looked forward to participating in since my arrival and one which needed a year of patience - as the teams come during our cold months of January and February! The ironic thing is that this week marked an unusual spike in temperature for this time of year - climbing into the 40's during our stay in the village!
This church sends out a team each year and this was my first opportunity to travel to a village with a medical clinic (as I arrived after their departure last year). This was an opportunity that I have looked forward to participating in since my arrival and one which needed a year of patience - as the teams come during our cold months of January and February! The ironic thing is that this week marked an unusual spike in temperature for this time of year - climbing into the 40's during our stay in the village!
We packed and left for the village on a Sunday, arriving late afternoon. We spent a fair amount of time greeting the villagers and the village Chief. The children of this village are very friendly and loved crowding around to have their picture taken . . . and as per the norm here, loving to see the result!
I began to wonder after a short time if we were perhaps the first white people some of these children had seen (or could remember seeing). At one point, I was surrounded by a group of young girls, about 7-9 years old, who were quite entranced with the colour of my skin. The turned my arm over and then turned one of their arms over and placed it next to mine. All the girls then proceeded to crowd their heads over our arms, then rubbing my arm and next the other girls - back and forth! Exclaiming all the while, of course, in words I could not understand!!
The villagers of Kojeri had worked prior to our arrival creating a camp & clinic beyond belief! The central 'building' was our clinic - a square building of straw mat walls and roof- created with 3 doctor consultation rooms, a nursing station (for wound care treatment) and a little waiting room. Off to the side of this was a small round straw mat concession for our kitchen. Over a bit more was a larger round straw mat concession with a tree in the center - this became 'our village' - where we set up a few tents, cots with mosquito nets, and a table for our meals.
Behind the clinic were two small mat enclosures - one a bucket shower area and the other our toilet. Off to the side of this, we installed the pharmacy - my working station for the next few days!
The first evening, after supper, we wandered over to the village and the young children became our tour guides. The young girls started clapping, 'singing' and dancing for us: the only word I caught of the song was 'tubakoɓe'. This is the Fulfulde word for white people, so I determined they were likely singing something about us. The children then guided us around the village a bit - taking us to see their school. We then headed back to our village, with the children holding every available hand - often 3 little black hands to one available white hand! - the road back and chattering away.
The next morning I arose at sunrise- to the sunlight and the sound of the young girls heading to the well to draw water for the morning and the more louder sound of donkeys, goats, sheep passing by our village. (Yes, I Kristi, was up at sunrise!)
The clinic opened at 8am and it was amazing to see the coordination of work. One of our health agents from Teppe providing the initial assessment and handing out the treatment slips to the villagers. They then passed to the triage area in front of the clinic where they were seen by a nurse who recorded their temperature and weight.
Once past triage outside the clinic, they were then allowed into the waiting room. After seeing a doctor, they were sent to the nursing station if they had a wound that needed cleaning or eye drop medication explained. This clinic also had the privilege of being a teaching station to some of the health agents we have trained in Teppe. Recently, Dr. Ace from our team did training on some basic first aid - wound care, splinting, etc... : some these agents were able to come to Kojeri for the clinic for pratical experience. The nurses in this station were able to work alongside these agents (with an interpreter) to teach and allow the agents to practice their training! The agents were so proud to work alongside our team and made a comment to Ace that they now feel more comfortable doing this: it had become pratical knowledge - no longer just knowledge on paper! Yup, here in the middle of the desert scrubland in Niger, our team 'opened' a Training Hospital!!
They then passed through to the pharmacy where their prescription was filled.
I was able to spend the three days of clinic helping to fill the prescriptions (I took the easy ones of vitamins, tylenol and worm medication - which became routine fills) and working with a translator to hand over the medication and instructions on dosage. 
Praise God!!
The clinic opened at 8am and it was amazing to see the coordination of work. One of our health agents from Teppe providing the initial assessment and handing out the treatment slips to the villagers. They then passed to the triage area in front of the clinic where they were seen by a nurse who recorded their temperature and weight.
Once past triage outside the clinic, they were then allowed into the waiting room. After seeing a doctor, they were sent to the nursing station if they had a wound that needed cleaning or eye drop medication explained. This clinic also had the privilege of being a teaching station to some of the health agents we have trained in Teppe. Recently, Dr. Ace from our team did training on some basic first aid - wound care, splinting, etc... : some these agents were able to come to Kojeri for the clinic for pratical experience. The nurses in this station were able to work alongside these agents (with an interpreter) to teach and allow the agents to practice their training! The agents were so proud to work alongside our team and made a comment to Ace that they now feel more comfortable doing this: it had become pratical knowledge - no longer just knowledge on paper! Yup, here in the middle of the desert scrubland in Niger, our team 'opened' a Training Hospital!!
They then passed through to the pharmacy where their prescription was filled.
I was able to spend the three days of clinic helping to fill the prescriptions (I took the easy ones of vitamins, tylenol and worm medication - which became routine fills) and working with a translator to hand over the medication and instructions on dosage. Through the 3 days, with the help of our interpreter and our health agents from Teppe, I graduated from:
take this pill once in the morning and once in the evening until finished (worm medication)to
put this pill in this cup, fill with water to this line (here) and stir until the pill is dissolved. then have the child drink until finished. (dissolvable vitamins for infants)It was exciting to be able not only use my language but learn more vocabulary, and to spend some time chatting with the villagers!! My greatest joy was being able to show the God's Story film in the village. Members from my inter-denominational Fulani team in Niger spent last year working on the translation of this film which tells the story of the Bible from Creation through to Revelations and Eternity. At the end of November, the recording of this film project was completed and the project was then cleaned up and set to the track of the film. In January, the team received the trial copy to preview and edit and final changes and it was sent back to the company in the States. Initially, we were told to expect 2-3 months for the final product to be completed; however it was finished and received back in Niger within a few weeks!!! The film arrived on January 22 - one week before we headed to the bush! We were able to show the film in this village 2 nights and again in Ponse - the second village that the team visited (while I was at the conference).
Praise God!! 
1 comment:
That is awesome that the movie arrived just in time! Now we'll just watch what seeds have been planted. I would love to see a "picture" of you holding hands with 3 little girls hands. How precious! Thanks for sharing!
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