Around the World in 365 Days . . or 730??!?

Earlier this week, I received a package from home - filled with goodies from my church: taco sauce, spaghetti sauce mix, poppy seeds . . . it was a wonderful treat!! As I read the bookmark, I realized that I had received package 2 - [not so] mysteriously, package 1 never arrived. Grateful for package 2, I checked the mailing time - and discovered that it had been mailed in April - yes: 3.5 months later, I received my package.

On occasion, mail arrives in a record time of 2 weeks, typically it takes 6 weeks and sometimes it feels as if our mail travels around the world to get here - as is the case with my 3.5 month package!!

However, today, my teammates and I were in for a wonderful surprise - we all received mail!! Personal mail from family and friends - always more exciting than a magazine or school documents. We excitedly stood in the office to open our mail together and one person noted that her letter was dated April. Upon further inspection though, Lisa noticed it said April 2008. Thinking the writer had made an error, we all looked at the post office stamp. Indeed - this Easter card was mailed April 2008!!

Well, then, we all started looking at each envelope we held. It appears that the Niamey post office has discovered bags of mail back in the mysterious cave-like environs of their office!! My letter was from March 2009 (thanks Uncle Dennis & Aunt Verna!). In fact, my letter was the most recent of the bunch - my teammates all received Easter, birthday and Christmas greetings from 2008 - six letters in total.

Makes me think of our mail travelling around the world - but this time in 730 days (and counting) instead of the 365!!

So, to all the packages I know are missing, and some perhaps which are unknown to me, there is still hope.

Hope for the Christmas package Rob & Amber sent November 2008. Hope for my parent's birthday card which went missing last year. And hope for package number 1 that preceeded my 3.5 month delivery package number 2!!!

New Month - New Teaching Lesson

Well, I continue on out in Kongu teaching the Fulani about health. This month's topic??

Oral Rehydration Solution

How to keep your body healthy until your diarrhea is finished - our bodies need water and salt to stay healthy - both of which we lose while sick.

It is possible to buy solution packages at the local pharmacies, or receive a free one from the doctor at the clinic - if you are willing to wait hours to see him. But, it is not always possible to purchase one of these - especially for those who live in the bush 20 kilometres from town! The main teaching portion of this lesson is to show them how to make their own Oral Rehydration Solution. Then, I cover how much and when to drink it.

The following photo shows all the components necessary . . . yes, you too can now make your own oral rehydration solution after reading this post!!

• oral rehydration packets (I explain how to use these if they are in town to buy one)
• sugar
• salt (market salt, which I pounded with my rolling pin!)
• soap (to wash your hands before you start - and wash your dishes)
• drinking cup
• stirring spoon
• clean jar for the solution
• small 500ml bottle for measuring
• clean water (if you draw water from the marsh in the bush . . . boil 10 minutes to have clean water!!)
• Sobey's bag (ok - not essential for the ORS, but a nifty carrier of all my supplies!)

Once you have assembled your materials - you are ready to start making your own ORS:

1. wash your hands with soap
2. measure 1L of clean water into your clean jar (2x the small bottle)
3. measure two handfuls of sugar into the water
4. measure three finger pinches of salt - 3 times into the water
5. stir with a clean spoon until it is completed mixed
6. taste - you should be able to taste both the salt and the sugar
7. add more of one if necessary (usually the salt)

At this point, I pass the cup around to all the lesson participants so that they can taste the water in order to know the taste when they make it at home. I then continue with the teaching on how much they or their children should drink and when.

During these times, I learn a little about the Fulani culture - especially their love of laughter and teasing. The first day I taught the lesson I forgot that they have two words for diarrhea - one to use for children struck with said malady (the medical term - diarrhea) and another more polite word for adults (because it is shameful to have said malady). The polite word would be similar to our saying: I have the runs. Actually, it is that - the noun is derived from the verb 'to run'. Anyways . . .

I forgot this my first lesson and said: 'each time after an adult or a child xxxx' - and used said medical and shameful word. Well, all the men in the group kinda giggled and I quickly revised the word for the rest of the lesson!

However, my new favourite moment in teaching arrived last week:

As I started into the second teaching component - when and how much to drink of this water - a latecomer arrived to the mat. The man sitting next to me got a twinkle in his eye and, motioning to the salt/sugar water, he mentioned that I should offer said latecomer water. This man unsuspectingly accepted the water - it is customary to offer water to a guest upon their arrival in the Fulani culture - and the crowd of men goes still and silent as they all watch this man take his first drink. They have all sipped the water to taste - this man drank as if it normal water! The look on his face was priceless as he noticed the odd taste, and the group of men - and I - burst into loud and uproarious laughter. It was fun to sit and laugh with these people - and once the group explained to him the lesson plan, he laughed right along!

Slightly 'Kidnapped'

So, today I had an interesting experience:

I helped my guard Ifastane move to another concession. The first load was the hut of an older woman in his charge - he calls her 'la vielle' (the old one). I am not exactly sure of their relation, but I believe she might be his aunt.

We left her in the new concession while I made a few more trips with household belongings. On my last trip, I took the family over while my guard walked his sheep to the new home. One of the few Tamasheq greetings I can pull off is the 'see you later' when you leave. So I said good bye to Ifastane's wife and children and then walked over to 'la vielle' and say goodbye. She held my hand and prattled off in Tamasheq - she thanked me for helping with the move and blessed me. And then told me she wanted to show me something (that was hesitantly translated to French by one of his children who can speak a few words).

'La vielle' then led me by the hand out of her concession and into the neighbouring concession. I guess while we were moving their huts and household, she was making friends with her new neighbours - whom she apparently wanted me to meet as well!!

So, I sat in this concession smiling at these three Touaregs - none of whom could speak French. Our conversation came to a halt after the 2 greetings I know . . . but this did not stop them! They kept talking with me and I kept smiling. After a few minutes, 'la vielle' disappeared and left me with the strangers!! Strangers who seemed perfectly content to entertain a white lady they did not know!

They offered me tea - I do love the Tamasheq tea, which is always a sweet treat. As it was brewing, one of the ladies made milk (powder and water) and passed me the cup. So, I learned the commmand word in Tamasheq for 'drink': eshwa.

Eventually a young girl, who speaks French, from the family showed up and translated a bit. After I few minutes, I mentioned that I had to get to work and hauled out my 'good-bye' in Tamasheq.