http://tebworldnexus.com/senegal/ 2007 mission trip en-us Nucleus CMS v3.24 © Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://tebworldnexus.com/senegal//nucleus/nucleus2.gif http://tebworldnexus.com/senegal/ http://tebworldnexus.com/senegal/index.php?itemid=26
We had a great experience and hope you all enjoyed reading along as it unfolded. Within the next week or so, we should have a Web site constructed at the following URL:

http://home.comcast.net/~tboardweb/senegal07/index.htm

so check that URL or check back here to learn when it is up and running with more photos.

Contributions to benefit our work in Senegal can be mailed to

Trinity United Methodist Church
1024 Lake Ave
Wilmette, IL 60091

Please indicate "Senegal mission" in the memo line. Thank you for your support.

Now we begin work on next year's trip planning.]]> General http://tebworldnexus.com/senegal/index.php?itemid=26 Thu, 1 Feb 2007 14:13:54 -0600 http://tebworldnexus.com/senegal/index.php?itemid=25
Today, we ate breakfast at the church, where we met an retired professor from the Ivory Coast who had come to work with the lay pastors on theology and other education. He was coaxed out of retirement by the bishop of the Ivory Coast and sent to Senegal for this purpose. He was a fascinating gentleman to talk with (in French). We also got the opportunity to visit briefly with the lay pastors before leaving. They seem in high spirits and looking forward to continued intensive training this week.

The lay pastors and their professor from the Ivory CoastWe traveled this morning to Rufisque women's prison. There we met with the prison ministry and the warden and began a clinic. There were only 26 inmates and 16 staff persons to see, but it took all of three and one-half hours. At one point, Carol discovered a young inmate whom she suspected of having gonococcal arthritis - meaning that she could either die or progress to a virtually incurable state within as little as 48 hours. She tried to get the prison to transfer the inmate to a hospital - even offering to pay the cost of transport - but there was no obvious means to pay for her treatment (which, if Carol was right, would be between one and two weeks in the hospital with IV antibiotics) so the prison made no promises. It is shocking how we take such emergency treatment for granted in the US when it is, in fact, a rarity around the world.

After completing the clinic, we had lunch with the inmates - a special meal which the church paid for - and then headed home, arriving at 3:30pm. Since that time, we have been packing, showering, dumping camera photos to CDs, etc., in preparation for our return journey. After dinner at 8:00pm tonight, we will wrap up the preparations and head to the airport around 10:00 or 10:15. We will arrive at Washington Dulles around 7:00am tomorrow morning and then at O'Hare around 9:00am.

So, the next entry in this blog will be made from home. We are sorry to leave. We have had a great time, seen 630 patients, renewed friendships, and offered many people a different view of Americans.

The team gathers together on the final day in Senegal]]> General http://tebworldnexus.com/senegal/index.php?itemid=25 Wed, 31 Jan 2007 11:41:03 -0600 http://tebworldnexus.com/senegal/index.php?itemid=24
Today was also a Muslim holiday (we were told that it was like New Year's Day), so the city was largely closed and traffic was incredibly light - our host had never seen it so empty in the city. This was great for getting around and taking photos. As I have told people before, a few square blocks of Dakar could be mistaken for Paris or Washington, DC (two cites that I am familiar with) with tree-lined boulevards and massive bureaucratic buildings. Around this area, the city has more of the feel of State Street or K Street in a post-apocolyptic movie.After taking the requisite tourist photos with the guard in front of the Presidential Palace, we moved on to the "artist colony" at which we had shopped on the prior two trips. I won't subject you to the details, but hawkers hawked, hagglers haggled, and the bored were just so - but various persons satisfied their needs. We then visited what Karen told us was the only "shopping mall" in Dakar. This was closer to the University of Dakar (the only university I have seen with a flock of sheep milling about on the campus), and had a footprint about half the size of your average Target in the USA. It did have an indoor mall with a handful of shops, anchored by a supermarket. Once inside it was surprisingly easy to picture oneself somewhere in America, rather than 100km from villages with chronic malaria and malnutrition. I wonder where the Senegalese president shops?

We got back to our digs around 2pm with a stated departure of 4:30 for Derkle, so we lunched and then set to various duties. Because Wednesday is so tightly scheduled prior to our departure, much of the work centered on organizing return luggage packing. We are returning with three drums - one for Trinity and two for others in the Chicago area - which must be padded with clothing. Virtually ALL of the 500lbs of medical supplies we brought have been distributed or will be left with the Wisconsin group, which will be going out to villages beginning Thursday. We are even lending them one of our duffle bags to use for toting the stuff around.

Once again, I will fast-forward over the vagaries of getting ourselves, our supplies, and our translators to the Derkle clinic site. We eventually got set up around 5:35pm with agreement that everyone who registered by 6:30pm would be seen. This was strictly a doctor consultation clinic - we gave out no vitamins or other items. The Wisconsin people were integrated with our operation so that we had two doctors (Dr Jeff is a family practice MD). When the registration closed, the last patient was number 96, making it clear we were not going to be home in time for dinner. Stacee and Cindy (Wisconsin) opened a craft activity which drew steady attention from the noisy crowd (we were indoors in one large room). The women, as members of the microcredit program, were effectively business women and they (a) dressed beautifully, and (b) were more prone to urban, affluent disorders. So, we didn't see any malaria, but we did see a larger incidence of high glucose and high blood pressures. Everything ran smoothly, but the last patient was done just after 10:00pm. Everyone agreed to skip the previously scheduled evening meal in favor of bed.

Tomorrow is our final day, with a short clinic (we hope) at the Rufisque women's prison. Everything is planned to get us back to our digs by 3:30pm so that we can complete packing (and shopping) before dinner at 8:00pm. We should be at the airport by 10:30pm (our reservations have been reconfirmed) for the 1:00am flight to Washington Dulles and then on to O'Hare.]]> General http://tebworldnexus.com/senegal/index.php?itemid=24 Tue, 30 Jan 2007 22:25:37 -0600 http://tebworldnexus.com/senegal/index.php?itemid=23
We started around 10:30am. The first problem was that the local clinic sponsor failed to adequately anticipate the crowd size and to reasonably handle the queuing process. Rather than assigning numbers and calling them out, the people were put into a physical queue of chairs. As the numbers swelled (over 80 by noon) disaffection with the pace of the clinic caused some people to press forward toward the intake point with the result that voices were raised, some pushing occurred, and eventually the sponsor had to close the intake point until people sat back down and cooled off. It was kind of scary.
I decided that the Wisconsin people could handle the blood pressure, temperature, and height/weight logging. Most of my time was involved with the pharmacy, where a bottleneck was developing because of the "for-fee" payment process required of some drugs. The mission buys certain drugs locally (with money provided by donors) and then charges a cost for the drugs to recoup a portion of the funds - the mission does not charge the whole cost. Anyway, the process of explaining that (a) those particular prescribed drugs were for a fee, (b) having the patient decide if he or she would purchase the drugs, and (c) taking the money was taking a lot of time. Eventually, the first wave of patients with these prescriptions passed through - but it set the pharmacy back to having a queue approaching eight patients.

So, I helped by controlling the flow into the pharmacy. Eventually, I also doubled as the pharmacy "bouncer" as non-patients hovered around and seemed to be overly interested in some of the freebies - like toothbrushes. I was made confident by my self-defense training. 8)

By the time we had lunch at 3pm, the upstairs had about 25 people waiting for either the lab or the doctors, and another 35 people downstairs waiting to be admitted to the system. I called this to Mbwizu's attention and asked that she work with the sponsor to decide on a cutoff time when the last patient would be taken in. After a few minutes, they decided that the cutoff would be immediate - and the 35 people downstairs could not be seen.

Well, this caused some consternation, let me tell you. After the initial announcement by the sponsor (and his subsequent disappearance), people were very confrontational to me (as the obvious control freak) and again my physical size tempered the most aggressive feelings. Ultimately, "fin" held the day and the crowd shrank to a group about a dozen people who hung around looking for some way to get what they wanted. Ultimately, we were able to complete the clinic and leave by 5:15pm.

It is emotionally draining to have to turn people away in these situations, and I don't like displaying behaviors that introduce any sense of inequity or favoritism. A large number of people who thought they needed care could not be accommodated this day - and for that I am sad. On the other side, the clinic crew can become super-stressed if the clinic hours are allowed to roll on open-ended. Such is the nature of mission work: "the poor will always be with you."]]> General http://tebworldnexus.com/senegal/index.php?itemid=23 Mon, 29 Jan 2007 13:49:07 -0600 http://tebworldnexus.com/senegal/index.php?itemid=22
Afterwards, we returned to Karen's house and relaxed the rest of the day. This included reading and napping on , where there are two couches under an awning - much cooler then indoors. At 6:30pm we all went for a one-hour walk around the neighborhoods. It was nice to get some exercise - I feel like I have been sitting or standing in one place for the entire time I've been here.

After dinner this evening, Carol and I will return to Mbwizu's home for the night. Tomorrow is the beginning of our three-days of clinics leading up to our departure. Monday is in Dakar (where rumors are that we will see 150 people). Tuesday evening is at a gathering of women involved in the micro-credit program (another 150?). Wednesday is at the Rufisque women's prison (estimated 40 people).]]> General http://tebworldnexus.com/senegal/index.php?itemid=22 Sun, 28 Jan 2007 13:54:15 -0600 http://tebworldnexus.com/senegal/index.php?itemid=21 , , greater kudus, , , antelope, and . These were all out in the open, so there were no predator species around. The scenery was interesting - the "real" Senegal. We had a nice lunch there and returned by the late afternoon. Shower and a nap helped before dinner.

You may see in the news (or may not - after all, this is West Africa) that there was a demonstration in downtown Dakar against the current president's policies concerning the upcoming election. Riot police broke up the demonstration with tear gas. We saw no signs of any fallout from that as we returned to Dakar in the afternoon.]]> General http://tebworldnexus.com/senegal/index.php?itemid=21 Sat, 27 Jan 2007 13:56:21 -0600 http://tebworldnexus.com/senegal/index.php?itemid=20
After lunch and additional dozing, we left for the church and met the Wisconsin group who arrived this morning. Of course, they were tired since most had been awake for nearly 30 hours. The main purpose of the gathering was for us to acquaint, or "train", them on how we run a clinic so that they can help us at the Monday clinic and run three clinics on their own after we leave. This was a fun time to go over what we do and answer questions - but it took a couple of hours to complete. By the end of that time, some of the Wisconsin group could barely keep their eyes open. We all left around six to return to our lodging. The ladies of our team then went to try on some clothes they were having made for themselves. I used the time to begin building a computer file of the patients we had seen and how our medicines had been prescribed.

Fortunately, the Wisconsin group brought some medicines, too. This will allow us to dispense calcium and vitamins for at least the time we are still here. We don't know how much they have - but we gave them most of our remaining empty plastic bags to use.

When the ladies return, we are going to go out for pizza this evening. Then we will turn in and get some sleep before tomorrows trek with the Wisconsin group to a game reserve down the coast.]]> General http://tebworldnexus.com/senegal/index.php?itemid=20 Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:32:20 -0600 http://tebworldnexus.com/senegal/index.php?itemid=19
Carol continued to feel ill today and stayed at the Ndjungu's home, while the rest of us went to the prison. She gave us a sheet with some basic decision criteria for issuing certain of our pharmacy in response to particular symptoms. Because Stacee has been handling the pharmacy this week, I decided that she would be the doctor and decide on what pills were dispensed. We also agree that all of the patient complaints would be taken down and brought to Carol. She could then write to the prison nurse to look for certain drugs or treatments for the women in question. This seemed to be a welcome compromise to everyone.

Carol is feeling better as of this afternoon and we have three days off before our next clinic. Kathe tripped over a curb and the church and skinned a knee as we were leaving for the prison clinic.

Stacee had a wonderful time as the "doctor" and we called her (mimicing the common pronounciation of her name) the rest of the day.

We ran out of calcium tablets today - 300 doses have been dispensed already. Given that we are likely to see at least another 200 women this trip, we should have planned on 500 doses - 15,000 tablets. I have no idea how we would get that much here with our 50lb-per-bag limit. I'm afraid that we will run out of vitamins shortly, too.

Tomorrow morning a group from Wisconsin is arriving. We wil be meeting with them to transfer some of our knowledge about the clinics we are running. They have two sub-groups: five pastors who will be teaching the lay pastors here, and five lay people who will be looking to work in clinics or in other ways. They will work with us in one or two of our clinics next week.]]> General http://tebworldnexus.com/senegal/index.php?itemid=19 Thu, 25 Jan 2007 11:34:38 -0600 http://tebworldnexus.com/senegal/index.php?itemid=18
Three village children

The second village was Fimela, which is located on a tributary of a large river/marshland south of the Mbour. This was a more political situation as the local government-paid nurse did not want us to give away medications for free. It seems that while the nurse is paid, the other workers in the local clinics are often paid through fees assessed for medications. However, our hosts prevailed and we were able to run our clinic and dispense our medicines. We saw another 80 persons at Femla. One other note to give you the local flavor - the road into this town is SO BAD that the vehicles frequently drive off the road instead. The road was literally worse than no road. After 30 minutes of bone-jarring travel, I was ready to ask to be let out to walk. Then we had it on the way back, too.

The third village was Khassap, another village close to the coast, but north of Mbour. The original agreement had been for our clinic to be run within three rooms of a local school; however, when we got there the teacher said that he would allow us to use the school only if we charged for medicines and he got ten-percent of the take! So, instead, we set up outside under trees = which we moved as the shadows shifted - and things went pretty well after that. When the school children were let out, we distributed toothpaste and brushes (very popular). We saw 89 patients in Khassap.

We got back about 8:00pm due to traffic problems in Rufisque and had a very late dinner. Then we had to sort and package the remainder of our medicines for the next four clinics. The first is today at Camp Penal.

For the first time in our journeys, one of our group became ill. She had an upset stomach during the Khassap clinic and decided to return to Dakar with the group that brought us lunch. Today, she is also not well - nothing serious - but bothersome gastro-instestinal effects.]]> General http://tebworldnexus.com/senegal/index.php?itemid=18 Thu, 25 Jan 2007 02:50:04 -0600 http://tebworldnexus.com/senegal/index.php?itemid=17 General http://tebworldnexus.com/senegal/index.php?itemid=17 Wed, 24 Jan 2007 16:40:06 -0600