Village

A few of us spent week 3 in a remote village while the others stayed at the school...

This is a village of the Serahule people. Pastor and others have been reaching out there for some years now. They welcome practical help so we held a clinic there for 5 days. The students gave out numbers while the nruse and I set up in an unfinished hospital room. No electricity and the only water source was a tap coming out of the ground around the corner. We dusted off a makeshift table for our meds and set up some chairs.

It was a little overwhelming for me at first, unlike any nursing I've ever done. And it was about as frustrating as it was comical that when someone's number was called, they'd "sneak" up to 3 people in with themselves plus 4-6 children; nearly each of them had a health issue. The men wouldn't sit in the waiting area with the women so we had to squeeze them in between numbers which occasionally caused a ruckus with families who'd been waiting long.

We would ask questions via a translator and then give the meds that matched the symptoms. If we didn't have what we needed, we'd write a "prescription." The pharmacy is another story.

There were a lot of malnourished kids and preventable diseases. We treated people for malaria, worms, high blood pressure and various infections including syphilis and gonorrhea. The last 2 are tricky because men can have up to 4 wives (and girlfriends on the side) but we can only treat the person who comes to us and women can't really talk to their husbands about such things so if he doesn't come, the problem continues.

Girls get married off as young as 13 so it's not uncommon to see a 15-year-old mother of 2 like the one who came to us for vitamins. Many people have rotting teeth but all we could give them are painkillers and antibiotics. The nearest dentist is probably in Banjul and they likely can't afford him anyway.

One man came with a big hole in his armpit 'cause he'd just been stabbed by a cow's horn. We didn't have the means to stitch him up so I cleaned and bandaged the wound as best as I could, gave him something for pain and we sent him on the 3-hour journey to a hospital.

The people were grafeul and generous, bringing us rice and peanut sauce with fish every day.

The following week,the nurse was back at the school so Bettina and I ran a little clinic at Pastor's compound. The needs didn't seem as severe here and we got to pray with the visitors, some even requested it before we offered.

We leave for Banjul on Thursday and fly out on Friday the 9th. The team heads back to Jamaica and I'll be on my way to Hungary.

God has really blessed us with giving us the opportunity to serve in The Gambia. We even found a place that has icecream in Basse! And I got to see baboons and a warthog run across the road, looked just like Pumba. Of course that had us singing almost the entire Lion King soundtrack the rest of the way home, afterall, this is probably where it was filmed.

Please pray for a safe journey and no breakdowns!

Update from the Gambia

So much has happened since my last update so beware this is an epic post. Feel free to read it in pieces...

My heart is heavy as my grandpa just died in Hungary in the past couple of days. I was praying so much that I'd see him again and was hoping to visit this spring. He took a turn for the worse in November but I really believed God would heal him and give him more years, or at least enough time see me once more. I still trust that God is good and just in all He allows even though I don't understand and I know Romans 8:28 is true even though I'm sad. And I know God doesn't mind my questions.

We have been in The Gambia 3 weeks now with one week to go. When we connect through London on the 9th I will leave the team and catch a flight to Budapest on the 10th. I'll meet my dad there and travel to Pécs to be with my grandmother and to be at the funeral. I was able to extend my ticket from London to Jamaica for a minimal fee and I'll fly back to MoBay on March 6th. The YWAM leaders in MoBay have released me from my responsibilities for the last week of DTS and have been very supportive.

Thank you for your prayers and words of encouragement, it truly means a lot to me.

Please read on to see what's been up in The Gambia:

Facts:
Banjul is the capital city.
# is a village where we're spending most of our time (about 380km inland).
* is a village about a 2-hour drive away.

an. 13th…
It took us about 3 1/2 days in Serrekunda (on the outskirts of Banjul) to get the paperwork and repairs sorted out for the vehicle we've rented (a rickety white van). We also used this time to buy supplies for the rest of the journey--food and stuff that's not so available or as cheap in Basse. On Saturday I was told they weren't expecting us to do anything in the Sunday morning service at church (four unfinished walls with a dirt floor, no ceiling). Over breakfast we were asked to share a song. Two minutes before we arrived, M turned to me and said, "I think you will be the main presentation today." The Holy Spirit was quick to inspire so it all worked out. The church has a small congregation and we were of course very warmly welcomed by everyone.

Jan 16…
We finally made the 12-hr journey to #, taking 3 ferries in total. Judith and I rode with M nd the kids and the others were in our van with Jermaine. The trip was dusty, hot, long and sticky as 2 year-old B sat next to/on me, showering me with an assortment of beverages.
I felt I was going to the middlest of middle-of-nowhere I have ever been as we bumped along the road, some paved, mostly dirt with potholes and divots of various sizes. I wondered who on earth would live all the way out here?

# is bigger than I expected with about 3000 people from the Mandinka and Foula tribes. Our team is staying at a school/boarding house about 30 seconds down the road. We are so blessed to have beds and a well right in our yard. Hooray for daily bucket showers!

Our team has been assisting in the school and teaching computer classes to kids and teens when the power is on or if the generator kicks in.

We eat our main meal in the village, about 5 to one bowl. Everyone eats with their right hand (always rice with some sort of sauce on it) and one cup of water gets passed around to drink from. I've gotten better at not letting the rice fall through my fingers so much and I try not to remember what I learned about germs in microbiology class.

There is much more to write, especially about K but I will save it for my next post which I hope to put up before we leave.

Peace,
Em