A day of hard work

After adjusting to the time zone and getting some sleep today was very pleasant. Breakfast was a perfect start to the day and consisted of a large French bread loaf, mini omelets, tea or coffee, and a variety of spreads. With full stomachs we walked a few blocks from the guest house to The United Methodist Church (EMUS). United Methodist churches in Senegal were established in the 1990s and have many locations, ordained ministers, and over 700 members collectively. The first female minister works at the church in Dakar, her status in the church is very groundbreaking and exciting. After learning about the church's rich history, we got our hands dirty painting, spackling, cleaning and organizing the second floor of the building. I learned how to use a roller to paint for the first time and my learning curve is evident in one of the walls. -ella

Team B leaves tomorrow

Tomorrow, Team B (Catherine, Bonnie, Sarah, Mike, Ella, Chloe, Judy and Tom) leaves for Senegal.  We have been trading notes all week with questions, suggestions, pleas for space/weight in bags, and encouragement.  Each of us has one or two bags each with 50 lbs of supplies for ministry, plus a carry-on with clothing for the week.  Catherine has been sending her email in French.  Deb is traveling separately and arrives sooner than Team B does.  We are all excited to see old friends and make new ones in Senegal.  The travel is going to be lengthy, about 20 clock hours, due to a long lay-over in New York.  We will arrive Sunday morning in Dakar and very likely go directly to church service after clearing customs.  I hope that Team B will get some sleep on the plane.

Community health workers complete their training

Team A (Carol, Nancy, Karl and Joanne) went early to meet with the community health workers.  We wanted to recognize their efforts, provide needed supplies, hear their ideas for assistance, and to present a curriculum on assisting women in pre-natal care and difficult labors.  Karl and Nancy assembled and transported over 100 new-born care kits.  Carol brought infant dolls to help in teaching.  The entire engagement went very well, with 18 of the original 24 CHWs attending.  Their spirits are high and they are very effective in their village communities, sharing good practices in sanitation, food and water safety, malaria prevention, first-aid, and health assessment.  Carol reported that all 18 received certificates for completing the pre-natal and difficult labor training.  As part of their graduation, the group put on a skit about high-risk pregnancy.

Team A is on the ground in Senegal!

The first wave of our mission group has set down in Senegal and reports that the weather is in the 80s and that Sunday worship was fantastic.

The run-up to Team A's departure was the usual mixture of the predictable and the unanticipated.  Unfortunately, one of the team cut her hand severely and had to bow out of the trip on doctor's orders.  Packing with fewer luggage pieces introduced some tense moments, but Team B will bring what could not be handled by Team A.

Aside from myself, no one else in Team B has been to Senegal previously, but one person has been to Tanzania twice and others have been involved in missions, too.  We are communicating electronically to get ourselves comfortably positioned for departure on Saturday.

Carol reported that the visa process at the airport was pretty slow.  She also gave a number of tips for navigating JFK airport.  Our fight was moved up to noon, so we will have a six-plus hour layover at JFK.  Thank goodness for my Kindle!

-- Tom

Preparing for our largest trip yet

We are preparing to travel back to Senegal in March to visit our friends and work to improve health and living conditions.  The date of the trip was selected to allow youth from our church to travel with us over spring break, and two are doing so!  We are also accompanied by first-time travelers from our church and new friends from other congregations.  There will be 13 of us in all.

There will be two waves of people traveling.  Carol and four others (Team A) will leave first and be in Senegal seven days before the second group arrives (Team B - which I will be shepherding).  Team A will be working most directly with the Community Health Workers their first week.  Team B will be involved with the local churches, the Senegal mission's programs, and the microcredit programs.  Two of the Team A will be returning after eight days and everyone else will be returning a week after Team B arrives.

We are all looking forward to escaping from the Chicago winter - which has been one of the coldest and snowiest on record.  We expect temperatures in the 80's during our stay.

-- Tom