Getting the band back together...

It is Winter in Chicago - that must mean it's time to return to Senegal and follow our passion to help our UMC missionaries to bring health and well-being to the Senegelese people!

Like last year, Dr Carol and team are going to be growing community health workers from volunteer members of several rural villages. These volunteers are enthusiastic to make a difference in the health of their villages and we are eager to teach them skills to succeed. Carol has spent the past year honing a curriculum and recruiting a team to deliver it. Last year, she was blessed to be accompanied by expert instructors with whom she had partnered in Panama. This year, she has attracted a new team that has studied and discussed the approaches it will take to our charge.

There will be eight of us. Carol and Tom are returning from last year. Stacee, Kathe and Nancy are veterans of at least one past Senegal trip when Carol ran clinics. Lisa, Judy and Jean are first-timers with us, though they have each had experiences just as exciting as we expect to have in Senegal together!

Carol and Jean will be leaving two days early as an "advance team" expressly to meet with last year's students and hear how they have done with the skills taught to them. That will be a warm reunion! From what they report, Carol and the missionaries will adjust some of the support logistics and perhaps the curriculum for this first week of training. The remainder of the team will arrive on Saturday, February 12th.

In preparation for this trip, we have been blessed with contributions and prayers from many, many friends. Carol has made beaded necklaces to sell for support of the housing expenses for the volunteers in Dakar. Carol and Kathe together made 100 pipe-clear mosquitos to sell at $10 each to fund bed nets for children. Free-will collections have been taken. The time for departure is fast approaching. We ask to to continue your prayers for our trip and its success.

-- Tom