Last day

After we bade goodbye to the CHWS we had some time to rest, then returned for a gala evening at the church mission for dinner, fish & frites and salad, and of course yassa. It wasn't served until 9pm and we were pretty tired by the time we were done and planning to be up early to go to Goree Island, and then Christine brought in patisserie and chocolates that Catherine and Jim had ordered to celebrate our last evening.  All the children were there as well and they sang a song Catherine had taught them and then we all enjoyed cake while we watched two fantastic videos Joe had made about our mission, complete with music and of course photos of all we had done. He will give us copies to bring home with us. We didn't  get back to bed until midnight.

And then we were up at 7am to go to Goree. We barely made it on the boat--I think the young woman guard was trying to impress David Makobo, and let us on even though they first told us the boat was full. It was a beautiful day, the ferry ride was smooth and aside from the annoying street vendors, our day at Goree was delightful. I was finally able to hear the complete guided tour, which was excellent, but we were all pretty tired out by the time we got to the hotel and were able to enjoy our showers. Catherine and Jim chose not to join us--I can't imagine the overnight return trip without a shower. I can hardly understand why the hotels make you check out at 10 am when none of the flights leave before 8pm. We had a mistake with our flight reservations, so Charissa and Edie are going to stay an extra two nights. I hope they'll let us borrow their shower before we go Monday.

Church service at Nord Foire UMC in Dakar

Charissa, Deb, Edie, Kathe and I plan to go to the EMUS church service at Nord Foire tomorrow,  then probably spend the rest of our time here relaxing on the beach or by the pool. Charissa will help Christine if her accounting software from GBGM gets here, and I'm sure Edie can keep busy offering PT evaluations and instruction to all the church staff - it appears that they don't even have a term for physical therapy.

After church with Bill Gibson, Gwen Gibson, and Joe Bleck

This was an incredible trip. I am sure we will all be in tears when we leave, everybody has been so wonderful. Of course, they always are, but they are really family for me now. They keep saying that when we come back next time they hope they will be in the new church. I told them I will come back and I will find them, wherever they are.

CAM

Friday wraps things up

Friday in Senegal is the last day for training, shared meals and visions and dreams. Deb's class to fight poverty and build micro businesses has been very successful!

Team Senegal 2016 

CHW Graduation day

Today did not get off to a good start. As we were preparing to leave the guesthouse, two men on a motor scooter drove past and snatched Katie's fanny pack. It was so fast we were stunned,but Charissa and a passerby chased after them. Unfortunately they escaped. We were thankful Kathe was not hurt but lost her cellphone, her credit cards and and fair amount of money. Our hosts at EMUS and all the others said this never happens in Nord Foire neighborhood and they were devastated. Gaspard said we were certainly targeted as foreigners and also because we were all women. (Jim had left early with Catherine).

Kathe recovered after talking with her husband Mark, who would notify the appropriate institutions and we continued our day. We had a brief review of the week's material, then invited the women from the Women's Skills Center to be the CHWS first trainees. Our CHWS did a fantastic job teaching both adult and infant CPR and Heimlich maneuver and we judged that they were in fact ready for Prime Time.

After lunch, each group of three CHWS presented their skit for demonstrating their share of the skill set to great applause.  Finally we had our closing ceremony with certificates, prayers, heartfelt thanks all around, and lots and lots of photos.  Valerie told them she and Paulette could come to their village with the manikins if they organized a CPR training. I am confident that several of them will do so.

The CHWS then gave me a list of topics they would like to cover on our next visit, ranging from hypertension to cervical cancer to tetanus! It was quite a tall order!

Our team was very moved by the gratitude of our students and the entire experience of doing the training.  It has been a challenging week, with many "ups and downs" but I believe everyone considers it a rousing success. Twenty five people in Dakar and Theis can now be first responders and if even one life is saved (and I believe it likely that we will hear of one before we return next year) it will have been worth the trip.

CAM 

Renderings of a planned church for Dakar

The Methodist Church in Senegal (EMUS) has plans for a church building in Dakar.

Who doesn't like to hold a baby?

Community health care trainers, Edie, Jim and Kathe enjoy time with baby Stan, the son of one of the community health care students. EMUS had a widening circle of friends, members and possibilities for building the kingdom right here; right now!

Team Senegal 2016

Certificates

Its the final day of training for the Community Health Workers. Certificates are being prepared by Pastor Joe, his wife Paulette, and Charissa of Team Senegal. 

It's a glorious day at EMUS! 

Thursday training at EMUS

Today was a day of consolidation for the CHWS.  We did not teach any new material but encouraged them to teach the material back to the class--and to us. They were shy and uncertain, so I started "playing" real life scenarios: choking, fainting, having "my baby" not breathing. As they gained confidence, they became better at teaching. We feel comfortable that they know the material and will be able to teach it back to their communities with the aid of the manikins Edie is donating.

Edie instructing on infant CPR

After reviewing our PT exercises and CPR training this morning, we were very impressed with how well our students had recalled and been able to reproduce and even teach their lessons, so we pressed on with infant and child CPR. Now that they understand the basics, the CHWS  are thinking on their feet and asking good questions and showing they are able to extrapolate. I gave them a challenge when I pretended to be the Frantic Friend and they had to get me out of the way in order to perform CPR.  My point was that there would be a lot of hullabaloo when and if an emergency happened, that they would be performing under stress and they might need to tell people what to do to help.

Deb, Charissa and Gaspard
role-play negotiation training

Meanwhile, Gaspard had brought some "tourist" objects for us to look at. Deb began to negotiate with him and then decided the negotiations would be great examples for her class. Her class was very enthusiastic about these "real-life" negotiations and learned a lot from the experience. Later we saw Fatou Lo with her children Marie and Michel.

After class, while the students were working on their presentations for tomorrow, Christine and Paulette took Edie and Kathe and me to the fabric mart so that Charissa and Edie could have clothing made by Paulette's tailor.  It was quite a production, choosing fabric and necklines and sleeve lengths and decorations, and being measured. He finishes the outfits in less than 24 hours. We can't wait to see how they turn out. We saw Paulette's three daughters on our way back to the church: Mavis is so grown up, and Emma and Kitty Paul are not far behind, all lively, lovely girls.

Then after dinner we were invited to the home of Binta, Edie's guardian angel. She lives only a few blocks away in a very nice home with her daughters, while her husband works in Italy. Christine came with us to translate, as Binta speaks very little English and of course the rest of us speak very little French.

All around, it was a day of revelation about these wonderful people we are getting to know. Everybody at EMUS is so friendly, helpful and anxious to accomodate us.  Martine and Awa have been providing us with the most delicious food (nobody has been ill) and plenty of filtered water. I wish I could bring them home with me.  Gaspard is endlessly helpful, Valerie and Paulette and Christine are our mainstays. Bill and Joe are always around and available for "consultation".

Hosting teams must be a very challenging task and to do it with the grace and flexibility our hosts in Senegal have shown us is outstanding. I am humbled by their friendship and the kindness they show us every day.

CAM

Hope Ministries hand out shoes to street boys

Shoes for street boys

Anna Goode and Edouard Ndecky hand out cheap sandals to the boys in the streets who beg for money and food. 30 boys of different ages lined up to get a pair of sandals and a croissant on Thursday. Photos of the boys are forbidden. Each boy received a blessing.

Wendesday was visiting day - agriculture ministry, the new Mbour church, and seeing the benefit of the feeding programs

Today was our excursion to Ponte Sarene to see the progress David Makobo has made with the farmers we had met in 2014 when he had just started his agriculture ministry. His program is two months of classroom training during the rainy season, then they start with the winter crops like peppers and cabbage in November and move on to onions and eggplant during the spring. There is often a second crop of onions and a warm weather vegetable as a second crop before the rainy season begins again. Today, we are in Ponte Sarene about a month earlier in the season than we were in 2014 and I could see a dramatic difference in the size of the eggplants compared to then due to David's  techniques of composting, fertilization and irrigation. He has 31 students who participate in his plot to learn (that produce is given to the church) and then each man has his own plot to utilize his acquired skills. They work cooperatively and have a model similar to a Microenterprise group for lease of the property and to expedite labor.

Machine embroidery at Mbour

Then we went to the new Mbour church which is recently constructed and not yet decorated but has plenty of room to grow beyond its current membership of 80 adults and 40 children. It also has a thriving Womens Skills Center which has recently hired an additional aide to help the teacher, Marguerite , with her 36 students. They were a merry group, working both indoors in a classroom and outdoors on their embroidery, sewing and knitting. Pastor Jean Pierre has plans for a separate school and a clinic on the property as the membership grows and funding permits. We gave Pastor Jean Pierre about 20 Beanie Babies from my mother's and daughter's collection for their Sunday School.

Beanie babies arrive at Mbour

We had a late lunch at the Bandia animal preserve on the way to the children's feeding program in Theis. Unfortunately we didn't have time for the safari and we were too late to have anything but pizza to eat with ice cream bars for dessert. Poor us!

Ellie and Kathe at Theis

In Theis, we were swarmed by children at the feeding program. Nanos introduced us to several boys who had been in the feeding program since it's inception, one of whom I swear I recognized from a very early photo. They were obviously great examples of the benefits of a feeding program, being normal sized for ages, bright, gregarious, fearless and personable. Even Deb was charmed, at least for a short time. It was definitely a God Experience - showing us one of the results of our hard work in the annual Trinity Pumpkin Patch.

Preparing food at the feeding center

Won't be back to Dakar until 9pm, and I suppose they'll have dinner waiting, but I'm exhausted. I'm glad we got so much squeezed into today, but I'll be glad to return to teaching classes tomorrow. 

CAM

Smiling with every muscle

We love the Senegalese people. We are learning how to smile with every muscle in our face to radiate joy like our Senegalese friends.

Jim Unger

Tuesday - the team branches out

Tuesday, when the CHWS returned we reviewed the CPR training to consolidate it into their repertory of skills, then did Heimlich maneuver training in the morning.  In the afternoon, Edie did simple physical therapy exercises for relieving neck, back, shoulder and  leg pain.  She then used me as a model for terrible posture and some of the young women as positive examples, then showed us all how improving our posture and doing these exercises can improve one's physical well-being.  It was amazing that all the CHWs except for the youngest man felt some improvement in muscular well being. Edie also demonstrated on District Superintendent Joe Bleck exercises to strengthen and loosen his lower left leg which he broke 3-4 months ago and taught his wife Paulette to help him with them.

Deb had her second session with Sébastien's longest running Microenterprise group. I am sure I recognized some of the participants from prior visits. She said later they were obviously not as used to being students as the younger women from the Women's Skills Center who she trained in the morning. Most of the afternoon class had not had an opportunity to do their homework and thus missed an important tool for the program.

Meanwhile Charissa and Jim went with Dr. Bashir to visit Dakar hospitals. They went to 3 hospitals,  the last being the major University Hospital  in Dakar, run by a 2 star General who gave them a personal audience and a tour of the hospital. They were all quite impressed, though I don't believe they do any heart transplants there.

From 6-8pm the pastors and a few church members have a prayer meeting which several of us attended. There was again lots of music and singing and a period of audible prayers of supplication which I found very moving. This was followed by dinner and a private PT session by Edie with Pastor Marie Agnes who was having some difficulty with her arm. We didn't get to bed until well after 11pm, with an early rise scheduled for Wednesday morning.

CAM

Scenes of Senegal

Our visitors to Senegal experience African culture and travel through the ecology of the West-African sahel climate.

Baobab tree - adapted to the dry climate

Visiting the African Renaissance Monument

Busy in Senegal sharing your love with friends

"Welcome to the Circle" - learning English together

Dear friends. We hope you enjoy these few photos from our mission trip so far with EMUS in Dakar, Senegal. Our old friends welcome us back. Our new friends welcome us in. Loving our neighbors across the Atlantic Ocean is a blessing. Many blessings, indeed!

Sending our love and gratitude for your support and prayers while we are away. Stay tuned..

 Peace, Team Senegal 2016

Preschool at John Wesley School, Korean UMC

Women leaders of the Senegal mission

Monday at the Senegal mission

Today was an incredibly eventful day. We started the Community Health Worker program and the CHWs were so grateful for the program and how it had changed their lives and improved the health of their villages. They felt that the incidence of malaria was greatly reduced due to preventative efforts such as IBNS and eliminating standing water. Many of them were now employed at health posts and several were the head of the post. It really warmed me to see how happy and proud they were.
We spent the afternoon teaching CPR, which was really tiring but went really well and was obviously completely new to the CHWs. We will repeat CPR practice daily to make sure they really know it well enough to teach it. We also have several sessions of physical therapy practicum planned, including using Pastor Joe Bleck, who is recovering from a broken leg three months ago.

Thanks be to God.
CAM

The Harvest

Sunday was the Moisson, the Harvest at Thiadiaye,  a larger village near Mbour, about 2 hours away from Dakar.  The Harvest is an opportunity for the church to celebrate God's blessings with song and celebration and a very long church service with a shared meal afterwards.  We had to get to breakfast by 7am, no mean feat for six women sharing a bathroom!

Our Senegal missionaries and clergy hosts

Unfortunately Charissa  got sick from taking her malaria prophylaxis and was too nauseous to go on the road trip so I stayed at the guest house with her and we were cared for by Christine and Paulette.  We had a quiet day and Charissa made a full recovery, though she ate very little that day. I didn't have too strong regrets--the last time I made that journey I got carsick.

The transportation was arranged by Dr. Bashir, as the mission bus was not deemed strong enough to make that journey. Papa Bill is actively seeking a replacement,  something around 7 years old perhaps. (Dionsenour, our driver, says the mission bus is 13-14 years old, but it was decrepit when we first rode in it in 2005. It has to be at least 20.)  Unfortunately the driver did not have a Senegalese drivers license, so a little money had to change hands to keep the mission going forward!

Worship at Mbour church

The service, as noted was longer than our usual 2 hour services. The group was a half hour late and so missed everything but the exhortation and the gift giving. The "Preacher" was specially hired for his capabilities and recalled the congregants and guests several times to dig a little deeper and give a little more. Our team found this very uncomfortable, but it was all done with music, djembe, singing and dancing, but they got through it. They were exhausted when they returned around 5pm and were grateful for showers and some rest.

After dinner, we went to greet the advance guard of the community health workers and tell them what we would be doing over the course of the week. They were really happy to see us and eager to learn more to help their communities. Then home to bed for well deserved rest.

CAM 

Saturday at Mission Senegal

We arrived in Dakar on Friday about 6pm and were grateful to be met by Bill Gibsonat the (finally) modernized airport. We walked right into immigration instead of standing in line for 60-90 minutes as we have in the past and all our luggage was waiting for us. It was really a blessing after a long flight. 

Friday morning we started our CPR discussion, and I was somewhat surprised to hear that not only were the nurses, Valerie and Paulette, unfamiliar with the term, but they were unfamiliar with the concept. I thought that it would be taught in nursing school.  Well, I guess God brought us back to do it.

I found out, to my joy, that over 15 of the Community Health Workers would be with us all week for the training. It's also wonderful to know that so many of them are not only interested, but also remain willing to commit a week to learning skills and concepts to protect their communities.

We rounded out the day with a drive through the city to see the Presidential palace, the Renaissance statue, and a walk on the beach prior to a dinner of salade Nicoise and a well-deserved rest.

CAM