Here I Am, Send Me: Friday, September 5th

I have now left the safety of the plane and the car and I am actually in Africa. It was a full day and I was considerably uncomfortable at times until this evening. This evening we went to visit a village and I got to play with the kids. Seriously, LOVE the kids! They are the same the world over and their rules are very simple: pay attention to me and make me laugh. I can handle that. (p.s. digital cameras help with both of the above). More on that later.

I tried to make myself useful at the dispensary today but it was difficult since I don't speak any of the language. The staff all speak French but only a few of the patients speak French since they learn French in school and many of the villagers are uneducated. The trade language is called Jula and a larger number of the villagers speak that. Those who don't speak Jula speak in their tribal languages. Most of the Africans in this area belong to the Senoufo (SEN-ah-foe) people group which is divided into another 34(ish) groups. This particular group of Senoufo people speak Cebaara (cha-BAR-ah). Robin speaks French fluently and knows a little bit of Jula, but even she needs interpreters to assist her when people come from the village who only speak their tribal languages.

It is frustrating to be able to communicate even less than I can in Spanish (which is pathetic in its own right!) and to feel like languages present such an insurmountable barrier to working out here. I don't even know if I could learn a language or not because I have never tried! Yet it discourages me.

Robin took me around and introduced me to everyone and then I sat for a while in the diabetic clinic and helped with some blood pressures and weights. They use the French system which only measures blood pressures to the tens, so they just record 12/8 (or, as one of my patients had today, 21/12. That is NOT good!). I sat in on a few consultations with Robin and then spent the afternoon starting the quarterly inventory in the pharmacy. It is on our agenda for tomorrow, but I figured I would get it started so that it wouldn't take so long in the morning!

Meeting people was interesting. Greetings are VERY important so we start every morning by walking around to see everyone, greet them, shake their hand, and ask them how they are doing. Everyone has been very kind and welcoming. I wish I could listen to them and ask them questions. I am afraid I have a whole slew of Africans praying for my return now!

I learned some new things today...I learned how to recognize when someone is asking me how I am doing and how to respond. I learned that sweet potatoes cut up and fried in sunflower oil are EXCELLENT. And I learned that if you freeze pasta for 24-48 hours before cooking it, the bugs die which makes them float to the top in the boiling water, making them much easier to pick out!

After we finished dinner, Robin and I walked to one of the nearby villages to do some visiting. Much like greeting, visiting is a significant part of the culture. People are honored when you visit them and there is a fairly formal pattern to follow. I'll explain more about that some other day.

One of the ladies that we visited tonight was concerned about who is going to work at the dispensary after Robin retires. She said that they want "someone to come, but not someone who works like the world. Someone who has the joy of Jesus in their work, who is patient with people and doesn't get mad when they don't understand right away and who shows their love for the people by the way they care for them." That is who they are looking for.

As we made our way through the village, we began to attract a crowd. What they lacked in size, they made up for in numbers. I didn't even notice what was happening until I felt a small hand slip into mine. I turned around and the sight caused me to laugh out loud. There we were, the two pale pipers, inadvertently attracting all of the children and leading them through the village.

All it took was one shy grin from the little girl who was holding my hand and I was done for. We stopped at the house of one of the dispensary employees and Robin chatted with him while I played with the kids. There was one little baby amongst the group and Robin asked if I wanted to tie her on my back. This was shortly after she peed on my lap. (The kidos don't wear diapers, the ladies just use their wraps to cover their bottoms and let it soak in. Nobody told me this. I didn't have a wrap.) Whatev. TIA. Tie her on.

I got out my camera to take a picture and then the rest of the kids wanted their pictures taken, too. And so the fun began. Lots of smiles. Lots of giggles. Lots of ticklish kids. It was just enough to take some of the edge off after an uncomfortable first day in a new culture.

Some pictures: