Real Living

I spent most of my time in Torogo living with an Africa family in Korohogo (a city a couple of towns over from Korohogo). Let me tell you, it was quite the experience. It was so wonderful at times and so hard other times.  It was definitely a time for me to completely rely on the Lord for patience, strenth, love and energy.

Marilyn is 29. She works at the dispensary in the baby room. She lives with her mom, younger sister and 2 other little kids. These people became my family. They were so great, so generous and hospitable.  Marilyn spoke French to me, but the rest of her family spoke mostly Cebarra. So once I finally felt like I was getting a handle on this whole French speaking thing, I move in with a family who speaks mostly Cebarra..

This is what an average day looked like for me:

Marilyn and I woke up between 5:30 and 5:45. We went and got our water from the well for our morning bucket baths. We both took our baths and got ready for work. Then we had a 30-minute moto ride from Korohogo to the dispensary in Torogo. We worked at the dispensary from about 7:30 until 3:30 or 4. We rode our moto back home and hung out with the family for a little bit. At around 5 we started preparing dinner. We would usually make some sort of sauce with either rice or kabato.  At 6:15 Marilyn and I would go to church because for the week that I was living there her church was having a nightly conference. The conference consisted of music, worship, dancing and a sermon.  It was really fun and I got to meet so many wonderful people! After church ended we would go visit some of her neighbors or friends. Then at about 9 we would go home and eat dinner, take our night baths and then go to sleep!

Spending a little over a week with an African family was probably the best experience I could have asked for. I didn’t realize how “American” the guest houses were that I was staying in. In the African home not only was it physically hard (sleeping on a concrete floor, getting water out of a well, cooking dinner with out a stove) but it was also mentally exhausting. There is so much work and effort that goes into every little thing. Even just communicating with someone. Just trying to say that I want to take a nap or I haven’t washed yet took so much time, patience and work. I know that this week was a true test from the Lord.  Daily I had to rely on Him to get me through the day. There was absolutely no other way I could do it.

I am so thankful to the Lord for being so faithful and getting me through the week. It was an amazing experience that I will forever be thankful for.  The lesson I learned from my African family and the lessons that the Lord taught me, I honestly don’t think I could have learned anywhere or anyway else. I truly learned what it means to pray without ceasing. I love that family dearly. Marilyn even gave me a Cebarra name! My name is Yèlè, which means first daughter. It was so sweet to know that Marilyn thinks of me as her daughter and as part of her family.

the entrance to the courtyard

part of the courtyard (the little room on the left is where i went to the bathroom...)

part of the courtyard

dinner with mom!

the living room

MY WONDERFUL FAMILY

(by the way-ivorians don't really smile in pictures)

The Dispensary

Internet has been really hard to come by so I apologize for the lack of updates! 

On June 25^th I left Ferke and moved west to a little town called Torogo to work at the dispensary there. The dispensary is mostly an out-patient clinic. They do dressing changes, patient consultations, prenatal consultations, vaccinations clinics, diabetic clinics and more.

For the 2 weeks I was there I worked in a different place every day, so I got a little taste of everything.

Mondays I worked in the dressing room doing dressing changes for patients.

Tuesdays I was in patient consultations with a diagnostician. We saw so many patients in one day. Mostly patients came in with malaria or HIV but occasionally there were some other cool things I got to see.

Wednesdays I was in OB-GYB helping with prenatal checkups. My favorite part of that was using the Doppler to find the baby’s heartbeat! I loved that!

Thursdays I worked the vaccination clinic giving babies the needed vaccinations. So many moms came and brought the babies. I was really impressed with numbers! I got to give a lot of shots, which is always good practice! But unfortunately I made so many babies cry. After the vaccination clinic I went to go weigh all the babies in the baby room with Marilyn!

Fridays I worked the diabetic clinic. I checked in patients, took their blood sugar, weight, blood pressure and handed out the sugar free oatmeal we give them.  After the clinic I would usually go help Marilyn in the baby room or go to the injection room and help give injections.

the dispensary

the vaccination clinic

the diabetic clinic

the chart room

Friendship

These are my wonderful friends Catherine and Naomi. I love when I get to spend time and visit with them!!

Wedding Dance

Last Sunday afternoon, I got to go with Diane to a Wedding Dance. A week before a woman gets married, there is a huge dance in her mother’s courtyard. All the women from the village and church come! It was so much fun!

The women get up and sing in all these different languages!  The person who is singing sings one line then everyone else responds while dancing. 

Naomi taught me how to dance! She told me that I didn’t do to bad for my first time! 

naomi & me

I kinda stick out, don't I?

The Tiepogovogo Village

Sunday morning I got to go into the Nyarafolo Tiepogovogo village. This is the village where Linn and Glenn do their ministry. Originally I was supposed to ride down there with Rebecca on her moto but the moto ended up breaking down with in the first 5 minutes of our ride. But that’s ok because my 5 minute moto ride was awesome! (Pictures coming soon!) So in light of the moto breaking down, I got to ride into the village with Linn, Glenn and the other 3 girls.  Linn and Glenn have been doing ministry with the Nyarafolo people since the 80’s. There is a church pretty well established in the Tiepogovogo village and there are other church plants in the works in other villages. It is really amazing to sit down and talk with them about their ministry and their hearts for the Nyarafolo people. Linn is the head of the translation team that is working on getting the whole bible translated into Nyarafolo.  My first day here in Cote d’Ivoire I sat down with her and got to talk with her all about the translation project. It is absolutely incredible. There is so much work that goes into translating the bible into another language. It blew my mind. So with all that said, I was really excited to get to see this village where Linn and Glen do their work!

Once we got to village we had to go around and greet everyone.  We got to walk around the whole village and see everything! It was so cool. We even got to go into one of the huts! The women live in round huts and men live in rectangle huts. All the huts of a family are centered around a middle courtyard. After we met and greeted everyone, we walked up to the church.

Worshiping with the Nyarafolo people was so amazing. It was such an amazing feeling to know that the God that they are singing to in Nyarafolo is the same God that I sing to in English. After we sang some songs, prayer requests were shared and announcements were said. Me, Lindsay, Heather and Sarah were then all introduced to the whole church! Then the pastor came up and preached out of Number 22. Linn was so kind to translate all of the songs and the sermon for us. After the sermon was over, me and the other 3 girls got to be the first to leave the chapel. Everyone then came out and shook our hands, welcomed us and thanked us for coming. It was really sweet.

After church was over we were invited to stay and have lunch with the village. We had rice with a choice of a peanut sauce or a green leaf sauce. I chose both! They were both very good!

This is the church

Inside the church

Lunch after church

Picture outside the village!

The village

 On our way back into town we stopped and had our picture taken with a termite mound. Pretty crazy, huh?

The Market

Last Thursday, Linn took me and the other 3 girls to the market because Thursday is Ferke’s market day! The market was filled with people selling fabric, vegetables, fruits, meats, crafts and so much other stuff! We all bought fabric for pangas. A panga is basically a piece of fabric that you wrap around your waist as a skirt. You also use them to carry your baby on your back.

There were so many choices to choose from! They were all so pretty!

So we all bought a couple different designs and now we all have our own pangas!!

The Hospital

  These are some pictures of the hospital in Ferke where I am working!

This is the offices on the left and the chapel on the right

This is the waiting area for the clinic in the hospital. Further to the left patients check in. The green doors are consultation rooms and the pharmacy is on the far right.

Any patient who has to stay overnight in the hospital must have a guardian with them. The guardian is responsible for washing their clothes, all the patients hygiene and also cooking for the patients. Most of the time people end up having to move their whole family onto the grounds of the hospital. They will sleep in the hospital courtyard or on the sidewalks. This is a picture of where the guardians do their cooking.

This is where the guardians take baths, wash clothes and wash dishes 

Patient and guardian bathroom

Laundry

This is the courtyard in the center of all the in-patient wards.

MANGO TREES! There are so many of them all over the grounds of the hospital! The mangos are delicious!! I eat at least one a day!