Mondays always seem to come early, especially when I have tried to sleep in on the weekend, 5:30 is early. This Monday, I decided I needed to get up earlier than usually as people were departing at 6. So a got my cup of tea and read my Bible and had my prayer time. This week the morning compound prayer is at my house which begins at 6:45 to 7:15. The van to take the 10 people to Niamey didn’t arrive until 6:30. They got packed up and in leaving around 6:50. We saw off 2 short termers, a retired pediatrician and a seminary student doing a pastoral internship, 1 vacationer, a family of 4 visiting from Japan, Yoko who escorted them, and 1 couple going to get their resident papers in Niamey. The compound is now very quiet with 15 of us spread out. Another gal joined me for prayer after their departure. I finish getting ready for work, putting on a Nigerien outfit, including head scarf; eat breakfast and am on my way to work before 8. It takes me 1 minute to get to the office on my bike at the far end of the compound. The PDI team meets for devotions together. Presently we’re going through a book on Christian doctrine with lots of verses to look up.
After that we review the previous day’s activity, what happened and what needs to happen. Then we plan the day’s activities, which villages we’re going to and what we’ll be doing. Usually that’s already planned, but just reviewed in case of changes that may have occurred. After that we have a teaching time. This week I started an introductory study on Chronological Bible Storying, which we do for about 1 hour. We’re reading the chapter together and discussing what we learn from it. This is done in French (material) and Hausa (discussion). Ten o’clock is break, for those who take a break, or keep working and doing preparations for the afternoon. We quit in the morning at 11.
The next 3 hours before going to the village at 2 p.m. are filled with various activities: going to the admin office to do some business; following up on the guest house work; reading and answering emails; going to the maintenance dept giving them some job to do – repair in my house; greeting an out-of-town visitor who’s come to the hospital; eat my lunch and take a napJ.
We arrived in the village late this week, because 15 minutes down the road we remembered we forgot the under-five health cards and Vitamin A. Two of the team members are dropped off in one village and 3 of us go on to the next. This day I stayed at the health post and met up with the Trained Birthing Attendants. Two weeks ago Monday, when we arrived we learned that one of the TBAs had just died. So that changed all plans. Marie and I went to the compound and stayed there until they had buried her. We greeted all the various groups: older women, older men, younger women. So this day as we had talked months ago about them working with an assistant, they didn’t have to be told or encouraged to consider our suggestion. They had made all sorts of excuses then. But now, they could see for themselves that with R’s passing away, they each need to have an assistant (a future replacement). They already selected a replacement for R who came. So I had 7 ladies that day all in earnest to apply themselves to caring for women and children in the village. We reviewed the lesson on Malaria: the symptoms, cause, treatment, and prevention. These are older women, grandmas, I’m working with. Instead of asking what the symptoms are for Malaria, I asked them to describe how they felt when they had Malaria. Each of them gave a good response and we covered all the various symptoms. We also reviewed eye infections as this time of the year with lots of flies, eye infections are rampant. At 6 we make our way to pick up the others and head back home arriving after 7.
I’m greeted by 2 frisky dogs as I park the vehicle in the shed. It’s great to feel missed and loved. I get Cali fed, find something in the fridge for myself, maybe take a walk with the dogs, take a shower, check emails, read, maybe listen to the worldspace radio and try to go to bed before 10.
That’s a typical Monday.
After that we review the previous day’s activity, what happened and what needs to happen. Then we plan the day’s activities, which villages we’re going to and what we’ll be doing. Usually that’s already planned, but just reviewed in case of changes that may have occurred. After that we have a teaching time. This week I started an introductory study on Chronological Bible Storying, which we do for about 1 hour. We’re reading the chapter together and discussing what we learn from it. This is done in French (material) and Hausa (discussion). Ten o’clock is break, for those who take a break, or keep working and doing preparations for the afternoon. We quit in the morning at 11.
The next 3 hours before going to the village at 2 p.m. are filled with various activities: going to the admin office to do some business; following up on the guest house work; reading and answering emails; going to the maintenance dept giving them some job to do – repair in my house; greeting an out-of-town visitor who’s come to the hospital; eat my lunch and take a napJ.
We arrived in the village late this week, because 15 minutes down the road we remembered we forgot the under-five health cards and Vitamin A. Two of the team members are dropped off in one village and 3 of us go on to the next. This day I stayed at the health post and met up with the Trained Birthing Attendants. Two weeks ago Monday, when we arrived we learned that one of the TBAs had just died. So that changed all plans. Marie and I went to the compound and stayed there until they had buried her. We greeted all the various groups: older women, older men, younger women. So this day as we had talked months ago about them working with an assistant, they didn’t have to be told or encouraged to consider our suggestion. They had made all sorts of excuses then. But now, they could see for themselves that with R’s passing away, they each need to have an assistant (a future replacement). They already selected a replacement for R who came. So I had 7 ladies that day all in earnest to apply themselves to caring for women and children in the village. We reviewed the lesson on Malaria: the symptoms, cause, treatment, and prevention. These are older women, grandmas, I’m working with. Instead of asking what the symptoms are for Malaria, I asked them to describe how they felt when they had Malaria. Each of them gave a good response and we covered all the various symptoms. We also reviewed eye infections as this time of the year with lots of flies, eye infections are rampant. At 6 we make our way to pick up the others and head back home arriving after 7.
I’m greeted by 2 frisky dogs as I park the vehicle in the shed. It’s great to feel missed and loved. I get Cali fed, find something in the fridge for myself, maybe take a walk with the dogs, take a shower, check emails, read, maybe listen to the worldspace radio and try to go to bed before 10.
That’s a typical Monday.
