Niger Vocational Training Centre

This is Aichatou, one of the young Tuareg girls in our school. Aichatou lives two days drive into the desert in a village and came into town this year to live with her brother-in-law to attend our school. She is shy and unsure of herself, but making great progress and I really enjoy her!

Back in February  she was telling me about how she gets really bad headaches and sinus pain and snores like crazy and has trouble breathing, especially when she lays down to sleep at night. CT scans (she already had them taken when she told me this) showed that her left nostril and sinus opening was completely blocked by a growth. (turns out it is benign- yay!)

She did not want to risk the National Hospital (and who can blame her!) so we went in February to CURE hospital in town. We were told that they currently could not do anything, but there was a team of specialist coming in June who could possibly take her case since they were maxio-facial specialists (mostly doing cleft lip and cleft palate work). So Monday we went for the meeting with this group, and her surgery is booked for Thursday! We are so pleased they were able to make the time for her and they say her quality of breathing should be much better after this.

The group out here doing this work is from the organization FREE TO SMILE. Check them out here: Free to smile webpage

I will update you when she is out and once again I will be there to wait with her and pick her up etc. We know this family well and are pleased to be able to love them and serve in this way. Please pray for Aichatou. I know this particular surgery can be painful to recover from!

Imagine owning only a pair of plastic flip flops. Imagine the heat and sand of the desert, living in huts on dirt floors and walking everywhere. Can you imagine how awful your feet might look and feel? (I know I am sure going to need a pedicure when I get home!)

All this dancing is hard on your feet!

Not every week at school needs to be full of hard work. We want to have fun as well and touch upon all levels of their life- even their feet!

So this past week, after our Math and French lessons, we talked about feet! Many of the girls suffer from cracked feet, sore spots, fungus or rashes and nasty looking feet syndrome! We talked about skin care, proper washing, how to treat fungus and when to be careful of things that could be contagious!

Then we split them into their small groups and passed out clippers, lime boards, pumice stones, buckets and soap! We enjoyed the shade under the hangar and had a lot of fun! Everyone got their feet all shiny clean and nails clipped, etc. Quite often they relaxed while their friend did the work – just like a spa!

Rebecca got in on the action too!

We love these girls from the soles of their feet to the top of their heads!

First or all, let me say I don’t really believe in Karma. Well not the whole eastern religious, second life, return as a snake or a king, kind of thing. But I do believe that to some extent, what goes around comes around. The way you treat people is a reflection of yourself and your values. Showering love on someone and being loved in return is definitely no bad thing! I have coined it “LOVE KARMA”

The Christian concept of reaping what you sow from Galatians 6:7 sort of talks about the same thing.

Galatians 6:7-8

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked.

A man reaps what he sows.

Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction;

whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

This last two weeks, I have really felt overwhelmed with love karma. I spent several days with Ramatou and her family, visiting the hospitals, getting the actual surgery done and then follow up appointments. When I saw Ramatou wheeled out of the operating room and across the courtyard into the patient wing, I had this strange sense of strong emotion sweep over me and I got all choked up. I felt so grateful. I was so excited for her new lease on life- pain free! I hope to see her grow and be happy and walk freely and run. When she awoke from her anaesthetic she asked for me. I went into the wing (it wasn’t yet visiting hours but I was lurking around anyway) and came over to her. She was groggy. She grabbed my hand and pulled me in close to talk to me. Her first words were not poetic, they weren’t deep heart touching words or anything. She said “ Chantelle- I want a banana. Or an Apple!” and she said it with such clear longing and force that it made me smile. Then she said “Or maybe a mango, or some fruit juice – I am sooo hungry Chantelle!” I asked the nurse if she could eat yet and was told the lunch meal was about 30 minutes away and she would have to wait for that. I sat on the edge of the bed and held her hand and chatted with her and her mom while we waited. Once she dozed and her head faced her mom and suddenly she said  to her Mom- “Where is Chantelle????” Her Mom told her I was right there and she moved her head and saw me sitting on the other side and gave me this big smile and squeezed my hand. She was so funny and candid for the next few hours as we ate and then waited to be released. Her Mom kept ssshing her for being so blunt and direct with me (which did not bother me one iota but her mom would have seen as her being rude to me) and we just laughed. I told her Mom it was just the medication talking. We joked that today she was crazy, but tomorrow she would  be back to normal Ramatou. At her insistence, I promised to buy a bag of mangoes on the way home to quench her mango craving.

When we arrived back at her house, a crowd of people came running to welcome her back. They gathered around her and helped her onto a padded mat on the ground. Of course she asked right away for a mango. They will take good care of her for the next week while she heals and doesn’t do any major lifting or running or anything. The incision is only 1.5 inches long, but she still needs to be careful. A few of the older women came over to talk to me. I love the old women here who have seen so many things in their lives. Their folds of weathered skin and sunken eyes tell the story of hard times and their nomadic lifestyle. One of the old women blessed me. I mean actually blessed me. She kissed her hand and then touched it to my forehead, all the while asking for her Allah’s blessing on me and my life. She did this several times in a row and it was all I could do to keep tears from rolling down my cheeks. Everything I had given to Ramatou she gave me right back in that love, that kiss on my forehead and her blessing. Love Karma.

I asked Paul when I got home if it was wrong to love the love in return. I don’t do it for the return love and often here in this country our love can be met with spits in the face, but we keep on loving anyways. But those times when our love is returned with love, my heart is glad. I told Paul, it might seem crazy, but maybe I would do this job forever just for that love. I don`t need accolades, recognition or awards, I can live on those little bits of love karma alone. So yeah….maybe that sounds a little bit crazy .

It was another day that I was reminded that I am so thankful to be in this place, at this time, doing this work, to be God’s hand to her. Let’s make it clear- I am just the tool. We don’t celebrate a hammer in the Master’s hand, we celebrate and are thankful to the Master himself. Let me tell you, I am one happy hammer!

The most I can do for my friend is simply to be his friend. I have no wealth to bestow on him. If he knows that I am happy in loving him, he will want no other reward. Is not friendship divine in this?” -Henry David Thoreau

If this is what love karma is…bring it on!

Ramatou back at this school Wednesday- pain free!!

Girls’ rights are human rights!

When you help a girl to access her rights, the impact doesn’t just end there with her. When a girl is educated, nourished and protected, she shares her knowledge and skills with her family and community – a girl’s involvement in education and community can change the future of a nation.

Feed a girl – she’ll feed everyone around her.

Fact: The nutrition a girl receives as a child will affect the health of her own child when she becomes a mother. A girl with years of bad nutrition and health care can have serious problems in adolescence and into womanhood.

“Discrimination against the girl child in her access to nutrition and physical and mental health services endangers her current and future health and that of her children. An estimated 450 million adult women in developing countries are stunted as a result of childhood protein-energy malnutrition.” – The Declaration from the Beijing Women’s Conference in 1995.

Did you know we are trying to bring in a feeding program component to the girls school next year?

Keep a girl healthy – she’ll protect the health of her entire family.

Fact: Girls and boys face different health issues, not just because they are physiologically different, but because of their status in society. While physically girls are often more resilient than boys, the way they are treated from birth in comparison with their brothers often leaves them at a disadvantage.

For example, in households where boys are more highly valued that girls, boys often eat before the girls. Whatever is left over goes to the girls. Without nutritional equality, girls aren’t able to reach their full potential.

We have already seen so many ways where the health of our precious girls is failing. We are constantly looking for smart, efficient ways to bridge the gap of health care in their lives!

Educate a girl – she’ll break the cycle of poverty.

Fact: Education leads to…

a higher income
smaller, healthier families
reduced risk of HIV
more involvement in politics and decision making

“Education helps you see what is wrong with the world and gives you the confidence to question it.” – Bhanwari, 20 years old, India

Empower a girl – she’ll change the world.

Fact: Young women put back 90% of their income into their household, but men only give back 30-40%. By directing the money they earn back into the household, girls can help their families to stay healthy, secure and educated.

Sorry this will be a short update- but lots of pictures at least! We have been very busy lately. Our last two classes were on conflict management, and then one on dental care! Seems funny to have them back and forth but we move around between health topics and moral topics quite freely

The interesting thing about conflict management here is …..they don’t manage it. They don’t talk about it. They won’t sit down and discuss it with the person and everything gets shoved under the rug or they use an intermediary instead of going themselves. Wow. That is like my worst nightmare!!

Try as we could, we just couldn’t seem to get them to even consider more proactive ways of dealing with the fights that happen. And we know the girls are always disagreeing and arguing! Must be such a strong cultural thing that so far we just can’t break through! Here are some pics of the skits and girls that day.

On one other note- the young girl Ramatou I wrote about a few blogs ago is going in for surgery Wednesday- so please keep her and her family in your prayers!

Djamila

Salamatou Y

My advanced math class doing modified BINGO outside in the yard.

If they get a number right, before they can circle it on their sheet, they have to correctly spell it!

Halima took a turn as the “prof” and read out the numbers and wrote them on the board.

Then just last week we talked about dental care. Not surprising, the quality of dental care here is horrific and their teeth are not a pretty sight, especially as they get older. The Tuareg women have the extra added “problem” in that culturally a lot of the women use chewing tobacco! Thankfully we are catching the girls before the age they would start that, so we can educate them against it! I showed gory photos about mouth cancer  and nasty rotted teeth and gums and it really brought it home the damage that chewing tobacco and smoking can cause.

We used eggs to show teeth and the issue of brushing and caring for your enamel. We covered eggs in dried honey and caked on dirt and they had to use brushes and a tiny bit of water and make it spic and span clean. We did 4 experiments on eggs using water for one (to show cleanliness) vinegar on one (to show acidic damage like their sauces and Coca cola and juices) we used strong Tuareg sugared tea on one (which is a part of their daily lives) and then we smeared toothpaste on another one then submitted it to the tea test as well. The girls had a lot of fun. I returned 2 days later to show what had happened to the eggs. The water one was spic and span, the two tea ones were dark and stained, although the one with toothpaste was notably less stained, and the vinegar egg had no hard shell left and was like a bouncy ball! Crazy! Try that one at home, but handle it carefully!

So that’s it for now! Only 5 more weeks before their summer break!

I’m going to be so sad!