Beebout.us

Laying out the clinic foundation, a photo by beebbuzz on Flickr.

We have been back in the US for about 10 days and are having a wonderful time reconnecting with family. We spent 4 days in NY/NJ, staying with the family of the volunteer who is with us for the year in Niger. Her mom and brother were in Niger for 3 weeks in February and blessed us by working with diabetic patients (mom) and laying tile in the guesthouse (brother)! We enjoyed staying with them on this side. We were also blessed to speak at Herkimer Reformed Church and participate in the annual auction they use to raise our support. We have been back in Iowa since Monday and are thankful to be with family to celebrate the good news of the risen Christ. Thank you for your prayers. Remember the work in Niger, too. This photo shows the clinic foundation being laid out last week after our depart!

That’s what I’ve found myself saying a lot these last few days and I’m realizing it’s because we are seriously in need of prayer!  A week from this moment we should be over the Atlantic Ocean on our way to New York.  These last days of wrapping up are crazy and seem to keep getting crazier.  We started the week with a dead battery in our Landcruiser.  Then on Tuesday our Suzuki broke down…leaving Jeremy to push start the big car to come to my rescue.  We replaced the 7-month-old battery in the Landcruiser when it became clear that there was no other option.  We hated to buy a battery to leave it sit here in the heat while we are in the US!  Both cars now seem to be working again.  But today another relatively minor but quite frustrating event bogged us down.  A Nigerien friend asked if our team of physical therapists could bring some things over for the Christian school they run.  Our team agreed and ended up bringing over quite a few things that somehow got scattered throughout their luggage.  When they arrived, some of these things accidentally went with them to the interior.  They finally brought everything back last week.  I organized it and left it in my clinic and contacted my friend.  She stopped by to get it this morning only find to that our guard had mistaken it for trash and burned the contents!  He doesn’t see well and didn’t realize what he had gotten a hold of.  I’m sure you can imagine the general chaos and frustration that ensued.

Please pray for us as these events don’t make any sense at all other than the enemy trying to derail and distract us and leave us frustrated in our relationships here.  Please pray for protection, peace and patience!

Chako’s, Olivia, the President, a photo by beebbuzz on Flickr.

We are currently blessed to have friends from our ISU days with us as part of a team who has been moving the guesthouse toward COMPLETION! Please check out the photos on our flickr site…more to come.

This young lady is our friend’s 9 year old daughter. She raised $700 for the health ministry and we decided to use it to start making bricks for the clinic! The cornerstone was laid today in a brief ceremony. We are looking forward to the day when we will have the room we need to treat the suffering and share the good news of the gospel!

Thanks!, a photo by beebbuzz on Flickr.

I’m writing tonight from Cotonou where I am spending 3 days…the first ever away from Abigail! I’m here with a team of Nigerien and American doctors and physical therapists to look at the Physical Therapy School at University Abomey Calavi. We want to use it as a model for starting our own PT school in Niger and hope that they will be interested in cooperating with us. Please pray for our meeting with the program director and for my family at home!

The picture is Chako and I gratefully receiving medications from Medicines for Sick Children Foundation and Our Church of the Savior in Rochester, MN. Thank you so much! You have blessed our patients!

Minister of Higher Education, a photo by beebbuzz on Flickr.

Thanks for your prayers and words of encouragement. The ceremony was lovely and I do believe that God was glorified. His name was lifted high and the EERN got the credit it deserved for desiring to partner with the state to improve higher education. As for me, I think what touched me the most was my students calling to ask if this meant I was leaving permanently. I was happy to be able to inform that the Dean was leaving his post, not me. We (CADR) see this as a beginning. The initial, experimental phase has been completed. Now we believe God is opening doors for deeper investment in the university and in lives. Our first priority is to start a Physical Therapy program. The next step will be to help start a Cardiology training program for doctors. We are praying for partnerships with North American and European institutions to help in this work. Will you pray with us?

The dean of the medical school, who has been very open to what we are doing at the university, has finished his second and final term.  The good news is that he has been elected as president of the entire university!  He called me last week asking me to come in to see him because he wanted to thank me for the work I’ve done at the U.  When I went to his office, he started the conversation with the best type of Nigerien compliment, “Dr. Susan, you look like you’ve gained some weight!”  (In case you were wondering, I haven’t.)  Really, it’s a compliment.  Really.

He followed by telling me that he wants to roast a sheep for me on Friday night…and invite the Minister of Public Health, the Minister of Higher Education and our ambassador.  What?!?  This is the type of ceremony they usually do when someone gets tenure or something really important happens.  Needless to say, I feel a bit overwhelmed by all of this…honored but overwhelmed none the less.  Chako basically said, “Yes, it’s too much, but you didn’t ask them to do this and any good publicity that the church and Christ get in Niger is a good thing.”  He’s right, of course.  Please pray that God would grant me the wisdom and courage to use this opportunity well, that His name would be lifted high and that His Kingdom would advance because of this event.

Thanks for your prayers for our meeting last week.  I am praising the Lord that He does seem to be moving in this area which has been my biggest challenge!  The meeting went very well although I continue to be amazed by how little EERN church members here in Niamey know about what is happening at CADR.  The representative from the women’s group at our church suggested that I visit the individual church groups (women, men, youth) and tell them in detail what we are offering at our clinic.  I think this is a good idea and will at least help them to take a bit more ownership.  A lot of these folks actually have health insurance and prefer private clinics but they send me their house helpers and neighbors which is great.

Yacouba’s presence was well received by those who came to the meeting.  Please pray that he will be able to find the time to work with me if it is the Lord’s will and that I will have enough extra funding (from consultations) to encourage him and at least help him put gas in his scooter for the trips out to the clinic.  If he commits to working with me regularly, I think that bringing the other health care workers in the denomination on board will follow naturally.

Thanks!

One of my biggest challenges here is getting the large church involved in the medical ministry.  While the work I’m carrying out is not my vision but the vision of my EERN Supervisor and the other EERN leaders. However, the EERN at large has been slow to catch on to what we are doing and why.  This week that seems like it might change.  A sixth year med student from the EERN whom I have known since our arrival in 2007 has recently committed to working with me regularly at the clinic.  In addition, he asked us to call a meeting with pastors and leaders from the two local EERN churches in order to bring everyone up to speed about what we are doing.  Chako, my supervisor, decided to do it today because the General Assembly of the EERN is happening on Friday.  Please pray that the right people would come to this meeting and that God would send those who are interested in advancing the work of the church, and His kingdom, rather than those who are looking for ways to advance their own interests.  Pray for wisdom for myself and Chako as we present the work.  Pray that I would hold loosely to my own ideas and desires and the effort I’ve invested to date in the clinic.  This is what I’ve been praying for yet I know that giving this clinic a more Nigerien flavor is going to have it’s bumps and rough places.  Finally, pray for Yacouba, the young man from the church. Thanks for praying!

Adamou crossing on boat, a photo by beebbuzz on Flickr.

On Saturday we had the privilege of taking Dr. G and his wife to see Adamou at his home on the island. Dr. G is the one who operated on Adamou’s hip and leg a year ago. It was a joy as always to see Adamou walking around with no cane or other aid. In the long run, Adamou will need a hip replacement or surgical fixation of the hip, neither of which is likely to happen here. We’ve done what we can…we trust God’s plan for the rest.

Yesterday we added physical therapy consultations to our clinic! I feel so blessed to have A. join me in the work. She has been here in total for about a year and a half but has not been practicing. Her youngest son just started preschool and she has now generously agreed to see patients when I need her. Most of the patients will probably be those with back pain or who have suffered stroke, just based on the nature of patients who seek me out. But I also have a lot of kids with neurologic disorders such as cerebral palsy, brain injury from cerebral malaria and even some girls with osteogenesis imperfecta. All of them can benefit from regular follow-up with a physical therapist. PT normally costs about $20 a session and so only a few wealthy people benefit. We’ll be offering the service for a greatly reduced price. The first patients she saw with me were two siblings with a progressive neurologic disease that is probably hereditary. They were unfortunately just in town to seek a diagnosis and returned to the village today. The mother told of us crowded living conditions, a lack of nutritious food not to mention the heartbreak of watching healthy looking kids lose the ability to walk and care for themselves. Pray that we would know how to be a light in these situations where we have no pretense of being able to offer them hope from a medical standpoint. Pray that families such as these would seek the great Physician and find Him.

Oh Happy Day, a photo by beebbuzz on Flickr.

I am very happy to report that we now have all of the basic equipment for our clinic! The bad news is that we were able to get it from Peace Corps because they have permanently pulled out of Niger. The good news is we’re equipped at a reasonable price with high quality American goods. I actually bid on the lot (silent auction) because I needed the sterilizer (see additional pics on our blog). For the price of a new sterilizer plus getting it here, I got 2 sterilizers, 2 exam tables, a real hospital bed, a wheelchair, 2 IV poles, cupboards for the clinic rooms, 100 plastic bins for the pharmacy, a scale and a variety of fun stuff like bedpans. We already have the equipment for a full laboratory. Now we just need to build! We’re considering building with mud brick (see pics on our flickr site). We need to raise around $30,000 to build. If you are interested in helping, I’ll send you more information. Praise the Lord for His many blessings!