Saturday, February 02, 2008
Catching Up a Bit
I'm sorry that it's been a few weeks since you've had news from Dakar. We've had the usual life of much of this and that!A week ago Jane organized a "Talibé Day" to take advantage of the presence of Dr. Mike and his medical team from Phily (West Chester). They were here to do a week of village medical clinics and wanted to help out like last year. Jane invited all of the boys to come for vaccines: tetanus, measles and yellow fever (if they hadn't gotten it last year).
Now, "all" the boys means 220 kids from 5 to 20. In fact, Jane did a wonderful job of organizing, even though that isn't something she enjoys. She visited all of the "daras" to see which medical cards were still valid and which boys didn't yet have a card. So, she really did know an exact number that she expected. Based on that she purchased all the vaccines and designated locations for medical exams, vaccinations, triage, play, showering, breakfast and all that. Then, of course, she had to remake her plan a couple of times when we discovered that another conference was already scheduled to use the big conference room and the dormitory. We actually ended up using the Toombs living utility rooms!
We planned all of this based on the rare availability of medical help, but without any idea how God was going to pay for it. Then our friend Steve Huff, who donated the mosquito nets last year, came back in spite of the Dakar rally being canceled. He brought us 60,000 children's chew-able vitamins! And then when he heard what we planned, he handed us $1,000 to cover the vaccines and food! Check out his organization at www.wheels2africa.org . Steve is a community college professor who does this "on the side."
So, in the end it was a long, long Friday. A team of three gave vaccines, while Dr. Mike and a nurse (photo to right) did exams. Others took vitals and gave out worm meds and supervised showers and all. One lady supervised a play area, with t-shirts to paint and a parachute to play with. Antoinette fed breakfast to many of the boys. Our UWM colleagues and I filled in here and there, translating and supervising boys and all. Jane hustled all about keeping it all moving forward. Whew! The team worked hard and well until 3 when they had to pack up and get on the road to begin their week in the interior. There were still a bunch of boys left to do, so Jane and friend Esther B (SIM, International) kept going on the vaccines. In the end 179 boys got tetanus and measles and 60 of those got a yellow fever shot, too.
This week, Jane should have been catching her breath, but ended up visiting the hospital and dentist a number of times with boys. I spent Tuesday and Wednesday in Dakar Academy Board meetings. But the big event was "Olympics" for Jonathan, a day and a half of sports for all of the students.
This year Jonathan even got into the spirit of it by matching his hair color to his team color. Nice, huh?
Now, "all" the boys means 220 kids from 5 to 20. In fact, Jane did a wonderful job of organizing, even though that isn't something she enjoys. She visited all of the "daras" to see which medical cards were still valid and which boys didn't yet have a card. So, she really did know an exact number that she expected. Based on that she purchased all the vaccines and designated locations for medical exams, vaccinations, triage, play, showering, breakfast and all that. Then, of course, she had to remake her plan a couple of times when we discovered that another conference was already scheduled to use the big conference room and the dormitory. We actually ended up using the Toombs living utility rooms!We planned all of this based on the rare availability of medical help, but without any idea how God was going to pay for it. Then our friend Steve Huff, who donated the mosquito nets last year, came back in spite of the Dakar rally being canceled. He brought us 60,000 children's chew-able vitamins! And then when he heard what we planned, he handed us $1,000 to cover the vaccines and food! Check out his organization at www.wheels2africa.org . Steve is a community college professor who does this "on the side."
So, in the end it was a long, long Friday. A team of three gave vaccines, while Dr. Mike and a nurse (photo to right) did exams. Others took vitals and gave out worm meds and supervised showers and all. One lady supervised a play area, with t-shirts to paint and a parachute to play with. Antoinette fed breakfast to many of the boys. Our UWM colleagues and I filled in here and there, translating and supervising boys and all. Jane hustled all about keeping it all moving forward. Whew! The team worked hard and well until 3 when they had to pack up and get on the road to begin their week in the interior. There were still a bunch of boys left to do, so Jane and friend Esther B (SIM, International) kept going on the vaccines. In the end 179 boys got tetanus and measles and 60 of those got a yellow fever shot, too.
This week, Jane should have been catching her breath, but ended up visiting the hospital and dentist a number of times with boys. I spent Tuesday and Wednesday in Dakar Academy Board meetings. But the big event was "Olympics" for Jonathan, a day and a half of sports for all of the students.This year Jonathan even got into the spirit of it by matching his hair color to his team color. Nice, huh?
The events are track and field primarily: sprints, discus, shot put, long jump, standing broad jump, high jump.
They also have the traditional jump rope event. You get one minute to do as many passes as you can. The records are in the 200+ jumps range for most of the age groups. I took some video to show the speed that that requires, but it was right at the end of the winner's minute and it doesn't quite capture it.
Anyway, it was a true day off for Jane and me as we simply sat and watched and enjoyed the company of friends and the entertainment of kids running and jumping to heart's content.
