Bike Trips

A post from Marc…

One of my favorite things to do in the afternoon at Galmi is to go for a jog or a bike ride. Once you get over the heat, it is very refreshing to get outside for an hour or two and enjoy a different view of life around here. Some days the thermometer is reading over 110 F, but I find that once I get running or biking the breeze cools me off and I barely notice the temperature any more. The hospital compound is situated in a valley with a tall bluff directly across the street and another large hill about 3 miles past the airstrip. I love the view of the hospital and town of Galmi that I can get from the top of the hill.

Riding in the dirt and sand with a one gear bike and an over-sized seat is not as easy as it looks!

It took 3 tries, but I finally scaled this hill north of the hospital property. In the distance you can see a small village near the top. I was greeted by several smiling mothers and their children when I arrived. I think they were wondering why a crazy white man would be running up their hill during the peak heat of the day.

When we can coordinate our schedules, I enjoy getting away with David – a missionary kid who was raised in eastern Niger – or Christopher – a long term missionary physician from Oregon. David’s favorite place to ride is the reservoir – a large man-made body of water east of Galmi. It holds water year round and can release it at certain times to irrigate fields for the farmers. 

David is an avid naturalist and enjoys taking his binoculars for bird-watching. He also likes to photograph plants that can be seen around the reservoir. He manages the trees and plants on the hospital compound and loves finding new things that grow well in this hot and dry climate.

This is the view directly across from the reservoir. It is so green in this area because of the irrigation the reservoir provides. This is probably some of the best farmland near Galmi.

Christopher loves to ride off to small villages outside of Galmi to check on children and families that he has recently cared for in the hospital. It is usually quite an adventure to find children around here. So many of them have the same name, and the name of their village in the hospital record is sometimes just an approximation of the nearest town. Most of our time is often spent wandering around asking if anyone knows the child we are looking for.

                      In some places on the road the sand is so deep that we do more walking than biking.

We rode off the day after Easter in search of a 6 month old that Christopher had seen at 1 month of age. His mother delivered in her village and died shortly after from what sounds like an eclamptic seizure. The child was very underweight when his grandmother brought him in and he looked malnourished. She was feeding him powdered formula, but she was diluting it with way too much water to save money. Christopher talked with her about the right proportions to mix together and hoped that this 1 month old would survive. We were not sure if we would find him alive when we set out on our trip.

These villages are quite a site. It looks like almost nothing has changed in centuries… except for the motorcycles and cell phones.

These are some of the ways villagers travel in Niger...

This is a village well where everyone congregates to fill up their jugs of water.

The usual course of events is that we get introduced to the chief of the village and sit down with him on a mat for a few minutes to get acquainted. After formalities, we asked the chief if he knew the child we were searching for. He looked puzzled, and then left for 10-15 minutes to ask some of the local women if they knew the boy. We were then directed to another nearby village and repeated the process. This time, we found him! He is now 6 months old and thriving. Look at how plump he is!

It turns out that his grandmother had taken him to the hospital earlier in the morning for a visit, but was turned away because the hospital was closed in observance of Easter. We asked her and the other onlookers if they knew why we were closed. No one did. They had never heard of Easter before. Christopher then told our audience the story of Easter. I think this was probably the first time anyone in this village had heard the good news.

Christopher then presented the family with a new can of formula as an Easter gift. We also gave the chief several small bags of frozen yogurt that we purchased in Galmi before we left. A cold treat is quite a luxury in a village with no refrigeration. And then Christopher lined up all the kids to pass out some candy.

With our journey a success, we set off for the long ride home filled with joy that we had found the young boy alive and that we had the chance to share God's love with so many people.