Visits to Danja

During our orientation in Maradi, our group made a visit to see the Danja Fistula Surgical Center and to see the other work that they do in Danja like working with leprosy patients. The Fistula Center just had its grand opening a few months ago. SIM Niger partnered in this with the Worldwide Fistula Fund and they are going to do some great things for the women in this region in the years ahead. You can read more about this SIM Niger project and why there is a need for this kind of medical care HERE. Since the visit was scheduled during the kids' nap time, Marc went with the group and I stayed back while the kids slept.

Gracie was there representing the little ones and making sure everyone's owees were doing ok.

 Some of the medical staff that work at the fistula hospital

Since I couldn't go tour the hospital the first time, Marc and I went back later on in the week with the kids. We had a great time walking around with the regional director and Eli and Hailey enjoyed providing the entertainment for all the patients and their families. The leprosy ward is behind Marc and Bert in the picture below. I had never seen anyone with leprosy until our visit. This hospital compound first opened in the 1950's as a leprosarium. Much like in biblical times, people with leprosy become outcasts in their village and are shunned from their families. The hospital opened to provide medical care for the patients and give them a place to live. It has slowly grown to provide care to patients with other medical conditions, but leprosy is still one of the most common things that they see and treat. It is hard to imagine that a disease like leprosy, that is easily treatable, still exists in the world. However, it is quite common in Niger. When we walked the ward, we saw many patients disabled and with missing fingers and toes as a result of untreated leprosy. As we heard about the history of the church in Niger we learned that Danja is one of the first places where Christianity took root as a result of SIM Niger's compassionate care of leprosy patients.

We headed back to Danja on Sunday for church. Here are some women chatting after church.

We took Eli's Nerf soccer ball with us and the Nigerian kids loved kicking it around after the service.

After church we headed out to Lake Madarounfa for a picnic! Marc and I could not believe that we were actually hearing "lake" and "Niger" in the same sentence since we had not seen any naturally occurring body of water since arriving here in January. This lake has an average circumference of 5 km and happens to be one of the few permanent open bodies of water in Niger. It was well worth the 30 minute car ride out there!

Shortly before we arrived we saw a dirt devil that was spiraling high above the tree tops. You can somewhat see it off in the distance in this picture, but trust me, it was very cool to see in person.

The Goulbi N' Gabi river is what forms Lake Madarounfa, but the riverbed is actually dry the majority of the year. It only has flowing water during the rainy months of July and August. There is a grass path that is put down over the sandy riverbed for travel purposes. I took this picture of the truck behind us after we crossed the riverbed. :) It is crazy to see such a large portion of river completely dried up.

There were lots of villages scattered along the lake. I imagine this lake is probably very precious to people in a country that is so dry and hot for the majority of the year. I couldn't capture everyone in this picture  below, (because I took it out of a moving vehicle) but there was a large group of women off to the right washing clothes, the children in the middle were swimming, and the man on the left brought his cows down to the water for a drink. A picture like this makes it more understandable why clean drinking water is a necessity for good health. In the same small area, animals wade and drop waste, kids swim and women wash clothes.

Everything was so green. This was refreshing to see after only seeing dirt for so many months.

The animals certainly know where to hang out.

Who needs a zoo when you can stand right next to a herd of camels???

These are mud bricks carved into the softer ground of the shoreline as the water recedes. Then after the bricks dry, people can use them to construct their homes or other building structures.

Don't let the serenity of the picture fool you, it was still a scorcher out there under that tree.

Eli enjoyed throwing rocks with the big kids.

Marc spotted this man off in the distance in his boat and flagged him down...

 ...and before I knew it Marc and Eli were setting out for a little boat ride. I should probably never again wonder where Eli gets his sense of adventure from. :)

Back to the water subject... Marc said that while they were on the boat, this villager dipped a plastic bottle in the lake, filled it up with cloudy brown water, and started drinking it. The lake is contaminated with schistosomiasis and animal waste, but it seems that many don't understand the importance of clean drinking water or they just don't have any other options.

 Here is our picnic crew... the majority of these folks are new friends from Australia.

We had a wonderful time exploring in Maradi and Danja and made lots of great memories (and some new friends!). Marc is going to take over the blog for the next week or so since he has some good posts he wants to share with you.