Flat Brylee is headed home

This is me and Suellen on the ferry. I call her Sohna when she is dressed like this. She only wears the head piece off of her compound (yard). When we arrived at their place in Banjul, she changed to regular American long skirts.

I didn't have to wear a complae because of my age. If I stayed longer I would have tried it. Girls don't have to wear a head peice.

Suellen took me to a few places in Banjul. I saw the president's arch. We stopped at a few store. One store uses bar codes and scanners for prices. Suellen said that store is only a few years old. She bought a nice padded envelope and fitted me out for my return trip to America. She thinks I should make it home well before Christmas.

Brylee and Mrs Eibel,

Thanks for giving me this opportunity to show Brylee The Gambia. I had a great time and hope she did too. Enjoy the package, I hope she arrives before the Christmas holidays.

Suellen

PS For those of you reading these blogs... the class is taking part of the Flat Stanley project. You can learn more about Flat Stanley at www.flatstanley.com

Traveling with Flat Brylee

Friday evening we headed out for a drive in the bush. I did NOT get to sit on the dash the whole time. Just for this picture. You have to be careful driving in the bush. Suellen says the deep sand makes you feel like you are driving in snow. She is from near Buffalo, New York, so I guess she knows about snow.

You also have to be aware of children, goats, donkeys, cows, sheep, dogs and monkeys jumping out into the road.





I didn't see anything except for a LOT of pretty birds. I didn't get any picture of them though. I am really happy we didn't find that snake or his relatives. Suellen says they have cobras, vipers and mambas. ugh!









All good trips have to come to an end and I am late for school. Suellen wrote my teacher to tell her I just arrived and she would get me home as soon as possible. I guess she should have written mom and dad too. Sorry about that. I was having too much fun to think about it. Saturday morning we headed into Banjul. I got to ride the ferry! Apparently I rode it on the way to Suellen's, but I was in the envelope.





It is too bad this photo didn't turn out as good as I had hoped. The two big vans just getting on the ferry have a load of sheep on top. They tie them on using a net. Suellen says the sheep are going to market. An Islamic holiday is coming up and every family will sacrifice a sheep that day (if they can afford it).

Suellen let me sit on top of the life boats, just for the picture. She tells me most of The Gambians can't swim. They are really frightened when the crossing is a rough one. We had a great crossing. I got a little sun! No sunburn though.

The capitol city Banjul is in the background.

Flat Brylee visits The Gambia part 2

Okay, Friday was a fun day. I arrived mid morning on Thrusday, and the earlier post was about my first day. Now it is my second day in The Gambia. It was another busy clinic day for Suellen, I just tagged along and played with the kids that came in. I wasn't too sure about eating Gambian food. I promised my mom and dad I would eat good while I was away. It turns out I didn't have much to worry about. Suellen had a nasty intestinal virus several months back and she is still a little wary of the local food. I did have a bean sandwhich... YUMM. A little on the spicy side, but very tasty. It had lots of beans and onions.




After the clinic closed we went visiting again. This nice grandma is the lady Suellen is named after. Her name is Maam (mom) Soxna (sohna) Drammeh. She is really a nice older woman. I love her smile. She went inside to get all dressed up for her photo. She likes to sit on these logs and watch the neighborhood. She lives in her son's compound with him, his two wives and their children. I counted... 10, and three that live with some one else. There are lots of kids around here.




One of my favorite activites, besides playing soccer, was going for a saret ride. Serin has two cows he hooks up to pull this two wheeled cart. You don't get anywhere fast, but it was a fun way to travel. Maam Soxna told me it wasn't too fun to travel that way when it is really hot and you have a long way to go. I guess she is right.

While I was visiting Maam Soxna, we greeted her in her house. This is her bed. See me! The house is just a one room mud brick building. Out back is the outhouse, except there isn't a house... just a wall and a hole in the ground. I didn't have to use it!

The spots on the wall are where the termites keep trying to destroy her house. yuck!

Ode to a Visitor.... Flat Brylee

For those of you who are regular post readers... this post is for Mrs. Eibel's class at Firelands Elementary School in Oberlin, Ohio. You may learn something, feel free to read along.

It was a really long trip to Suellen's. I began to think I would never get out of the envelope. But finally one day, there I was out in the sun and meeting Suellen face to face. She was a break from the clinic where she works... and found mail in her mail box. Apparently this is NOT a common finding. So, she was really surprised! Me too. It was hotter than I thought it would be. I went back to the clinic with Suellen. She kept busy. I learned that there is a nasty disease carried by the mosquitos here. It is called Malaria. I saw some really sick kids. It made me sad and kind of nervous... mom and dad wouldn't like it if I got Malaria while I was here. Suellen told me she would give me some medicine to take once a week while I was here and for a month after I return to America. I don't want ot take medicine, but I don't want Malaria either.

When Suellen finished at the clinic,

we headed to her house.

This is what I saw in front of her door.

I am so glad I didn't see what was inside of it. Here is a picture of it next to Suellen's shoe. The people here call it the snake's shirt. I guess I have something else to watch out for... Malaria-mosquitos and snakes. Hmm.

Ride 'em!

Suellen actually has a very nice house. She even

has it decorated for Christmas. You should hear

her try to explain Snowmen to the Gambians.

She has a tree with lights, but doesn't get to turn

on the lights too much because she only has two

batteries.

This is a picture of her outlet in the kitchen.

She has one in every room.

They are up high and out of reach so

small kids can't get their fingers in .

They all have a cover too.

I wore my soccer shirt and Suellen was glad to hear that I like to play soccer. I was able to play with some of the nieghbor kids.

WORDS YOU NEVER WANT TO HEAR....

Can you imagine what they would be?

Say you were a health care provider in a third world country, out in the African bush. What would they be?

For me, the words I don't like to hear... especially when I have just returned from the clinic and am in the middle of cooking lunch. Those words are... a patient just arrived, snake bite. There are several kinds of snakes in The Gambia. Some are not poisonous, some are. If you ask me, they all are. (I tell people if I saw a snake I would have a heart attack and drop to the ground where the snake would be able to bite me.... and I would die either from his poison or from the heart attack.) The villagers fear the Black snake. But again, there are two kinds of black snakes... deadly and not so deadly. Well, upon hearing these words today. I turned off the stove and headed to the clinic. Checked out the patient... he was bit on the middle finger while out in the fields this morning. He had to walk home and then find a donkey cart to bring him to the clinic. Praise God he looked good. Vitals were stable. I got out the stun gun. (controversial treatment... but please use it on me.) And gave him quite a few shocks, I know the gun worked because I got a little jolt when I had my hand too close to the gun. Reminded me of touching the electric fence when I was a kid. The nest phase of his treatment was a referral ride to the hospital 22 kilometers away, they should be able to get him some snake anti-venom. Praise God for the Stun Gun!

A Difficult Week

It has been an emotional week. One of the believers, who has been sick for several months, died on Monday. She came to the clinic last week and I couldn't find a good source of her illness. During the night she worsened and her husband feared that if she did die in NK, the leaders would refuse to bury her here because of her stand for Christ. We helped him get her to family in Senegal. The husband received a call on Monday late afternoon that she had died. The family was going to go ahead and have her buried that evening. Her husband would arrive there in the morning. We assisted him in getting to the family along with some of their friends. Pray for Joanne as much of the respnsibilities of the c__ fall to her. She was pretty close to NN and so was Deb who is in the states on furlough. We do praise God for answered prayer in allowing NN to get to Family in Senegal, for protecting her husband AS as he traveled much the last two weeks and for giving each of us the encouragement to continue to do the job he has called us to.

All in a weekend

Well, I haven't been up to too much. The clinic is finally slowing down a bit and requests for the ambulance after hours (AKA the middle of the night) have also decreased. Last week I did have busy afternoons. Teresa and I would leave the clinic around 2 pm each afternoon. By five I would be back in the clinic for a variety of reasons. One day I had a young gal with two lacerations that needed stitching. The next afternoon at about the same time, a young boy showed up with a laceration on his leg. unfortunately his laceration was over 48 hours old. I just cleaned him up good and started him on antibiotics. I should see them both tomorrow. Then on Friday, Teresa came to the door with a friend and her son. She asked me what advice to give the mother, her son was urinating blood. I looked at the mom, she pulled an old soda bottle out of a plastic bag... sure enough, there was the urine. I told them to follow me and we all went to the clinic, after some testing and evaluation I sent him home on medications. The plus side of the early evening activity in the clinic... the cleaning women are done with their work for the day and we have to lock up. So, I would be down there anyway. : )
Yesterday, Teresa and I unloaded the newly arrived medical shipment. We praise God for providing these medications. Our medication store room is starting to look clean, organized and full! We had either run out of several medications or had to stop using them because of their expiration date. It is good to see the shelves have valuable medications available again. Thank you to all who help provide for this ministry financially.
After a very productive morning in the store rooms, I headed home to be productive on a few maintenance issues. I had applied Epoxy into the hole for the toilet lid, where there was a leak. I needed to drill the hole so I could then put on the toilet seat. Praise God it worked. After three weeks of no toilet, or no flush toilet. I have a functioning toilet! However, by the second flush, the other side was leaking in the same spot. I called Barney to ask if he had more Epoxy. I then told him what I discovered. He said, "I don't want to hear that." Yeah, it is my toilet, it pained me to have to say it. But the leak is small and I have decided I want the flush, so I will mop up the small puddle after every flush. : )
Since the toilet was such a success, I then repaired my glider rocker. It has needed help since I took it out of storage in May. I finally attacked it, and now it glides smoothly. It is nice to have a chair to offer people a place to sit. The couch can get crowded.
I had such a productive day yesterday, I decided to keep the flow going today. This afternoon I put some wall paper boarder up in my bathroom. I have claimed this apartment and I am 'nesting'. I brought the boarder with me back in May and was waiting for a time when the humidity would be lower. Yes, that time has come.
Lots of people ask... What is the temperature really like? Well, for those of you who like weather science, I have some info for you. I brought back a digital thermomotor that also registers the humidity. It store the highest and lowest values. The other day I was looking at it. I have kept it in the coolest room of my apartment. The high value, since my arrival, is 113 degrees with 91 % humidity. That doesn't just feel hot... it is hot! Tonight it is 80 degrees and 40 % humidity. I will sleep under my comforter. It is getting too cold for a late night cold water shower. brrrrrr
Have a great week.